The lowdown: Stanley Baker stars as Tom Yately, a man recently released from prison, who gets a job driving ballast
(gravel) for Hawletts trucking company. The drivers' job is to transport gravel from a quarry to a construction site. Drivers 
are encouraged to make the round trip as quickly as possible - 50km an hour on bad roads - and are rewarded for making
as many trips in a day as possible. They are encouraged to break the speed laws and are told that if they are caught by the
police they will be solely responsible. They also must make at least 12 runs a day, otherwise they are fired. The record of
18 trips is held by the driver of Number 1 driver, foreman 'Red' Redman (brilliantly played by Patrick McGoohan), and Tom
is determined to break this record. Tom learns that the drivers are being cheated of some of their wages by Red and the 
company's manager, Cartley (played by William Hartnell). Red has already killed another truck driver, so he will not be 
averse to killing Tom in order to continue the scam.

The verdict: Despite being nearly 40 years old, this is an excellent film that highlights the grimness of post-war England
and the lengths some men will go to in order to earn a wage. The acting is largely superb and the story is engaging and 
believable, all the more so because the practice of driving ballast trucks at dangerously high speeds was very much real in
1950s Britain. William Hartnell has a relatively small role in this film, and at first he appears to be a tough but fair manager, 
but later in the film he is revealed to be up to his neck in corruption. A highlight is hearing Hartnell using the word 'slut', 
definitely not something the first Doctor would say!

Who should watch it: It is worth watching simply for the cast alone. In addition to Hartnell and McGoohan (The Prisoner), 
this film features many actors who were subsequently to become famous for cult film or television roles, including Sean 
Connery before he became James Bond, Sid James from the 'Carry on' films, Gordon Jackson (The Professionals), David 
McCallum (The Man from UNCLE) and Herbert Lom (Police Commisioner Dreyfus in the Pink Panther films). Some of these 
actors have very minor roles, but it is interesting to see them early in their careers.

Trivia:
When Yately takes the number one truck on a run, he says "I'm number one." Patrick McGoohan's character in 'The 
Prisoner' some 11 years later was named Number Six, and the central question of the show was 'Who is Number One?'

  Quotes:
  Cartley: 'I want fast drivers, 50 miles an hour, right round the clock.'
  Yately: 'What about the roads?'
  Cartley: 'Bad roads, wet or dry.'		   Video Clips:
Cartley hires a new driver  (4.6mb)
Yately confronts Cartley  (4.6mb)
Cartley and Red have an accident  (4.0mb)

  Please note: the video clips were recorded from television rather than video or DVD, so the quality is good but not perfect.