Partners Tracy Powell (David Wayne) and Bert Killian (Denver Pyle) head into the hills with gold fever, only to discover that a day’s digging might buy them one meal.
Bert quickly tires of mining, opens a business in the nearby town and settles down.
Tracy ties in with Willis Haver (Jim Backus) and Sam Wilkins (Keenan Wynn), who seem to have figured out how to make a fortune. Their secret: Claim jumping.
When he learns he’s viewed as nothing more than a hired hand, Tracy strikes out on his own.
Twice, he thinks he’s hit it big. Both times, Haver turns up to dash his hopes. Mining is big business now; prospectors might find gold, but it’s the syndicates that run the mines and turn the big profit.
Meanwhile, a patient woman named Julie waits for Tracy to tire of his chase for gold. She convinces him to marry and settle down for a while; they even have a son.
Then Jimmo McCann lures him away all over again, with the promise of the most lucrative gold strike of them all.
David Wayne as Tracy Powell, a man stricken by gold fever in The Naked Hills (1956)
Jim Backus as Willis Haver, a man who’s figured out how to get rich without hunting gold in The Naked Hills (1956)
Review:
Surprisingly effective low-budget film, told flashback style by Tracy’s original partner Bert, the man who helps finance Tracy’s search for gold more than once until he begins to sympathize with Julie more than his friend.
You keep hoping David Wayne’s character will come to his senses at some point during the film. And he keeps disappointing the viewer and his movie family, which also includes a growing son named Billy.
James Barton sings the title tune that sums up the story so well and also has the role of an old prospector who lures Tracy back into the hills, only to have disaster strike just when they think they’ve struck it rich.
Denver Pyle as Bert Killian, a good friend denying Tracy Powell yet another grubstake in the Naked Hills (1956)
Marcia Henderson as Julie, a long-suffering wife tired of her husband spending a lifetime in the hills searching for gold in The Naked Hills (1956)
Directed by:
Josef Shaftel
Cast:
David Wayne … Tracy Powell
Keenan Wynn … Sam Wilkins
James Barton … Jimmo McCann
Marcia Henderson … Julie
Jim Backus … Willis Haver
Denver Pyle … Bert Killian
Myrna Dell … Aggie
Lewis L. Russell … Baxter
Frank Fenton … Harold
Christopher Olsen … Billy as a boy
Steven Terrell … Billy as a young man
Runtime: 72 min.
Title tune: “The Four Season”
Performed by James Barton
James Barton as Jimmo McCann, the aging miner who convinces Tracy Powell to head for the hills one more time in The Naked Hills (1956)
Keenan Wynn as Sam Wilkins, Haver’s right-hand man in cheating folks out of their gold in The Naked Hills (1956)
Memorable lines:
From the opening: “They called it Hell Fever. It made more paupers than millionaires. It built towns of shocking evil. It turned men into animals!”
Tracy Powell: “I wasn’t figurin’ on no claim jumpin’.”
Sam Wilkins: “You can’t have a weak stomach and get rich.”
Sam Wilkins: “Out here, there ain’t no rest ceptin’ Sundays, cause some of us are scared of the Lord and the others need at least one day to do some real drinkin’.”
Bert: “You got a (gold) sickness, Tracy. Can’t you see it? You got a sickness. And you’ll either die from it or you’ll end up partners with the devil. There ain’t no in between.”
Tracy: “Then you and me better have a drink. Because you’re lookin’ at a man that’s figurin’ on goin’ straight to the devil.”
Marcia Henderson as Julie, urging Tracy Powell (David Wayne) to show some patience with ranching in The Naked Hills (1956)
Christopher Olsen as young Billy, the son Tracy Powell abandons in his quest for gold in The Naked Hills (1956)
Steven Terrell as Billy, Tracy Powell’s son, begging his dad to come home for a while in The Naked Hills (1956)
David Wayne as Tracy Powell, threatening Haver (Jim Backus) when he thinks he’s been cheated again in The Naked Hills (1956)
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