Giv'at Halfon Eina Ona (1976)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Assi Dayan

Writers:

Naftali Alter (writer)
Assi Dayan (writer)

Release Date:

1976 (Israel)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Sergio Konstanza, a Swindler, owes money to Mr. Hasson. He escapes to the desert where he joins a wacky...

Cast

Gavri Banai	...	St. Sgt. Moked (Jinji)
Shaike Levi	...	Mr. Hasson
Yisrael Poliakov	...	Sergio Konstanza
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Rafi Ginai	...	Colonel Bondi
Moshe Ish-Kassit	...	Yusipun
Miki Kam	...	Shifra Hasson
Lans Kroner	...	Eric - un captain
Hana Laszlo	...	Hermona
Oshik Levi	...	Jahnun
Aryeh Moskona	...	Churka
Nitza Shaul	...	Yaeli Hasson
Tuvia Tzafir	...	Capt. Shamgar
Menahem Zilberman	...	Vaserman

Also Known As:

Halfon Hill
Halfon Hill Doesn't Answer

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

Israel

Language:

Hebrew

Color:

Color

Trivia:

Voted in 2005 as the most popular Israeli movie of all time.

Quotes:

Mr. Hasson: Are you Yusipun?
Yusipun: Me, me.
Mr. Hasson: I was sent to join you at the kitchen.
Yusipun: As what?
Mr. Hasson: In charge of shakshuka, what "as what"?
Yusipun: In the meantime take command over the tomato as CSO.
Mr. Hasson: What's CSO?
Yusipun: Chief Salad Officer.
Mr. Hasson: I was CSO while you were IYMB, pal.
Yusipun: What's IYMB?
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Eizeh Yofi Shel Tzarot! (1976)

Soundtrack:

Ten Lasim Tarosh Al Diuna

An Israeli cult movie

A hilarious comedy. It covers the story of three characters, but concentrates on Sgt. Jinji and the character of Mr. Hasson. Sgt. Jinji is very interested in Yaeli, Mr. Hasson's youngest daughter. After getting into a dispute with a fuming Mr. Hasson who falsely believed Jinji wanted to marry his eldest daughter, Jinji is kicked out of Mr. Hasson's house. Having witnessed the scene, and unbeknownst to Mr. Hasson nor Jinji, Yaeli escapes too and hides in the back of Jinji's jeep, intent to join him despite her father's wishes. On the way to his army base, Jinji picks up Konstanza, a shady businessman, who has been evading reporting to reserve duty for a while. Konstanza also happens to owe money to Mr. Hasson (due to a very dubious business deal gone awry), and Mr. Hasson decides to look for Konstanza to get his money back. All our characters end up in the middle of the desert at a small, somewhat improvised military base.

Indeed the plot isn't particularly sophisticated or even very important (the movie itself doesn't seem to take itself seriously). The beauty in the movie lies in charisma of the main characters (who make up the "Hagashash Haheever", as they're called in Hebrew), in the jokes and humorous scenes that occur between the army authority figures and Jinji, Mr. Hasson, and Konstanza. For myself, it also creates a nostalgic feeling, one that increases as years go by. Israelis will definitely understand and most, I believe, enjoy the humor, but I would recommend this movie to non-Israelis, because after all, it is a classic Israeli film and has certain moments that would make anyone laugh.