I recall seeing this film on TV - must have been in the late 60's, early 70's. I remember enjoying it but feeling immensely betrayed because my TV hero, John Drake/Number Six, had become a bad guy. And not just bad, but pathological!
Patrick McGoohan made his movie name playing villains and they don't come more psychotic than this one. As the premier driver and the foreman, his character cuts a lonely figure. His company uses him to pressurise its workers, his colleagues hate his guts but are too frightened of him to do anything about it. His supervisor has made him complicit in a wages fraud that has turned him into a thief as well. By the end of the movie he has been driven to attempt murder. Poor Red (his initial is G. but we never get to know his Christian name) Redmond.
The only time poor Red finds happiness is at the Village dance. He has no interest in the girls. He drinks deeply of alcoholic solace and in due course finds release in a saloon-bar brawl. In physical communion with his fellow-men, Red briefly finds popularity because his nemesis, Tom (Stanley Baker), flees the fighting and so is thought to be a physical coward. Tom's apparent shame leads to the rest of the men supporting Red. This stasis cannot persist for very long and it doesn't; by the end of the film Red is dead.
Watching Patrick McGoohan, in such a full role, at such an early stage of his career left me with a small self-revelation. I never tire of watching him. There are many who seem to find him over-powering, his acting 'over-the-top'. Something about watching Red, after all these years, made me feel that I could see what Patrick McGoohan does.
He takes a role as scripted and finds a way to 'be' that person. Red was written to be a raving, uncomplicated madman...so that is how he is presented.
I think that must be why I always enjoy watching McGoohan. He has created that separation, so that you are not watching Patrick McGoohan 'as' Red. You are watching Red. This is what Red is. I wonder if that is why, all those years ago, I felt so betrayed. John Drake and Number Six were 'my' Patrick McGoohan (to a greater or lesser degree). When I watched Hell Drivers the first time, I expected 'my' Patrick McGoohan and got Red.
Nowadays I watch Patrick McGoohan movies because he never plays Patrick McGoohan, he plays whoever he is meant to be. That is interesting. When I feel the need to see 'my' Patrick again, I can always watch Danger Man or The Prisoner.
Patrick McGoohan made his movie name playing villains and they don't come more psychotic than this one. As the premier driver and the foreman, his character cuts a lonely figure. His company uses him to pressurise its workers, his colleagues hate his guts but are too frightened of him to do anything about it. His supervisor has made him complicit in a wages fraud that has turned him into a thief as well. By the end of the movie he has been driven to attempt murder. Poor Red (his initial is G. but we never get to know his Christian name) Redmond.
The only time poor Red finds happiness is at the Village dance. He has no interest in the girls. He drinks deeply of alcoholic solace and in due course finds release in a saloon-bar brawl. In physical communion with his fellow-men, Red briefly finds popularity because his nemesis, Tom (Stanley Baker), flees the fighting and so is thought to be a physical coward. Tom's apparent shame leads to the rest of the men supporting Red. This stasis cannot persist for very long and it doesn't; by the end of the film Red is dead.
Watching Patrick McGoohan, in such a full role, at such an early stage of his career left me with a small self-revelation. I never tire of watching him. There are many who seem to find him over-powering, his acting 'over-the-top'. Something about watching Red, after all these years, made me feel that I could see what Patrick McGoohan does.
He takes a role as scripted and finds a way to 'be' that person. Red was written to be a raving, uncomplicated madman...so that is how he is presented.
I think that must be why I always enjoy watching McGoohan. He has created that separation, so that you are not watching Patrick McGoohan 'as' Red. You are watching Red. This is what Red is. I wonder if that is why, all those years ago, I felt so betrayed. John Drake and Number Six were 'my' Patrick McGoohan (to a greater or lesser degree). When I watched Hell Drivers the first time, I expected 'my' Patrick McGoohan and got Red.
Nowadays I watch Patrick McGoohan movies because he never plays Patrick McGoohan, he plays whoever he is meant to be. That is interesting. When I feel the need to see 'my' Patrick again, I can always watch Danger Man or The Prisoner.