''The Hanging Tree'' is a 1959 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film directed by

Delmer Daves Delmer Lawrence Daves (July 24, 1904 – August 17, 1977) was an American screenwriter, film director and film producer. He worked in many genres, including film noir and warfare, but he is best known for his Western movies, especially '' Br ...

, based on the novelette ''The Hanging Tree'', written by

Dorothy M. Johnson Dorothy Marie Johnson (December 19, 1905 – November 11, 1984) was an American writer best known for her Western fiction. Biography Early life Dorothy Marie Johnson was born in McGregor, Iowa, the only daughter of Lester Eugene Johnson and Ma ...

in 1957.

Karl Malden Karl Malden (born Mladen George Sekulovich; March 22, 1912 – July 1, 2009) was an American actor. He was primarily a character actor, who according to Robert Berkvist, "for more than 60 years brought an intelligent intensity and a homespun aut ...

assumed directing duties for several days when Daves fell ill. The film stars

Gary Cooper Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his strong, quiet screen persona and understated acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, a ...

Maria Schell Maria Margarethe Anna Schell (15 January 1926 – 26 April 2005) was an Austrian-Swiss actress. She was one of the leading stars of German cinema in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1954, she was awarded the Cannes Best Actress Award for her performance ...

George C. Scott George Campbell Scott (October 18, 1927 – September 22, 1999) was an American actor, director, and producer who had a celebrated career on both stage and screen. With a gruff demeanor and commanding presence, Scott became known for his port ...

and Malden, and it is set in the gold fields of Montana during the gold rush of the 1860s and 1870s. The story follows a doctor who saves a criminal from a lynch mob, then earns the enmity of several prospectors while trying to protect a young woman whom he has nursed back to health after she was injured in a coach robbery. The film represented the first cinematic appearance for George C. Scott.

Plot

Joseph Frail (

)—doctor, gambler, gunslinger—rides into the small town of Skull Creek, Montana, with miners in a gold rush, looking to set up a doctor's office. He passes by the "hanging tree," an old oak with a thick branch over which has been slung a rope with a frayed end, presumably a former noose. He rescues and treats Rune (

Ben Piazza Ben Piazza (July 30, 1933 – September 7, 1991) was an American actor. Life and career Piazza made his film debut in Sidney J. Furie's Canadian film ''A Dangerous Age'' (1959) followed by his Hollywood debut in '' The Hanging Tree'' (1959). T ...

), a young man who was shot by Frenchy (

) while trying to steal gold from a

sluice Sluice ( ) is a word for a channel controlled at its head by a movable gate which is called a sluice gate. A sluice gate is traditionally a wood or metal barrier sliding in grooves that are set in the sides of the waterway and can be considered ...

. As Rune has no money to pay for his care, Frail forces Rune into temporary servitude with the threat of revealing he is the thief. A stagecoach is robbed and overturned, killing the driver and a male passenger. A search party is formed, and Frenchy finds the sole survivor, Swiss immigrant Elizabeth Mahler (

), daughter of the male passenger. Crippled by burns, blindness and dehydration, Elizabeth is moved into a house next to the doctor's house to recover. The placement causes much chagrin among the town's righteous women, who believe that Elizabeth may be paying for her medical care through illicit behavior. Frenchy sneaks in under the guise of trying to strike a business deal with Elizabeth, but instead tries to kiss her. Frail witnesses the aggression and chases Frenchy back to town. Frail beats him up and threatens to kill him. Meanwhile, a

faith healer Faith healing is the practice of prayer and gestures (such as laying on of hands) that are believed by some to elicit divine intervention in spiritual and physical healing, especially the Christian practice. Believers assert that the healing ...

named Dr. Grubb (

) sees Frail's medical practice as a threat. Elizabeth eventually regains her sight and makes romantic overtures toward Frail. He rejects her. She leaves in a huff, determined to strike it rich as a

prospector Prospector may refer to: Space exploration * Prospector (spacecraft), a planned lunar probe, canceled in 1962 * '' Lunar Prospector'', a NASA spacecraft Trains * Prospector (train), a passenger train operated by the Denver & Rio Grande Western ...

so that she can pay off Frail and get out from under his control. She teams with Rune and Frenchy, who plan to buy a claim and set up a sluice. To get money, she pawns a family heirloom necklace. It is worthless, but Frail secretly tells the storekeeper to loan her however much money she needs. She finds out and asks Frail why he did not respond to her affection. He reveals that his wife had an affair with his own brother. He found them together, both dead, an apparent murder-suicide. In a rage, he burned down his house with their bodies in it. He tells Elizabeth he is "not allowed to forget." Elizabeth, Frenchy and Rune strike it rich on their claim, finding a "

glory hole A glory hole (also spelled gloryhole and glory-hole) is a hole in a wall or partition, often between public toilet, public lavatory cubicles or adult video arcade, sex video arcade booths and lounges, for people to engage in sexual activity or ...

" of gold under a large tree stump. They ride into town, tossing a few pieces of gold to the townsfolk. Frenchy, overwhelmed by his sudden importance in the town, uses some of the gold to buy whiskey for everyone. The gaiety quickly turns into a riot of the lawless town members led by Dr. Grubb. While the lawful citizens of the town are engaged in fighting fires set by Grubb, Frenchy takes advantage of the commotion to make advances on Elizabeth. Her disinterest sparks a brutal physical assault as he attempts to rape her. Frail again catches Frenchy just in time. Frenchy pulls his pistol and shoots, but misses. Frail kills Frenchy. Seeing his opportunity to remove his "competition", Grubb incites the mob to lynch Frail. They carry him to the hanging tree, tie his hands, and stand him up in a wagon bed, the rope around his neck. Rune and Elizabeth rush in carrying their gold and the deed to their claim. Elizabeth offers everything to the townsfolk if they will let Frail live. As the mob turns on itself in the struggle to grab the gold and the deed, the lynch party disperses. Elizabeth now feels she has repaid Frail in full. Rune slips the noose off, and Elizabeth turns to walk away. Frail calls out her name. She turns back, and steps to the end of the wagon. He kneels down, cups her chin with both hands, and they kiss.

Cast

as Doc Frail *

as "Frenchy" Plante *

as Elizabeth Mahler *

as Grubb *

Karl Swenson Karl Swenson (July 23, 1908 – October 8, 1978) was an American theatre, radio, film, and television actor. Early in his career, he was credited as Peter Wayne.

as Tom Flaunce *

as Rune *

Virginia Gregg Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

as Edna Flaunce *

John Dierkes John Dierkes (February 10, 1905 – January 8, 1975) was an American actor who appeared in a number of classic Hollywood films. Before becoming an actor, he had been an economist. Life and career Dierkes was born on February 10, 1905 in C ...

as Society Red *

King Donovan King Donovan (January 25, 1918 – June 30, 1987) was an American film, stage, and television actor, as well as a film and television director. Early years Francis King Donovan was born in Manhattan on January 25, 1918. His parents were vaudev ...

as Wonder

Production

The film was the first one for Cooper's Baroda Productions company. It was the first film produced by former talent agents

Martin Jurow Martin Jurow (December 14, 1911 - February 12, 2004) was a Hollywood agent, executive assistant and film producer.Richard Shepherd Sir Richard Charles Scrimgeour Shepherd (6 December 1942 – 19 February 2022) was a British politician who was Member of Parliament for Aldridge-Brownhills from 1979 to 2015. A Eurosceptic, Shepherd was one of the Maastricht Rebels that had ...

. Principal photography was shot on location in th
Oak Creek Wildlife Area
in the mountains west of Yakima, Washington. The scenes during the opening credits and title, where Gary Cooper rides alongside the river on horseback with a pack horse in tow, were filmed about mid-June in 1958, just northeast of Goose Prairie, Washington, along the north bank of the Bumping River. The fictional small gold mining town of Skull Creek was a temporary film set constructed along the south side of Little Rattlesnake Creek by its confluence with Rattlesnake Creek, just southwest of Nile, Washington. The cinematography by Ted McCord made use of full-aperture photography and reduction printing to improve the grain quality of the film. This process involves widening the aperture of the camera to capture a larger image, then reducing the image back to standard size in post-production. While this achieves the greatest effect jumping from larger formats like 65mm film, McCord used 35mm film and extended to aperture to the sprocket holes on the film. When shooting a subject from 100 feet, this extended the width of the shot from 42 feet to 48 feet.

Soundtrack

Marty Robbins Martin David Robinson (September 26, 1925 – December 8, 1982), known professionally as Marty Robbins, was an American singer, songwriter, actor, multi-instrumentalist, and NASCAR racing driver. Robbins was one of the most popular and suc ...

performed the title song that was nominated for best song at the 32nd Annual Academy Awards and the 1960

Golden Laurel The Laurel Awards was an American cinema awards system established to honor films, actors, actresses, producers, directors, and composers. This award was created by the ''Motion Picture Exhibitor'' magazine, and ran from 1948 to 1971 (with the ...

Award for Best Song. The lyrics contain a short reference to the film's story. It was released on the reissue of the album ''

Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs ''Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs'' is the fifth studio album by Marty Robbins, released on the Columbia Records label in September 1959 and peaking at number 6 on the U.S. pop albums chart. It was recorded in a single eight-hour session on Ap ...

'' (1959) by Robbins. A known cover-version is by

Frankie Laine Frankie Laine (born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio; March 30, 1913 – February 6, 2007) was an American Singing, singer, songwriter, and actor whose career spanned nearly 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to hi ...

who performed this song at the

32nd Academy Awards The 32nd Academy Awards ceremony was held on April 4, 1960 at the RKO Pantages Theatre, to honor the films of 1959. William Wyler's Bible epic '' Ben-Hur'' won 11 Oscars, breaking the record of nine set the previous year by '' Gigi''. This t ...

. The film's score was composed by

Max Steiner Maximilian Raoul Steiner (May 10, 1888 – December 28, 1971) was an Austrian composer and conductor who emigrated to America and went on to become one of Hollywood's greatest musical composers. Steiner was a child prodigy who conducted ...

. * '' The Hanging Tree'' * Lyrics by

Mack David Mack David (July 5, 1912 – December 30, 1993) was an American lyricist and songwriter, best known for his work in film and television, with a career spanning the period between the early 1940s and the early 1970s. David was credited with writing ...

** Music by

Jerry Livingston Jerry Livingston (born Jerry Levinson; March 25, 1909 – July 1, 1987) was an American songwriter and dance orchestra pianist. Life and career Born in Denver, Colorado, Livingston studied music at the University of Arizona. While there he com ...

** Vocal by

Reception

The film was received well by audiences and critics at its 1959 debut. ''Film Bulletin'' drew a parallel between the "glory hole" of gold Elizabeth and Rune discover and the profits of the film.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hanging Tree, The 1959 Western (genre) films 1959 films American Western (genre) films Films about trees Films based on American novels Films based on works by Dorothy M. Johnson Films directed by Delmer Daves Films directed by Karl Malden Films scored by Max Steiner Films set in Montana Films with screenplays by Wendell Mayes Warner Bros. films Revisionist Western (genre) films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films