THE HI-JACKERS is an efficient and entertaining British B-picture which ticks most of the right boxes when it comes to film-making. As a film about truck drivers it's not a patch on the excellent HELL DRIVERS but as a low budget B-movie it's a pleasing timewaster with some good action and an incident-packed plot line to recommend it. Director Jim O'Connolly later helmed the excellent horror flick TOWER OF EVIL.A youthful Anthony Booth stars as a trucker who finds himself the victim of a gang of hi-jackers who take his truck as well as his load. He swears vengeance on the crew, and the rest of the film is a back-and-forth game between the villains and everyone else pitted against them. The cast is populated by some pretty good character actors who give engaging performances, although the likable Booth gives the best turn. The inclusion of a love interest for the hero drags the pace down a little but for the most part this works well and proves a nice time capsule of the early '60s.

Couldn't agree more, with Daniel. This seemed to wane, as you said only when the obligatory love interest came in (which thankfully, there wasn't a lot of). An independent lorry driver (a young Tony 'scouse git' Booth)finds he has been set-up by his co-partner in the business for a hi-jacking. The love interest Jacqueline Ellis, someone he picked up on her way to London, in his lorry, becomes also involved in cracking the gang that too hijacked Booth's lorry and are onto countless others. Watch carefully, when Booth goes to confront his chum, of an old location of 'Lion Wharf' Isleworth in Middlesex, close to Twickenham studios where the studio work was done. Some good character actors, Harold Goodwin, Glynn Edwards and Patrick Cargill as a sarky article cop make it watchable.However, a basic but good plot, fine acting especially from Tony Blair's son-in-law. Fairly recently released with Reknown Pictures

Strictly run-of-the-mill British crime yarn which exerts its own modest charm. Booth is actually quite charismatic and gets across the world weary nature of the long distance lorry driver. We get intriguing glimpses of the lay-bys and cafes these men exist in but it is never really dealt with is any depth. The same is true of the underworld; there are indications that operations are run by an intelligent middle class men who employ no hope working class men to carry things out. The gang includes one black member whose race is never mentioned. We get a sequence where the girl visits her ex-husband in jail and asks him for information, which he provides, perhaps showing there is no honour among thieves, although the gang seem pretty loyal to their boss. There are hints of a network of criminals and indications that crime among the haulage industry is rife. The film makes good use of its locations and the film only begins to sag when the narrative shifts to Booth's flat where the obligatory love interest takes place.

Yet another late night treat from ITV. Rather above the British second feature norm (no difficult task), it boasts a likeable lead performance from Anthony (father-in-law of Tony Blair) Booth, genuine location footage and a witty villain. Even Vauxhall police-cars make a change from the usual Wolseleys.I wonder if the PM screens this epic at Downing Street functions?