The Long Haul: This British noir was a vehicle for the 25-year-old curvy blonde Diana Dors. Victor Mature stars as a GI who stayed in Britain after WW II because his English wife doesn’t want to emigrate; he is stuck in a job as a truck driver and becomes entangled in a hijacking ring.
Mature, whose best work was in film noir, was an underrated actor; if acting is reacting, Mature does it all here – his eyes and face reflect his weariness, disgust, desperation and adherence to a code. Victor Mature made this British film two years before he retired at age 46.
Dors, who could Wear A Dress, looks delectable. She didn’t have a wide acting range or much craft, but she’s not bad, and fairly sympathetic, in The Long Haul. Get on Google or Wikipedia and look up her real life – WOW!
The snarling villain Joe Easy (Patrick Allen) meets a uniquely fitting fate.
The Long Haul doesn’t seem very noirish except for the realistic seamy bars, docks and truckyards AND the ending. Mature’s and Dors’ characters are within moments of escaping to America together with ill-gotten gains, but one ends up in jail and the other in a seedy bar. Interestingly, here the femme fatale turns out to be a better person than the wife.
The Long Haul is not currently available to stream, but you can find it on DVD, and plays on Turner Classic Movies. It was featured at the 2020 Noir City.
