After nominating For a Few Dollars More and The Good the Bad and the Ugly for Free Flick of the Day, I'm going to sound like a very old and tired drum by nominating Hang 'Em High. But hey, you need something to watch today and it's just sitting there, waiting for someone to notice it.Hang 'Em High isn't a great film by any means, and it's not a very remarkable Western. It's full of missed opportunities, and the end hints that there may have been plans for a franchise centered around Marshall Jed Cooper. It's notable because it was the first film Clint Eastwood produced with his Malpaso shingle, which he would obviously go onto do great things with. (Would there be an Unforgiven without Hang 'Em High? Probably, but who knows!) It's also his first post-Sergio Leone Western, and one of the first attempts to bring Leone's style to America. It doesn't succeed in doing that very well, though a lot of the Man with No Name's trademarks remained. I think Eastwood sold himself a bit short by relying on that cigar so much, particularly since this is a character who is miles away from the cold bounty hunter of the Leone flicks. Jed Cooper is a man who is genuinely trying to do the right thing in life, and gets screwed over again and again.
However, this film entertaining enough, and is worth watching just for the whole hanging sequence. I've already mentioned this film as the probable inspiration for Lt. Aldo Raine's hanging scar and while I'm still not sure if that's true or not, you can watch it and pretend Cooper is Raine's grandfather.
Watch Hang 'Em High for free on SlashControl
1. Hang 'em High was the first night movie I ever saw. (I had seen many matinees.) While not at the level of many Eatswood westerns, I still rate it as a B, three stars.
Posted at 12:25AM on Nov 27th 2009 by Allan