Taut, highly enjoyable British B about truckers in the vein of
They Drive By Night - it has an American energy and feel, perhaps due to co-writer and director Cy Endfield. It's perhaps been overpraised in recent years but is still fun. Stanley Baker became a confirmed leading man with his Bogie-type portrayal of a man just out of prison who gets a job as a truck driver. The company he works for seem interested in driving as fast as possible at incredibly fast speeds than delivering safely and is dominated by Patrick McGoohan. Baker is befriended by nice Italian Herbert Lom (once again playing an "ethnic" but this time he's actually sympathetic here - indeed, the most in the film) - Baker repays him by stealing his girlfriend, and then Lom drives a truck intended for Baker with dodgy brakes.
Some odd scripting decisions - having one scene where Baker goes home to see his mother and brother (David McCallum) but no other one (we never see them again); Baker realises the truck has been fixed but doesn't tell anyone; we don't find out about the fact McGoohan is ripping off the company unit the movie is almost over (maybe this wouldn't have mattered had Baker been investigating some sort of movie but it's just a realisation at the end - so the story doesn't really have narrative advice).
Sensational cast: in addition to Baker, McCallum, Lom and McGoohan there's also a young Sean Connery and Sid James, plus Peggy Cummins.
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