These Thousand Hills
| These Thousand Hills | |
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| Directed by | Richard Fleischer |
| Produced by | David Weisbart |
| Screenplay by | Alfred Hayes |
| Based on |
These Thousand Hills 1956 novel by A.B. Guthrie Jr. |
| Starring |
Don Murray Richard Egan Lee Remick Patricia Owens Stuart Whitman |
| Music by | Leigh Harline |
| Cinematography | Charles G. Clarke |
| Edited by | Hugh S. Fowler |
| Distributed by | Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation |
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Release date
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Running time
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96 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,645,000 |
These Thousand Hills is a 1959 Western film starring Don Murray, Lee Remick, Stuart Whitman, Patricia Owens, Alfred Hayes and Richard Egan, and based on the novel of the same name by A. B. Guthrie Jr.. It was directed by Richard Fleischer.
The movie is about a sheltered rancher brought up under the stern gaze of his Bible-thumping father.
Albert Gallatin "Lat" Evans (Don Murray), an earnest young cowboy determined to better his situation, wins a job with a cattle drive by busting a wild horse. Befriended by cowhand Tom Ping (Stuart Whitman}, Lat fantasizes about owning his own ranch and being rich one day, unlike his father, who died "broke, a failure." When the drive reaches a small Wyoming town, the cowboys congregate at the saloon, where Jehu (Richard Egan), an unscrupulous rancher, proposes racing one of their horses against his swift steed. Lat accepts the challenge, and is in the lead when his opponent throws a blanket at his face, causing Lat to lose his balance and fall from his horse. Marshal Conrad (Albert Dekker), the town's upstanding banker, intervenes, however, and declares Lat the winner.
That night, Tom and Lat celebrate with saloon girls Jen (Jean Willes) and Callie (Lee Remick). With their winnings, they decide to leave the cattle drive and hunt wolves for their hides. After bidding his cowhand friends goodbye, Lat, feeling melancholy, gets drunk and visits Callie. When Lat recalls a traumatic incident from his childhood in which his father beat him for being alone with a girl in the woodshed, Callie feels empathy.
Restless and impatient to become successful, Lat asks Conrad for a loan to buy a ranch. After Conrad turns him down, Callie gives Lat her life savings to buy a piece of land, which he then uses as collateral for a loan from Conrad to purchase a herd of cattle. Lat makes Tom a partner in the venture, and after a hard winter, Lat prospers while the other ranchers falter, since he grew hay in the low lands to feed hay to the cattle in the winter.
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