“Hang ‘Em High” is a western film where Clint Eastwood plays a man who survives a lynching by a gang of nine men and later is offered a deputy marshal job, under the condition that he bring in the men for trial and not seek revenge on his own. The drama proceeds from there, skillfully crafted by director Ted Post (“Beneath the Planet of the Apes” 1970) from a marvelous script by Leonard Freeman and Mel Goldberg. Freeman went on to create the popular CBS television program “Hawaii 5-O” (1968-1980).
Clint Eastwood stars in his first western since Sergio Leone’s Spaghetti Westerns (1964, 1965, 1966) made him an international superstar. “Hang ‘Em High” is the first film production from his own Malpaso Company. The talented supporting cast includes Inger Stevens as a widow who helps Eastwood’s character, Pat Hingle as the federal judge who hires him, Ed Begley as the head of the lynching gang, as well as Ben Johnson, Bruce Dern, Alan Hale Jr., Arlene Golonka, Dennis Hopper, Charles McGraw, Ruth White, James Westerfield, L. Q. Jones, Bert Freed, Joseph Sirola, and James MacArthur as The Preacher.
The very watchable “Hang ‘Em High” contains a good musical score composed by Dominic Frontiere. It was a very big hit at the box office for producer Leonard Freeman, Leonard Freeman Productions, The Malpaso Company, and United Artists.
Hang ‘Em High (1968)
cinema
My Review
“Hang ‘Em High” is a western film where Clint Eastwood plays a man who survives a lynching by a gang of nine men and later is offered a deputy marshal job, under the condition that he bring in the men for trial and not seek revenge on his own. The drama proceeds from there, skillfully crafted by director Ted Post (“Beneath the Planet of the Apes” 1970) from a marvelous script by Leonard Freeman and Mel Goldberg. Freeman went on to create the popular CBS television program “Hawaii 5-O” (1968-1980).
Clint Eastwood stars in his first western since Sergio Leone’s Spaghetti Westerns (1964, 1965, 1966) made him an international superstar. “Hang ‘Em High” is the first film production from his own Malpaso Company. The talented supporting cast includes Inger Stevens as a widow who helps Eastwood’s character, Pat Hingle as the federal judge who hires him, Ed Begley as the head of the lynching gang, as well as Ben Johnson, Bruce Dern, Alan Hale Jr., Arlene Golonka, Dennis Hopper, Charles McGraw, Ruth White, James Westerfield, L. Q. Jones, Bert Freed, Joseph Sirola, and James MacArthur as The Preacher.
The very watchable “Hang ‘Em High” contains a good musical score composed by Dominic Frontiere. It was a very big hit at the box office for producer Leonard Freeman, Leonard Freeman Productions, The Malpaso Company, and United Artists.