The Shepherd of the Hills (1941)

Simply A Masterpiece

Powerful

good back-story, and good acting

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Amazingly for 1941, shot in Technicolor, in the Arkansas Ozarks and the Big Bear Lake, CA area. Much reminds me of the first outdoors movie shot in 3-strip Technicolor: "Trail of the Lonesome Pine"(from which my review title is derived), which was shot mostly at Big Bear Lake. Both films were directed by Henry Hathaway. John Wayne's character in the present film is roughly analogous to Henry Fonda's role in the earlier film, which is situated in the Virginia Appalachians, not the Ozarks, as is the present film. Also, Harry Carey's character, Dan, is analogous to Fred McMurray's character in the prior film, as the good Samaritan outsider who sets the mountain folk on the right track, away from their feuding and moonshine stills. Betty Field is the equivalent of Sylvia Sydney, as the barefoot ingénue, ripe for marriage to the right fella. Betty comes across as the most talented actress for this type of picture. Mostly, it plays at a very leisurely pace. However, there are a number of dramatic incidents: 1)Wayne and Ward Bond grapple over Bond pushing brain-damaged Pete to the ground, while sheep spill out of the holding pen which the fighters damaged. 2)Aunt Mollie(Beulah Bondi), as Wayne's surrogate mother, accidentally kills her son Pete while they were grappling over a loaded rifle.3)Aunt Mollie sets her house on fire, incinerating herself, and cremating Pete's body, leaving her husband, played by James Barton, homeless. 4)The standoff, with firearms, between Wayne and Dan, whom Wayne just learned is his long lost father, whom he has vowed he will kill if ever he meets him. Dan says he will shoot Wayne, if Wayne ever comes to kill him, because he'd rather have Wayne dead than sent to prison for killing him.(See the film for the result.5)Dan paying for eye surgery that allows Grandma Becky to see, for the first time. Don't say what her problem was, but a good guess might be congenital cataracts, which can be removed and replaced by an artificial lens.Besides being slow paced, another negative is that the talking is sometimes too low or indistinct for me to comprehend what they are saying. Otherwise, it's a pretty good drama.Presently available at YouTube

Movies about fathers and sons hold a special poignancy for me; can't really say why because my own relationship with my Dad was pretty good. One regret perhaps is that he never really wanted to share his war time (WW II) experiences, but that was true of many returning servicemen. With his passing, there's no way to make that connection again.So here's a surprisingly well told tale that strikes me as what I've come to describe as one of the best movies you've never heard of. John Wayne's name is at the top of the bill, but it's really Harry Carey's character, Daniel Howlitt, that merits one's full attention and consideration here. Arriving at a small community in the Ozarks, Howlitt begins to cast his charming spell of friendship and warmth that captivates young Sammy Lane (Betty Field) and the mentally challenged Pete Matthews (Marc Lawrence). Think of the Lawrence role as the one Robert DeNiro might have given as Boo Radley in "To Kill a Mockingbird" if he was given the chance.The principal dynamic in the story has to do with the unbridled hatred young Matt Matthews (Wayne) harbors for a father he never knew, that hatred kept alive by an unfortunate circumstance in the early life of his Aunt Mollie (Beulah Bondi) and the tragedy that befell her own son Pete, leaving him a scarred mute. When an equally tragic accident occurs near the end of the story, the trauma allows Pete's voice to emerge long enough to let his Mama know that she was the real curse of the family, a revelation that offers a redemption of sorts for those who were captive to it's embrace.A surprise for me in this story was the actress Betty Field in the role of Sammy, in love with young Matt and serving as a bridge to cushion the feelings within the extended family. Her prayerful supplication to ward off evil spirits before entering the Moanin' Meadow was so well conceived by the script writer that it had to be done twice. There was a comic element to it underneath the drama that was a joy to behold. If I had to describe Betty Field to someone who hasn't seen her, I'd say she had a Jodie Foster-like quality to her persona that made her genuinely appealing.With as many John Wayne films as I've seen, I've almost come to expect to see Ward Bond show up and so it was the case here as well. I don't think I ever saw them mix it up the way they did here over the plight of poor Pete Matthews. Young Matt did the right thing sticking up for his cousin, in a turning point to the story that allowed him to open up to Daniel Howlitt. I can't say that the revelation of Howlitt being Young Matt's father came as much of a surprise, though they're confrontation at Moanin' Meadow wound up a definite shocker. You'd be hard pressed to find another film in which John Wayne comes up second best, and at the same time, all the better for it.

This is an overlooked John Wayne movie ,as well as an overlooked Hathaway's -who in his long career produced more great or good movies than wretched ones :"Peter Ibbetson" is one of the most beautiful romantic movies I know,"lives of a Bengal lancer is adventures movie quintessence and "Niagara" remains one of Marilyn Monroe's best films ,to name but three.John Wayne is cast against type in "the shepherd" ;he is not really the he-man but a frail human being ,born under a bad sign , with a curse hanging over him .The characters and the atmosphere are not unlike those of "the trail of the lonesome pine" which Hathaway made five years earlier ,with the same wonderful color.Some scenes are admirable:when Wayne 's old man enters the room of the old home,he feels a presence in the room : the furniture, the things ,everything reminds him of the woman he's never stopped loving (he is as romantic as Peter Ibbetson!).Another memorable scene shows the old man and his son fishing in the river :watch closely and you'll hear a ravaged tale ;the gentler side of the movie hides real fury (and Hathaway does not indulge himself a flashback of the stormy fateful night).Actually,John Wayne 's character is not so much bitter as wistful and it's one of the actors' best performances;but it's all the cast that should be praised .Add it to your Hathaway list.

This is John Wayne's first color film and he receives top billing, though clearly the star of this hillbilly movie is Harry Carey. Unfortunately, there were quite a few films about the Ozarks made during a 10 year stretch in the 30s and 40s and they were all pretty bad (such as SWING YOUR LADY, THE MILLERSON CASE and SPITFIRE). And while this movie isn't exactly bad, it sure isn't good--due to weird script writing and some over the top performances (particularly Beulah Bondi who plays a character like a mean version of Granny from "The Beverly Hillbillies").Harry Carey is a stranger to the mountains and wants to buy land and move there. Considering that there is no logical reason for a stranger to move there, it's amazing how long it takes the residents to realize who he really is. At the same time, John Wayne (who seems rather out of place in this hillbilly heaven) broods about how he hates the father who abandoned him--yet he and so many others don't bother putting it all together to realize his father is Carey. Now I know that this technically is a spoiler (so it is noted), but every member of the audience guessed this LONG before the folks did in the movie. Sadly, I think the idea that mountain folk are superstitious idiots is how you are supposed to rationalize how none of them figured this out for the longest time! I'm sure most Arkansans groan when such stereotypes appear on film.Despite beautiful color cinematography, there isn't much to recommend this dull little film due to dumb (and occasionally cartoon-like) characters, a silly plot and a rather listless pace. While it's far from horrible, it's nothing like you'd expect from John Wayne and it's only passable entertainment.