The Young Land


The Young Land is a 1959 American Western film directed by Ted Tetzlaff and starring Patrick Wayne, Yvonne Craig, Dennis Hopper and Dan O'Herlihy. The cinematography was by Technicolor developer Winton C. Hoch and Henry Sharp. The film was distributed by Columbia Pictures Corporation.
It is the third and final of only three films produced by Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney's C.V. Whitney Pictures; the first being The Searchers in 1956 with John Wayne and directed by John Ford, the second being The Missouri Traveler in 1958 with Brandon deWilde and Lee Marvin.
Having previously been featured in a number of his father's films, this was the 20-year-old Wayne's attempt at a leading role while he was still enrolled at Loyola Marymount University, graduating from there in 1961.
The film was scored by Dimitri Tiomkin who earned a nomination for Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Strange Are the Ways of Love" with lyrics by Ned Washington and sung by Randy Sparks.

Plot

In 1848, after the end of the Mexican–American War and with the advent of California statehood, an American gunslinger named Hatfield Carnes kills a Mexican man in California. He is arrested for the murder by Jim Ellison, a former United States marine and now sheriff with neither a gun nor a badge. Appointed by prominent local businessman and politico Don Roberto de la Madrid, Ellison has designs on de la Madrid's spoiled daughter, Elena. By-the-book Judge Millard Isham arrives in town with Deputy Marshal Ben Stroud to conduct the trial. Wanted tough guy Lee Hearn has problems of his own with the law, but is willing to help Ellison as a deputy. Carnes is placed on trial in the new Mexican Cession territory with the Hispanic populace waiting to learn if American justice will convict Carnes.

Cast

No less than six different releases of The Young Land were produced on VHS. Similarly, several DVD versions were released over the years, mainly as an inclusion in a multiple film "western pack". The Young Land is available on Region 0 DVD through VCI Entertainment and video on demand in standard non-widescreen format.