Shepherd of the Hills
by Henry Hathaway
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VHS Tape Cover Information
Actor: Betty Field, Beulah Bondi, Harry Carey, James Barton, John WayneDirector: Henry Hathaway
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language), Analog
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
Running Time: 98 minutes
Release Date: 1998-02-17
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: Universal Studios
Studio: Universal Studios
VHS Movie Reviews of Shepherd of the Hills
Movie Review: A travestry!!
Summary: 1 Stars
Recently, I wrote a review of this movie. Unfortunately, at that time I could only find it listed here on a VHS with three others. This movie bears NO RESEMBLANCE whatsoever to the book on which it is laughingly and loosely based, except in name only. It's a wonder to me that Harold Bell Wright didn't file a lawsuit against the movie makers. The book is a true classic. It's wonderful!! Why Hollywood thought they could improve on that is beyond me. But, unfortunately, as is often true, they butchered a wonderful plot. If you've read the book, The Shepherd of the Hills, and love it, then don't waste your time buying or renting or borrowing this filmed version. It's no fault of Mr. Wayne's that it's such a travesty, but a travesty it is nonetheless.
Summary of Shepherd of the Hills
Director Henry Hathaway never hesitated to return to a picturesque location that had served him well. There's no more striking example than his sequel-in-spirit to the enchanting early-Technicolor Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936). This time, the enchantment is darker, just as Charles Lang Jr.'s stunning cinematography represents a quantum leap in sophistication over Trail's pleasant pictorialism. The long-running Appalachian feud of the earlier film is replaced by a spooky familial curse that has almost literally poisoned one Ozark household and could perpetuate a tragic cycle of violence and vengeance in another.John Wayne would win an Oscar under Hathaway's direction three decades later (for True Grit), so it's all the more noteworthy that his performance in this singular yet neglected film--as a son sworn to kill the father he has never met--was his most complex to date. Perhaps Wayne was challenged by the company he was keeping, including New York stage veterans Betty Field (as his tomboy love), James Barton, and Marc Lawrence (cast against type as the mute, lightning-struck cousin who dotes on Wayne's every move). Or maybe it was the prospect of sharing the screen with that old lion and premier Western role model, Harry Carey. There's also powerful work by Beulah Bondi, who as a matriarch from hell all but gives off sulfur fumes, and by the amazing Marjorie Main, playing a blind woman who sees for the first time on a mountaintop above the clouds. Get ahold of this movie, and it will get a hold on you. --Richard T. Jameson
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