''Hang 'Em High'' is a 1968 American
DeLuxe Color
DeLuxe Color or Deluxe color or Color by DeLuxe is Deluxe Laboratories brand of color process for motion pictures. DeLuxe Color is Eastmancolor-based, with certain adaptations for improved compositing for printing (similar to Technicolor's "sel ...
revisionist Western film directed by
Ted Post
Theodore I. Post (March 31, 1918 – August 20, 2013) was an American director of film and television. Highly prolific, Post directed numerous episodes of well-known television series including '' Rawhide'', ''Gunsmoke'', and ''The Twilight Zone'' ...
and written by
Leonard Freeman
Leonard Freeman (October 31, 1920 – January 20, 1974) was an American television writer and producer who is best remembered as the creator of the CBS series ''Hawaii Five-O'' in 1968. He appeared in a 1953 episode (#112) of the TV serie ...
and Mel Goldberg. It stars
Clint Eastwood
Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...
as Jed Cooper, an innocent man who survives a
lynching
Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an ex ...
;
Inger Stevens
Inger Stevens (born Ingrid Stensland; October 18, 1934 – April 30, 1970) was a Swedish-American film, stage and Golden Globe-winning television actress.
Early life
Inger Stevens was born in Stockholm, Sweden, the eldest child of Per ...
as a widow who helps him;
Ed Begley
Edward James Begley Sr. (March 25, 1901 – April 28, 1970) was an American actor of theatre, radio, film, and television. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film ''Sweet Bird of Youth'' (1962) an ...
as the leader of the gang that lynched Cooper; and
Pat Hingle as the federal judge who hires him as a Deputy
U.S. Marshal
The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The USMS is a bureau within the U.S. Department of Justice, operating under the direction of the Attorney General, but serves as the enforce ...
.
''Hang 'Em High'' was the first production of
The Malpaso Company, Eastwood's production company.
Hingle portrays a fictional
judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...
who mirrors Judge
Isaac Parker
Isaac Charles Parker (October 15, 1838 – November 17, 1896), also known as “Hanging Judge” Parker, was an American politician and jurist. He served as a United States representative from Missouri and was appointed as the first United Stat ...
, labeled the "Hanging Judge" due to the large number of men he sentenced to be executed during his service, during the late 1800s, as District Judge of the United States District Court of the Western District of Arkansas.
The film also depicts the dangers of serving as a Deputy U.S. Marshal during that period, as many federal marshals were killed while serving under Parker. The fictional Fort Grant, base for operations for that district judge seat, is also a mirror of the factual
Fort Smith, Arkansas
Fort Smith is the third-largest city in Arkansas and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 89,142. It is the principal city of the Fort Smith, Arkansas–Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Are ...
, where Judge Parker's court was located.
Plot
In
Oklahoma Territory
The Territory of Oklahoma was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 2, 1890, until November 16, 1907, when it was joined with the Indian Territory under a new constitution and admitted to the Union as th ...
in 1889, retired lawman Jed Cooper is surrounded by a
posse
Posse is a shortened form of posse comitatus, a group of people summoned to assist law enforcement. The term is also used colloquially to mean a group of friends or associates.
Posse may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Posse'' (1975 ...
of nine men: Captain Wilson, Reno, Miller, Jenkins, Stone, Maddow, Tommy, Loomis, and Charlie Blackfoot. They demand the receipt for the cattle Cooper is driving. The cattle seller is a robber who killed the rancher. Cooper explains that he knew nothing about the murder, but only Jenkins expresses doubts about his guilt. After Reno takes Cooper's horse and saddle and Miller takes his wallet, the men
hang
Hang or Hanging may refer to:
People
* Choe Hang (disambiguation), various people
* Luciano Hang (born 1962/1963), Brazilian billionaire businessman
* Ren Hang (disambiguation), various people
Law
* Hanging, a form of capital punishment
Arts, e ...
him from a tree and ride away.
Shortly afterward,
Marshal
Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used for elevated o ...
Dave Bliss rescues a half-dead Cooper and takes him to Fort Grant, where the territorial
judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...
, Adam Fenton, determines that Cooper is innocent, sets him free, and warns him not to
take his own revenge. As an alternative, Fenton offers Cooper a job as a marshal. Cooper accepts, and Fenton warns him not to kill the lynchers, but to bring them in for trial.
While picking up a prisoner, Cooper sees his horse and saddle in front of a local saloon. He finds Reno inside and tries to arrest him, but Reno draws his gun, forcing Cooper to gun him down. Jenkins, learning of Reno's death at the hands of a marshal with a hanging scar, turns himself in and provides the names of the rest of the posse. Cooper finds Stone in the town of Red Creek, arrests him, and has the local sheriff, Ray Calhoun, put him in jail. Most of the men Cooper seeks are respected citizens of Red Creek, but Calhoun honors Cooper's warrants for their arrest.
While en route to arrest the other men, Cooper and Calhoun come across the murder of two men and the rustling of their herd. Cooper forms a posse of his own to pursue the stolen herd, and discovers that the rustlers are Miller and two teenage brothers, Ben and Billy Joe. He prevents the rustlers from being lynched themselves, then takes them to Fort Grant single-handedly when the posse deserts him. He frees Ben and Billy Joe from their bonds after they insist that only Miller committed the murders. Miller attacks Cooper after slipping his own bonds, but Cooper subdues him.
Fenton sentences all three rustlers to be hanged, despite Cooper's defense of the teenagers. Fenton insists that the public will resort to lynching if they see rustlers going unpunished, threatening Oklahoma's bid for statehood. Some time later, Calhoun arrives at Fort Grant and offers to pay Cooper for his lost cattle with money from Captain Wilson and the other lynchers. Cooper makes it clear that while they are alive he still intends to arrest them. With the bribe rejected, Blackfoot and Maddow flee, while Tommy and Loomis remain loyal to Wilson and agree to help him kill Cooper.
During a public hanging for Miller, the brothers, and three other men, the lynchers ambush Cooper in a brothel, seriously wounding him. Cooper survives and is slowly nursed back to health by a widow, Rachel Warren. Rachel reveals she is hunting for the outlaws who killed her husband and raped her. She and Cooper begin an affair; he says that she might never find her rapists. Cooper tries to resign, but Judge Fenton gives him the location of Wilson's ranch, where Wilson, Tommy, and Loomis are hiding.
Cooper survives another ambush, stabs Loomis to death, shoots Tommy, and nearly apprehends Wilson before he commits suicide. After returning to Fort Grant, Cooper hands in his marshal's star and demands that Fenton sign a pardon for Jenkins, who is both contrite and seriously ill. The two men debate the merits of territorial justice; Fenton insists that he is doing as well as he can, cursing the fact that his is the only court in the territory with little recourse for plaintiffs, and that if Cooper disagrees with him, then the best thing he can do is to help Oklahoma become a state (and thus get proper courts) by continuing to serve as a marshal. Cooper takes back his star in exchange for Jenkins' release. Fenton then gives Cooper fresh warrants for Blackfoot and Maddow, telling him, "The law still wants 'em."
Cast
*
Clint Eastwood
Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...
as Marshal Jed Cooper
*
Inger Stevens
Inger Stevens (born Ingrid Stensland; October 18, 1934 – April 30, 1970) was a Swedish-American film, stage and Golden Globe-winning television actress.
Early life
Inger Stevens was born in Stockholm, Sweden, the eldest child of Per ...
as Rachel Warren
*
Ed Begley
Edward James Begley Sr. (March 25, 1901 – April 28, 1970) was an American actor of theatre, radio, film, and television. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film ''Sweet Bird of Youth'' (1962) an ...
as Captain Wilson
*
Pat Hingle as Judge Adam Fenton
*
Ben Johnson Ben, Benjamin or Benny Johnson may refer to:
In sports Association football
* Ben Johnson (footballer, born 2000), English footballer
* Ben Johnson (soccer) (born 1977), American soccer player
Other codes of football
*Ben Johnson (Australian foot ...
as Marshal Dave Bliss
*
Charles McGraw
Charles McGraw (born Charles Crisp Butters; May 10, 1914 – July 29, 1980) was an American stage, film and television actor whose career spanned more than three decades.
Early life
McGraw was born to Beatrice (née Crisp) and Francis P. B ...
as Sheriff Ray Calhoun
*
Ruth White as Madame "Peaches" Sophie
*
Bruce Dern
Bruce MacLeish Dern (born June 4, 1936) is an American actor. He has often played supporting villainous characters of unstable natures. He has received several accolades, including the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and the Silver B ...
as Miller
*
Alan Hale Jr.
Alan Hale Jr. (born Alan Hale MacKahan; (March 8, 1921 - January 2, 1990) was an American actor and restaurateur. He was the son of actor Alan Hale Sr. His television career spanned four decades, but he was best known for his secondary lead role ...
as Matt Stone
*
Arlene Golonka
Arlene Leanore Golonka (January 23, 1936 – May 31, 2021) was an American actress. She is perhaps best known for playing Millie Hutchins on the television comedy ''The Andy Griffith Show'' and Millie Swanson on ''Mayberry R.F.D.'', and often ...
as Jennifer
*
James Westerfield
James A. Westerfield (March 22, 1913 – September 20, 1971) was an American character actor of stage, film, and television.
Early years
Westerfield was born in Nashville, Tennessee, to candy-maker Brasher Omier Westerfield and his wife D ...
as Prisoner
*
Dennis Hopper
Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker and photographer. He attended the Actors Studio, made his first television appearance in 1954, and soon after appeared in ''Giant'' (1956). In the next ten years ...
as The Prophet
*
L. Q. Jones as Loomis
*
Michael O'Sullivan as Francis Elroy Duffy
*
Joseph Sirola
Joseph Anthony Sirola (October 7, 1929 – February 10, 2019) was an American commercial, film, television, theatre actor and theatre producer.
Life and career
Sirola was born in Carteret, New Jersey to Croats, Croatian parents Anton, a carp ...
as Reno
*
James MacArthur
James Gordon MacArthur (December 8, 1937 – October 28, 2010) was an American actor with a long career in both movies and television. MacArthur's early work was predominantly in supporting roles in films. Later, he had a starring role as ...
as The Preacher
*
Bob Steele as Jenkins
*
Bert Freed
Bert Freed (November 3, 1919 – August 2, 1994) was an American character actor, voice-over actor, and the first actor to portray Detective Columbo.
Life and career
Born and raised in the Bronx, New York, Freed began acting while attending P ...
as Schmidt, The Hangman
*
Russell Thorson as Maddow
*
Ned Romero
Ned Romero (December 4, 1926 – November 4, 2017) was an American actor and opera singer who appeared in television and film.
Early childhood and education
Romero was born on December 4, 1926 in Franklin, Louisiana, the seat of St. Mary Pa ...
as Charlie Blackfoot
*
Jonathan Goldsmith
Jonathan Goldsmith (born September 26, 1938) is an American character actor. He began his career on the New York stage, then started a career in film and television. He appeared in several TV shows from the 1960s to the 1990s. He is best known ...
as Tommy (credited as Jonathan Lippe)
* Bruce Scott Zahariades as Billy Joe (credited as Bruce Scott)
Production
Eastwood spent much of late 1966 and 1967 dubbing for the English-language version of the ''
Dollars Trilogy
''Dollars Trilogy'' ( it, link=no, Trilogia del dollaro), also known as the ''Man with No Name Trilogy'' ( it, link=no, Trilogia dell'Uomo senza nome) or the ''Blood Money Trilogy'', is an Italian film series consisting of three Spaghetti Weste ...
'' and being interviewed, something which left him feeling angry and frustrated.
[McGillagan (1999), p.159] Stardom brought more roles in the "tough guy" mould, and
Irving Leonard, his business manager, gave him a script to a new film, the American revisionist Western ''Hang 'Em High'', a cross between ''
Rawhide'' and Leone's westerns, written by Mel Goldberg and produced by
Leonard Freeman
Leonard Freeman (October 31, 1920 – January 20, 1974) was an American television writer and producer who is best remembered as the creator of the CBS series ''Hawaii Five-O'' in 1968. He appeared in a 1953 episode (#112) of the TV serie ...
.
However, the William Morris Agency had wanted him to star in a bigger picture, ''
Mackenna's Gold
''Mackenna's Gold'' is a 1969 American Western film directed by J. Lee Thompson, starring an ensemble cast featuring Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif, Telly Savalas, Ted Cassidy, Camilla Sparv and Julie Newmar in lead roles. It was photographed in S ...
'', with a cast of notable actors such as
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the 12th-greatest male star of Classic Hollywood ...
,
Omar Sharif
Omar Sharif ( ar, عمر الشريف ; born Michel Yusef Dimitri Chalhoub , 10 April 193210 July 2015) was an Egyptian actor, generally regarded as one of his country's greatest male film stars. He began his career in his native country in the ...
, and
Telly Savalas
Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas (January 21, 1922 – January 22, 1994) was an American actor and singer whose career spanned four decades. Noted for his bald head and deep, resonant voice, he is perhaps best known for portraying Lt. Theo Kojak on th ...
. Eastwood, however, did not approve and preferred the script for ''Hang 'Em High'', but had one complaint which he voiced to the producers: the scene before the six-man hanging, where the hero is attacked by the enemies. Eastwood believed that the scene would not be believable if set in a saloon. They eventually agreed to introduce a scene with Cooper taking a prostitute upstairs during the hanging, and having the attack take place afterwards as Eastwood enters the bordello's bar.
[McGillagan (1999), p.160-1] Eastwood signed for the film with a salary of $400,000 and 25% of the net earnings of the film, playing the character of Jed Cooper, a man accused by vigilantes of a rancher's murder, lynched and left for dead, who later seeks revenge.
With the wealth generated by the ''Dollars'' trilogy, Irving Leonard helped set up Eastwood's long-desired new production company,
The Malpaso Company, named after
Malpaso Creek
Malpaso Creek is a small, coastal stream south of Carmel in Monterey County, California, United States. It is generally regarded as the northern border of Big Sur in central coastal California. A low grade bituminous coal deposit was found in up ...
, which flows through property Eastwood formerly owned in
Monterey County, California
Monterey County ( ), officially the County of Monterey, is a county located on the Pacific coast in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, its population was 439,035. The county's largest city and county seat is Salinas.
Monte ...
.
[McGillagan (1999), p.162] Leonard became the company's president and arranged for ''Hang 'Em High'' to be a joint production with United Artists.
Directors
Robert Aldrich and
John Sturges
John Eliot Sturges (; January 3, 1910 – August 18, 1992) was an American film director. His films include ''Bad Day at Black Rock'' (1955), ''Gunfight at the O.K. Corral'' (1957), ''The Magnificent Seven'' (1960), '' The Great Escape'' (1963 ...
were considered for the director's helm, but on the request of Eastwood, old friend
Ted Post
Theodore I. Post (March 31, 1918 – August 20, 2013) was an American director of film and television. Highly prolific, Post directed numerous episodes of well-known television series including '' Rawhide'', ''Gunsmoke'', and ''The Twilight Zone'' ...
was brought in to direct, against the wishes of Freeman, whom Eastwood overruled.
[McGillagan (1999), p.163] Post was important in casting for the film and arranged for Inger Stevens of ''
The Farmer's Daughter'' fame to play the role of Rachel Warren. She had not heard of Eastwood or
Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone (; 3 January 1929 – 30 April 1989) was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter credited as the pioneer of the Spaghetti Western genre and widely regarded as one of the most influential directors in the history of cin ...
at the time, but instantly took a liking to Clint and accepted.
Clint Eastwood and Inger Stevens began a short relationship during filming.
Score
Composer
Dominic Frontiere
Dominic Carmen Frontiere (June 17, 1931 – December 21, 2017) was an American composer, arranger, and jazz accordionist. He composed the theme and much of the music for the first season of the television series '' The Outer Limits'', as wel ...
was given eight days to compose an
Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone (; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpeter who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classica ...
type score. His theme appeared in a large number of
cover version
In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...
s ranging from
Hugo Montenegro
Hugo Mario Montenegro (September 2, 1925 – February 6, 1981) was an American orchestra leader and composer of film soundtracks. His best-known work is interpretations of the music from Spaghetti Westerns, especially his cover version of Ennio M ...
to
Booker T and the M.G.s.
Filming
Although the film is purportedly set in
Oklahoma Territory
The Territory of Oklahoma was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 2, 1890, until November 16, 1907, when it was joined with the Indian Territory under a new constitution and admitted to the Union as th ...
, Freeman arrived in
Las Cruces, New Mexico
Las Cruces (; "the crosses") is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New Mexico and the seat of Doña Ana County. As of the 2020 census the population was 111,385. Las Cruces is the largest city in both Doña Ana County and southern New ...
, on May 25, 1967, to scout locations. That same day, Freeman located the tree to be used for the hanging in the opening scene, about 12 miles north of Las Cruces.
Filming began June 27, 1967, in the Las Cruces area, with additional scenes shot at
White Sands.
[ The interiors were shot at MGM studios.] The opening lynching scene was filmed June 29, 1967, next to the Rio Grande
The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico.
The length of the Rio G ...
.[ The tree used for the hanging is no longer standing and the riverbed is now overgrown with thick brush.][ Eastwood had considerable leeway in the production, especially in the script, which was altered in parts such as the dialogue and setting of the barroom scene to his liking.][McGillagan (1999), p.164]
Reception
The film became a major success after release in August 1968, and with an opening-day revenue of $5,241 in Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
alone, it became the biggest United Artists opening in history, exceeding all of the James Bond films
James Bond is a fictional character created by British novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. A British secret agent working for MI6 under the codename 007, Bond has been portrayed on film in twenty-seven productions by actors Sean Connery, David Nive ...
at that time.[McGillagan (1999), p.165] It debuted at number five on ''Variety''s weekly survey of top films and had recouped production expenses within two weeks of screening. It eventually grossed $6.8 million in the United States and abroad, for a total of grossed worldwide.
It was praised by critics, including Arthur Winsten of the ''New York Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com.
It was established ...
'', who described ''Hang 'Em High'' as "a Western of quality, courage, danger and excitement." ''Variety'' gave the film a negative review, calling it "a poor American-made imitation of a poor Italian-made imitation of an American-made western."[Hughes, p.19] George Tashman wrote in ''Berkeley Gazette
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emeryv ...
'' that it was, "all intents and purposes," an "apple pie" western, "a spaghetti western
The Spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's film-making style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...
made in Hollywood."
As of February 2022, ''Hang 'Em High'' has a 92% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
.
See also
* List of American films of 1968
This is a list of American films released in 1968.
'' Oliver!'' won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Top-grossing films
# '' 2001: A Space Odyssey''
# '' Funny Girl''
# ''Planet of the Apes''
# '' Rosemary's Baby''
# ''The Odd Couple''
# ' ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
External links
*
*
*
*
*
Hang 'Em High
a
Vista Records
{{Authority control
1968 films
1968 Western (genre) films
American Western (genre) films
1960s English-language films
Films about capital punishment
Films directed by Ted Post
Films scored by Dominic Frontiere
Films set in the 1880s
Films set in Oklahoma
Films shot in New Mexico
Malpaso Productions films
United Artists films
United States Marshals Service in fiction
Revisionist Western (genre) films
1960s American films