Le Trésor des collines rouges

...and it is treasured.

Cattle ranchers "Chalk" Reynolds (Barton MacLane) and Walt Payne (Charles Fredericks)have driven most of the small ranchers from the government range in the Ruby Hills country, and are fighting between them to get sole control.

Reynold's chief gunman is Frank Emmett (Lee Van Cleef) and Payne's hired gun is Jack Voyle (Gordon Jones), and while both are described as ruthless killers, the odds are high that Van Cleef could out-ruthless Jones six ways from Sunday.

And into the valley rides Ross Haney (Zachary Scott)who, being brighter than the warring-ranchers, has just bought the water rights to the range, a little legal step that Reynolds and Payne over-looked. Haney soon learns that a third faction is also out to control the valley; the Double V Ranch, owned by Robert Vernon (Rick Vallin) and his sister Sherry (Carole Mathews.) But, no big problem, as Sherry falls in love with Haney the minute she sees him, and is by his side when he is engaged in a gun-roaring showdown with all the other factions.

B-Western old-timer Raymond Hatton is on hand as Haney's partner, and former Warners' and Universal western star Dick Foran plays the crooked foreman of the Double-V.

There were worse ones made before...and a heck of a lot worse ones since, up to and including now.

Based on a Louis L'Amour novel this Allied Artists film Treasure Of Ruby Hills finds Zachary Scott playing a very lone hand in a range feud. Scott's after a study of the principal players in this area has staked out a claim to the stream where the water comes from. The two big cattle barons Charles Fredericks and Barton MacLane have put a lot of gunslingers on the payrolls and are doing a lot of promiscuous shooting against each other.

Stoking the feud is saloon owner Dick Foran and yet an owner of another spread Rick Vallin are hoping to control everything when Fredericks and MacLane kill each other off and do conveniently. But now that Scott's dealt himself in, that's something no one figured on.

L'Amour never wrote his western novels for kids and Scott is no Republic cowboy hero. Still he's the best thing that passes for a good guy in this story.

Western fans will definitely like this one.

It seemed odd seeing Zachary Scott in a western. After all, he was great playing oily villains in films such as "Mildred Pierce"...but not in westerns and not playing the good guy!

When the story begins, Ross Haney (Scott) arrives in a crappy western town. I say crappy because most of the locals have been driven away and two rivals are filling the town with gunman. The two just seem bent on killing each other. But what they don't realize is that someone is manipulating the situation....making the tension worse. But Haney hopes to prevent an all out war by buying up the local water rights that the pair are fighting over...and he plans on giving the water to everyone. How does all this work out? See the film.

This is a fair film with good cast. I say fair because there's really nothing that stands out in the film...good or bad. It's really the epitome of the term 'time-passer'!

Zachary Scott, the son of a gunslinger, doesn't want to end up like his old man or any of the other unchanged outlaws he spends his days with. So he comes up with a plan to clean up a town in trouble by registering a claim on the valley's only water supply, putting himself in the gun-sights of two rival land barons.

Based on a story by Louis L'Amour, Treasure Of Ruby Hills is one of those great little 1950's, black and white B-westerns that mixes in elements of tough-talking film-noir with the horses, hats, and six-shooters.

A smart script, with lots of twists and turns, definitely makes up for a lack of funds on the part of the producers.

Character actor Zachary Scott, who's usually cast as a heavy, is great in the lead.

There's also a small but juicy role for a young Lee Van Cleef as an ice-cold hired killer (what else?) who shot Scott's partner in the back. The final showdown between these two is short and sweet.