"You ain't never gonna get me back to town alive, boy." Bruce Dern
"Then I'll bring you in dead, boy." Clint Eastwood

Following on the heels of the success of his internationally produced "Dollars Trilogy," Clint Eastwood was finally ready to breach the formerly impenetrable Hollywood studio system. His first Hollywood starring role was in 1968's Hang 'Em High., directed by Rawhide buddy Ted Post.

While outwardly appearing much the same as the Sergio Leone directed "Dollars" films, unlike Leone's works Hang 'Em High carried a lot of subtext underneath the stalwart, simple plot. There is plenty of wordless commentary on government, justice, right and wrong, ambition, and other interesting issues depicted in the interplay between the various characters. And there are plenty of characters; most of them played by very familiar actors, unlike the Leone movies. Ed Begley, Pat Hingle, Alan Hale, Jr., Bruce Dern, Ben Johnson, Inger Stevens, and Arlene Galonka are just a few of the well-known faces, many of whom had appeared on Clint's long running TV series Rawhide. These performers help give a bit more polish to the film than was evident in the dubbed Italian westerns.

The story concerns an innocent drover (Clint Eastwood) wrongly hanged for cattle rustling by a party of vigilantes. Cut down in the nick of time by a roving marshal, he is brought before the hanging judge who, surprisingly, looks into his story and releases him when it checks out. On his way out, the judge offers the drover (a former lawman) a marshal's star. The drover accepts and proceeds to hunt down the nine men who strung him up. In between, he has several adventures and time to ponder the right and wrong of the judge's ambition for statehood. "We have to bring in the evildoers and show we have law and order in the Oklahoma Territory," says the judge. His methodology is to hang nearly every one of his defendants following a fair trial, of course. To that end he has a specially constructed gallows that can accommodate up to SIX customers at a time in their short drop to eternity.

Just a taste of the philosophical questions posed by Hang 'Em High:
Is Old Testament style justice fair retribution for crime? Are there differences in the seriousness of various crimes or do they all deserve equal punishment? How important is the truth compared to the political motivations of the powers-that-be? What are the responsibilities of the citizens to demand fair enforcement of their laws by their leaders? - and on and on…

Eastwood's acting is a notch better due to his experience in his spaghetti phase and he is able to convey the man who is out for vengeance yet all the while questioning the justice of it all. Pat Hingle is marvelous in a powerful performance as the megalomaniac judge who puts law and order and statehood on a pedestal. The other supporting actors do professional jobs and make it a finished production.

Probably the most identifiable "spaghetti western" score graces this film, even though it's not strictly a spaghetti western. When you hear the familiar strains, you'll know what I mean and I feel certain that a lot of the acclaim that has since devolved on Ennio Morricone was because of Hang 'Em High, but wrongly because it is the one early Clint Eastwood western that Morricone DID NOT score. The whistling, tuneful pieces were written by veteran composer Dominic Frontiere, who scored lots of TV series such as The Rat Patrol, The Invaders, Twelve O'Clock High, The FBI, and countless others.

Hang "Em High is presented in 1.85: 1 widescreen format on the MGM DVD. It is well preserved and represents a little bit better storyline than most of the early Eastwood westerns as well as a powerful supporting cast and extremely memorable score. It is well worth adding to your video collection at the current price of $10.00 or less.

Happy viewing!


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening