I'm a fan of Clint Eastwood and appreciate his trademark attitude (and hat). Clint plays wrongly-hanged Jed Cooper and ends up with a permanent neck scar. Jed's passion to bring his would-be murderers to justice is initially fueled by a completely understandable burning desire for revenge, but this becomes tempered with time.
Pat Hingle's depiction of a self-righteous hanging judge is excellent and the friction with Jed Cooper and his ethical concerns highlights the grey areas in the frontier justice system.
Some of the distractions seem pointless, such as Dennis Hopper's crazy Prophet. I would have preferred that screen time to have been devoted to Marshal Dave Bliss (Ben Johnson), who died violently off-stage despite his importance to Jed for saving his life. This seems like a poor decision, probably caused by a simplistic studio desire to showcase Eastwood. Bliss seemed like an interesting, thoughtful guy, but got very little screen time considering.
I give this 7.5 stars, with a half-star penalty for slow pacing and a one-star penalty for missed opportunities. That's six (6) stars total. This movie had real potential, but it's unfortunately a "near miss".
DRIFTING OFF-TOPIC (for most, not all)
{Welcome to my Under the Silver Lake (UTSL) distributed essay. This is Part 6. Part 5 was attached to my review of Soapdish.}
Under the Silver Lake (2018) is a strange film with an unsolved (audience) puzzle that references dozens of other films, often in very subtle ways. Hang 'Em High is one.
Hang 'Em High is an excellent example of a film with some connections to UTSL, but you don't need to watch it; just knowing the title and looking up the cast (on IMDB of course) is sufficient (but glancing at some of the pictures is usually a good idea).
To my way of thinking, Hang 'Em High is a stepping-stone movie. If you find your way here, you know you're (probably) on a valid path given the hanging-dog images in the UTSL end-credits.
I don't have a lot to say about this film, but if you need motivation, you're only two steps (hops?) from a puzzle-answer word. Does this path contain enough information to identify it? Of course not!
REMINDER
There are multiple paths to every puzzle-answer word. Luckily, humans are good at pattern-recognition. So ... find more paths, and take notes. They do pay off.
SEMI-RANDOM HINT
My favorite rabbit hole is the scene with five angry women in the rooftop pool-party bathroom (I found a nice still image online). If that purple hair doesn't remind you of anything, ask someone older (like a boomer), or more nerdy.
FOR MORE ABOUT UTSL PUZZLE CLUES
See my (3-star) review of Fever Pitch.
Pat Hingle's depiction of a self-righteous hanging judge is excellent and the friction with Jed Cooper and his ethical concerns highlights the grey areas in the frontier justice system.
Some of the distractions seem pointless, such as Dennis Hopper's crazy Prophet. I would have preferred that screen time to have been devoted to Marshal Dave Bliss (Ben Johnson), who died violently off-stage despite his importance to Jed for saving his life. This seems like a poor decision, probably caused by a simplistic studio desire to showcase Eastwood. Bliss seemed like an interesting, thoughtful guy, but got very little screen time considering.
I give this 7.5 stars, with a half-star penalty for slow pacing and a one-star penalty for missed opportunities. That's six (6) stars total. This movie had real potential, but it's unfortunately a "near miss".
DRIFTING OFF-TOPIC (for most, not all)
{Welcome to my Under the Silver Lake (UTSL) distributed essay. This is Part 6. Part 5 was attached to my review of Soapdish.}
Under the Silver Lake (2018) is a strange film with an unsolved (audience) puzzle that references dozens of other films, often in very subtle ways. Hang 'Em High is one.
Hang 'Em High is an excellent example of a film with some connections to UTSL, but you don't need to watch it; just knowing the title and looking up the cast (on IMDB of course) is sufficient (but glancing at some of the pictures is usually a good idea).
To my way of thinking, Hang 'Em High is a stepping-stone movie. If you find your way here, you know you're (probably) on a valid path given the hanging-dog images in the UTSL end-credits.
I don't have a lot to say about this film, but if you need motivation, you're only two steps (hops?) from a puzzle-answer word. Does this path contain enough information to identify it? Of course not!
REMINDER
There are multiple paths to every puzzle-answer word. Luckily, humans are good at pattern-recognition. So ... find more paths, and take notes. They do pay off.
SEMI-RANDOM HINT
My favorite rabbit hole is the scene with five angry women in the rooftop pool-party bathroom (I found a nice still image online). If that purple hair doesn't remind you of anything, ask someone older (like a boomer), or more nerdy.
FOR MORE ABOUT UTSL PUZZLE CLUES
See my (3-star) review of Fever Pitch.