These Thousand Hills *** (1959, Don Murray, Richard Egan, Lee Remick, Patricia Owens, Stuart Whitman, Albert Dekker) – Classic Movie Review 7799

Director Richard Fleischer’s punchy, intelligent 1958 Western These Thousand Hills is pumped full of admirable acting, robust action, cute romance and thoughtful drama, even if it fails to live up to the manic intensity of Pulitzer-prize winning author A B Guthrie Jr’s remarkable 1956 bestselling book upon which it is based.

Don Murray stars as ‘Lat’ Evans, a cowboy in the Wild West who makes a fortune by borrowing money from a gambling-hall waitress, Callie (Lee Remick), and becomes a successful cattle rancher, but only by closing his eyes to everything else, including his old buddies. He weds banker Marshal Conrad (Albert Dekker)’s niece Joyce (Patricia Owens) to further his ambitions, financial and political. Then he finds out that his former best friend Tom Ping (Stuart Whitman) is a cattle rustler, and joins town baddie Jehu (Richard Egan)’s hanging posse.

A wider scope and a philosophical bent make These Thousand Hills more interesting than the average Western. Alfred Hayes’s busy screenplay is packed with involving situations, credible characters and intelligent dialogue. Murray is excellent as the driven lead though Remick is rather wasted as the prostitute he falls in love with. Maybe that is why Remick called this her least favourite film.

Also in the cast are Harold J Stone as Ram Butler, Royal Dano as Ike Carmichael, Jean Willes as Jen, Douglas Fowley as Whitey, Fuzzy Knight as Jacob Smith, Robert Adler as Godwin, Barbara Morrison as Miss Fran, Ned Wever as Link Gorham, Ken Renard as the waiter Happy, Edmund Cobb, Steve Darrell as McLean, George DeNormand as Card-Player, John Epper as Swede, Fred Graham as Brice, A Cameron Grant as photographer, Tom Greenway as Frank Chenault, Irene James as dance hall girl, Kenner G Kemp as restaurant patron, Jess Kirkpatrick as Strain,  Frank Kreig as Fatty, the bartender, Frank Lavier as Little Runner, Theodore Lehmann as prospector, Nelson Leigh as Brother Van, Walter Maslow, Zon Murray as vigilante, Jeffrey Sayre as Croupier, Cap Somers as customer, Tom Steele as cowhand, Brick Sullivan as man on hurdy-gurdy wagon, Hal Taggart as restaurant patron, Guy Teague as customer, Ted White as cowhand and Ben Wright as Frenchy.

These Thousand Hills was shot in Color by Deluxe and widescreen by cinematographer Charles G Clarke on location in Sierra de Órganos National Park in the town of Sombrerete, Mexico, and in Durango, Colorado.

These Thousand Hills is directed by Richard Fleischer, runs 96 minutes, is made and released by 20th Century Fox, is written by Alfred Hayes, based on the novel by A B Guthrie Jr, is shot in Color by Deluxe and widescreen by Charles G Clarke, is produced by David Weisbart and is scored Leigh Harline.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7799

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