Classic Movie Monday: Hang 'em High

Welcome to Classic Movie Monday. Every Monday, I watch a film at least 25 years old that I have never seen before. I will then write my comments on the film, telling you what I thought of it. This is an attempt to beef up my classic film knowledge as well as highlight some forgotten gems of Hollywood's heyday. So without further ado...

Hang 'em High
Released: August 3, 1968
Directed by: Ted Post
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Inger Stevens, & Pat Hingle

Plot in a Nutshell:
After Jed Cooper (Eastwood) survives being lynched for a crime he didn't commit, he decides to get revenge against those who tried to kill him. When a judge offers him the chance to exact his revenge, but within the means of the law as a Deputized Marshall, he accepts.

What I thought:
I was not expecting much out of this, and came away pleasantly surprised. The usual staple of an old western are in play here, and Clint is as squinty as ever. But what made this film so unusual for me was that it put an interesting spin on some classic western cliches.

The primary thing I found so interesting is that the main character is lynched within the first few minutes. And not only that, but for a crime he is innocent of. But also, they lynching mob thinks he is genuinely guilty of. There was no character, no story, it just happened, and it was executed (pardon the pun) perfectly.

Somehow he survived being hung for what was probably 30 minutes to an hour, and was taken to a local courthouse, where the judge found him innocent. Here's where things got muddy from a righteous standpoint. The folks who hung him up to die, thought they were doing right. They thought they had the right man. Eastwood's character is really, really pissed off, he told them he didn't do it, so naturally he wants to kill them all.

This presents a very interesting quandary to the audience. Do we cheer for Clint as he goes around systematically rounding up the mob? Or do we fear for the men, as the majority of them were doing what they thought was right. It is a fascinating dilemma, and one I was not expecting in this western. The moral choices at play here are, I daresay above the genre of a simple western.

Jed is a former lawman, he knows the law, thus the Judge hires him to be a Marshall where no one will take the job. He has a very hard time restraining himself in many scenes, and you can almost see him wanting the criminals to reach for their gun, so he can exact his vengeful kill. But he holds back, he is after all a man of the law. But this comes into question for him towards the end of the film. The judge goes on a tirade about the law, and who is right and who is wrong, and essentially that only he is above the law. Only he can judge others.

This was a great film, that snuck up on me. The questions that it throws in are very hard to process through. Where does the law begin and justice end? The Judge seems to think he is the be all end all. But the film presents a much more grey area that is simultaneously more compassionate and more ruthless.

Bottom Line:
A fantastic shoot-out-filled western that will make you contemplate the implications and effects of cold, hard justice.

A

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