Hang 'Em High (1968)

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Siskoid
If you're going to wrongfully lynch Clint Eastwood, you better make sure it takes. It's a shocking start to a revenge picture, but Hang'em High doesn't then go through the expected paces. It IS a revenge movie, but it's an empathetic and merciful one. Eastwood takes a lawful path to getting the posse responsible, and spends the entire film questioning his motives and those of the hanging judge (played just as thoughtfully by Pat Hingle) who pays his salary. So while nominally offering a lurid, violent western, Eastwood rather gives us a meditation on the absurdity of laws that allow for executions, but not, strictly speaking, for forgiveness. The Wild West is an extreme environment, but the morality holds in the modern day. While audiences at the time unfavorably compared this 1968 film to Sergio Leone's stylish Man With No Name trilogy, and still do, I rather think it has more to say. 5 years 9 months ago
duchin6
very good western from Clint,with a good supporting cast Bruce Dern and Ed Begley very good, the fear on the latters face near the end of the movie is priceless. 8 years ago