The Siege of Pinchgut (released in the US as Four Desperate Men) is a 1959 British thriller filmed on location in Sydney, Australia, and directed by Harry Watt.

However, the boat breaks down before they can get through the Sydney Heads and the men decide to take refuge in Fort Denison (also known as Pinchgut), unaware it is occupied by caretaker Pat Fulton, his wife and daughter Ann.

However, when a police officer, Constable Macey, visits the fort bringing some milk, Ann screams for help and the authorities are alerted to the gang's presence.

Bert, an ex-naval gunner, realises the gun on Fort Denison could be fired at a nearby munitions ship in the harbour and cause tremendous damage similar to the Bombay Explosion of 1944.

The story was written by Australian filmmaker Lee Robinson and British editor Inman Hunter in 1949 when both were working in Sydney at the Film Division of the Department of the Interior.

According to one account, the original idea began with Hunter, who saw Fort Denison while travelling on the Sydney ferry shortly after arriving in Australia, and thought it would make a perfect location for a film.

Lee Robinson had worked as an anti-aircraft gunner on Denison in the early days of the war, and together they developed a story about two German POWs who escape and take over Fort Denison, then hold Sydney to ransom by threatening to fire a gun there on a munitions ship.

[6][7][4] Ealing Studios, under the management of Michael Balcoln, had made a number of films in Australia, notably The Overlanders, Eurkeka Stockade, Bitter Springs and The Shiralee.

He felt the people had become friendlier and less insular, and that the city was "spreading all over the place... like lave" and "I am still enormously struck by the number of good looking girls.

"[10] He changed the story so it was no longer about a German POW, but an escaped convict fighting to prove his innocence to an uncaring judicial system.

[10] The script was assigned to British writer Alexander Baron, who brought in his friend, Australian novelist Jon Cleary, to help him with the dialogue.

[12]Filmink later argued "the entire script of Pinchgut is a perfect example of how to take a terrifically suspenseful idea and suck all the tension out of it.

"[9] Watt would have preferred to make the film with unknowns but Ealing had just been taken over by Associated British which insisted on casting a name actor in the lead role of Matt Kirk.

(In January 1959 Hedda Hopper reported that Stewart Granger turned down $200,000 to make The Siege in Australia because his mother was visiting from England.

Heather Sears and Barbara Mullins came from England; Jerry Duggan was an Irishman who had recently settled in Australia.

The Maritime Services Board picked that day to start repairs on the Martello round tower on the fort, causing "a real mess up" according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

"[1] The Australian National Line agreed to anchor a freighter in Farm Cove for the filmmakers to depict an ammunition boat.

[1] Scenes were shot in police headquarters in Philip Street, the Town Hall clock, Bondi beach.

They had just completed six films for MGM – including the Australian-set The Shiralee (1957) – before moving over to Associated British Picture Corporation at Elstree.

[18][19] Soon after filming began, Associated British announced they no longer wished to continue Ealing's production programme.

"[24] Variety said: Within the first couple of minutes, even before the credit titles, an atmosphere of considerable tension is created, but suspense at that pace and standard is hard to maintain..

The siege of the island has its complement of suspense - but not to compare with original getaway scenes... Ray’s virile and vigorous portrayal is right for the role: Victor Maddern turns in another fine part as one of his friends.

Widely varied characters, adequately portrayed... are effectively deployed, while terrific initial momentum carries it through poplar channels to a gripping, neatly turned climax.

[30]According to film historians Brian Adams and Graham Shirley: The final result is a strange hybrid; Aldo Ray is disastrously miscast and emotions are synthetically overwrought.

These contrast unfavourably with the assured documentary-style handling of the exterior locations, particularly Watt’s handling of the mass evacuation of harbourside suburbs and the placing of sharpshooters on the city’s surrounding vantage points as Ray threatens to use Pinchgut’s defence armoury to blow up the waterfront.

[31]In April 1960 Variety reported the film "failed to pull biz at Embassy, Sydney, and was yanked pronto.