Tayloriona
Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
Derry Herrera
Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.
Janis
One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.
Chris C
This is a very competent action crime film with an excellent cast and very atmospheric photography - the Northern industrial scenes are almost surreal. Stanley "Could Have Been James Bond" Baker is on great form with a good supporting cast. The script is tight and fast paced with good lighting/cinematography. One of those films to watch late at night and stay up to find out what happens in the end. The treatment of women is typical of 1960's Britain - it's a period piece and the attitude/demeanour of men, given that many went through the Second World War, is a notable contrast with today's society.
My only aside is that the opening/closing credits inappropriately reminded me of Police Squad...
st-shot
Local bad boy Don Starling has busted out of the big house determined to return to Manchester and claim his ill gotten gains. Nemesis detective Martineau ( Stanley Baker) is certain he will return and when a botched robbery resulting in murder takes place he is certain Starling has something to do with it even though superiors doubt it. Hell is a City is comprised of one abrasive conversation after another whether dealing with desperate characters or disinterested wives. Everyone seems under pressure as they trade curt sentences between each other with very little development of character over the long haul. Martineau is clearly married to his job since his relationship with his wife is remote at best while he fends off flirtations from others. The males en masse mostly snarl and complain while the women are reduced to being either cold, seductive cheaters or in one case dead. After a few improbable coincidences Martineau and Starling meet high above Manchester on a rooftop locked in mortal combat. It is the most dramatic scene in the film that showcases its true star, the industrial city of Manchester as backdrop but director Val Guest fumbles this as well and Hell is a City fails to dig any deeper into its outline than an hour episode of Naked City and its emphasis on the urban mean streets.
ianlouisiana
"Life on Mars"?This is more like life on Pluto.Mr Stanley Baker plays the type of cop who feels compelled to try it on with any female with a pulse. He can't walk past an open pub door and threatens to rape his wife in order to impregnate her against her will.Just another day at the office for one of Manchester's finest. "Hell is a city" is an over - rated pseudo Don Siegel opus.Possibly seeing itself as a herald of a new hard - hitting school of Britcop movies,it has a sub - sub Elmer Bernstein/Leith Stevens/Shorty Rogers soundtrack of generic Britjazz cobbled together by that clever musical chameleon Mr Stanley Black that places it exactly in its era. It borrows that hoary old Western plot about childhood companions turned deadly adversaries that ends with one of them dangling on the end of a rope.Full of British actors assuming the all - encompassing "Northern" accent that is both inaccurate and insulting to its Manchester setting, it deals the English language a further blow by having an American play a Manc villain,a piece of casting of breathtaking audacity and indifference to the audience's intelligence. Cardboard character follows cardboard character muttering "eee by gum" imprecations,Yorkshire and Lancashire dialects being freely mixed.Stanley Baker's Inspector Martineau is a despicable woman - hating psychopath.Novelist Maurice Procter who wrote the novel on which the movie was based was said to be "delighted" with the result.It all seems a bit rum to me.
bob the moo
Inspector Harry Martineau is a hard-edged police man in gritty Manchester. When a major criminal, Don Stirling, escapes from jail by killing a guard Martineau makes it his person responsibility to hunt him down. Stirling gets his old gang together to steal £4000 from wealthy businessman Gus. However the theft goes wrong and a young girl is killed and the money begins to leave behind a trail that will lead to the gang.This desperately wants to be an English 1950's American style film noir. It has the gritty urban title, it has a moody lead actor with an iffy moral code, a pumping jazz soundtrack and is surprisingly tough. It isn't completely successful because of one main problem - it's in England. In Manchester. It's tough even for someone who lives here to take it as seriously as the Bogart-esque equivalents. It's an unfair criticism perhaps but it is off-putting to hear the thick Yorkshire accents in the setting of an urban crime drama.There is quite a lot to like here. The plot is interesting with gritty levels, the whole idea of the money being dyed and staining hands is a good concept and only seems stretched occasionally and is actually a very effective way of leaving a money trail. The jazz score does give the film a real feel of a urban crime zone, but at times it feels a bit out of place with some of the scenes.The 2 lead performances are mixed in their roles. Stanley Baker is good as Martineau mixing the role with a bad guy edge by being distant from his wife etc, but he isn't as convincing as his American equivalents. You never are totally convinced that he is anything but a good guy, with his only real faults being his commitment to work over his wife. John Crawford is better as Stirling who benefits from not having an English accent. He plays the violent, cruel criminal well and is totally convincing. It's also good to see Donald Pleasance in a small role as Gus, but his accent is frighteningly thick.The film is surprisingly tough. I assumed that this would be a lesser film because it's British but this has quite strong language (although not by today's standards) and is very violent considering when it was made. There is quite a bit of violence towards women all of which gives the film a much more believable very tough edge that adds to it's credentials as a crime thriller.Overall a strong attempt to make a British film noir. It loses something with Baker being too clean-cut in his role and the Manchester setting and accents are hard to line up mentally with the action. But hey - it's pretty good.
