The Naked Hills

Kind of an odd combination of stars from the 1950s. "Powell" is David Wayne, probably best known for "How to Marry a Millionaire". Jim Backus -- Thurston Howell III, of course. Denver Pyle was the old guy on Dukes of Hazzard tv show...he's the narrator, and part time character. Keenan Wynn is "Wilkins", the bad apple in the group. Everyone trying to get rich quick, out west. and everyone out for themselves! some similarities to "Treasure of the Sierra Madre", where they illustrate how gold fever slowly makes one go mad with greed. It's pretty good. so much fighting. and scheming by both Powell (Wayne) and Wilkins (Wynn). Directed and produced by Josef Shaftel. and this was the second of just TWO films directed by him.

Allied Artists the former Monogram Pictures of the Bowery Boys and the Bomba the Jungle Boy series occasionally did a film that had a certain amount of class despite the lack of budget. The Naked Hills is a western that starts in the California Gold Rush days about a man who has the gold fever real bad, maybe worse than Humphrey Bogart in The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre.

The lack of really big box office names in The Naked Hills makes it all the more real. David Wayne stars in this film as a man seized with the gold fever who is demon possessed with the idea of making that big strike, so much so that he abandons his wife Marcia Henderson and infant son who grows up to be Chris Olsen and later Steve Terrell.

There was a great line in The Oklahoma Kid where James Cagney opines that the strong take it away from the weak and the smart take it away from the strong. The strong here is Keenan Wynn, a claim jumper of no particular redeeming features and the smart is a crafty Jim Backus. You can almost see him as Thurston Howell the first. Could be that what we see here is how the Howell fortune was obtained and the bloodline kind of thinned over several generations until he and the Mrs. got caught up in that three hour tour.

Next to Wayne, Backus is who you will remember best from this film and this might be his best dramatic performance. For those of you who remember Mr. Magoo, Judge Bradley Stevens, and Thurston Howell and some other goofy comic parts this is the most serious film role Backus ever essayed. Even better than his part as James Dean's father in Rebel Without A Cause.

Narrating this story of Wayne's useless life is Denver Pyle who comes west with Wayne, makes a small stake and then starts a dry goods business. He is carrying a torch the Statue Of Liberty couldn't hold for Marcia Henderson. In many ways he's the most touching character in the film. And James Barton who originated the part of a hard rock miner starring in Paint Your Wagon on Broadway essentially takes that character over to The Naked Hills. Watch in the end how Wayne's character has morphed into Barton.

Most moving scene in the film is Wayne trying to nurse his dying mule back to health. He's so cut himself off from the world that the only living thing he has any relationship with is that pack animal. It's some of the best acting David Wayne did in his whole career.

Probably a large budget would not necessarily have helped The Naked Hills. But a solid cast and a wonderful story put this memorable film over. It will linger with you long after you've seen it.

'The Naked Hills' is an Allied Artists picture, and it follows the very distinctive format of that low-budget studio: at the very beginning of the movie, we see a clip of the most exciting scene in the picture, shown out of sequence as a teaser ... even though we don't yet know who these characters are, nor their relationships to each other. After this scene, the opening credits roll, and then the film proper begins. Eventually, we reach the teaser scene in the middle of the movie, at its proper point in the plot line ... at which point we sit through a verbatim repeat of this scene exactly as it ran in the teaser. Other Allied Artists films that use this structure are 'Indestructible Man' and cult favourite 'Attack of the 50-Foot Woman'. I really dislike this teaser structure: it always confuses the audience at the beginning of the film ... and when we reach the most exciting scene in the picture, we already know what will happen because we've seen it before. In 'The Naked Hills', the teaser scene is a violent confrontation between meek hero David Wayne and tough villains Jim Backus and Keenan Wynn.

'The Naked Hills' is a very low-key (and low-budget) western, extremely downbeat, with little emphasis on gunplay or the usual elements that appeal to horse-opera audiences. Wayne plays a family man obsessed with striking gold. He stakes a claim in the middle of the desert, which is his first mis-stake: any good prospector knows that the best place to look for gold is near running water, just as the best place to look for silver is above the timber line. Wayne incurs the anger of local tyrant Jim Backus. Backus was an underrated actor, now sadly remembered for 'Gilligan's Island' and Mr Magoo instead of for his dramatic roles. This film is the only one in which I've seen Backus play a villain, and he's excellent. Keenan Wynn is good too, as Backus's goon, but in Wynn's case the casting is no surprise.

The most pleasant aspect of 'The Naked Hills' comes during the opening credits, when James Barton sings a Western ballad. Barton was a Broadway star who never quite caught on in films; among his other stage roles, he starred in the musical 'Paint Your Wagon', in the role Lee Marvin did in the film. As a character type, Barton was similar to Walter Huston ... and had a similar singing voice.

SPOILERS COMING. 'The Naked Hills' has a very simple plot. Basically, family man Wayne gradually abandons every other aspect of his life in order to work a goldmine stake that shows absolutely no promise of ever striking gold. His wife and their son Billy plead with him to give up the mine and settle into a normal life with them. The end of the film is surprisingly downbeat: after years of following his obsession, during which son Billy has grown to manhood largely without a father, the defeated Wayne calls it quits. He gives up the mine, and rejoins his family. This is a very surprising ending for a Hollywood film. The clichés require that the obsessive hero must eventually be vindicated, finally striking gold. Failing this, he must die tragically. 'The Naked Hills' avoids those clichés in favour of a far more uncertain ending: the protagonist abandons his obsession, but we never learn if he goes on to a better life with his wife and son. This ending is the best, most original and most surprising aspect of 'The Naked Hills', which in all other ways is an extremely routine Western: slower, duller, less violent (and made on a much lower budget) than most. (Denver Pyle and Fuzzy Knight turn in precisely the same performances they've given in a hundred other sagebrush sagas.) For that courageous ending and the pleasant theme song - and the performances of Wayne, Wynn and especially Backus - I'll rate this movie 6 out of 10.

The Naked Hills is directed by Josef Shaftel, who also co-writes the screenplay with Helen S. Bilkie. It stars David Wayne, Keenan Wynn, James Barton, Marcia Henderson and Denver Pyle. Music is by Herschel Burke Gilbert and Pathecolor cinematography is by Frederick Gately.

1800s California and Tracy Powell (Wayne) is gripped by gold fever and deserts his friends and family to search the hills for the precious metal.

Very routine gold fever Oater that plays like a poor man's Treasure of the Sierra Madre. It spans decades as Powell lets the search for gold take over his life, while the background threads involving his partners, both romantically and gold seeking, make up the drama as he heads towards his day of destiny. An opportunity is wasted to really produce a psychologically strong film about an obsessive man who keeps failing, but Shaftel constantly resorts to formula fodder to tell his story and it hurts the piece. Cast are fine, especially Wayne, who gets a chance to be the lead man and delivers a performance of note in spite of the insipid screenplay. 4/10

Here is a nice little gem of a story that was out there all this time until I discovered it on TCM. Most excellent story-telling that uses 'gold" to capture and awaken the viewers emotions and wonder what it was like to mine for gold and start from scratch. There are many riches in the world and gold continues to have the allure especially when it was discovered and then mined for the first time. The idea of working hard to strike it rich is not far-fetched. People liked to work and wanted to work so why not work at finding gold? The thing is there were many working to take your hard work and claim it for themselves. Good movie to study human nature by. Greed! That's what does it to all! Here a man stays focused which is a good thing but then it turns into an obsession forsaking what is a true riches for the promise of earthly riches. The main character paid a steep price as did others to find out what the true riches are and were and will always be. This lesson goes on to this day and people still don't get it. It all stays here. Naked you come and naked you go so there must be a reason to be here. If it was just for gold etc., we would have known that deep reason by now. The movie brings the point home really nice. Some good moving scenes too. Reminds me of all the billionaires that have more money then they could ever possibly spend turning a blind eye and ear to those around them that could use a helping hand. What is the point of accumulating billions if not to spend it on worthy causes? Good movie to eat a snack and have a tasty drink while one reflects on it all. This is true story-telling as it is told by one man about another that went through life together. That be all of us...yes?