Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Richard Chatten A big hit in its day that has fallen into surprising obscurity, the audience deservedly gave the 'The Hellions' a round of applause at the end of tonight's extremely rare archive screening on London's South Bank of this singular British 'western' vividly photographed in Technicolor and Technirama by South African-born cameraman Ted Moore (soon to spend over ten years shooting most of the original James Bond films), evoking the brilliant sunshine of 1870s South Africa.The title song is one long spoiler describing the fate of the eponymous Hellions, who die "one by one...in the Transvaal sun"; so the suspense derives from trying to figure out just how this wild bunch are to get their comeuppance, and who they're going to take with them in the process. When the crunch finally comes the climax is pretty unbelievable but extremely satisfying.Although often compared to 'High Noon', the action more closely resembles 'The Desperate Hours'; and for a 1961 audience The Hellions would more uncomfortably have recalled Teddy Boys than hired guns. Visually, this collection of unkempt, gurning delinquents wouldn't have been out of place a few years later in a spaghetti western (Al Mulock, who plays Adam, was actually in 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'); although for all its impressive violence - including some eye watering scenes involving barbed wire - it retains a certain English fastidiousness, well-exemplified by the presence of Richard Todd as its hero. The superb performance by Lionel Jeffries (fresh from his terrifying Marquis of Queensberry in 'The Trials of Oscar Wilde') as the Hellions' patriarch is ably complemented by a script that even at the tensest moments displays a very dry black humour.

alkborough As with previous posts I agree that Lionel Jeffries was superb in this role playing a part far removed from what we are used to from him. James Booth also good, These were two of the 'baddies' and as such had strong roles. Richard Todd gave a good restrained performance in the leading role. Directed by Ken Annakin, one of my all time favourite directors, or at least partly directed by him. In his autobiography he reveals that well into the filming he was taken quite seriously ill and the remainder of the film was directed by Harold Huth and Clive Reed. Ken had given the cast 'carte blanche' to play the film as a tongue in cheek spoof and most were up to it but the rest of the film was directed with everyone playing straight. The critics panned the film for being 'uneven' - they knew nothing of Ken's illness. Ken also states that 'Irwin Allen's(the producer)girlfriend played the female lead - the less said about her the better' He doesn't elaborate Fortunately he recovered fully after his long illness and is still alive well into his 90s. I have just received a DVD of the film and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

lombards004 I saw this movie once over 45 years ago and I've never been able to forget it. Nor do I want to forget it. Lionel Jeffries and Richard Todd were never better. Apparently it has never been released on video and I think that's a bitter shame. This South African Western is superb and deserves to be seen by everyone. The story has been compared to "High Noon", but I believe "The Hellions" packed more punch. One is used to Lionel Jeffries' portrayals of befuddled old men. But here, he is as evil as anyone I've ever seen. James Booth deserves, I believe, more credit for his role. This film is bulging with talent and should be accessible to today's audience. I definitely will keep searching.

csomers First saw it on screen 1963-64. Then later on ITV/BBC mid 70s. Enjoyed it more than High Noon - obviously has a similar plot. I remember the names of the sons Matthew, Jubo ?, Mark, Luke and John I think. Although I was 11 when I saw it it certainly stood apart from any other film I saw at that time. I think it was the combination of fine acting by Jeffreys and James Booth and to a lesser extent by Richard Todd. The entire score song sung by Marty Wilde remains registered on my memory. It deserves to go on DVD and to be viewed by younger audiences again on TV. I am not sure if other people share this view but 1960s vintage films were superior on average to what has been produced since - particularly compared to the past 20 years. One further comment - why are there no black artists in this film. The fact that it was based in South Africa was not disguised yet we only see white faces on screen. Is this possibly a reason why the film was not more widely distributed. Aparthid applied to a western film ?.