SpecialsTarget
Disturbing yet enthralling
ActuallyGlimmer
The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.
Frances Chung
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
bindagr
If you combined The Quiet Man with Sergeant York, you'd mostly have The Shepherd of the Hills. But in this case the end result is far weaker than constituent parts. The setting, characters, grudges, romance and violence is all very similar to that in the first half of Sergeant York. There are two aspects of this movie that should be recognizable to any fan of The Quiet Man. The first being the name of the piece land that the wealthy stranger buys to the chagrin of fearsome locals. In The Quiet Man, it's "White O'Morn". In this movie it's "Mourning Meadow". The other is the way John Wayne says "Thanks" for unhelpful input form well meaning outsiders when he's in a big fight. Incidentally, Ward Bond who plays a supporting role in The Shepherd of the Hills was in both The Quiet Man and Sergeant York.Clearly a lot of money was spent to make this movie. Technicolor in 1941 was itself a budget buster. The cast is amazing. I don't think there's another movie that includes Margorie Mane and Beulah Bondi. There are some very wonderful moments where it all comes together. But overall, it's a disappointment. The story is choppy and the ending is just hokey.
smatysia
Not really what you'd consider a "John Wayne movie" inasmuch as his character is important, but not dominant. This film is set in, I suppose, the Ozarks, in a not completely specified time. There is mention of telephones in the cities, but no sighting or mention of automobiles and no electricity out there in the boonies. I suppose it could be anywhere from 1885 to 1910. Wayne plays a character other than "himself" which he is often accused of doing nothing but. Bettie Field plays a love interest for him. Her character is never seen wearing shoes. Harry Carey steals the show, as the stranger from the city. Every one used what they thought were hillbilly accents and verbiage, but notably without seeming very condescending about it. Overall, it is an OK film, no more.
Edgar Allan Pooh
" . . . in the good, clean dark," laments Granny Becky at the climax of THE SHEPHERD OF THE HILLS. Can it really be as bad as all of that? viewers may wonder. It's not as if Becky has just announced that Generalissimo Franco is Ted Cruz's Grandpappy. And even if Ted actually WERE descended from a long line of Foreign Fascists, Americans enjoy the Audacity to Hope that Ancestry won't be held against them in an Election Year. 2016 is a good time to be watching THE SHEPHERD OF THE HILLS, as it takes place in the Heart of Cruz Country, so all of its characters Talk Like Ted and his campaign surrogates, as seen on Fox "News." John Wayne channels the future Sen. Cruz here as young Matt, the sort of guy who feels that he's a walking curse and was born to take extreme measures against the Universe, such as shutting down the U.S. government and killing Americans by the thousands as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security all fail due to some superstitious "Blood Oath" from the Dark Ages (or Grover Norquist). Actor Harry Carey's Good Shepherd title role finally has to fire a bullet into young Matt to knock some sense into him, but consider further parallels to our Present Day situation at one's own risk.
Lanin Thomasma
I found this to be an interesting, compelling story. I'd be curious to know where the producers of the film came up with it. It was certainly not based on Harold Bell Wright's novel "The Shepherd of the Hills", despite their use of the book's cover in the opening sequence, and of like-named characters throughout the movie.I didn't dislike the film, and I would recommend it to anyone as an enjoyable work. I would also recommend, after having watched it, to find a copy of Wright's book "The Shepherd of the Hills" and read it as well. It's quite a good story, too. Don't worry about the film giving away the ending of the book - there's no resemblance between the two.
