''The Hangman'' is a 1959 film directed by Michael Curtiz. It stars Robert Taylor and

Tina Louise Tina Louise ( Blacker; born February 11, 1934) is an American actress widely known for her role as movie star Ginger Grant in the CBS television situation comedy ''Gilligan's Island''. With the death of Dawn Wells in 2020, Louise became the las ...

. The film is based on the

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

of the same name by

Luke Short Luke Lamar Short (January22, 1854September8, 1893) was an American Old West gunfighter, cowboy, U.S. Army scout, dispatch rider, gambler, boxing promoter, and saloon owner. He survived numerous gunfights, the most famous of which were agains ...

Plot

Deputy U.S. Marshal Mac Bovard, known as the Hangman for his success at seeing guilty men die for their crimes, rounds up three of four outlaws suspected in a robbery that resulted in murder. Two are hanged. The third is needed to identify John Butterfield, whose face Bovard has never seen. Due to be hanged soon, the third outlaw refuses to cooperate. Knowing that Butterfield had been a U.S. Army cavalry trooper, Bovard goes to Butterfield's former post, Fort Kenton, to get assistance from the Army in identifying Butterfield. Butterfield's former girlfriend, Selah Jennison, works at Fort Kenton doing laundry. She refuses to help Bovard, even when he offers a $500 reward. Butterfield had been there for her after the death of her husband, so she remains loyal to him. A freight driver, Johnny Bishop, could be the man Bovard is seeking, but kindly sheriff Buck Weston warns him that Bishop is one of the most well-liked men in town. Selah comes to warn the married and respectable Bishop, who is Butterfield. He swears to her that he merely watched the outlaws' horses, not knowing they were pulling a holdup. After Bovard persuades Bishop to surrender, Selah mocks the marshal, calling him "hangman" and claiming he is not interested in the truth. Bovard reveals to her that 20 years earlier he had been on the way to California to be a lawyer, accompanied by his brother. Their stagecoach was robbed by outlaws, who killed Bovard's brother. Bovard became a lawman and apprehended all of the murderers of his brother. They were subsequently hanged. Bishop is broken out of jail, but Bovard allows him to escape by shooting at and deliberately missing Bishop as he rides away. Selah realizes what he has done. Bovard then tells Selah and Buck that he is quitting his job as a Deputy Marshal in order to take the stagecoach to California and become a lawyer as he had intended so many years earlier. Buck wants to marry Selah, but she is beholden now to Bovard, and boards the stage to go to California with him.

Cast

* Robert Taylor as Mac Bovard *

as Selah Jennison * Fess Parker as Buck Weston *

Jack Lord John Joseph Patrick Ryan (December 30, 1920 – January 21, 1998), best known by his stage name, Jack Lord, was an American television, film and Broadway actor, director and producer. He starred as Steve McGarrett in the CBS television progra ...

as Butterfield / Bishop *

Betty Lynn Elizabeth Ann Theresa Lynn (August 29, 1926 – October 16, 2021) was an American actress. She played Thelma Lou, Deputy Barney Fife's girlfriend, on ''The Andy Griffith Show''. During the 1940s and 1950s, she appeared in many films, including ...

as Molly - Waitress

References

External links

* * 1959 films 1959 Western (genre) films American black-and-white films American Western (genre) films Films based on short fiction Films directed by Michael Curtiz Films scored by Harry Sukman Paramount Pictures films Films with screenplays by Dudley Nichols 1950s English-language films 1950s American films {{1950s-Western-film-stub Films about capital punishment

Plot

Cast

See also

References

External links