cult film freak: VICTOR MATURE WITH DIANA DORS TRUCKING IN 'THE LONG HAUL'

Written by James M. Tate / 8/23/2023 / No comments / british film noir/melodrama , caper , diana dors , fifties , gene anderson , liam redmond , patrick allen , truck , victor mature

VICTOR MATURE WITH DIANA DORS TRUCKING IN 'THE LONG HAUL'

8/23/2023 | No comment

Title: THE LONG HAUL Year: 1957 Rating: ***1/2

What begins as a kind of lightweight HELL DRIVERS with token Yankee Victor Mature joining a breakneck trucking company, having to drive as quickly and dangerously as possible, far too quickly turns into an ON THE WATERFRONT of crooked British hauling...

Where a time-worn yet leathery-tough Mature... sprung from Army life and stuck in Liverpool with a wife who wants to stay put (plus a young son)... screws up company mob boss Patrick Allen's caper of robbing his own business: Thus making both the verbal and physical altercations between Mature (with plucky sidekick Liam Redmond) and Allen... equally square-jawed, stubborn and no-nonsense... fairly entertaining Noir...

Diana Dors and Patrick Allen in THE LONG HAUL

But it's full-lipped Diana Dors as this film's femme fatale and vulnerable moll hybrid who makes Mature snap to life, remaining intense and narrowed even when he agrees to help the villain (her abusive lover) in a British crime/heist flick that cruises along at an intentionally slowburn pace...

It's just... with so much exposition about the particular scheme going down... a bit difficult figuring out what exactly the good guy and bad guy are really after — except time spent with Dors, which is a given.

Patrick Allen and Victor Mature in THE LONG HAUL

Diana Dors and Victor Mature in THE LONG HAUL

Liam Redmond and Victor Mature in THE LONG HAUL

Diana Dors with Patrick Allen and Peter Reynolds in THE LONG HAUL

Gene Anderson in THE LONG HAUL

Diana Dors in THE LONG HAUL

Diana Dors and Patrick Allen in THE LONG HAUL

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Tags : british film noir/melodrama , caper , diana dors , fifties , gene anderson , liam redmond , patrick allen , truck , victor mature

James M. Tate

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