Home from the Hill (1960)

A different way of telling a story

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

This big sprawling beautifully shot epic drama with credible acting features early performances by two young actors (with the same first name) that would go on to make names for themselves - George Peppard and George Hamilton. It was directed by Vincente Minnelli and features a screenplay by Harriet Frank Jr. and Irving Ravetch that recalls their later, Academy Award nominated effort Hud (1963), though this film's screenplay was based on a William Humphrey novel.The story's about a hunter dubbed Captain, Wade Hunnicutt (Robert Mitchum), who owns most of the land and a significant chunk of a rural Texas community such that he's able to do what he pleases. However, his extramarital exploits have powerfully affected, and continue to influence his relationship with his wife Hannah (Eleanor Parker) and his two sons: the illegitimate one he allows to live on his vast property, Raphael 'Rafe' Copley (Peppard), and the one he had with Hannah, Theron (Hamilton), who thinks he's an only son until half way through the drama.As is later revealed, when Wade and Hannah returned home from their European honeymoon cruise, five year old Rafe was there with his mother, the boy being the product of an earlier dalliance by Wade. Hannah was so enraged that she cut off marital relations with her husband. Since she was already pregnant, she stayed; when she gave birth to a son, Wade promised her that she could raise Theron without interference if she'd continue to live under the same roof. He also refused to publicly recognize Rafe as his son, though he allowed the young man to live on his acreage when his mother died. Over the years, Rafe became the Captain's keeper of sorts, a hunting buddy that would retrieve the old man from various places after his affairs and/or drunken binges. Once Theron turned seventeen, Wade was ashamed of his mamma's boy that could be fooled into going on an all-night snipe hunt by local men (Denver Pyle, Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams and others, uncredited) that looked up to the Captain, their landlord. Wade decided it was time to make a man out of Theron, that the boy was his too. He delivered this speech to his son:"I had something from my father that his father gave to him, I'm gonna give it to you. It's late, but it's not too late. You know, one of these days I'm gonna die Theron. You're gonna come into 40,000 acres of land: cotton, beef, goats, timber ... takes a special kind of man to handle that. Kind of man that walks around with nothing in his pockets, no identification because everyone knows who you are. No cash because anyone in town would be happy to lend you anything you need. No keys 'cause you don't keep a lock on a single thing you own. And no watch because time waits on you. What I'm saying is you're gonna have to stand up and be counted. You're gonna be known in these parts as a man, or as a momma's boy."Wade then asked Rafe to teach Theron how to shoot and hunt and the two became close like the half brothers they were, though Theron was still unawares of the blood relationship. Theron was also clueless about his father's womanizing reputation, so he is stunned by the harsh negative reaction of a local merchant, Albert Halstead (Everett Sloane), whose daughter Libby (Luana Patten) he wants to date. In time, Theron learns these truths and is outraged by them both. The first causes him to move out and get a job in a cotton packing plant, promising his father to return only when he recognizes Rafe as his son and heir. The realization of his parents situation causes him to discard his relationship with Libby shortly after their "first time" and swear off marriage. But there's a symmetry to the story, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, Libby got pregnant by Theron but doesn't tell him, refusing to "throw herself" at him. Rafe then bails Wade's son out by marrying Libby and legitimizing her son. Later, it's clear that they'll live happily ever after.Unaware that Libby's son is his own, Theron eyes his friends' marriage enviously. He'd moved back home because of his mother's failing health per his absence, but his sullen listless daily life brings his parents together. They discuss their lives, admit their mistakes to one another - this includes his straying induced by her locked bedroom and their mutual bad parenting - and agree to attempt a reconciliation for their son's sake. After making plans to start over with another European cruise, Hannah leaves Wade's office in hopeful spirits. As he's having a drink to celebrate their pending future, Wade is shot by an unseen person (the film had begun with Rafe saving Wade from a fatal shot by an irate 4-month married husband; Ray Teal plays the family physician). Butler Chauncey (Ken Renard), who'd apparently filled Rafe's role earlier in the Captain's life, bends over Wade's body while Hannah is in shock. Theron rushes to get Rafe, per his father's request, and then fights his brother to pursue the killer. He catches up to the man and shoots him (in what could later be called self defense). It's Albert, who'd earlier heard gossip among Wade's friends that had made him believe that the Captain was responsible for his daughter's child, per its familiar appearance. Albert had earlier tried to extort a shotgun wedding for Libby with Theron when he'd believed Wade's son was the responsible party. Theron decides to leave town. In the final scene, Hannah shows Rafe that Wade's headstone recognizes both sons; Rafe had apparently visited Hannah regularly when she'd broken down after Wade's death.

Robert Mitchum is a rich and powerful man. He's also a 'man's man'--tough, adventurous, a great hunter and one who likes to lead a manly life. However, he also has the morals of a sewer rat--and frequently sleeps with women--even though he's married (to Eleanor Parker). As a result, their marriage is VERY strained and they are distant. They have a son (George Hamilton) and the parents both want to shape him into their sort of man. As for Hamilton, he desperately wants to be respected by his father and be the manly sort. He has no idea what sort of reprobate his father is--that is, until he asks out a nice girl and her father flatly refuses to allow this. The pair decide to start dating on the sly.As Hamilton is molded into a man like his father, he's told by his father to be mentored by one of his most trusted employees (George Peppard). Eventually, however, Hamilton learns that this 'employee' is actually his dad's illegitimate son as well what sort of man his father really is--and it sends him off the deep end. When his girlfriend becomes pregnant, what sort of man will Hamilton turn out to be? And, what will become of this rich but no account family? And what about George Peppard--what about him?! This is a glossy soap opera, though it may not appear so when it begins. In many ways, it's in the same tradition as "Peyton Place" and "A Summer Place"--enjoyable, glossy, very well-acted and a bit trashy--but mostly enjoyable. It ended very well--very, very well. And, the film has a lot to say about what it means to be a man...a REAL man.

Southeast Texas game-hunter, a married man with a reputation for womanizing, wants to get a hunting rifle into the hands of his son, whom he fears is becoming a mama's boy; meanwhile, a young, swaggering associate of the hunter teaches the mild-mannered lad about girls. In the earliest portions of "Home from the Hill", director Vincente Minnelli nearly reconstructs a rural variation on "Tea and Sympathy" (which he also directed); after a muddled, melodramatic opening, the film becomes less a coming-of-age story than a tale of family secrets revealed, and the second-half of the picture is surprisingly serious and bracing (though rendered in typically glossy M-G-M fashion). George Peppard and George Hamilton are both excellent, far outshining the unhappy adults (Robert Mitchum--miscast--and Eleanor Parker, who keeps fiddling with her costumes as if she were a maiden lady). Peppard, in particular, has some wonderful physical bits of business, convincingly playing a small-town bachelor stud toying with the idea of growing up. Minnelli allows the dialogue-heavy plot to unfold carefully, slowly, but those who stick with it will find a rewarding drama of honor and responsibility. Constance Ford is terrific in small role as a bar floozy, and Everett Sloane gives a highly sympathetic turn as a businessman with family troubles of his own. **1/2 from ****

If you read a synopsis of the movie, you'd say ho-hum. A loveless marriage. An unacknowledged illegitimate son. An unwanted pregnancy. A scandal-mongering small town. But, thanks to good writing, direction, production values, and acting (especially by Robert Mitchum and George Peppard), this movie holds your interest for its 2 1/2 hour length.I was impressed by the two hunting scenes, finding them vivid and exciting, even if, as one reviewer says, they were not really shot in the wild.George Hamilton starts out as a mama's boy, soft and overly sensitive, and after learning to shoot and hunt and tracking down a fierce wild boar, he still seems like a mama's boy. Blame it on his facial expression, perhaps.The Robert Mitchum character's insistence on his son's cultivating manly virtues (for want of a better term) and abandoning boy's preoccupations like stamp and butterfly collecting is likely to offend some viewers, but he is only being true to the background portrayed in the story.