Starring Clint Eastwood, Inger Stevens, Ed Begley, Pat Hingle, Bruce Dern, Alan Hale Jr.
Directed by Ted Post
The Story:
Jed Cooper (Eastwood) bought some cattle from a local ranch and as he is moving them towards his homestead, he is surrounded by a vigilante posse that accuses him of rustling...and murder! Cooper professes his innocence, but the mob lynches him, and leaves him for dead. Cut down by a passing Marshal (Ben Johnson), Cooper is taken to Fort Grant, Oklahoma to stand trial for his crimes by Judge Fenton (Hingle). Found innocent, the judge offers Cooper the chance to round up the mob, and any other bad guys, by becoming a Deputy US Marshal.
Coming off the Man With No Name trilogy of spaghetti westerns, Eastwood created his own company, The Malpaso Company which was the home for Eastwood pictures for the next 20 years, with Hang 'Em High being the first.
The story is a fictionalized account of "Hangin' Judge Parker" from Fort Smith Arkansas. It portrays the hardship faced by the US Marshal service to cover entire territories with few men, low pay, and danger at every turn.
Cooper tries to bring all of the mob to justice, but some resist and wind up being shot instead of hung.
However, when some rustlers are brought in and tried and convicted of murder and rustling, Cooper bristles at the methods that the judge takes.
At the end of the day, he has to make a decision on whether or not it's in his best interest to help the judge bring law and order to the Oklahoma Territory or walk away and leave a vacuum of lawlessness.
They squeeze a love story into the film after the halfway point to make the Marshal's choice a little more difficult, but at the end of the day, justice will prevail.
Pretty good film. Glad I finally got around to seeing it.
Final Grade: B-
Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: One viewing was good enough for me.
