The Naked Hills
Release date: 1956-06-17
Votes: 10
Genres: Western
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.
Reviews
John Chard
Gold Discovered In California. 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
Movie Recommendation
Return of the Seven1966-10-19Chico, one of the remaining members of The Magnificent Seven, now lives in the town that they (The Seven) helped. One day someone comes and takes most of the men prisoner. His wife seeks out Chris, the leader of The Seven for help. Chris also meets Vin another member of The Seven. They find four other men and they go to help Chico.More...
The Trouble with Harry1955-10-03When a local man's corpse appears on a nearby hillside, no one is quite sure what happened to him. Many of the town's residents secretly wonder if they are responsible, including the man's ex-wife, Jennifer, and Capt. Albert Wiles, a retired seaman who was hunting in the woods where the body was found. As the no-nonsense sheriff gets involved and local artist Sam Marlowe offers his help, the community slowly unravels the mystery.More...
Broadway Danny Rose1984-01-27A hapless talent manager named Danny Rose, by helping a client, gets dragged into a love triangle involving the mob. His story is told in flashback, an anecdote shared amongst a group of comedians over lunch at New York's Carnegie Deli. Rose's one-man talent agency represents countless incompetent entertainers, including a one-legged tap dancer, and one slightly talented one: washed-up lounge singer Lou Canova, whose career is on the rebound.More...
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood1988-05-13Tina Shepard, a telekinetic teenage girl, accidentally unchains Jason from his watery grave, allowing him to go on another killing spree in the area.More...
Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam2002-05-24Radha and Suraj have been friends since childhood. Gopal has been in love with Radha ever since they spent a few years together as kids. Years later, Gopal's guardian proposes to Radha a marriage with Gopal, and she accepts.More...
Cops and Robbers1951-11-29Esposito is a thief who cons tourists in Rome. Officer Bottoni manages to catch him and starts persecuting him. When Esposito manages to flee, Bottoni's superiors inform him that he'll lose his job if he can't catch Esposito.More...
Belle de Jour1967-05-24Beautiful young housewife Séverine Serizy cannot reconcile her masochistic fantasies with her everyday life alongside dutiful husband Pierre. When her lovestruck friend Henri mentions a secretive high-class brothel run by Madame Anais, Séverine begins to work there during the day under the name Belle de Jour. But when one of her clients grows possessive, she must try to go back to her normal life.More...
Branded to Kill1967-06-15After botching his latest assignment, a third-ranked Japanese hit man becomes the target of another assassin.More...
The Astronomer's Dream1898-01-01An astronomer has a terrifying dream.More...
Stage Fright1950-02-23A struggling actress tries to help a friend prove his innocence when he's accused of murdering the husband of a high-society entertainer.More...
Welcome2007-12-21Dubai-based criminal don Uday takes it upon himself to try and get his half-sister Sanjana married - in vain, as no one wants to be associated with a crime family. Uday's associate and best friend Majnu finds a well to do, nice young man, Rajiv, who lives with his maternal uncle and aunt - Dr. and Mrs. Ghunghroo. Through extortion he compels the Ghunghroos to accept this matrimonial alliance. With no escape from this predicament, the wedding is planned, with hilarious consequences.More...
Marriage Story2019-09-28A stage director and an actress struggle through a grueling, coast-to-coast divorce that pushes them to their personal extremes.More...
The Wrong Man1956-12-22In 1953, an innocent man named Christopher Emmanuel "Manny" Balestrero is arrested after being mistaken for an armed robber.More...
Woman in the Dunes1964-02-15A vacationing entomologist suffers extreme physical and psychological trauma after being taken captive by the residents of a poor seaside village and made to live with a woman whose life task is shoveling sand for them.More...
The Apartment1960-06-21Bud Baxter is a minor clerk in a huge New York insurance company, until he discovers a quick way to climb the corporate ladder. He lends out his apartment to the executives as a place to take their mistresses. Although he often has to deal with the aftermath of their visits, one night he's left with a major problem to solve.More...
The Devil, Probably1977-06-15Charles drifts through politics, religion and psychoanalysis, rejecting them all. Once he realises the depth of his disgust with the moral and physical decline of the society he lives in, he decides that suicide is the only option...More...
High Sierra1941-01-23Given a pardon from jail, Roy Earle gets back into the swing of things as he robs a swanky resort.More...
Comidark Films: In Between2019-10-18Working in a ferry as a waiter, Ayzek, having a defect with his front teeth, dreams to get his front teeth fixed and to marry his girlfriend, Songül. The news gets out that the ferry company is turning over the management to a new one and the whole crew is to be interviewed. When the interviewer arrives on board, Ayzek’s world is turned upside down.More...
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving1973-11-20Turkey, cranberries, pumpkin pie... and the Peanuts gang to share them with. This is going to be the greatest Thanksgiving ever! The fun begins when Peppermint Patty invites herself and her pals to Charlie Brown's house for a REALLY big turkey party. Good grief! All our hero can cook is cold cereal and maybe toast. Is Charlie Brown doomed? Not when Linus, Snoopy and Woodstock chip in to save the (Thanksgiving) Day. With such good friends, Charlie Brown - and all of us - have so many reasons to be thankful.More...
Mia madre2015-04-16Margherita, a director in the middle of an existential crisis, has to deal with the inevitable and still unacceptable loss of her mother.More...
Similar Movies
The Silent Man
1917-11-26A hard-working prospector enters the town of Bakeoven to stake his claim, only to have his rights stolen and his face on "Wanted" posters. He plans reprisal.Back Trail
1948-07-18Back Trail is one of the livelier entries in Monogram's Johnny Mack Brown western series. Brown rides into a small town where he becomes embroiled in a blackmail scheme. The town's banker (Ted Adams), a pillar of respectability, once served a jail term. Outlaw leader Pierce Lyden threatens to reveal Adams' secret if the banker doesn't let him know in advance when the gold shipments are going through. Adams tearfully tells Brown the whole story, whereupon Johnny rides shotgun on the next shipment himself. Back Trail was one of the last films directed by workhorse Christy Cabanne, whose career stretched all the way back to the D.W. Griffith days.The Duel at Silver Cr...
1952-09-05When a gang of ruthless claim jumpers brutally murders his miner father, a gunman known as the Silver Kid joins forces with the local marshal to free the tiny town of Silver City from the clutches of the dastardly villains.The Persuader
1957-05-04In one of his rare movie starring assignments, William Talman (Hamilton Burger on TV's Perry Mason) plays a dual role in The Persuader. Talman is seen as gunslinger Matt Bonham and his twin brother, preacher Mark Bonham. When Mark is killed by outlaw leader Bick Justin (James Craig), Matt takes his brother's place in the pulpit, ramming the Fear of God down the throats of the wanton townspeople. Impressed by Bonham's courage, the townsfolk begin to follow the straight and narrow path.Cassidy of Bar 20
1938-02-25Hopalong Cassidy, boss of the Bar 20 ranch in Texas, rides down the Camino Real in the New Mexico cattle country near Alamogordo, in response to an urgent message from his lifelong sweetheart, Nora Blake, who is in serious trouble. Before he and his saddlemates, "Lucky" Jenkins and "Pappy", can reach her ranch, they are stopped by Clay Allison, a cattle-rustler who is in almost complete control of the district, and wants to extend his holdings by seizing Nora's cattle and driving her out. Seeing Cassidy as a menace to his plans, he has him arrested on a trumped-up charge. Cassidy and his pals shoot their way out of the trouble and reach Nora;s ranch where they learn that Allison's henchmen have murdered her foreman, Tom Dillon, and Allison has sent for a crew of outlaws on the Texas border.Clash of the Wolves
1925-11-17A fire in the mountains drives a wolf pack into the nearby desert where they terrorize the local residents. The leader of the wolf pack is Lobo, actually a halfbreed (Rin Tin Tin). When the pack is discovered hunting a herd of cows, a posse gives chase. Lobo leaves his pack to lead the posse away. He is injured and found by a local prospector, Dave Weston (Charles Farrell). The prospector nurses Lobo back to health and the two become close friends. Meanwhile, Weston has made a Borax find in the area. His girlfriend May Barstowe (June Marlowe), daughter of a wealthy rancher, is pleased. However, the local chemist, Borax Horton (Pat Hartigan), actually a claim jumper, plans to steal the claim.Lawless Valley
1938-11-03After doing time for a crime he didn't commit, a cowboy tries to find the men who framed him.Flap
1970-11-13Comedy based on the plight of modern Native Americans living on reservations.Alaska
1944-11-18A man who has been framed on a murder charge is placed in the custody of a crooked U.S. marshal, who is secretly running a murderous claim-jumping gang.The Topeka Terror
1945-01-26The Topeka Terror is a western film of 1945 directed by Howard Bretherton. The land-rush opening of the Cherokee Strip brings in its wake a scattering of outlaws and claim jumpers. Among these is a crooked promoter. Trent Parker (Frank Jacquet), and his henchmen who plan a huge swindle by compiling falsified reports, putting the claims of honest settlers into the names of various henchmen. Clay Stevens (Allan Lane), a government agent posing as a drifting cowhand, advises the settlers to organize their resistance. Ben Jode (Roy Barcroft), the gang leader, runs for sheriff so he can gain full control of the town.Frontier Vengeance
1940-10-10Jim Sanders (Don 'Red' Barry), young cowboy, returns to his hometown for a reunion with his boyhood friend Clay Blackburn (George Offerman Jr.). Once there he learns that Clay's father, Frank Blackburn (Ivan Miller), is the unscrupulous proprietor of a stagecoach line and is out to bankrupt the line run by Joel Hunter (Griff Barnett' ), the father of Jim's sweetheart Ruth Hunter (Betty Moran). Jim is forced to lead the fight against his best friend.Bad Men of Tombstone
1949-01-21A marshal goes up against a collection of vicious outlaws terrorizing his own.Sierra Stranger
1957-05-01A prospector becomes a small town outcast after he rescues a man about to be lynched.Battle of Greed
1937-01-04When silver is found in Virginia City, Lawyer John Storm leads a group from Indiana west. He soon has to defend them all in court against a company that is after their claims. Fighting a crooked Judge, he gets a mis-trial by telling how much each of the jurors was bribed. Then he gets the Governor to appoint a new Judge. But just as the retrial opens, the Judge learns his daughter has been kidnaped.Fighting Thru
1930-12-25Dan and Tennessee are successful gold miners. Ace Brady learns of their success and sends Fox to rob them. During the robbery Fox shoots Tennessee and Ace arrives to arrest Dan for the murder. Dan escapes but is now a wanted man.Frontier Crusader
1940-06-14A marshal is sent to clean up a mining town being terrorized by an organized gang that is killing miners and stealing their claims.The Jury's Secret
1938-01-16A reporter covering a murder trial guesses that the murderer of a ruthless businessman is her ex-fiancé and persuades him to confess and clear the innocent man on trial.Love, Honor and Oh-Ba...
1940-06-07In despair after breaking up with his girlfriend, a man hires a thug he has never seen to kill him. However, he changes his mind when he falls in love with another woman--but he can't stop the man trying to kill him because he doesn't know who he is.Little Johnny Jones
1929-11-17Little Johnny Jones is a jockey who is in love with his all-American sweetheart, Mary Baker, and also his career as the rider of thoroughbred horses. But he almost loses both when he is tricked by a showgirl, Vivian Dale. His story of vindication swings from the racetracks of America to England and the historical National Derby, with plenty of red-white-and-blue bunting waving behind the little patriot.Below the Deadline
1946-08-03A veteran, Joe Hilton, returns from the war to find that his brother Jeffrey Hilton, a gangster, has been killed. His quest for revenge leads him to take over his brother's illegal operations but his sweetheart, Lynn Turner, persuades him to change his ways and return to the straight and narrow.