These Thousand Hills

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.

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.

I do agree with the other user's comments. While it was a treat to see the lush cinematography and beautiful landscape, two lovely redhead girls, and a behind-the-scenes look at a bygone era, this is one of those movies that leaves too much up in the air. You wonder whether Callie will be found not guilty at her trial, or whether the fistfight or Lat's seeing Callie will result in a hindrance to his professional or personal life. The film was OK as far as it went, but the filmed seemed to end halfway through.

Lat Evans (Don Murray) is an ambitious lonesome cowboy who is figuring on hanging around for a while in Fort Brock, Montana… He is a good name back home… He is out to make it mean something here… He saves some money and wants to buy a ranch… So he went to the bank to see about making a loan… But Marshal Conrad (Albert Dekker) can't afford to back gamblers… For him, it's too much of a risk… He advises Lat to get himself some security—a piece of land, a deed, something to put up—then they'll talk about a loan…

But Callie (Lee Remick), the dance hall girl, who is doing it to keep him with her, gave him her savings—with the promise to pay it back— to buy the ranch he wants…

Meantime another girl appears, the pretty Joyce (Patricia Owens)… She's the niece of the banker… Tidy, educated, she has been to college and all that… Of course Lat owes his start to Callie but he got to finish by himself… What he wants is a starched wife and a starched home and a starched reputation and Callie is spoiling his chances of getting it…

Murray is fine as the man with a future… He doubts if he goes in there his political chances are finished…

Lee Remick hasn't cared for anybody in such a long time… She's honest enough to say she's not worth risking anything for…

Richard Egan is the man who breaks his word, double-crosses his friends and beats up his woman…

Filmed in CinemaScope and color, this big-scale Western is very entertaining with enough action around