The Naked Hills main backdrop
The Naked Hills main poster

The Naked Hills

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4.6/10 • 10

1956-06-171h 12m

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.

Directors
Josef Shaftel
Editors
Gene Fowler Jr.

Top Billed Cast

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  1. David Wayne

    David Wayne

    Tracy Powell

  2. Keenan Wynn

    Keenan Wynn

    Sam Wilkins

  3. James Barton

    James Barton

    Jimmo McCann

  4. Marcia Henderson

    Marcia Henderson

    Julie

  5. Jim Backus

    Jim Backus

    Willis Haver

  6. Denver Pyle

    Denver Pyle

    Bert Killian / Narrator

  7. Myrna Dell

    Myrna Dell

    Aggie

  8. Lewis L. Russell

    Lewis L. Russell

    Baxter

  9. Frank Fenton

    Frank Fenton

    Harold

Reviews1

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John Chard Avatar

John Chard

Jul 7, 2014

4/10

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

Media

  • The Naked Hills poster
  • The Naked Hills poster
  • The Naked Hills poster
  • The Naked Hills poster

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
--
Revenue
--
Keywords
claimsweetheartclaim jumper