The Young Land

The Young Land is a 1959 American Western drama film directed by Ted Tetzlaff starring Patrick Wayne and Dennis Hopper. 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" (The Young Land theme) with lyrics by Ned Washington and sung by Randy Sparks.