These Thousand Hills

Average western with advantage of good cast. Don Murray is okay in the lead, he never really had that elusive something to be a great movie star but is a fine actor but a more magnetic actor, Robert Mitchum or Burt Lancaster for example would have raised the film up a notch. The supporting cast is full of familiar faces that all provide excellent work, the real standout is Lee Remick who offers up a delicately shaded performance of a girl whose life has been full of bad breaks and hard luck. It a shame her part is relatively small since she's the most compelling character and actor in the film. The color and cinematography are also noteworthy. Not a bad movie just not great.

This well characterized Western from Pulitzer award winner A.B Guthrie monumental bestseller deals with an ambitious cowboy (Don Murray) will stop at nothing to achieve his aims , and paying a heavy price to get a wealthy ranch full of cattle . As he arrives in Montana , to get what he wishes , fame and fortune by creating a powerful ranch , including using the affections of two attractive girls . Helped by a rich banker (Albert Dekker) and an old friend (Stuart Whitman) , both of them antagonise a flashy rancher/gambler (Richard Egan) . Meanwhile , the stubborn cowboy falls for two beautiful damsels (Lee Remick and Patricia Owens).

A simple and excessively romantic Western drama with little action and not much shooting . It is more a loving drama than the typical Western . Don Murray gives a lively acting as an upright but extremely ambitious young who to get his objectives falls for two women , the prostitute Lee Remick and the niece of a wealthy banker , Patricia Owens. Murray grapples rather unsteadly with his role once it has progressed to become an US senator. A young and gorgeous Lee Remick is pretty good as a whore who attempts to take a honest way on her thunderous life . Richad Egan also takes advantage from a rare villain character , as he often plays good guys . Satisfying support cast plenty of prestigious secondaries such as : Stuart Whitman , Harold J Stone , Royal Dano , Robert Adler , Jean Willes , and the veteran Albert Dekker . Interesting and well structured screenplay by Alfred Hayes and Guthrie , based on a successful bestseller by A.B. Guthrie . It contains a colorful cinematography by Charles Clarke , including wonderful landscapes . And a sensitive and rousing musical score by Leigh Harline , adding marvelous songs performed by Ned Washington .

This modest drama/romance/Western picture was professionally and firmly directed by Richard Fleischer , though slowly filmed, as I miss more action and shots . Richard was a prolific craftsman who made a lot of films in all kinds of genres throughout a long career in which he was able to endow with a wealth of personal detail . As he directed adventures: Vikings , 20000 leagues under the sea , Red Sonja , Conan the destroyer , Mandingo , Ashanti , Doctor Dolittle , The prince and the pauper ; Thrillers: Mr Majestick , The Don is dead , The new Centurions , Million dollar mystery ; Historical : Barabbas ; Terror : Amityvile 3 the Demon ; Musical : The jazz singer ; Wartime : Tora tora tora ; Sci-Fi : Soilent Green ; Crime : 10 Rillington Place , The Boston strangler , Compulsion , See no evil ; Noir film : The narrow margin , The clay pigeon , Armored car robbery , Follow me quietly , Trapped . Rating : 6/10 acceptable and passable . Well worth watching .

I noticed that some complained that "These Thousand Hills" is a slow-moving film. I would have to agree that it is slow...or, as I like to see it, deliberately paced. But I didn't mind this and liked that the film is so very different...during an era when westerns were about all Hollywood seemed to be making!

Lat Evans (Don Murray) is a very ambitious young man. He works his butt off to earn as much as he can so he can buy a ranch and make something of himself. Well, after a few setbacks, he is able to get the money...thanks to a loan from a local 'fallen woman' (Lee Remick). And, his ranch becomes a huge success...so much so that the locals want him to run for the senate. Of course, Lat wants this, as he has huge ambitions and has worked so hard to get where he has. But then something strange happens....he starts to wonder if success alone is what he wants. Something more important becomes apparent...integrity...which leads to a dandy conclusion.

This film is slow paced but again and again, it avoids the usual cliches and has a lot to say about real masculinity and honor. Well worth seeing and a finer film than it's relatively mediocre score on IMDB would indicate.

By the way, my complaints are minor. One cannot be helped and that is that the print I saw looked almost smoky in the beginning and could use some restoration. The other complaint is that some of the music (the songs sung by some young singing star) were pretty bad and didn't fit the film.

This relatively early exercise in applied psychology by Richard Fleischer was based on a novel by A. B. Guthrie Jr in which rising young star Don Murray played an aspiring social climber with serious childhood issues who courts working girl Lee Remick before cruelly discarding her when she becomes a social embarrassment after initially making the innocent enquiry "Is she anybody's in particular?"

Murray initially naively assumes she's a nice girl since she dresses in green, but that dress has been paid for by Richard Egan, who shows what an utter heel he is by destroying a birthday cake among sundry other misdeeds.

Terrific production values. Great cast. Lackluster script. Terrible soundtrack. Something missing. Too clean and tidy. Not realistic in a strange sense. A melodrama western? Not a bad film just not a really good one and certainly not as good as it should have been given the great cast. Lots and lots of clichés. Main character is not really likable. Many loose ends. Underdeveloped characters. Worth watching for Lee Remick and Patricia Owens.

I can't put my finger quite on the reason why this film falls flat. There just isn't any sizzle or scenes that grab you. Perhaps it is because the role of Latt (the main character) is not sympathetic. He seems to change from a decent guy to a heel almost overnight, forgetting about his true friends. Then he redeems himself instantly at the end. People don't change back and forth and back again like that.