The Painted Hills

... and I watched it yesterday already knowing the very low IMDb ratings. But seriously, everything Marion Davies ever did gets an 8/10 on this site and this gets 3/10??? I don't think so.

You can tell that this was not one of MGM's A List productions. No Liz Taylor, Edmund Gwenn, or Donald Crisp. Plus the story has been transferred to the pioneer days of the American west. The biggest recognizable star in the film besides Lassie herself (actually himself, since Lassie was played by Pal, a male dog) is Paul Kelly as an old prospector and Shep's (Lassie's) owner, and Mr. Kelly is practically unrecognizable. He's only 52 at this point, but he's donned up in whiskers and makeup that make him look like a thin version of Santa Claus. His hands clearly show he is not as old as the role he is playing.

This Lassie story is a bit different, besides just the move from Scotland. Lassie usually plays the passive lovable dog waiting for the good-hearted yet hard-headed Scots that are to decide her fate to come to their senses. Here Lassie has a more Clint Eastwood-like aggressive posture towards the man who killed her master for his gold and attempted to poison her and goes full fang on the guy at every opportunity producing a very ironic and just ending. By the way who names a female dog "Shep" anyways??? Paul Kelly is good as the prospector and master of Shep/Lassie except it is clear that he doesn't trust his partner, begging the question, why did he make this obviously nefarious fellow a partner in the first place? Bruce Cowling is absolutely awful as the villainous partner. He has a demeanor that would be better suited to a B scifi film of the 50's rather than this action adventure film. He is always looking up and around with a horrified expression on his face as though he expects an alien spacecraft to land at any moment. Gary Gray gives a good but not great juvenile performance as the murdered prospector's grandson - I didn't find him whiny at all. Native Americans are hammily and stereotypically portrayed, but at least they show them as seeming to be the only people for 100 miles around who know anything about veterinary medicine, even if one good stereotype doesn't wipe out the negative ones.

If you like or love the other Lassie films I'd say give this one a try. It's not boring and most of the film is focused on Lassie.

Lassie in the Painted Hills is remembered as part of the long-running Lassie legacy, not because the film itself is particularly groundbreaking, but because of the cultural icon at its center. Lassie wasn't just a dog on screen-by the time this film came out, the character had already been immortalized as the heroic collie who could outsmart danger, rescue humans, and serve as the ultimate symbol of loyalty and courage. In that sense, this movie didn't need to reinvent the wheel-it just needed to let Lassie shine.

Watching it now, with a more critical eye as an adult, I found myself noticing things that slipped past me when I was younger. Lassie is portrayed as this super-intelligent animal capable of almost human-like reasoning, but in reality, the film relies heavily on clever editing and convenient framing. The dog itself wasn't always performing these grand feats; instead, it was the director and editors splicing together shots to give the illusion of Lassie doing far more than what was actually happening. That doesn't take away from the character's legacy, but it does highlight how much of the magic came from behind the camera rather than the animal itself.

That said, the Painted Hills setting adds a nice visual layer, grounding the story in a rugged, frontier-like atmosphere. The plot-revolving around betrayal, greed, and justice-feels like a simple morality tale where Lassie is the ultimate force of good against human corruption. The human actors do their job, but let's be honest: nobody is tuning in for them. This is Lassie's show through and through, and the filmmakers knew that.

But even with that being said, they are classic films that just last forever-they're going to sit in the cinematic archive no matter what. They aren't movies you run back to revisit often, because some of them are admittedly rough to watch, but they're still iconic nonetheless. I sometimes feel like screenplays back then were just scribbled on a piece of paper, and suddenly you had a finished film. There are plenty of plot holes and a lot of misdirection-not the clever kind, but the kind that makes you wonder if the writers forgot what they were even talking about.

Personally, I feel like this movie is okay. It's iconic because of Lassie, but I don't think it was a great film overall. It exists more than it thrives. That said, I still enjoyed it because I love Lassie and the little back-and-forth moments sprinkled in. What surprised me, though, was how little Lassie was actually featured-this was supposed to be her movie, yet she almost takes a backseat to the human characters. That was a bit of a letdown. Ultimately, I love Lassie, and I appreciate The Painted Hills for what it is, but at the end of the day, it's just okay.

A Lassie movie which should have been "put to sleep".... FOREVER. That's how I'd describe this painfully dreary time-waster of a film. So mediocre in every aspect that it just becomes a dull, uninteresting mess, this is one of the most forgettable movies I've seen. It isn't even an achievement as a "so-bad-it's-good" or "so-bad-it's-memorable" movie. The idea of Lassie turning bad is intriguing but so little actually happens, and so slowly, that you feel your life slipping away while sitting there, watching the non-actors read their lines off cue cards waiting for their measly paychecks.

It's an empty, hollow shell of a movie. Seriously, it's not worth wasting your, or your kid's time on. Unless you're both heavily medicated. That's all I have to say.

Avoid, avoid, avoid! It will drive you barking mad! Hahahah, get it? BARKING! Hahahahahahaha!

Sorry, I've had a rough week.

The lovely Collie Lassie after 10 movies and Series on 17 seasons conquered the American's hearts with her natural skills and fearless action to uphold her beloved owner, in The Painted Hills due the tragic outcome with the greedy man who killed his master, mostly of bad reviewers and low ratings gave by large majority due the dog revenge given a bad reputation of the movie despite the picture had many qualities on those breathtaking rocky mountains landscape and an exciting story as well.

The older prospector Jonathan Harvey (Paul Kelly) at last find out a clue where the lodestone in up river on high rocky mountains always escorted by his intrepid female Collie Shep (Lassie) he turns back to the city to warn his old partner about the finding, for his astonishment his partner already died steeply, thus the grieving widow Martha Black (Ann Doran) appoints his friend Lin Taylor (Bruce Cowling) a newest partner in order to replace his late husband on his share on gold prospecting, Martha has a little boy Tommy Blake (Gary Gray) that is invited Jonathan to work with them, soon they find a lot of gold thru the fast mining process, however the wiser Jonathan realizes that Lin Taylor is under extreme distress due he will keep with one quarter of gold only.

Jonathan thinking in advance stealthy order to Tommy returns to town and deliver to your mother the map to register officially the mining area on exactly location described in the letter, meanwhile the bleak Lin Taylor sets a plan to kill Jonathan as it was a mere accident, all this witnessed by the keeper Sheep, aftermaths perceiving the abrupt change of behavior of Sheep, then Lin Taylor poison his food, the local Indians got help the dying dog trying save her life, Tommy arrives and soon figures out all about the missing Jonathan and the poisoned Sheep, to worsen the large amount of gold stored in beneath of the wooden floor disappeared from the little cabin.

In my point of view this picture is highly underrated, a true gorgeous landscape on those high snowy rocky mountain, the rapids on the clean waters river, dense forest, attached with a moving storyline and the special skilled and stunning performance by the cross-trained marvelous Lassie, said that I'm very upset to see this valuable family movie in lowest rating.

Thanks for reading.

Resume:

First watch: 1981 / How many: 3 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 7.

Occasionally, the reviews of movies are much worse than the movie, and this is one of those occasions, bec, to view any animal movie from an anthropomorphic pov is just plain silly. Great acting isn't really an option. It's just a sappy animal movie, the Lassie name is just a 'trademark', and there were many Lassies, male and female, bec one dog can't do all behaviors, and that's about all that can be said. So, as for Pal's acting, if it was all his, it was very well done, esp the 1st attack scene, and esp for a Collie. And for kids of x age; they'd love it. Transformers: Age of Extinction - Great effects, giving the Asian Tran a stereotypical accent was as bad as tha Anerinds'