What a strange flick. Terrific cast here: the morally upright wooden Indian played by Randolph Scott in all his Westerns (except "Ride the High Country."). The ex-dentist from Portland, Edgar Buchanan. Arthur Kennedy with a permanent sneer. John Ireland as a greedy sinister Private Eye. Josh White, who plays a nice guitar, and who seems to be in the picture for that reason alone. Ella Raines with her classic features. A young whiney kid who dies. A noble savage as Scott's sidekick.
The plot? Well, if you can image a typical film noir (maybe one about a bunch of seedy treacherous crooks), one of those Ranown Westerns involving a trek across the desert, and a touch of maybe "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" thrown in, maybe that will do it.
It's a modern-day Western, though it might as well be a period flick. It's 1949 and a lot of disparate characters get together and search for a legendary wagon train carrying a fortune in gold supposed to be buried somewhere under the moving sand dune, the eponymous "walking hills".
The photography is in black and white, with stark black shadows and brilliant whites, adding to the noir atmosphere. The plot rambles here and there. Two of the guys have pasts, as they say, with Ella Raines. If you must have a past with someone it might as well be Ella Raines. Whatever happened to her? A beautiful woman who made one movie, "Phantom Lady," and then appeared in el cheapos like this.
John Sturges needed a bit more seasoning before he could produce glossy colorful pictures like "Shootout at the O.K. Corral." Of course the script doesn't give him much to work with. A couple of flashback explain certain character traits that aren't too interesting to begin with. The movie is nothing to be ashamed of. It's not so bad that it's funny, but it's not so good as to be worth going out of your way to watch.
The plot? Well, if you can image a typical film noir (maybe one about a bunch of seedy treacherous crooks), one of those Ranown Westerns involving a trek across the desert, and a touch of maybe "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" thrown in, maybe that will do it.
It's a modern-day Western, though it might as well be a period flick. It's 1949 and a lot of disparate characters get together and search for a legendary wagon train carrying a fortune in gold supposed to be buried somewhere under the moving sand dune, the eponymous "walking hills".
The photography is in black and white, with stark black shadows and brilliant whites, adding to the noir atmosphere. The plot rambles here and there. Two of the guys have pasts, as they say, with Ella Raines. If you must have a past with someone it might as well be Ella Raines. Whatever happened to her? A beautiful woman who made one movie, "Phantom Lady," and then appeared in el cheapos like this.
John Sturges needed a bit more seasoning before he could produce glossy colorful pictures like "Shootout at the O.K. Corral." Of course the script doesn't give him much to work with. A couple of flashback explain certain character traits that aren't too interesting to begin with. The movie is nothing to be ashamed of. It's not so bad that it's funny, but it's not so good as to be worth going out of your way to watch.