{{Short description|1963 British film by Jim O'Connolly}} {{other uses of|Hijacker}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}} {{Use British English|date=May 2016}} {{Infobox film | name = The Hi-Jackers | image = The_Hi-Jackers_(1963_film).jpg | caption = British quad poster | director = Jim O'Connolly | producer = John I. Phillips<br>Ronald Liles | writer = Jim O'Connolly | narrator = | starring = Anthony Booth | music = Johnny Douglas | cinematography = Walter J. Harvey | editing = Henry Richardson | studio = Butcher's Film Service | distributor = Butcher's Film Distributors (UK) | released = {{Film date|1963|12}} | runtime = 69 min. | country = United Kingdom | language = English | budget = | gross = }} '''''The Hi-Jackers''''' is a 1963 British black and white second feature ('B')<ref name="Chibnall">{{Cite book |last1=Chibnall |first1=Steve |title=''The British 'B' Film'' |last2=McFarlane |first2=Brian |publisher=BFI/Bloomsbury |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-8445-7319-6 |location=London |pages=163}}</ref> crime thriller film written and directed by Jim O'Connolly, starring Anthony Booth and Jacqueline Ellis.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Hi-Jackers |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150055465 |access-date=30 October 2023 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref>
==Plot== Long-distance independent lorry driver Terry meets homeless and unemployed Shirley at a transport cafe and gives her a lift. His vehicle, carrying a valuable shipment of whisky, is then hijacked under cover of a fake road accident. Who tipped off the hijackers about the route Terry would take? Police Inspector Grayson investigates.
==Cast== * Anthony Booth as Terry McKinley * Jacqueline Ellis as Shirley * Derek Francis as Jack Carter * Patrick Cargill as Inspector Grayson * Glynn Edwards as Bluey * David Gregory as Pete * Harold Goodwin as Scouse * Tony Wager as Smithy * Arthur English as Bert * Michael Beint as Forbes * Tommy Eytle as Sam Reynolds * Romo Gorrara as Joe * Ronald Hines as Jim Brady * Douglas Livingstone as Tim * Marianne Stone as Lil
==Critical reception== ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' said: "One or two aspirations towards originality – Carter's proficiency as a cook, a gangster's almost prudish refusal to take advantage of Shirley's helplessness – cannot disguise the formulary nature of this crime melodrama. The plot is thin and unconvincing; the heroine is one of those tiresomely well-spoken young women whose bursts of spirit (she is not averse to moral blackmail) strike one as both incongruous and unsympathetic. The lorry-drivers are quite well characterised, and Derek Francis brings a touch of class to the gourmet-mastermind which seems, less aptly, to have spilled over into the film as a whole. For a struggling haulage contractor Terry has a remarkably luxurious apartment; there's something gratuitously 'snob', too, about Patrick Cargill's supercilious police inspector."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1964 |title=The Hi-Jackers |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305832118 |journal=Monthly Film Bulletin |volume=31 |issue=360 |pages=74 |id={{ProQuest|1305832118}} }}</ref>
The ''Radio Times Guide to Films'' gave the film 2/5 stars, writing: "This low-budget crime thriller from the Butcher's studio is set in the rough-and-ready world of trucking. However, British lorry drivers don't have the cinematic glamour of their American counterparts, so identifying the familiar British faces – Anthony Booth (Tony Blair's father-in-law), Patrick Cargill, Glynn Edwards – is the main point of interest here."<ref>{{Cite book |title=Radio Times Guide to Films |publisher=Immediate Media Company |year=2017 |isbn=9780992936440 |edition=18th |location=London |pages=416}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb title|id=0057140|title=The Hi-Jackers}} *[https://www.reelstreets.com/films/hi-jackers-the/ ''The Hi-Jackers''] at ReelStreets
{{Jim O'Connolly}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hi-Jackers, The}} Category:1963 films Category:British crime thriller films Category:Films directed by Jim O'Connolly Category:British heist films Category:Trucker films Category:Butcher's Film Service films Category:1963 English-language films Category:1963 British films