Hang 'Em High (50th Anniversary Edition)

PHOTOS 1 & 2: Bob Steele in ‘Hang ‘em High’ and in the 1930sPHOTOS 3 & 4: Charles McGraw in ‘Hang ‘em High’ and in 1949In 2011 MGM Home Video issued Clint Eastwood’s first American western on Blu-Ray:  Hang 'Em High [Blu-ray ]I haven’t seen it, but some Amazon reviewers complained that the picture was not restored for Blu-Ray release, and was basically just a reissue of the old DVD master.The new 50th Anniversary Blu-Ray of ‘Hang ‘em High’ from Shout does not claim to be newly restored, but I have seen it and can confirm that the picture looks quite good on my 40 inch screen.There are a few differences: the MGM blu-ray had English SDH and Spanish subtitles,the Shout 50th Anniversary blu-ray only has English SDH subtitles.The MGM blu-ray had audio in 5.1 DTS-HD surround or in the original mono.The new 50th Anniversary blu-ray has audio in 5.1 DTS-HD surround or in 2.0-HD stereo (excellent stereo sound - though released in mono in 1968, I am guessing that unused music and sound effect tracks tracks survive and were used for the blu-ray).The MGM blu-ray had NO bonus features.The Shout 50th Anniversary Edition has two separate full-length audio commentaries + the original 1968 Warner Brothers’ preview of coming attractions.WARNING: DO NOT VIEW THE PREVIEW OF COMING ATTRACTIONS UNTIL AFTER YOU HAVE VIEWED THE MOVIE.It has a HORRIBLE spoiler that will completely ruin the big surprise that comes in chapter 11 of the blu-ray.What was Warner Brothers thinking?DON’T WATCH IT!Both 50th Anniversary audio commentaries are well-done, though screenwriter Lem Dobbs can’t tell the difference between a lamb and a cow.The 50th Anniversary blu-ray comes with a reversible cover (photos 5 & 6).In baseball, the Minor Leagues are the training ground for the Major LeaguesBack in the 1950’s and ‘60s, Warner Brothers had their own Minor League: Television.Television was viewed as a training ground for Movie stardom.Most actors never made the transition, but there were exceptions.Clint Eastwood, star of “Rawhide”, was the most spectacular exception. Can you name the others? – see the footnote at the end of this review.*‘Hang ‘em High’ was actually Clint Eastwood’s fourth starring film.While his TV show was on hiatus, Sergio Leone invited Eastwood to star in his Italian “man with no name” trilogy:‘A Fistful of Dollars’-1964, ‘For a Few Dollars More’-1965, ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’-1966.These films were not released in America until after “Rawhide”s cancellation.Their popularity with American audiences took Warner Brothers completely by surprise.The studio reacted quickly by signing Eastwood to his first starring role in an American film.To save time, Warner hired TV director Ted Post, director of 24 episodes of “Rawhide”, and someone Eastwood was comfortable working with, to direct ‘Hang ‘em High’.The picture was a hit, and led to Eastwood co-starring with Richard Burton in ‘Where Eagles Dare’ later that year (his first prestige film).‘Hang ‘em High’ was filmed in Hollywood on MGM’s Western set - the film looks like an American Western.The only nod to Leone’s Italian trilogy is the music by Dominic Frontierre which imitates (or is an homage to) Ennio Morricone, plus the tiny cigars that Eastwood smokes (he also wears the same gun belt he wore in the Italian films).‘Hang ‘em High’ looks good and has the greatest supporting cast of any Eastwood western:--- Ed Begley--- Ben Johnson (one year before ‘The Wild Bunch’)--- Bruce Dern at his weaseliest--- Dennis Hopper at his squirreliest (one year before ‘Easy Rider’)--- Pat Hingle--- Alan Hale Jr. (his first film after “Gilligan’s Island’ was cancelled)--- L.Q. Jones+ two Legends of Hollywood, neither of whom had aged well:--- Bob Steele: the B-Movie western star appeared in 242 films between 1920 and 1974 (photos 1 & 2)--- Charles McGraw: the Film Noir leading man played both detectives and crooks in 139 films between 1942 and 1977 (photos 3 & 4)--- Inger Stevens is officially listed as the leading lady, but she doesn’t have much to do except look enigmatic.Clint Eastwood’s “Angel of Death” trilogy:‘Hang ‘em High’ (1968), ‘High Plains Drifter’ (1973), ‘Pale Rider’ (1985) - in each film the Clint Eastwood character is believed to be dead, but comes back to life to seek justice/vengeance.* Stars of TV Westerns who became Movie Stars:--- Clint Eastwood as Rowdy Yates in “Rawhide” (1959-1965)--- Steve McQueen as Josh Randall in “Wanted Dead or Alive” (1958-1961)--- James Garner as Bret Maverick in “Maverick” (1957-1960)--- Roger Moore as Beau Maverick in “Maverick” (1960-1962) - James Garner quit the show after three seasons and was replaced by cousin Beau from England (I was eleven years old and was devastated).Stars of TV Westerns who did not become Movie Stars:--- Eric Fleming, Clint Eastwood’s co-star on “Rawhide” (the poor guy drowned while filming a TV show the year after “Rawhide” was cancelled).--- James Arness in “Gunsmoke” (1955-1975)--- Clint Walker in “Cheyenne” (1955-1963) - R.I.P 2018 - this town ain’t big enough for two Clints.--- Ty Hardin in “Bronco” (1958-1962)--- Chuck Connors in the “Rifleman” (1958-1963)--- Nick Adams in “The Rebel” (1959-1961) - the least P.C. show on television - his death in 1968 was ruled a suicide (or was it?)--- Pernell Roberts, Dan Blocker and Michael Landon in “Bonanza” (1959-73)

Excellent movie, better than expected!

Clint Eastwood and John Wayne are my favorite western actors. Hang em high is a great western.

I first saw "Hang 'Em High" in the theater when I was 19. Well, I'm 67 now and I got on DVD and I appreciate it even more. It was released in the summer of 1968, just months after Clint Eastwood's first big hit "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." He plays Jed Cooper, a former Deputy U.S. Marshal in the Oklahoma territory in 1889. In the the opening of the film, he's hung by a bunch of vigilantes for cattle rustling. He's soon found by a deputy and cut down from the tree. He's an innocent man. He soon recovers , gets his old job back as a deputy U. S. Marshal and goes after the men who lynched him. Directed by Ted Post ,who directed some episodes of Eastwood's CBS western series "Rawhide." He does a fine job here. It features the lovely Inger Stevens as his leading lady in one of her final roles. And a good score by Dominic Frontiere. A hit at the box-office and got good ratings when it was first broadcast on the ABC network. The tagline for the movie poster read..... " The hanging was the best show in town. They made two mistakes. They hung the wrong man. And they didn't finish the job."

Of course it's Awesome, it's Clint Eastwood for cryin out loud!!

Film is good. Not so much the MGM sticker cover. Once you whip that sticker off it leaves a bruise on the cover.

I watched this on Amazon Prime which was not ultra-wide screen. I don't know if the last Blu-Ray is the same aspect so I'l limit my comments to what I watched. The print on Amazon is very good. It isn't extremely crisp, but reveals adequate resolution with good color while being a bit soft thus having film grain. I like that look when it is reproduced well and here it's good enough.After his Sergio Leone trilogy success Clint gets his first American Malpaso production with "Hang 'Em High". It worked well as he assumes his character of avenging man back from death's doorstep. It paved a path of this kind of western hero for the next two films similar, but each unique, stories. That is to say there is ample good in the premise which the strong supporting casts supports well. Set before statehood, and uniform law, it uses the struggle of achieving order in a time of vigilante justice. Clint's character Cooper straddles the bridge between the burgeoning justice one territory judge is implementing and the general lawlessness of the time. In the first scene all of ugly of vigilante justice reins down on Cooper (Eastwood) with all that follows being the path his character takes for revenge while attempting to do so within the law. Of course it's an uneasy combination which Cooper struggles with. This gives the story it's oomph along with the screen power of Eastwood and the fine casting. Everything that makes Clint Eastwood a great western actor is here. Polar different than The Duke he has already found his core character that will be successfully recycled throughout his career. So, Clint proves his American westerns will take up where his previous spaghetti ones plowed so well. Yes, this is a must see for all western and Clint fans, and it's good enough for all.

Justice served

super

Un excellent Eastwood, qu'il y avait une paye que je n'avais pas vu...Pour moi meilleur que "L'homme des hautes plaines", "Pale rider" et même "José Wales"...Certains contesteront mais tout cela n'est-il autre qu'une question de goût ? Je trouve Clint plus sympathique tout simplement dans celui-là, que dans ceux qu'il fera ensuite lui-même...Un sujet vif, amenant une ambiance vindicative dans le style de "Pour une poignée de dollars", sauf que là tout a lieu au début...Bien sûr les codes et autres procédés de fabrication du western sont habilement utilisés, mais ce n'est pas caché non plus : pour faire un bon film, y'a pas de mystère...Mais celui-ci apporte quelque chose de différent sur le plan visuel et scénaristique, ce qui le rend plus novateur qu'on ne pourrait le croire...Et puis il y a des différences notables dans le personnage principal, où Eastwood diversifie un peu son jeu par rapport à ses précédents westerns de Sergio Leone. Et puis il n'est plus "seul", non plus. Il est représentant de justice, cette fois, pour mener à bien son opération de justice personnelle...Voilà qui captive tout de suite, car il va être de son devoir de ne pouvoir faire ce qu'il veut...Ce qui n'empêchera nullement les débordements, pour notre plus grand plaisir.Le western reste un genre absolument indémodable. Le reproche que l'on peut faire à Pendez-les haut et court est l'absence d'un final digne de ce nom : hé oui, pour celui-là, la fin est nulle, parce que le dénouement s'interrompt de lui-même, le réalisateur ayant cherché à faire quelque chose de différent. Après tout, pourquoi pas ? (Même si...)Envoi soigné avec affiche française d'époque et fourreau. Un peu cher mais excellent état.

This is a review of the 2013 All Region Blu-ray from Warner Home Video. The film plays in Widescreen and 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. Though the film dates from 1968, it looks beautifully sharp and clear.Clint Eastwood is now one of the greatest stars that Hollywood has ever produced, a master of film, who has moved effortlessly from acting, to direction and production. And he is still busily creating, into his 90s. But in 1968, he was back working in the US again, fresh from starring in a raft of ground-breaking, mould-breaking films, largely Westerns, mostly made by Italians in Spain ~ the now-famous ‘Spaghetti’ Westerns beginning with ‘A Fistful of Dollars’(1964). Before that, from 1959, he had won a considerable reputation in the TV Western series, ‘Rawhide’. Westerns had, it is fair to say, cemented his reputation.The Spaghetti westerns, released in the US in succession during 1967, were very successful with audiences, but panned, even reviled, by the critics. However, the money from them allowed Eastwood to launch his own production company, Malpaso Productions, named after the creek on his California property. This film, appropriately enough a Revisionist Western not a million miles away in flavour from Sergio Leone’s Spaghetti variety, was Malpaso’s first venture. It was made jointly with United Artists, and very successful it proved to be, for both companies.The film was made in DeLuxe Color, with an excellent ‘Spaghetti Western’-style score by Dominic Frontiere. It was filmed around Las Cruces, New Mexico, a brutally stark, arid, setting, standing in for Oklahoma Territory in 1889. The story was by Mel Goldberg, a writer of innumerable TV series episodes including for Westerns like ‘Bonanza’ ,’The Virginian’ and the original ‘Hawaii Five-O’; and Leonard Freeman, ‘Five-O’s creator. There was a bid to interest Eastwood in the (as it turned out) excruciatingly bad star-vehicle Western ‘Mackenna's Gold’; Eastwood far preferred this script. He offered a few amendments, and it was a done deal.The story is fiction, but it draws on real historical events and people, in Western Arkansas. There really was a ‘Hanging Judge’, Isaac Parker, a man with very liberal views about slavery (anti), women (pro enfranchisement) and Indian affairs (pro fair and supportive treatment), but strongly in favour of hanging to enforce order. He used US Marshals extensively, in dangerous but essential work.The resulting film fully deserves its ’18’ Certificate. It is unapologetically violent and uncompromising, painting a merciless picture of the brutal men and harsh life ~ and death ~ that stalked the Territory. It also highlights the hypocrisy. Regular Western stars like Ben Johnson, LQ Jones, Bruce Dern and Ed Begley provide tough, unyielding portrayals on both sides of the law. Character actor Pat Hingle is excellent as the Judge. And Clint gives us a quintessential Eastwood performance, a man of few words save occasional wry comments, and decisive, lethal action.This is by no means Eastwood’s finest Western, but it is exciting, relentless and dark. 4 uncompromising Stars.

excellent western!mélange drame, passion, vengeance et justice.le terrible couperet de la loi appliquée à la lettre.pas de pitié pour les justiciable!

Oklahahoma in Jahre des Herrn 1889: Das weite Land soll immer mehr zivilisiert werden, doch es fehlt an Marshalls, die das Gesetz einfordern. So wird das ganze Territorium noch beherrscht von zahlreichen Outlaws und Banden. Jedediah Cooper (Clint Eastwood) war mal Sheriff, hat sich aber jetzt entschieden eine Farm zu betreiben und darum hat er von einem Rancher ein paar Rinder gekauft und mit dieser kleinen Herde zieht er durch die Prärie.Doch an einem Fluß bemerkt er, dass er von einer Gruppe Reiter verfolgt wird. Diese Männer (Jonathan Goldsmith, Ned Romero, Russell Torson, Bob Steele, Joseph Sinola, L.Q.Jones, Alan Hale jr., Bruce Dern) unter der Führung Captain Wilson (Ed Begley) überwältigt und des Viehdiebstahls sowie des Mordes an dem Rancher beschuldigt.Der wütende Lynchmob macht kurzen Prozess, doch der Gehängte wird zum Glück noch rechtzeitig von Marshall Bliss (Ben Johnson) entdeckt und vom Galgenbaum befreit.Allerdings mit der Aussicht noch einmal aufgehängt zu werden, sollte er in einem regulären Verfahren schuldig gesprochen werden.Die Reise führt ihn in einem Käfigwagen mit anderen Gefangenen nach Fort Grant, wo Richter Fenton (Pat Hingle) als Einziger Recht spricht. Tatsächlich wird Cooper freigesprochen, weil der wahre Täter aufgefunden wurde und im Gefängnis wie einige andere Männer seine gerechte Strafe durch den Strang erwartet.In der Stadt werden diese Todesurteile durch den Henker wie ein Volksfest zelebriert, Henker Schmidt (Berd Freed) ist ein wahrer Meister seines Fachs.Es gibt in diesem Territorium auch noch keinen Gouverneur und auch kein staatliches Berufungsgericht. Fenton ist in diesem sehr großen Gebiet die einzige und zugleich höchste richterliche Instanz, arbeitet die vielen Straffälle im Schnellverfahren ab und verurteilt oftmals Straftäter trotz mangelnder Beweislage - dies soll zur Abschreckung dienen und die gesetzliche Ordnung untermauern.Fenton überredet den rachesüchtigen Cooper den gutbezahlten Job als Marshall anzunehmen. Fortan verfolgt Cooper sein Ziel, zudem ist die Menschenjagd auch noch staatlich legitimiert...Ted Post drehte "Hängt ihn höher" im Jahr 1968, der Film wandelt mit seinem zynischen Unterton auf den Spuren des sehr erfolgreichen Italo-Westerns.Die stärkste Sequenz des Films ist die Szene als Fenton die Hinrichtung von sechs Männern im Stile eines Volksfestes begehen lässt und die Todgeweihten vor einer jubelnden Menschenmenge aufknüpft werden. Darunter sogar zwei junge Teenager (Bruce Scott/Richard Gates), für die der Marshall ein gutes Wort bei Gericht eingelegt hatte. Eindrucksvoll zeigt der spannende Western die Doppelmoral eines Rechtssystems, das sich allein auf Abschreckung nach dem biblischen "Auge um Auge" -Prinzip beruft.Für die leisen Töne sorgt die ebenfalls auf Rache sinnende Witwe Rachel Warren gespielt von der schwedischen Schauspielerin Inger Stevens, die 2 Jahre später unter mysteriösen Umständen ums Leben kam.Der schmale Grat zwischen der staatlichen Gerechtigkeit und dem persönlichen Gerechtigkeitssinn wird in diesem kompromisslosen Western sehr deutlich gemacht, selbst der Lynchmob, der am Anfang des Films so brutal und verbrecherlich agierte, erhält im Laufe des Films ein vielschichtigeres Gesicht, es stellt sich heraus, dass diese Männer auch fürsorgende Familienväter sind.