These Thousand Hills (1959)

By CinemaSerf

Though let down by a rather lacklustre cast, this is still a better than average western based on the solid story of "Evans" (Don Murray) and his attempts to start a cattle ranch. He hasn't two pennies to rub together, but is a decent cove whom, together with his gal "Callie" (Lee Remick), wants to do things properly. He and his friend "Ping" (Stuart Whitman) go trapping for valuable hides, but the harshness of the winter causes them to fall out and Evans to leave their remote cabin. Luckily, his friend follows him and is on hand to save him from certain death at the hands of a gang who want his horse, and who shoot him. He recuperates and with the help of the life savings of "Callie" starts a rather rapid, and successful, rise through society until his name is touted as a potential state senator. This rise doesn't come without change, though - and he soon takes up with the wealthy "Joyce" (Patricia Owens), all in the name of acceptability. Meanwhile, he has always been a thorn in the side of "Jehu" (Richard Egan) who takes an opportunity to embroil "Evans" in an ambush which leads to a tragedy for his erstwhile pal "Ping" whilst also courting the now dumped "Callie". Things now come an head - and a somewhat muddy one at that with an ending that I found quite fitting. Richard Fleischer packs a lot into just 90 minutes. The story has much more substance than many with characterisations that illustrate greed, decency and integrity all set against the emergence of the "wild" west into something akin to civilisation - particularly as far as women are concerned. Maybe a stronger cast could have delivered this potent story better? Neither Egan nor Murray can impose themselves on the screen and in the end it was just a bit flat, but certainly till worth catching up with.