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Poster for The Naked Hills (1956)

The Naked Hills (1956)

1956 · Feature film · 75 min · dir. Josef Shaftel

  • Western
Watch now On the Internet Archive

Synopsis

Tracy Powell, an Indiana farmer, gets the gold fever and heads for Stockton, California in 1849. There, he abandons his first partner, Bert Killian, and teams up with Sam Wilkins, a claim jumper employed by Willis Haver. Six years later, Powell returns to Indiana and his sweetheart, Julie. They marry and he tries farming again but, on the night their son is born, he takes off again searching for gold. This time he heads for the hills with an inveterate prospector, Jimmo McCann. A decade later, the two are still hunting for their big strike when McCann is killed in an accident. Powell returns home with news of a big strike but the deserted Julie will have nothing to do with him. His friend Killian will not believe him but Haver, now a banker gives him a small loan and then beats him out of his claim. Many years pass before he comes home, now sixty-years-old, and this time, his wife and son open their home to him. But he vows to go prospecting come next spring.

Synopsis from TMDb

Details

Director
Josef Shaftel
Writer
Josef Shaftel
Composer
Herschel Burke Gilbert
Cinematography
Frederick Gately
Studio
Allied Artists Pictures, La Salle Productions
Released
1956-06-17
Running time
75 minutes
Language
English
Collection
Feature Films

Subjects on the Internet Archive

Cast & crew

Reviews on the Internet Archive

★★★★ · Pretty good · kareneliot · 2010-11-06

I really need to review movies right after I watch them... I viewed this a few days ago and can't remember much except that I enjoyed it, and thought Jim Backus (Mr. Thurston Howell, the III from Gilligan's Island) was great as a bad guy. It kept my interest and I was entertained. I recall the story moved along ok, and the characters were all pretty decently acted. I was impressed by the over-all feeling of what "Gold Fever" must have been like. Very well done.

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