Home from the Hill

Home from the Hill is a 1960 American Metrocolor drama film starring Robert Mitchum, Eleanor Parker, George Peppard, George Hamilton, Everett Sloane and Luana Patten. Directed in CinemaScope by Vincente Minnelli, it was produced by Edward Grainger, and distributed by MGM. The screenplay was adapted from the 1958 novel of the same name by William Humphrey. The film was entered into the 1960 Cannes Film Festival. The title is from the last line of Robert Louis Stevenson's short poem "Requiem". Plot Captain Wade Hunnicutt, a notorious womanizer and the wealthiest and most powerful person in his East Texas town, is wounded by a jealous husband. Wade's scornful but beautiful wife Hannah has raised their son Theron to be dependent upon her, but as he reaches adulthood, Theron seeks his father's help in becoming a man. Wade introduces Theron to hunting and other masculine pursuits under the watchful eye of Rafe, Hunnicutt's loyal employee. Theron admires the slightly older and more worldly Rafe, and rapidly develops into a marksman and skilled hunter. He also learns about women from Rafe. Theron's new lifestyle leads him into a love affair with Libby Halstead, a local girl from a proper family, but her father Albert's animosity forces a secret relationship. Theron learns from his mother that the reason for Libby's father's scorn is Wade's reputation as a womanizer and that Rafe is his illegitimate half-brother.