''Sierra'' is a 1950 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film directed by Alfred E. Green and starring

Wanda Hendrix Dixie Wanda Hendrix (November 3, 1928 – February 1, 1981) was an American film and television actress. Early life Hendrix's father was a logging foreman, and she was born in Jacksonville, Florida. She was performing in a school play in Ja ...

Audie Murphy Audie Leon Murphy (20 June 1925 – 28 May 1971) was an American soldier, actor and songwriter. He was one of the most decorated American combat soldiers of World War II. He received every military combat award for valor available from t ...

and

Burl Ives Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (June 14, 1909 – April 14, 1995) was an American musician, actor, and author with a career that spanned more than six decades. Ives began his career as an itinerant singer and guitarist, eventually launching his own rad ...

. The film was based on the 1937 novel ''The Mountains Are My Kingdom'' by Stuart Hardy.

Plot

Jeff Hassard (

Dean Jagger Dean Jagger (November 7, 1903 – February 5, 1991) was an American film, stage, and television actor who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Henry King (director), Henry King's ''Twelve O'Clock High'' (1949). E ...

) and his son Ring (

) lead an isolated existence in the mountains breaking horses, because Jeff is wanted for a murder he did not commit. Their lives are interrupted when they stumble upon a young woman, Riley (

). When Jeff is injured, Ring has to go into town to get help.

Cast

as Riley Martin *

as Ring Hassard *

as Lonesome *

as Jeff Hassard *

Richard Rober Richard Rober (born Richard Steven Rauber; May 14, 1906 – May 26, 1952) was an American stage and film actor. From the mid-1930s to the mid-1940s he featured in numerous theatre productions, including being part of the original cast of '' Bor ...

as Big Matt *

Tony Curtis Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz; June 3, 1925September 29, 2010) was an American actor whose career spanned six decades, achieving the height of his popularity in the 1950s (Kansas Raiders, 1950) and early 1960s. He acted in more than 100 f ...

as Brent Coulter (as Anthony Curtis) *

Houseley Stevenson Houseley Stevenson (30 July 1879 – 6 August 1953) was a British-American character actor who was born in London on July 30, 1879, and died in Duarte, California on August 6, 1953. He began his movie career in 1936 and had a short career in ...

as Sam Coulter *

Elliott Reid Edgeworth Blair "Elliott" Reid (January 16, 1920 – June 21, 2013) was an American actor. Early life Reid was born in Manhattan, the son of artist Christine Challenger Reid and banker Blair Reid. He attended the Professional Children's S ...

as Duke Lafferty *

Griff Barnett Griff Barnett (born Manley Griffith, November 12, 1884 – January 12, 1958) was an American actor.(17 January 1958) ''The New York Times'' Barnett was born in Blue Ridge, Texas in 1884. In the early 20th century, Barnett was a member of the ...

as Dr. Robbins *

Elisabeth Risdon Elisabeth Risdon (born Daisy Cartwright Risdon; 26 April 1887 – 20 December 1958) was an English film actress. She appeared in more than 140 films between 1913 and 1952. A beauty in her youth, she usually played in society parts. In later ...

as Aunt Susan *

Roy Roberts Roy Roberts (born Roy Barnes Jones, March 19, 1906 – May 28, 1975) was an American character actor. Over his more than 40-year career, he appeared in more than nine hundred productions on stage and screen. Life and career Born in Tampa ...

as Sheriff Knudson * Gregg Martell as Hogan *

Sara Allgood Sarah Ellen Allgood (30 October 1880 – 13 September 1950), known as Sara Allgood, was an Irish-American actress. She first studied drama with the Irish nationalist Daughters of Ireland and was at the opening of the Irish National Theatre Soc ...

as Mrs. Jonas *

Erskine Sanford Erskine Sanford (November 19, 1885 – July 7, 1969) was an American actor on the stage, radio and motion pictures. Long associated with the Theatre Guild, he later joined Orson Welles's Mercury Theatre company and appeared in several of Welles ...

as Judge Prentiss *

John Doucette John Arthur Doucette (January 21, 1921 – August 16, 1994) was an American character actor who performed in more than 280 film and television productions between 1941 and 1987. A man of stocky build who possessed a deep, rich voice, he ...

as Jed Coulter *

James Arness James Arness (born James King Aurness; May 26, 1923 – June 3, 2011) was an American actor, best known for portraying Marshal Matt Dillon for 20 years in the CBS television series '' Gunsmoke''. Arness has the distinction of having played the ...

as Little Sam (as Jim Arness) *

Ted Jordan Edgar Harrison Friedman Jr. (May 23, 1924 – March 30, 2005) was an American film and television actor. He was known for playing freight agent Nathan Burke on 108 episodes of the American western television series '' Gunsmoke'' from 1966 to 1 ...

as Jim Coulter * I. Stanford Jolley as Snake Willens *

Jack Ingram Jack Owen Ingram (born November 15, 1970) is an American country music artist formerly signed to Big Machine Records, an independent record label. He has released eleven studio albums, one extended play, six live albums, and 19 singles. Although ...

as Al

Production

was billed over

in the credits. They were married when the film was made, however their marriage was short and tumultuous, and the two were separated before the film was even released. According to various interviews and articles on the film, Murphy was suffering from what would eventually come to be known as post-traumatic stress disorder, which resulted in his often erratic and unpredictable behavior. Parts of the film were shot in Kanab Canyon, Aspen Mirror Lake, Duck Creek, Cascade Falls, and Cedar Breaks in Utah.

References

External links

* * * * 1950 films 1950 Western (genre) films American Western (genre) films Audie Murphy Films based on Western (genre) novels Films directed by Alfred E. Green Films scored by Walter Scharf Films shot in Utah Films with screenplays by Edna Anhalt Universal Pictures films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films {{1950s-Western-film-stub