The Burning Hills (1956) User Reviews

No Clear Title, No Legally Constituted Posse

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 14 September 2011]

Louis L'Amour novels make good reading and fine western cinema and The Burning Hills is no exception. Tab Hunter and Natalie Wood who were a screen team and studio public relations created off screen romance star in this film which has Tab Hunter on the run and Natalie Wood helping him.

Hunter's got plenty of reason to run, his brother was killed and he shoots Ray Teal who is the overlord of the local Ponderosa. The wounded Teal who really doesn't have title to a lot of the land he runs roughshod over and he sends his rotten son Skip Homeier and foreman Claude Akins with some of his riders after him. At no time are they a legally constituted posse and Homeier and Akins can't stand each other and have many issues between them.

Skip Homeier ever since he shot Gregory Peck in the back in The Gunfighter made a good career of playing some really nasty punk villains and he's certainly at his nastiest here. Eduard Franz has a strange and interesting part also as a mixed race tracker that Akins insists on having in the posse. He's a person of interesting and shifting loyalties.

Wood and Hunter were certainly an attractive pair and the teens and Tweens in the audience got some thrills as Hunter had to appear topless as Wood nursed him with his injuries. The Burning Hills has a lot of tension in it as the posse closes in and Hunter is a pretty resourceful man. Wood has a few tricks of her own to baffle the posse and not all of them involve sex.

The Burning Hills is a nicely constructed western that I'm sure Louis L'Amour took some pride in the screen version of his work.

A fairly standard western

[Tweekums · 6/10 · 20 February 2012]

This western opens well enough; we see three men from the waste down as they sneak up on a fourth man, who is chopping wood, and shoot him in the back. The man's brother, Trace Jordon, looks at their tracks and sees from their footprints that one is lame and another wears fancy Mexican spurs, the third left a cigar butt. He follows them into town with the intention of seeing the sheriff; however his office has been destroyed. He soon learns that the men all work for Joe Sutton; the local major landowner who is trying to clear everybody else from the area so he owns the whole valley by the time it comes to register ownership. Trace confronts Sutton and in the ensuing gunfight Sutton is wounded. Trace rides off but is shot in the back. When he wakes up he finds his horse has carried him to the well of a local sheep farm. Here he is helped by Maria-Christina Colton, a woman whose father was murdered by Sutton. When the posse of Sutton's men arrives she claims to have no idea where Trace is. She drugs their coffee then escapes to meet up with Trace. From then on they struggle to keep ahead of the posse so they can get to the nearest army outpost and report the murder of Trace's brother.

There are plenty of clichés in this minor example of the western genre; a brother seeking revenge, a woman who eventually falls for his charms and a gang of vicious thugs who will shoot a man in the back or force themselves on a woman given half a chance; the only ones in the group with any standards were the half-Indian tracker and their leader and the latter was shot in the back by Sutton's son fairly early into the pursuit. The acting was good enough; Natalie Wood was suitably feisty as Maria although I don't think her accent would fool any real Mexicans! Tab Hunter was a decent enough lead but Skip Homeier made more of his role as the unpleasant Jack Sutton. The action was decent and the final fight between Trace and Sutton looked genuinely painful at times; of course being made when it was the shootings look a little unbelievable; I'm sure even a minor wound would leave a bigger blood patch than we saw here! Overall it was a reasonable will that fans of the genre may like, it contains nothing to offend so is suitable for younger viewers who like a bit of action too.

An Above-Average Oater Based on a Louis L'Amour Novel

[zardoz-13 · 7/10 · 24 April 2014]

"The Burning Hills" marked director Stuart Heisler's final big-screen western after the well-made Clayton Moore & Jay Silverheels "Lone Ranger" in 1956. Heisler helmed other oaters, such as "Dallas" with Gary Cooper, and they had worked together before that on the parody horse opera "Along Came Jones." The Susan Hayworth oil field drama "Tulsa" qualified more as a western owing to its setting, and Heisler had handled some uncredited chores on an even earlier Cooper epic "The Cowboy and the Lady," but it too was more contemporary. Heisler spent the 1950s and 1960s calling the shots on a variety of cowboy television series such as "Lawman," "Tales of Wells Fargo," "Gunsmoke," "The Dakotas," "Rawhide," and "The Virginian." Indeed, the Los Angeles native, who earns his spurs as a film editor, knew the difference between a stirrup and a pommel so his westerns were as authentic as the times allowed. Future bestselling author Irving Wallace adapted the Louis L'Amour novel "The Burning Hills," and this straightforward outdoors opus reunited Heisler with Tab Hunter, who had starred in "Island of Desire," as well as Natalie Wood, who had appeared in the 1952 Bette Davis soaper "The Star."

"The Burning Hills" opens ominously as three gunslingers stroll stealthily into a man's camp and shoot him the back. The fellow they kill is Johnny Jordan, and Johnny's younger brother is not around when the murder takes place. Trace Jordan (Tab Hunter of "Battle Cry") rides back to discover his brother dead. The Mexican ranch hand and he examine the scene of the homicide and ferret out clues. They know three dastards came after Johnny. Trace notices that one walks with a limp, another wears heavy Mexican spurs, and the last chain smokes cheroots. Trace rides into Esperanza to report his brother's murder, but he finds the sheriff's office empty and in shambles. Eventually, he rides to the Sutton Ranch where he confronts the patriarch, Joe Sutton (Ray Teal of "Ace in the Hole"), who refuses to help him. Trace vows to visit the nearby U.S. Army installation Fort Stockwell and bring back blue-uniformed horsemen. Joe pulls a revolver out of his desk drawer, and they exchange gunfire. Trace wounds Sutton in the chest and escapes. Sutton's foreman Ben Hindeman (Claude Akins of "Rio Bravo") wounds Trace with a lone rifle shot as our hero is galloping away on horseback.

Initially, Sutton's men cannot find him. Trace's horse lugs him to an abandoned mine shaft with a water hole. Trace falls off his pony and rolls near the waterhole. He blocks the stream with his inert body that nourishes the sheep at a small Mexican ranch below. Maria Cristina Colton (Natalie Wood of "Rebel Without A Cause") tends Trace's wounds and then conceals him from Sutton's men. Sutton's hot-tempered son, Jack Sutton (Skip Homeier of "The Gunfighter") and his foreman Hindeman assemble a search party. They acquire an expert tracker, Jacob Lantz (Eduard Franz of "Hatari") who can follow a trail anywhere through anything. They question Maria, and she fires at Jack but misses him. Narrowly, Trace and Maria manage to escape from Sutton's squad of six-gunners in the mine. Fortunately, the mind caves in before the bad guys can pursue our hero and heroine

Maria has no love lost for the villainous Suttons. After all, the Suttons murdered her father. As a result, she is more than happy to help Trace. Sutton's worthless, no-account, son murders his own foreman when they lose track of the hero. Jack shoots Ben in the back in cold blood and assumes command of the rabble. He knows that if Trace ever reaches the army fort that his father and he are cooked. She slows down Jack and company by spiking their coffee with Jemison weed. Maria manages to find Trace, but the villains recover and follow her. Mort (Earl Holliman) has been drinking moonshine when he spots Maria leaving her ranch. He finds Trace and they have a knockdown, drag-out fight. Our hero and heroine escape from the bad guys a second time.

Actually, there isn't much to "The Burning Hills." Heisler stages the action with suitable flare, particularly in the opening scene where Trace's brother is gunned down without a chance to defend himself. He should have kept his holstered revolver closer to him. He shows very little of Johnny's three murderers. Essentially, this is a small potatoes shoot'em up. Ray Teal and Skip Homeier make ideal villains and Tab Hunter is a standard-issue hero with the beautiful Natalie Wood along as a fiery heroine. David Buttolph provides an atmospheric orchestra score to heighten the tension and suspense.

Warners Takes Aim at a Younger Audience

[dougdoepke · 22 July 2012]

Two young lovers flee a murderous rancher's posse.

In 1956, Warner Bros. paired up two of their most promising young contract players in this movie and one other, The Girl He Left Behind. Unfortunately for the studio, neither film caught fire. Hunter certainly had the All-American good looks but in the acting department was no James Dean, while Wood's struggle here with a Mexican accent amounts to little more than an honest effort.

Wisely, the studio stacked the dialog with a veteran supporting cast—Akins, Franzen, and Teal —who carry most of the lines. At the same time, was there ever a better nasty young punk than the great Skip Homeier, who could hold his own with any heavyweight actor. Also, it's too bad the young Earl Holliman didn't have matinée good looks because he could have injected real feeling into Trace's pivotal part.

The cast itself gets to ride around greater LA in a generally non-scenic Technicolor Western. However, the showpiece brawl over the big rocks and into the roaring river is a real doozy. Hunter certainly earned his salary with that one. Then too, Franzen's Indian tracker is nicely conceived and adds a good ironical touch to the fairly predictable outcome.

All in all, the movie amounts to little more than a minor vehicle for two of the studio's attractive young stars. The talented Wood, at least, would go on to bigger and better things.

Young love

[dbdumonteil · 6/10 · 4 April 2011]

A very routine western ,with a plot the average viewer has already seen fifty times (the wealthy landlord who wants to get rid of all the little farmers around,and his nasty offspring),this is nevertheless an entertaining nervy work ,with a good chemistry between the two principals .Natalie Wood ,who was only 18 at the time ,displays strength and resilience against a bunch of villains who ceaselessly harass her.She's the only man in her family ,her uncle and her little brother are sissies ,but we're told her father was a brave man ,just like Daniel Jordan,the man she helps to fight the criminals who killed his brother.A rather violent western,with a lot of death,and a splendid cinematography.

Louis L'Amour novel turned into teen western...

[moonspinner55 · 6/10 · 22 January 2006]

Bubblegum western marketed at the time as if it were "Rebel Without a Cause" on the range (one of the tag lines read: "People would say, 'But they're only kids!'"). Half-breed girl (Natalie Wood, heavily pancaked and miscast, but still not bad) shelters a cowboy (Tab Hunter) embroiled in a vengeful feud with a scurrilous gang. Good, trashy fun; supporting cast including Earl Holliman and Claude Akins is solid, direction by Stuart Heisler fast-paced. The screenplay adaptation (by Irving Wallace, of all people) slants Louis L'Amour's story in favor of showcasing the teen heartthrobs of the day, but it has good action scenes and a satisfying wrap-up. **1/2 from ****

Hunter ensures this is easy on the eye

[MOscarbradley · 4/10 · 20 March 2008]

As his nicely self-depreciating autobiography suggests Tab Hunter was a slightly more complex and perhaps a somewhat less malleable young actor than maybe his studio would have liked him to be. For starters he was gay and was, to all accounts, comfortable with it, determined to have a private life as well as a public one. He was an early victim of the gossip columnists but he learned to live with it and if he never became a star of the first rank, was seldom out of work.

This formulaic western was designed as a vehicle for him and his attractive persona is one reason why it is so watchable. There is nothing particularly original about it and it may come as something of a surprise that it was written by Irving Wallace from a novel by Louis L'Amour. Hunter is the young rancher looking to revenge the murder of his brother, (by dastardly Skip Homeier who likes shooting men in the back). Other villains include Claude Akins and Earl Holliman and the romantic interest is provided by an inadequate but young Natalie Wood. Hunter and Ted McCord's cinema-scope photography ensure it is always easy on the eye.

Natalie Wood And Tab Hunter In A Western

[atlasmb · 6/10 · 11 July 2016]

Louis L'Amour wrote well-structured western stories that were very entertaining. Usually, there's a hero who never goes out of his way to hurt anyone. And the force(s) of villainy are clearly defined. But Hollywood wanted to pair Natalie Wood and Tab Hunter, so the love story in this film includes some amorous un-L'Amourous scenes to cater to young viewers.

The first couple of scenes establish who our hero is (Tab Hunter as Trace Jordan) and how bad the villains are. Natalie plays Maria, a strong-willed young woman who is also victimized by the gang of gunslingers who enforce the evil dictates of one Joe Sutton (Ray Teal). After Trace attempts to bring the bad guys to justice, they chase him over the countryside. Maria tries to help him.

Members of the gang include Claude Akins, who also appeared in "The Sea Chase" with Tab Hunter in 1955. One of the orneriest gang members is played by Earl Holliman. After this film, he would appear consecutively in "Giant", "The Rainmaker" and "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral". Talk about being in the right places at the right time.

Unfortunately, certain scenes are marred by some very corny lines. The result is a great L'Amour story burdened by Hollywood "enhancements". You can judge for yourself if Natalie Wood's accent is horrible or not. She surely took a lot of criticism for Maria's accent in "West Side Story", which would follow in five years.

Clichéd and full of filler

[audiemurph · 4/10 · 3 December 2011]

Ugh. This is one tiresome Western. Now I love Westerns, but not this one. There is not an iota of clever dialogue, just a boatload of clichés. Tab Hunter, though not unsympathetic, has an emotional range that makes Audie Murphy (my hero) look like Lawrence Olivier. Natalie Wood, though beautiful, has a Mexican accent that sounds heavy Slavic more than anything. The fight scenes go on waaaaay too long, and there is too much filler of men riding horses.

The only saving graces are the character actors who make the best out of almost nothing. Skip Homeier is delightfully obnoxious and weaselly as always (see The Gunfighter, for his most memorable role); Claude Akins is dependable; and Earl Holliman looks and sounds like he is Larry the Cable Guy's younger and thinner brother.

An odd sub-theme in this film, though not fully explored, is mixed-race breeding. Natalie Wood's mother was Mexican, but her father was a "Yankee" (though she hates all Gringoes). And Eduard Franz's tracker has a mother who is Indian, but a father who is Dutch(!). Weird.

Unless you are desperate for a Western fix, skip it, or be prepared to use your fast-forward a lot.

Burning Hills?

[daviddax · 6/10 · 26 July 2020]

I was waiting to see some hills burning. Didn't appen.

Will success spoil TAB Hunter?

[hitchcockthelegend · 4/10 · 9 March 2011]

The Burning Hills is directed by Stuart Heisler and adapted by Irvin A. Wallace from the novel written by Louis L'Amour. It stars Tab Hunter, Natalie Wood, Skip Homeier, Eduard Franz, Earl Holliman, Claude Akins & Ray Teal. It's a CinemaScope/Warnercolor production, with Ted McCord photographing primarily out of the Warner Ranch at Calabasas, California, and David Buttolph scores the music. Plot sees Hunter as Trace Jordan, who after finding his brother murdered seeks revenge on the killers. He is aided in his quest by Maria (Wood), a half-breed Mexican girl who has her own agenda to fulfill.

Stock formula Oater that puts two attractive young actors at the front in the hope that that will be enough to see it home. OK, maybe that's being a touch harsh since the film does have some moments to make a viewing worthwhile, notably McCord's use of "Scope" and Heisler's more than competent construction of action sequences. But there's so much turgid filler in between the good points it just comes across as a movie made to promote Hunter and Wood. Which would have been OK if they wasn't outshone by pretty much the whole supporting cast! There in is the major issue with The Burning Hills, one look at Ray Teal's gang sees fine character actors Holliman and Akins wasted, while I would defy anyone to argue that Homeier would not have given a better performance than that of the blankly wooden Hunter in the lead role. Clearly it's an aesthetic decision by Richard Whorf and the Warner Bros people.

However, if able to forgive the "tween" like romance that hangs heavy on proceedings? Then it's a film for genre fans to pass the time away with. The revenge core in the narrative stays true, and the finale raises the temperature for all the right reasons, where, Heisler makes good use of the water based set-up. Look out too for the unsung work of the stunt men, with one particular moment showing how they suffer for their art. The Warnercolor is sadly a bit lifeless on this occasion, but the print of the film that exists is hardly one to write home about, while Buttolph's score is pretty much standard rank and file for a bottom rung "B" Western feature.

Recommended to Western fans? Only if it happens to be on the TV and they appreciate Messrs Homeier, Holliman & Akins. 4/10

An excellent, well-cast and well-acted western.

[jeeves-7 · 8/10 · 25 July 1999]

Both Tab Hunter and Skip Homeier put in excellent performances in this film. Both are well-cast for the roles they play - Tab, the "good guy" and Skip, the "bad, ruthless killer." The final fight scene between Tab Hunter and Skip Homeier is one of the best I have seen staged in a western. The final outcome was in no way predictable. The movie stands up well after 40 years.

"A man must fight for what is right."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 2 April 2017]

I wouldn't have bet on Tab Hunter involved in one of the better Western movie brawls to come along, but surprisingly, he's got two to his credit here in the latter part of the story. He goes hell bent for leather against Earl Holliman in a rousing battle in the barn at the Old Sampson place, and not long after has a decent tussle with Skip Homeier in which both fall off a cliff ledge into a river below. OK, I know it was their stunt doubles doing the heavy lifting, but they were the principals, so you have to give 'em credit for the close up work.

Not only that, but Trace Jordan (Hunter) was also clairvoyant in the picture as well. When the Sutton posse makes it's way to Maria Colton's (Natalie Wood) place, foreman Ben Hindeman (Claude Akins) sends one of his henchmen out to locate a tracker by the name of Lantz (Eduard Franz). Later in the story, Jordan makes reference to Lantz tracking him, but how would he have known that? He wasn't at the Colton place to hear what the foreman said.

Ah well, not to worry about that too much. Hunter and Wood make for an engaging screen couple for the teen crowd, though I don't know how many teenagers would have been Western fans in the fifties. I guess if you were a fan of the principals you might show up. Both stars looked good on screen, with Hunter doing a beefcake scene when Maria patched up his bullet wound. For her part, Wood showed some leg when Hunter's character needed her petticoat to make camouflage boots for their horses. That's something I hadn't seen before; it sounded logical enough but not that practical. Tracker Lantz figured out the ruse, but how did he know it was a petticoat? An old, cut up blanket might have worked just as well.

Tab Hunter...the action hero of the old west??

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 11 January 2020]

The Sutton family is pretty typical in western films...they are trying to force everyone off their land so they can dominate the west. I say typical because stories with big bad bosses using murder and intimidation to steal everyone's land are a dime a dozen. I honestly think about a third of all western films had this theme....probably more than any other plot.

The story begins with some of the Suttons murdering Trace Jordan's brother. But Trace (Tab Hunter) is not about to put up with this injustice and so he follows the killers and confronts the family patriarch. Not surprisingly, this goes terribly and soon Sutton's men are combing the territory looking to find and kill Trace. Along the way, he takes a Mexican(?) lady with him on his journey to the nearby fort to see if he can obtain justice.

There were a few logical problems with this movie. First, the casting was dumb. While Tab Hunter was a fine actor, him playing a lone action hero in the old west was WAY outside his range and seemed laughable. He was much better in romances and contemporary dramas. Worse yet was casting Natalie Wood as a Mexican....with a noticeably bad accent and spray tan to make her look 'Mexicany'. Neither were right for the movie but both were good actors...just not here. Second, when it's obvious Mr. Sutton won't listen to Trace and is openly hostile and threatens him, Trace tells him he's planning on heading to the fort to see if he can find justice there!!! Think about it...Trace KNOWS that Sutton is a murdering crook and tells him his plans so that the murdering crook can send out his army of goons to kill him! Talk about idiotic...and it's obvious the writers should have re-written this portion of the picture, as it just made no sense. And, finally, third....when late in the film the Mexicans were able to overpower the baddies, the bad guys dropped their guns...and not even once did they pick up these guns to either prevent the baddies from hurting them or to stop them from chasing after Trace!! I hate sloppy writing like this.

Apart from these problems, is it still worth seeing? Not especially. It's not a bad film and has nice production values but considering Hollywood made at least 56,204,285 westerns during this era, why not watch one that is more logical and original? My advice is see one of them and then see Natalie Wood and Tab Hunter in one of their good films.

it's a western

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 20 July 2020]

Johnny Jordan is murdered. His brother Trace Jordan (Tab Hunter) tracks the killers to Esperanza and the Sutton ranch. It's a lawless town run by the Suttons and their men. Trace is hurt in a fight with the Suttons. He is sheltered by local Maria-Christina Colton (Natalie Wood) who lost her father to Pa Sutton.

Natalie Wood is doing a bit of brown face. She seems to do that a lot. At least, many of her big roles lean that way. I don't know if she ever pulls it off. Tab Hunter is a 50's studio heartthrob and it's obviously that they're trying to sell westerns to teenagers. It's a second tier western adapted from a pulpy western book. It's not particularly interesting or original. It does have some scenes with the wide scope. The chase has its interesting aspects but the movie is generally small in ambitions.

Some very obvious flaws

[Bad-Good-Great · 4/10 · 25 March 2020]

Shot the brother three times, but only got one bullet holes on the chest with blood, one bullet shot on the watch, the bullet point tip was protruding out of the watch's back, that bullet was definitely not from a revolver and there was no deformation at all. Then again, he shot the bad rancher three times, one was a gut shot, but that guy was not dead, on the contrary, he was still be able to shout so loudly. Three shots but still alive, man oh man, what a lazy careless arrangements of these lousy scenes.

Instantly forgettable

[pmtelefon · 5/10 · 14 May 2021]

A dreamy Natalie Wood and a pretty good supporting cast are not enough to save "The Burning Hills". An uninteresting lead in Tab Hunter and a weak script to too much to overcome. Hunter may have been a movie star at the time but he is out of his league in a western. Without him, the movie may have had a chance. As it is, "The Burning Hills" isn't worth the trouble.

the boring hills

[mossgrymk · 5/10 · 12 August 2022]

Maybe if this standard western had been made ten years earlier, when the genre was more noted for Saturday afternoon shoot em ups, it would have fared better. But coming at the height of the 1950s psychological western, with Ford, Boetticher, Mann et al doing their best work, it's a clunky job all around with especially notable bad acting from Tab and bad writing from Irving Wallace (yes, THAT Irving Wallace). Give it a C.

Tab Hunter Gets in the Saddle

[wes-connors · 8/10 · 30 October 2010]

Soon after his brother has been shot to death, handsome Tab Hunter (as Trace Jordan) arrives in the western town of "Esperanza". Along with Mr. Hunter, we quickly learn the man responsible for murdering brother is young cigar-stomping Skip Homeier (as Jack Sutton). As it turns out, Mr. Homeier and his gang have run the sheriff out of town; they also shoot anyone who tries to stake a claim in the area. Hunter is advised to leave town immediately, but refuses. With his muscular frame and quick draw, Hunter easily infiltrates the Sutton ranch, to demand justice.

Wounded in a shoot-out, Hunter barely escapes from the ranch. He collapses near the home of sexy sheepherder Natalie Wood (as Maria Colton). Taunted by the "Sutton Gang" due to her mixed heritage (English father, Mexican mother) and preference for dresses that accentuate her beautifully-shaped breasts, Ms. Wood hides Hunter from Homeier, and nurses him back to health. Hunter and Wood are mutually attracted to each other. Hunter hopes to report Homeier and his gang to the United States Cavalry at nearby Fort Stockwell. Will he get there?

Warner Bros. must have known putting popular but unproven Hunter in this high-budgeted CinemaScope western would be a gamble - but, it pays off. He always fit the genre like a glove, and it's too bad a long string of Hunter westerns wasn't forthcoming. Hunter's greatest asset, herein, isn't really his handsomeness; rather, it's that he adds a muscular athleticism to the usual western antics. As you'll plainly see, there was no need to fear Hunter would snap a girdle, or slip a toupee. Trying on a Spanish accent, Wood is tightly outfitted, and highly arousing.

Homeier turns in a wonderfully nasty supporting performance. Mixed-raced "Indian" tracker Eduard Franz (as Jacob Lantz), limping liquor-soaked Earl Holliman (as Mort Bayliss), and foreman Claude Akins (as Ben Hindeman) lead a strong supporting cast. With sexless romance and Spanish stereotypes, writer Louis L'Amour (book) and Irving Wallace (script) break no new ground, but you know how these western stories go. Director Stuart Heisler corrals the young stars well; he left feature films for dependable work on episodic western television.

******** The Burning Hills (8/23/56) Stuart Heisler ~ Tab Hunter, Natalie Wood, Skip Homeier, Earl Holliman