The Hellions is a 1961 British Western film directed by Ken Annakin[1] starring Richard Todd, Anne Aubrey, Lionel Jeffries, Ronald Fraser and Colin Blakely that was set and filmed in South Africa.
Annakin decided to make the film " as a spoof of the normal American Western.
"[4] Annakin fell so ill with polio during the shoot he was unable to make it on set so Harold Huth and his assistant Clive Reed took over and directed under Annakin's instructions from the hospital bed.
[6] The New York Times called it "High Noon on the veldt... wide screen drivel.
"[7] Annakin later wrote " Most of the critics panned the film for being uneven – which was not surprising since I had directed big portions of the scenes tongue-in-cheek while Harold Huth and Clive Reed, God bless them, had loyally tried to complete them but somehow had allowed everything to be played straight"[8]