ma-cortes
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 .
inspectors71
On the cheesy, moralistic front, there's Richard Fleischer's These Thousand Hills, an almost-grown up oater with Don Murray, Lee Remick, Richard Egan, and Stuart Whitman. Murray is a young cowpuncher who wants to hit it big ranching in Montana. Unfortunately he's too damned handsome and Wonder Bready for my tastes and he gets started growing awfully big for his britches, especially after he borrows stake money from the only prostitute in town who doesn't look like a 50s movie tramp (that's the always luminescent Remick we're talking about here). Murray proceeds to torque off or become a political pawn to just about everyone in town.Except the reptilian Egan, an actor I love to watch because he oozes a sort of John Huston in Chinatown vibe. I guess he doesn't like Murray because he sees a shred of good in him.Anyway, you'll notice just how nearly raunchy the plot is. Murray and Remick have s-x, and it's really obvious because he looks happy, gazing off at the wallpaper and she brushes her hair, staring off at how many brushes she's up to. There's talk of tramps, political chicanery, somebody getting a bullet through his face, and after Murray grows a pair but before he settles a score with Egan, we dopes in the audience are reminded--using reverse-psychology--that the establishment's morality is pretty-well fubar. Almost, almost edgy stuff there. Remember, 1959 wasn't that long before the end of the Production Code, and Hoary-wood was experimenting with heroes that weren't squeaky-clean. It was interesting watching how immoral our hero becomes before he pulls his head out. I can just see Joe and Jane Suburbia, going with the kiddies to the movies, and walking out in a kerfluff over how dirty These Thousand Hills was. I personally thought it was quaint, cheesy, and morality-wins-uber-alles, which, believe it or not, made this reject from the Lifetime Movie Network actually satisfying.Plus, the scenery was pretty and Remick, with a split lip and blackened eyes (guess who did that to her, folks!) is still breathtaking.
jjnxn-1
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.
Nazi_Fighter_David
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 securitya piece of land, a deed, something to put upthen 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 savingswith 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