Home From The Hill (1960)

Set in a small East Texas town, the most powerful man (Robert Mitchum) in town and the one looked up to by most of the town's citizenry clashes with his wife (Eleanor Parker) over the upbringing of their son (George Hamilton). He's a chronic womanizer and his wife has had no relations with him since the birth of their son. But as he tries to pull his son away from the clutches of his wife to make a man of him, it sets forth a series of events that will have tragic consequences. Based on the novel by William Humphrey and directed by Vincente Minnelli (GIGI). There was a time in Hollywood when they were storytellers who told good stories. You'd be pulled into the lives of its characters, you liked them (or didn't) and their fates were of concern to you. As each scene unfolded, you learned a little more, just like chapters in a book. HOME FROM THE HILL is a perfect specimen of the Hollywood dream factory (in this case, MGM) at work. Everything is just right, the acting, the screenplay, the direction, the cinematography, the music etc. This was early in the careers of George Peppard and George Hamilton yet neither has ever been better. In one of his best performances, Mitchum shows what a sterling actor he was but he holds the screen like a true Movie Star and Eleanor Parker shows what an underrated screen presence she was. It's Minnelli at his best. You may find tears running down your cheeks by the end of the film but it's not manipulation, it's honest tears. A superior melodrama. With Luana Patten, Everett Sloane, Constance Ford, Anne Seymour and Ray Teal.