The Hellions

The Hellions (1961)

Rough, Relentless, everyone a killer

Luke Billings (Lionel Jeffries) and his family have a problem with the new police sergeant Sam Hargis (Richard Todd) so they take over a small Transvaal town with the attention of drawing Hargis into a showdown. Hargis tries to get back up from the townsfolk who do not want to know, so is forced to lay low. As things get out of hand one of the Billings boys takes an interest in the storekeeper's wife, Priss Dobbs (Anne Aubrey). Having had enough her husband, Ernie (Jamie Uys) takes up the gun and heads down the main street alone. An act that prompts Hargis to join him. Slowly, the townsfolk turn up to back them up.

Date of release
1961-11-27
TMDB
6.7 / 10 (5)
Runtime
1h 20m
Genres
Adventure, Drama, Western
Director
Irving Allen, Ken Annakin

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Filmed in: South Africa

The Hellions is a 1961 British Western film directed by Ken Annakin starring Richard Todd, Anne Aubrey, Lionel Jeffries, Ronald Fraser and Colin Blakely. It was written by Harold Huth, Patrick Kerwan and Harold Swanton, and set and filmed in South Africa.

Production

In June 1960 Warwick announced it would not make films through major studios but would produce and distribute films itself with a slate of pictures worth $8 million a year: "three big films a year" plus eight others which it would finance through Eros (that would cost an estimated $3 million). Warwick's first new film would be The Long Ships, a $3.5 million spectacle, following by The Heillions. Both would be shot in Yugoslavia.

In May 1961, there were widespread reports that Albert R. Broccoli and Irving Allen would split up. Broccoli admitted that they disagreed on certain projects and that Allen would be making The Hellions by himself while Broccoli would make his own film in Africa but said that the men would reunite to make Cromwell.

The film was offered by Warwick Productions to Ken Annakin, who agreed to direct as he had fond memories of South Africa from another film, Nor the Moon by Night. He also had wanted to direct another Western, The Singer Not the Song but been unable to get the job. Anne Aubrey had appeared in a number of Warwick Films.

Filming took place in Brits, a small town north of Pretoria. Annakin decided to make the film " as a spoof of the normal American Western. With many laughs and broad gags – such as were used so successfully years later in Cat Ballou.

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