Hang Em High (1968)

Hang 'Em High (1968)

Man I do loves me some Clint Eastwood. By far not as incredible as the Man With No Name trilogy, Hang Em High is another wonderful addition in Clint Eastwood's incredible resume.

The thing with this film though that sets it apart from others in the western genre is how incredibly heavy and dark some of the material is that we witness on screen. The story seems like a straight forward revenge flick, but truthfully there is a lot more going on beneath the surface than you'd expect. Conventionally westerns like to pursue the revenge angle, or the lawless bowing down to the law of the west and such. Greed, villainy and such run rampant and the tall, dark, and mysterious leading man must save the day.

In Hang Em High, we are thrown immediately into the fray as we witness Clint Eastwood's Jed Cooper trying to start his new life as a rancher, but due to an unfortunate series of events came into possession of illegally obtained cattle. None the wiser, a lynch mob finds him and without listening to how he is innocent, they treat him to "good ol' fashioned frontier justice". Strung up and at the end of his rope, he is narrowly saved by a lawman who is nearby and cuts him down to be tried properly by a judge. The judge though is known as the hanging judge and it's a well deserved reputation but thankfully Cooper is spared the gallows again and in turn recruited to be a marshal and hunt down the men who did him wrong. The catch... he can't kill any of them, as they are all due for proper judicial proceedings.

Things go askew, more plots develop and Cooper finds a few snags in his quest for revenge. I love this story because it is complex. It isn't straight forward (as much as I love other westerns) and there are real conflicts in the pursuit of justice, which turns out to be varying shades of grey rather than the black and white some see it in. Bad folks aren't bad because they are evil, they are bad because of the decisions they make, and the resolution to follow those decisions through to completion. Multi-dimensional characters in a western. What will they think of next?

The other thing that surprised the hell out of me was the dark themes touched upon. Themes such as juvenile punishment, rape, lynching, the absolution of the law, cowardice, sympathetic villains, the spectacle of public execution and so much more. This is a great film and definitely one you should endeavour to watch if you haven't taken the time to appreciate Clint Eastwood's repertoire of films.

The good: Clint, the judge, the plot. Special mention goes to Inger Stevens, a tragic beauty who graced the screen and played Clint's love interest. In reviewing this film I looked up her resume and unfortunately saw that she had a short life, battling many personal conflicts before dying from an overdose of barbiturates. Sad.

The bad: The pacing was off a couple of times, and dragged a bit. It ran a very fine line for having one too many plots introduced, and the lack of any serious resolution which can be arguably a plus and a minus.

Final Thoughts: Clint Eastwood is a god amongst men. I cherish the fact I developed an interest in his films, having ignorantly for many a year dismissed them as old fashioned lame films. I had my epiphany with the Man with No Name trilogy a long time ago and have revered Eastwood since. The greatest shame is that we are subject to age and Clint is now too old to be the one role destined for him since the beginning... namely Roland the Gunslinger in the Dark Tower series. How I would have loved to see Clint in his prime, with today's technology tackle that series.

Add to the vault? Anything Clint does can be added to the vault. Just putting that out there.

Enjoy the trailer for Hang 'Em High!