These Thousand Hills (1959)

Don Murray is “Lat” Evans, a young man who watched his dad go broke, all the while pretending faith and friends were more important than money. He’s determined not to make the same mistake.

Full of energy and ambition, he takes on two jobs — wrangler and bronc buster — on a cattle drive north, then spends the winter poisoning wolves for their pelts along with partner Tom Ping (Stuart Whitman) to earn extra cash. It’s dirty work, but it’s also a chance to earn quick money so he can start building a ranch as soon as possible.

Then Lat’s wounded tangling with Indians and loses all his pelts. And the bank won’t give him a loan because he has no collateral. A pretty saloon girl named Callie (Lee Remick) comes to his rescue. She nurses him back to health, then gives him the $2,000 he needs to buy his ranch.

After all, she loves him. And she finds him far preferable to a well-off businessman named Jehu (Richard Egan), who’s used to buying her nice things in return for her favors.

Once he has the ranch, Lat turns respectable, joining the school board, hanging out with town leaders, buying ever more cattle and aspiring to become a senator. He needs a respectable woman, too, so he marries the banker’s niece (Patricia Owens as Joyce).

In the process, he abandons Callie and turns his back on his Ping. He just might live to regret both decisions.

Don Murray as Lat Evans tells Callie about the future he’s planning, without her, in These Thousand Hills (1959)

Lee Remick as Callie, the saloon girl Lat Evans falls for in These Thousand Hills (1959)

Review:

Wonderful film, intelligent script, fine acting all around and one of the better Westerns from the late 1950s even though it’s not chock full of action and gunplay. And Remick’s beauty, in just her third credited film role, lights up the screen.

Egan comes off better as the villain of the piece than he ever did in his starring roles as the Western hero. The scene near the end of the film where he and Lat are playing cards after Callie has been beaten is one of the film’s most memorable.

So too is his confrontation with Callie when she’s waiting at home for Lat with a freshly baked cake — she’s even put his name on it — only to learn he’s spending his time at dinner with the town banker and his pretty niece.

The film was based on a best-selling 1956 novel by A.B. Guthrie Jr., who also wrote the script for “Shane” and the book on which 1967 film “The Way West” was based.

Richard Egan as Jehu, the saloon owner who makes money off pretty Callie in These Thousand Hills (1959)

Stuart Whitman as Tom Ping, the friend Lat Evans leaves behind in These Thousand Hills (1959)

Directed by:
Richard Fleisher

Cast:
Don Murray … ‘Lat’ Evans
Stuart Whitman … Tom Ping
Richard Egan … Jehu
Lee Remick … Callie
Patricia Owens … Joyce
Albert Dekker … Marshal Conrad
Harold J. Stone … Ram Butler
Royal Dano … Ike Carmichael
Jean Willes … Jen
Douglas Fowley … Whitey

Runtime: 96 min.

Title tune:
“These Thousand Hills”
sung by Randy Sparks

Patricia Owens as Joyce, the respectable woman Lat Evans marries in These Thousand Hills (1959)

Albert Dekker as Marshal Conrad, offering Lat Evans pointers on how to get ahead in These Thousand Hills (1959)

Memorable lines:

Lat Evans: “There must be a way to get rich without stealing.”
Tom Ping: “That’s what the man in the poor house said.”

Old man to Lat: “I’ll tell you, boy, it ain’t what you done spoils your sleep. It’s what you missed.”

Jehu, as Callie cradles wounded Lat: “You’ll get that fancy dress dirty.”
Callie: “I don’t care.”
Jehu: “I do. I bought it.”

Tom Ping, when a posse catches up with him: “Innocent? That depends on who he jury is. I’ll tell you a couple of things I ain’t guilty of. I ain’t prayed on Sunday and bought cows cheap on Monday. I ain’t broke my word. Ain’t climbed up high on somebody else’s back or thought of myself better than another man. I ain’t double-crossed a friend. Or made a little tin god out of money. Of course, I’m as innocent. I’m as innocent as you.”

Don Murray as Lat Evans, prevented from helping a friend by Jehu’s companions in These Thousand HIlls (1959)

Lee Remick as Callie, a saloon girl with a past falling for a handsome young Lat Evans in These Thousand Hills (1959)

Lee Remick as Callie offering Lat Evans the money he needs to start his ranch in These Thousand Hills (1959)

Don Murray as Lat Evans, getting a good look at the beating Callie has taken from Jehu in These Thousand Hills (1959)