It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Movies that were made by MGM in the 1950s and before were known for their high quality in terms of filmmaking. They were also responsible for distributing a good majority of movies featuring the famous dog Lassie. Unfortunately, like any other studio, they have a few bad films under their belt, and one of them happened to feature Lassie. Say hi to 1951's "The Painted Hills", which is often considered to be the worst of the Lassie movies, and for good reason.The movie goes like this: Jonathan, a gold prospector that hit pay dirt, but unfortunately, his partner has recently died, leaving his only son Tommy without a father. Jonathan, who is the owner of a dog named Shep (played by Lassie), decides to give Tommy the dog so that he won't be alone. In the meantime, Jonathan gets a new partner named Lin (our villain), who is interested in keeping the gold all to himself, and would even kill to get it all, which is what he does. Lass--I mean, Shep, finds out what happened and then tries to warn Tommy. So, in short, it's a revenge story about a backstabbing partner whose plan is ultimately foiled and is killed by one of the most recognizable dogs in movies and television.This movie is the equivalent to that of a really bad Lassie episode, in that the acting is pretty horrible, as if every actor is reading off a cue card held by the director. The story, as you can clearly see from the synopsis I've just given, is rather basic and cookie-cut that you can easily predict what will happen next, making it not even worth sitting through, despite its short running time of approximately one hour. That is, unless you watch the film via Mystery Science Theater 3000, which is what most people have done. That's right. The movie was bad enough to warrant an MST3K episode, and seeing that the movie is in the public domain, it's basically open season for anyone willing to riff the hell out of it.If you find this movie in a bargain bin, don't even bother picking it up. Even if you're wanting to give it to your kids for them to watch, don't even bother. They'll probably want to watch something else, most likely a Disney film, or probably any movie other than this.

For some reason, while "The Painted Hills" was made and released by a major Hollywood studio (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer), its copyright was left to lapse, and now it's stuck in public domain hell. Fortunately, if you put in a little research and effort, you can find decent prints on various public domain DVD labels. Anyway, while the movie promises to be an (unofficial) Lassie movie, I think many viewers will be surprised that the dog here gets less focus than they are probably thinking. The dog doesn't get to do all that much in the first half, and while it gets more to do in the second half, it isn't THAT much more. As for the rest of the movie, there are questions like why the bad guy doesn't simply shoot the dog right away when the dog starts to pose a problem. Still, the movie is well produced for what wasn't probably an "A" movie budget, there are no lulls in its narrative, and at less than 70 minutes in length, certainly doesn't overstay its welcome. As for potential family viewing, though there are a few dark elements in the movie (like murder), they are pretty tamely handled in that 1950s style, and shouldn't upset your average 21st century kid.

***SPOILER*** The last of the seven Lassie films produced by MGM with Lassie, who for some strange reason is called Pal in the movie credits, playing a Collie named Shep. Shep is the loyal companion of gold prospector Jonathan Harvey, Paul Kelly, who ends up playing a Dirty Harry or Charles Bronson like role when his friend and master is brutally murdered by his prospector partner Lin Taylor, Bruce Cowling. It's Taylor who's paranoia reached homicidal proportions who went completely postal and murdered Jonathan by pushing him off a cliff. That in order for Taylor to have all the gold that the two were to share together with young Tommy Blake, Gary Gray, and his mom Martha Blake,Ann Doran, all for himself.Lassie or Shep as she's called in the movie at first has her suspicions in what happened to her friend Jonathan but keeps them to herself until she find his broken body buried in the woods. It's Taylor who at first was a nice guy who took over the partnership of the gold mine that Jonathan had with Tommy's dad Frank who had since passed away from Pneumonia. It was greed that took hold of Taylor who soon became so crazy that he even accused and was about to shoot, that's until Jonathan stopped him, the kind friendly and bible thumping Pilot Pete, Art Smith, over trying to steal the gold he had hidden in his cabin. That's when Taylor caught Pete preparing supper for him Jonathan Tommy as well as Shep.It's soon that Taylor starts to realize that Shep is on to him in her friends Jonathan's murder and plans to shut her up for good by feeding her poison laced chicken that the hungry dog, who hasn't been fed in days, wolfs down. It's was local Indian Medicine Man Bald Eagle, Chief Yowlachie, who saved Shep's life with his home made remedy of herbs and spices which not only brought Shap back to life but finally convinced her that it was Taylor who did in her friend Jonathan and tried to do her in as well!***SPOILERS*** With Taylor now trying to knock off Tommy who, like Shep, knew he murdered Jonathan Shep springs to his rescue. With a determined Shep chasing him up the snow covered painted hills Taylor's luck runs out when he finds out, in trying to shoot Shep,that he's all out of ammunition. Shep not really interested in bringing Taylor back to civilization to face justice charges him causing Taylor to fall off a cliff, like he pushed Jonathan to his death, and die covered in the snow below.A bit hard to take in Lassie or Shep completely out of character acting more like a vicious Pit-bull or Rottweiler attack dog then the sweet and loving Collie that we all grew to love over the years. But like the saying goes "Somebody has to do it" in stooping Taylor from murdering little Tommy, and it was Shep or Lassie who was the only one there on the scene to stop him!

Pretty bad. This film about a grizzled(and frankly rock stupid) old prospector and his dog'Shep' i.e., Lassie, as well as an annoying kid whose name I can't recall at the moment. At the beginning of the movie, the old prospector has DELIBERATELY buried himself in some sand so that the poor dog will have to dig him out. Why? Did he hate the dog? Anyhoo, somehow or other this idiot has managed to strike gold, and goes to tell his partner. But the man has died, and his sleazy other partner is happy to assist old Jonathan in digging up the gold. The geezer tries to leave is dog with the dead guy's son, but not even the retarded mutt wants to stay with this kid. There's quaint old preacher(for quaint read smelly), and the oily guy finished off the old guy(surprise, surprise) and tries to steal all the gold. Plus he poisons the dog and tries to kill the kid, too. So I suppose its okay that a devilish and crazy Lassie..err...SHEP does this the guy in at the end, although its pretty disturbing in what is basically a children's movie. There are extremely stereotypical(to the point of racial slur) 'Native Americans' who speak without using verbs(as in, Me Make Camp Fire type speech). And that's pretty much the extent of the cast, because apparently Lassie's salary was too big for them to hire anyone else. Kind of dull. not very interesting, and a tad too dark. Not a great movie in any way.