High Noon in Space

Outland (1981) - Hyams

High Noon in space. Sean Connery plays, O'Niel, a middle management type company sheriff or security officer or whathaveyou of the mining colony in Io, one of Jupiter's moon. Because he is a loudmouth, he's been getting kicked around from the both sides and ended up in the shithole like Io with his less than enthusiastic family. As a matter of fact, his family bolts in two weeks. The company station in the orbit is secretly supplying some kind of red jello type drug that makes mining workers super productive. The side effects of it is hallucination, suicidal tendencies, etc. Many heads get blown up inside spacesuits because of this. As O'Niel catches up with what's going on, the asshole general manager (Peter Boyle) scorns him on acting like a fucking hero and making trouble. He contacts the mothership and have them send some space goons. The big Casio clock ticks down from 40 hours until the goons' arrival. 40 HOURS!

It's unfathomable in this day and age to have nothing blown up or having yet another plot twist every five seconds in a big budget Hollywood action movie. Outland is refreshing in its simpleness. It builds up tediously, showcasing some good old Sci-fi FX goodness and beautiful production design. O'Niel even has enuff time to visit a titty bar and chug a coupla drinks before the showdown. I appreciate that in a movie.

Heap of Sand

The Hill (1965) - Lumet

It's a military prison in North Africa for deserters, thieves, troublemakers and weaklings of the British army. The place is tightly run by square jawed R.S.M. Wilson (Harry Andrews) who truly believes that good old discipline will make a soldier out of any man. The man-made sand hill in the middle of the camp is shown in a spectacular crane shot that opens the film. It's the crowning jewel of Wilson's legacy. Under his command, the prisoners would march up and down the hill under the unforgiving African sun until they pass out.

Enter a new batch of prisoners - Roberts (Sean Connery), King (Ossie Davis), Bartlett (Roy Kinnear), McGrath (Jack Watson) and Stevens (Alfred Lynch). After few scuffles, the new cellmates bond but are worried about weakling Stevens. It's the sadistic Staff Sergeant Williams (Ian Hendry) who's after Stevens and the gang. After grueling run on the hill wearing a gas mask, Stevens cracks and dies, sending out ripples through out the camp.

With Ray Rigby adapting from his own play, The Hill crackles with sharp dialog delivered by amazing actors including young, just-off-doing-Goldfinger Sean Connery playing a man who refused to fight in a suicide mission. The character actor Andrews is also great as a man drunken with power, Hendry is nurse Ratched worthy and Michael Redgrave as the sympathetic medical officer brings in humanism. But the star of the film is definitely Ossie Davis, who plays a whiskey drinking Jamaican man and steals every scene he is in. Oh god, he is a national treasure here, ready to be discovered by Nicolas Cage. One of my all time favorite performances by anyone.

The film is not bogged down by sentimentality or a big message. The mere notion of Military invokes 'leave you brain behind'/'no-common sense required' in my mind. Lumet doesn't have to try hard to make things anti-military. It's out there in the form of giant sand heap for all to see. He just shows that it doesn't have to be super serious or highly dramatic to make a point and he does it marvelously.