Wonderful character development!

Good concept, poorly executed.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

After making his post World War II debut as part of the cast of My Darling Clementine, Tim Holt resumed his career as a B picture cowboy hero with Thunder Mountain. If anything Holt's post war westerns were a notch or two better than the ones he did before the war.In Thunder Mountain Holt is the son of a deceased rancher who has come home to his ranch which has gone to wrack and ruin and he's owing a lot of back taxes to crooked sheriff Harry Harvey. In addition Martha Hyer and her two brothers Steve Brodie and Robert Clarke are quite willing to keep an old family feud going with the two families. But of course Martha kind of likes what she sees in Tim.Two others in league with Harvey are Harry Woods and Tom Keene looking to do anything to acquire the Holt ranch because of some insider information they've got. It all makes for a typically no frills, but really good Tim Holt western.Thunder Mountain also has Richard Martin playing his usual character of Chito Rafferty. The Chito character had teamed with other cowboy heroes previously, but would now be joined with Holt for the balance of his career as cowboy hero. Martin was one of the best sidekicks ever created for the western and unusual because he was allowed quite the libido. In a lot of their future films, Tim was always about the business at hand while Chito never let that cramp his style with the women. It made their pairing a bit unusual, but always fun and something to look forward to.Thunder Mountain is a film that will make you appreciate what a Tim Holt western was all about.

When I was a kid, I remember somebody telling me Tim Holt's westerns were great. I never had a chance to see them, but that changed when I saw Thunder Mountain a couple of days ago. I was impressed how they were able to put together in 60 minutes a very good western story (written by Zane Grey), full of action and comings and goings in galloping horses. It might seem like many of the thousands of low budgeted westerns of the forties and early fifties but somehow here it comes out better. There is a good sidekick, Chitto Rafferty, quite a leading lady (a very young Martha Hyer) and an excellent Jason Robards Sr. as an alcoholic lawyer.

"Thunder Mountain" was Tim Holt's first series western following WWII, the first of three films based on Zane Grey stories and the first of 29 entries featuring Richard Martin as his sidekick. Slickly produced with the high production values of the RKO studio, Holt's series westerns were always entertaining and were usually blessed with excellent supporting casts of veteran and upcoming players, as well as, good scripts.This one has Marvin Hayden (Holt) returning home from college to find his ranch about to be auctioned off for back taxes. We also learn of a long standing feud between his family and that of Ellie Jorth (Martha Hyer) whom he had met on the stagecoach home. Her two feisty brothers Chick (Steve Brodie) and Lee (Robert Clarke) attempt to scare Hayden off without success.Meanwhile, we learn that bad guys Trimble Carson (Harry Woods) and Johnny Blue (Richard Powers) plan to buy the ranch at auction. It seems that a dam is to be built on the land which will drive up its value when the acreage becomes productive. They are aided in their task by unscrupulous Sheriff Hadley (Harry Harvey).Hayden is befriended by his pal Chito Rafferty (Martin), lawyer Jim Gardner (Jason Robards Sr.) and heart of gold saloon girl Ginger Kelly (Virginia Owen). Hayden refuses to wear his father's guns. After Carson and Blue ambush Hadley and Ellie, Chick rides in to investigate. He is murdered by Carson in a manner that lays the blame upon Hayden. Ginger and Chito set about to prove that Carson is the real murderer.Hayden is arrested by Bagley however Gardner arranges to get the tax money that is owed from a family bank account and a loan. Chito breaks Hayden out of jail and the two ride to the Hayden ranch. They arrive to find that Gardner has been shot down by Carson. Well, enough being enough, Hadley straps on his father's guns and he, Chito and Lee Jorth ride into town and.............Martha Hyer who was all of about 18 and a brunette at this time, makes a pretty heroine. She of course would soon graduate to "A" list films. Richard Powers was better known as Tom Keene and had actually starred in a series of westerns for RKO in the early thirties. Although Holt would remain in series westerns from 1947 until 1952, he did step outside the genre during this time to play a key role in John Huston's "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (1948). Harry Woods was one of the most familiar bad guys in the "B" westerns of the 30s and 40s.An excellent series western.

Though he did fine work in major films by Welles and Huston, Tim Holt's true calling was in the Western. His RKO series, interrupted by World War II, extended to 1952, proving his lasting appeal and his many capabilities. THUNDER MOUNTAIN is fairly typical, though the format would still be upgraded through the next few years. Tim's ranch is up for auction, though he has the payment; crooked Sheriff Harry Harvey won't take it. Main bad guy Harry Carson (always great, bushy mustache and all) wants the ranch for its railroad right of way. The Hayden-Jorch feud's still raging, so Carson kills Steve Brodie a member of the Jorch clan, and frames Holt (a Hayden) into it. Tim breaks jail, a top notch gun battle ensues. Carson's captured, and Tim's got Martha Hyer. All this takes place in an excitingly paced 59 minutes, 16 less than Tom Hanks spent on that damn island in CAST AWAY last year, talkin' to a volleyball or something. The oldies are best, and when Tim Holt's in 'em, they're better than that. He gave me a lot of entertaining days at the movies when I was a kid; and as a 63 year old kid, he still does so, in late nite TV viewings on the W