Sat 29 Nov 2014
A Western Movie Review by Jonathan Lewis: TREASURE OF RUBY HILLS (1955).
Posted by Steve under Reference works / Biographies , Western Fiction , Western movies[6] Comments
TREASURE OF RUBY HILLS. Allied Artists, 1955. Zachary Scott, Carole Mathews, Barton MacLane, Dick Foran, Lola Albright, Gordon Jones, Raymond Hatton, Lee Van Cleef. Based on the story “The Rider of the Ruby Hills,” by Louis L’Amour. Director: Frank McDonald.
For a Western with quite a few excellent character actors, Treasure of Ruby Hills is overall something of a disappointment. Based on a Louis L’Amour story, the movie stars Zachary Scott as a man determined not to follow his deceased father down the rabbit hole of frontier criminality.
Scott, with menacing eyes and a thick mustache, portrays the enigmatic Ross Haney, a man determined to revenge the death of his friend and business partner at the hands of Frank Emmett (the always enjoyable-to-watch Lee Van Cleef). Haney also seems to have a greater scheme in mind. Although it takes a while for the viewer to learn his overall motivations, one soon learns that Haney’s overall objective is to control the water supply to the town of Soledad, so as to exert power over the thuggish cattle barons who rule the town.
Sounds simple enough.
Unfortunately, the film tries to do too much. It introduces far too many characters in a running time of just over seventy minutes. There’s the rancher brother and sister combo. No surprise here: Haney falls in love with the sister and ends up the mortal rival of her would-be fiancé, Alan Doran, portrayed by Dick Foran.
There are also two rival cattle/land barons, Chalk Reynolds (Barton MacLane) and Walt Payne (Charles Fredericks), both of whom end up with a bellyful of lead thanks to Doran’s scheming. Plus, there’s the marshal; Scott’s other would-be business partner; a wounded man whom Haney tends to; an innkeeper; and a waitress. Add to this some backstories about the characters and you end up with an overall muddled story, one that simply refuses to flow smoothly.
What Treasure of Ruby Hills does have going for it is, however, is atmosphere. The narrative unfolds in a semi-claustrophobic, self-enclosed universe of suspense and violence. There really are no good guys here, just men morally clad in shades of grey, burdened by the albatross of their past misdeeds and their family history.
Significantly, there are no children in the film and, if I am not mistaken, apart from horses, no animals either. The movie presents the West as rough and tumble world, where live is cheap and loyalty is a commodity to be bought and sold.
As much as I like Zachary Scott, Lee Van Cleef, and Barton MacLane, I’d very much hesitate to categorize Treasure of Ruby Hills as a particularly good film. Sad to say, but it’s really just another mediocre mid-1950s Western. But somehow I managed to see it through to the very end, wondering how it’d all turn out and who’d still be alive and kicking once the proverbial dust settled. Take that for what it is, as it surely must mean something.
NOTE: This movie is available for viewing on Hulu. Follow the link.
November 29th, 2014 at 8:45 pm
Do we believe, or not, The Treasure of Ruby Hills would have been well served by the same story, with a few tweaks, and cast, as an urban noir?
November 29th, 2014 at 10:02 pm
I could imagine this as a modern urban noir, but not in the biggest of cities. Perhaps in a small desert town in the Southwest, but set in a modern, 1950s setting.
November 29th, 2014 at 10:24 pm
It’s curious how few Westerns Fort Worth born Scott was cast in. I guess like Tony Randall, who was born in Oklahoma, it wasn’t enough to actually be from the West.
This does sound a bit like a gangster film.
The too busy story is one of the reasons I don’t think L’Amour’s books and stories always translated well to the screen. Just too busy for an average length movie.
November 29th, 2014 at 10:55 pm
David,
That’s it, exactly. Even in L’Amour short stories, there can be a lot going on. Doesn’t translate well into cinema.
One reason I like the Ranown cycle movies by Budd Boetticher is that they often run an an economical 70-78 minutes and have about 5-6 characters with one main theme and one main plot twist
November 30th, 2014 at 8:47 pm
Have only seen a little of Frank McDonald’s work. But much of that consists of Westerns-fused-with-crime-and-mystery. This includes his good Audie Murphy Western “Gunfight at Comanche Creek”. And the better episodes of the Wyatt Earp TV show, where he was house director for several years.
Westerns with mystery plots were fairly common on TV.
***
Lightning Strikes Twice (King Vidor) is a good contemporary mystery, set in the modern day West. Zachary Scott has a role.
December 1st, 2014 at 4:48 am
I’ve seen Gunfight at Comanche Creek. It’s a good little film. As I recall, DeForest Kelley portrays the villain in that one.
I had not heard of Lightning Strikes Twice, although I do think King Vidor directed some good Westerns (I reviewed one on this blog earlier this year). Will look to see if I can get a copy on DVD