Home from the Hill (1960)

Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

Good start, but then it gets ruined

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

I recently read the novel on which this film is based and was curious about how it was adapted. By the end of the novel everyone dies...well not everyone, but dad, mom, son and the wild boar are all dead. In the film, not everyone dies, plus there is an extra son played by George Peppard. The son from the book is played by George Hamilton. Near the end of the film the two Georges throw some punches at each other. I doubt George Hamilton could beat George Peppard in a fist fight in real life. If the two squared off in a tanning contest, I think we all know who would win that one. I realized when I watched this film that I like movies where the ending involves one of the characters walking off into the sunset with an uncertain future. Hamilton's character dropped out of high school, so he could focus on hunting in both the book and movie. Since he dies in the book, it does not matter that he is under educated. When he wanders off at the end of the film, I'm guessing he'll probably have to get his GED or somehow enroll again in high school if he want to improve his job prospects. We know he is a determined young man because near the beginning of the film he sat in the woods for two hours trying to catch a snipe. I liked the scene where Mitchum was really hung over and he dunks his head in the water trough. Before that Peppard drags him from the floozy's apartment where Mitchum had apparently spent a lost three day weekend. I think I recall reading once that Mitchum said he was hung over for most of the production of The Winds Of War, so maybe he didn't need to act much here. At any rate, he is brilliant and the most perfectly cast character other than Burt Mustin as the gas station attendant.

There's something very Greek about this compelling story as one generation visits its sins upon its offspring. Though some of your reviewers pointed out that the Rafe/Peppard character does not appear in the original novel for the life of me I can't figure out what the story would have been like without him. The development of his character and his gradual integration into his father's affection and respect is certainly one of the film's mainstays and very attractive features. If there was no Rafe character in the novel then I can only conclude that the movie script writers improved the story greatly.I found the emotional relations between the different pairs of characters endlessly fascinating and gripping: Mitchum/Parker and their icy 18 years of separation; Theron/Rafe and their finding each other as brothers; Parker/Hamilton as the over-protective mama and her boy; Theron/Libby and their sensitive and beautifully scripted love scenes followed by their heartbreaking estrangement as Theron chooses his mother over his true love; Rafe/Libby and their equally brilliantly scripted encounters one after the other from Rafe's quiet admiration of Libby at the car washing scene to Libby's unburdening of her soul to Rafe in the restaurant and their final happiness in marriage; Mitchum/Libby's father as the one's cold dismissal of the other is eventually returned by the father's revenge and his assassination of the one he thought had shamed his family. The beautiful and emotional moments just keep coming at you one after another.Everyone's acting was brilliant, Kaper's score was understated and beautiful, Minelli's directorial pace superb, and the scripting outstanding. Having never heard of this movie before but having sat enthralled throughout its almost three hours I thought this one one of the finest movies I have ever seen.

In My Book I Thinks This Is One Of The Best Motion Pictures In The World And I Love Vincente Minnelli Movie Anyway But This Is My Favorite This Movie Could Have Never Been Made By Any Body Else But Vincente Minnelli He Was Right On This Movie It Will Not Leave Your Memory At All 'Robert Mitchum I Wish He Could Have Got An Oscar For His Role As Wade And All The Cast The Wards People Must I've Been A Sleep Our Something I Wish Mr. Minnelli Could Have Got An Oscar For Best Director If You Like Mr. Minnelli Movies Or Robert Mitchum Movies This DVD Should Be In Your Collection And Buy It And Watch It And Come To See Why They Call Him Capt.Wade Come And See Why They Call Mama's Boy.

This is a well made typical genre movie that features some solid emotions and characters and offers some well written plot elements.It's a coming of age movie but it also is a (melodramatic) family drama. These type of movies really had been popular in the past and most of them also are really great ones to watch. Too bad they just don't make movies such as these anymore. This movie might not be the best in its genre but it has more than anything other elements in it to compensate for this.One of them most definitely is the cast. Robert Mitchum once again gives away one fine performance. The movie also features a great and still young looking George Hamilton and George Peppard, though Mitchum on the other hand still looks the way he did 20 years before this movie.The movie handles all of the genre elements really well and know to bring it in a good and original way. Definitely a surprising movie from Vincente Minnelli, who got his fame for directing other type of- and less serious movies. I especially like the way George Hamilton's character gets developed and changes throughout the movie, from a mothers-child to a real adult. It was also great how they handled the Robert Mitchum character. They make him not-likable but at the same time also intriguing and interesting enough to not hate him. It's sort of too bad that they made the mistake to let his character slowly disappear out of the movie for most of the last third of the movie, while he starts off as the main character. The movie does a good job at portraying the relationships between the characters, which is an essential part for movies such as these.Despite the fact that the movie its story definitely has soap-opera like dramatic developments in it, you still get drawn in to it, which is I think due to the interesting characters and actors that portray them. It keeps the movie real.The movie is set in the South of the United States, which gives the movie that special kind of- and warm atmosphere. Its sets, costumes and props all add to this. The time period the movie is set in also definitely benefits the movie. The movie also has a surprising good and likable musical score, by Bronislau Kaper.Worth seeing if you get the chance to.8/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/