Never Hang The Wrong Man...Without Finishing The Job
After a few years as Rowdy Yates in the TV series "Rawhide", Clint Eastwood managed to attain international superstardom via the trilogy of wacky, violent Italian spaghetti westerns he made with director Sergio Leone in the mid-1960s. And then in 1968, he returned to America to make his own homegrown sagebrush impact. The end result was HANG 'EM HIGH, a significant box office hit upon its release in the late summer of 1968.

Here, Eastwood portrays a former lawman on a cattle drive through the barren Oklahoma Territory who is set upon by a gang of rustlers, led by Ed Begley, who proceed to string him up for getting those cattle from a ranching family they claim he had murdered. But there are two problems with that: Eastwood wasn't the culprit in those murders; and when they string him up, they don't finish the job. Saved from certain death by a local marshal (Ben Johnson, always that most credible of Western actors), he is then made a federal marshal by the territorial judge (Pat Hingle) and assigned the task of getting the rustlers who tried to kill him, but turning them in alive, so Hingle can try them and then hang 'em--and hang 'em high!

Eastwood's thirst for vengeance does not make him a remorseless killing machine, however, since he comes to question Hingle's brand of "justice", and especially after having a fire lit under him by a woman (Inger Stevens) who also wants revenge for her ex-husband having been murdered, possibly by Begley's crew (including Bruce Dern and L.Q. Jones). He happens to show a lot of mercy to an old man (Bob Steele) who had originally been part of Begley's lynching crew because Steele had warned Begley that they hung an innocent man.

All of this makes HANG 'EM HIGH stand out. More than a few critics groused upon its release that this movie was merely made to cash in on the Eastwood/Leone films, which racked up big box office in America in 1967. But while there is some of Leone's influence here, HANG 'EM HIGH is not as wacky or violent as those films were. It is a complex and quite thought-provoking meditation on the idea of frontier justice. Contrary to the notion of Eastwood being every bit as staunch a Hollywood conservative as John Wayne, HANG 'EM HIGH shows us, as did Leone, and as Sam Peckinpah would, that the demarcation between good and evil, and right and wrong, is an often thin line that is often crossed.

Ted Post, who had directed Eastwood in a few "Rawhide" episodes and made his feature-film directing debut here, sometimes slips in his overuse of the zoom lens and Leone-inspired closeups for certain shock effects (notably the hanging sequences, of which there are plenty, but none shown in ultra-graphic detail). But he does give Eastwood a lot to work with, via the screenplay by producer Leonard Freeman (who later created "Hawaii Five-O"), and Mel Goldberg. Hingle makes for a very cagey judge; and Dern and Jones do the villain parts to a tee. Also featured here are Alan Hale Jr. (much more menacing than his "Skipper" role in "Gilligan's Island" will have you believe), Charles McGraw, Arlene Golonka, and, in a brief but typically flamboyant bit part as a sagebrush religious psychotic, Dennis Hopper.

Featuring a good score by Dominic Frontiere (whose main theme would be popularized by Booker T and the MGs later in '68), and shot on location in New Mexico, HANG 'EM HIGH is one of the most underrated films of the Western genre from the 1960s, and marked Eastwood as a very efficient "star", on the verge of becoming one heck of an actor and director to boot as well.

Everybody has an off day
This is my least favorite Clint Eastwood movie - and I'm a Clint Eastwood fan. The score alone could put you off. Overly loud and overly dramatic, it broadcasts the sentiment of every scene before the actors can get a line in.

The plot moves so jerky that you begin to suspect someone cut minutes between each scene and story lines seems to just suddenly end with a sagging climax - despite the score blaring out that you're watching a monumental event. I also found the bad guys not nearly threatening enough to justify sending ol' squint eyes after them.

I give it two stars because it has the feel of a hasty film rushed to theaters to capitalize on the success of the Sergio Leone Man With No Name trilogy. In 1968, it might have appeared fresh for an American film, but it doesn't stand up well against Eastwood's later or earlier work.
The Shut Mouth Society
The Shopkeeper

When you hang a man....
A classic western tale of injustice and revenge, full of iconic western characters. Clint Eastwood portrays a man wrongfully accused of cattle rustling... is hung, and left for dead... The only choice? Become a US Marshal and seek out those who did you wrong.

This movie has one of the best lines in any western..
"When you hang a man you'd better get a look at his face"

Great Eastwood Western
Another great western film featuring Clint, and one of his first westerns filmed in the U.S. Hang 'em High jumps right into the actions as Eastwood is wrongfully accused of stealing some cattle. He's hung by some vigilantes and they leave him for dead, the only problem is he doesn't die. Clint soon becomes a man of the law, and sets out to bring those who let him hang to justice. Although Eastwood finds the rules of the law difficult, he struggles to follow the guide lines set out by the courts. Soon enough it's well known that Clint is one of the best lawmen around, and when word reaches his attempted killers, they start to get nervous of his coming. A must see for anyone who loves the western genre!

Eastwood's first Malpaso production. . .
HANG 'EM HIGH was Clint Eastwood's first production for his Malpaso company, and his first American film after the spectacular successes of the Man With No Name films. It's a tight, well-written revenge western with a great supporting cast (which has been properly documented in other reviews). No extras to speak of on the DVD: just the trailer for the film, and you do have the option of watching in widescreen or fullscreen.

A very good western with just a few slow spots. HANG 'EM HIGH was written and co-produced by Leonard Freeman and Mel Goldberg, just before Freeman went into the production of his TV series HAWAII FIVE-O. When you watch the film, look carefully--there are a few plot threads left dangling. I won't spoil HANG 'EM HIGH for you if you've never seen it before, but upon recent re-viewing, I swear that it's an unsold TV pilot, retooled for feature production. Now, that doesn't mean that the film is below par: it just has the feel and pacing of a two-hour television opener.

A fine addition to any Eastwood collection, HANG 'EM HIGH is a keeper.