Clint Eastwood excels as Marshal Jed Cooper in "Hang 'Em High", the justice and revenge tale from writers Leonard Freeman and Mel Goldberg and directed by Ted Post. He's surrounded by a stellar cast, though most of them are in the hanging party that almost does him in during the film's opening scene. Particularly seamy looking is Bruce Dern; it's a mark of a good actor when his performance makes you want to see him get what's coming to him.
For those who've seen it, the story is well known, so I won't concern myself with the basic plot. What I found rather fascinating was the subtext provided by Pat Hingle's character, territorial Federal Judge Fenton. Deputizing Cooper, we see a solid moral individual who fairly demands that Cooper bring back his attackers alive to face a judge and jury. But this hanging judge has his own agenda, and in his vision of statehood for the Oklahoma Territory, he's not above creating a bit of a spectacle in the name of civilized justice. When Cooper gets sidetracked from his original mission to bring in the killer of a cattle rancher, his path crosses with Dern's character Miller, along with two young boys along for the ride. Though admitting to rustling, Cooper knows the boys are innocent of murder, especially when they don't help Miller take down Cooper while being brought in to Fort Grant. On the witness stand, Cooper is continually shut down by the judge as he tries to defend the boys. Legally they're guilty of rustling, punishable by death and they'll hang.
Credit writers Freeman and Goldberg for an unusual and surreal scene in which six condemned men are about to hang. The camera glances on shadows of dangling feet that portend the actual hanging, as a crowd forms on a bright Sunday morning to witness death. They wear their Sunday best, as a vendor hawks cold beer as if it were a sporting event. As the judge nods his assent and the gallows claim their toll, three members of the Cooper hanging party attempt to gun him down before they themselves fall victim to the hunt - incredible timing and imagery as Eastwood's character falls in a hail of bullets.
Inger Stevens appears as a nominal love interest for Marshal Cooper, in a romance virtually doomed from the start, as each are battling their own personal demons. Though there's a hint of their settling down together near the end of the movie, it's pretty much left up to the imagination of the viewer if that would ever actually happen.
The actual ending is also an innovative piece of work. When Cooper was strung up and left for dead at the beginning of the movie, there were nine members of the hanging party. By story's end, seven had been accounted for, with six of them dead. Two members of the group, by name of Maddow and Charlie Blackfoot, decided to head out of town to avoid capture and trial. With his mission incomplete, Cooper picks up the badge once more and heads out on the trail to bring them in. Odds are he'll get his men, but we don't get to see it.
For those who've seen it, the story is well known, so I won't concern myself with the basic plot. What I found rather fascinating was the subtext provided by Pat Hingle's character, territorial Federal Judge Fenton. Deputizing Cooper, we see a solid moral individual who fairly demands that Cooper bring back his attackers alive to face a judge and jury. But this hanging judge has his own agenda, and in his vision of statehood for the Oklahoma Territory, he's not above creating a bit of a spectacle in the name of civilized justice. When Cooper gets sidetracked from his original mission to bring in the killer of a cattle rancher, his path crosses with Dern's character Miller, along with two young boys along for the ride. Though admitting to rustling, Cooper knows the boys are innocent of murder, especially when they don't help Miller take down Cooper while being brought in to Fort Grant. On the witness stand, Cooper is continually shut down by the judge as he tries to defend the boys. Legally they're guilty of rustling, punishable by death and they'll hang.
Credit writers Freeman and Goldberg for an unusual and surreal scene in which six condemned men are about to hang. The camera glances on shadows of dangling feet that portend the actual hanging, as a crowd forms on a bright Sunday morning to witness death. They wear their Sunday best, as a vendor hawks cold beer as if it were a sporting event. As the judge nods his assent and the gallows claim their toll, three members of the Cooper hanging party attempt to gun him down before they themselves fall victim to the hunt - incredible timing and imagery as Eastwood's character falls in a hail of bullets.
Inger Stevens appears as a nominal love interest for Marshal Cooper, in a romance virtually doomed from the start, as each are battling their own personal demons. Though there's a hint of their settling down together near the end of the movie, it's pretty much left up to the imagination of the viewer if that would ever actually happen.
The actual ending is also an innovative piece of work. When Cooper was strung up and left for dead at the beginning of the movie, there were nine members of the hanging party. By story's end, seven had been accounted for, with six of them dead. Two members of the group, by name of Maddow and Charlie Blackfoot, decided to head out of town to avoid capture and trial. With his mission incomplete, Cooper picks up the badge once more and heads out on the trail to bring them in. Odds are he'll get his men, but we don't get to see it.