Hang em High-hang em low

[angeleyesTHE2nd]

 :-\I just saw Hang em High a few days ago and i must admit it was not the best Clint Eastwood western i have seen. To be honest i was pretty excited af first until when i got  to 60% movie, it got alittle boring. I mean come on, the only cool gun fight in the movie was when he takes that guy on in the bar. Also it was too smoochy, I think they didn't need to have the romance songs in there. I mean yeah its nice to see Clint get along with the ladies but still its too hunky dorry. They could just leave that stuff out and have like music that is more exciting!

Clint Eastwoods character was alright but  it had way to much talking and little action.  I mean Clint is a good actor don't get me wrong, but still you have to have alot of gun fights to make the movie more enjoyable.
 

I think this movie was one of Clints worst ever due to the fact it was short on gun fights and brutality. I would have to give it a 4/10 for effort, gunfights, and characters acting.  

[angeleyesTHE2nd]

well i like romance in clint eastwood movies. but the music overdid it alittle sorry to say. I mean maybe i'll like it alittle better the second time who knows.

[KC]

I think this movie was one of Clints worst ever due to the fact it was short on gun fights and brutality.

Hmm, have you seen The Bridges of Madison County yet?    

As for the music in Hang 'Em High, while there aren't, in fact, any "romance songs," there is a lot of typical Hollywood schmalz. This was Eastwood's first starring role in the US, and he didn't yet have the total control of his productions that he would eventually acquire through the production company, Malpaso, that he had just founded. In later Malpaso pictures, the scores improve significantly.  

[Matt]

I actually really enjoy Hang 'em High, but I have trouble with the picnic scene... the music, Inger's acting, her hair and makeup, and the way the storm kicks in and the reaction to it are all laughable. But, Clint was a young up-and-coming actor with quite a few female fans from the Rawhide years that wanted to see him in a romantic setting. The director (Ted Post) was a television director (he had previously directed Clint in more than 20 episodes of Rawhide) and that is extremely evident in this scene. But there are scenes in Hang 'em High where Post does much better... the opening scene is absolutely beautiful. 

I also enjoy the scenes with Bruce Dern: "You ain't never gonna get me alive to Fort Grant, boy."  "Then I'll get you there dead..... boy."  Outside of the Leone films, that's my favorite exchange in Clint's career until Dirty Harry. Pat Hingle is fantastic as Judge Fenton and I enjoy every scene of his. And I'm partial to the beautiful redhead at Peaches Sophie's cathouse.

Hang 'em High was the first Eastwood movie I'd ever seen. I was flipping channels one night when I came across the opening scene of Jed helping his calf out of the river. I thought I'd give it a minute, then I was curious what would break up the tranquility of that scene when the riders approached in the distance, so I figured maybe five minutes. And then they hung him and he dangled from the tree and the titles shot up... I wasn't turning the channel from that point on! That was the first film of an Eastwood double-feature (High Plains Drifter followed), and that night a Clint Eastwood fan was born--and it was Hang 'em High that did it. It strikes me that this same thing could be said of thousands when this film was originally released because it was for many their first glimpse of Clint Eastwood. For many others it would be the first they'd see of Eastwood outside of the television series Rawhide. It's important to remember that television actors didn't make as smooth a transition to feature films back in those days as they do today because television actors weren't nearly as respected as film actors in those days.

Hang 'em High may not be the best Eastwood western out there... I'm not saying it is. But I think it's a respectable film and a great vehicle for Eastwood to have chosen as his first American film that got his career off and running. So, as for the title of this thread, I'd have to heartily disagree. Hang 'em High was a film that enabled Clint to hold his head high in Hollywood. He was the star of the film, he was the producer, it was a hit, and he's never had a moment's rest since.

[Jed Cooper]

I'll admit, it took me a few viewings to warm up to Hang 'Em High.  You see, I was comparing it to the "Spaghetti" westerns and was sorely  disappointed.  I wrote it off as a bad effort.  Wouldn't you know, I was stuck home from a cancelled date and what comes on the tv but this movie.  Well, I resigned myself to staying home and kept and open mind for that viewing.  I came away with a new favorite!  I agree with Matt about the "Then I'll get you there dead, boy." quote-great!  One of Clint's best lines ever.  Pat Hingle was very good opposite Clint in this movie (too bad it's the only one of the 3 with Clint he was this good in).  

So, my suggestion is to put it on the back-burner for a while.  Find some other Clint movies you will and won't enjoy, then give it another shot.  Could be days, weeks, months, even years.   You may find upon repeated viewings that there's something you like after all you didn't the first time around.  This also happened to me with Tightrope; I was expecting a 'super-cop' type movie, but gave it a second chance right away and liked it much better.  If you don't ever like Hang 'Em High then at least there's a wealth of other Eastwood movies out there to enjoy.

Hope this helped!  

Jed (...man, I love this board!  )

[Chessie]

Personally I really like Hang 'Em High.  It was actually the first Clint DVD I bought (I see a trend of firsts going with this film, funny  ).  I thought that the story was unique and I liked that it wasn't over done with violence like a lot of westerns have done.  As for the romance scene, I think that the line "forget the salt" has to be one of the cheesiest lines ever to be put in a film, but that's why I love it.  I also like Pat Hingle in it and Clint I thought did a really good job.  It doesn't really compare with the Leone westerns but I still feel it's a good piece of work and film.  

I'm sorry that you didn't like it Angeleyes.  I agree with Jed just put on the back burner and in a little while go back to it, I had to do the same thing with For A Few Dollars More, I know shame...  Just be open minded the next time you see it.  

[Squinty]

Hang em' high was not a low class film to me at all. It really was a western that didn't say "hey it's okay to kill and shoot em' up, it's normal! we're western!" It was more realistic in a political sense. It questioned our government, and our leaders, our morals. It showed us, the right path isn't always the most clear. Becuase there's alot in our line of vision. Such as clint's love interest in the film.

[Wombat]

Hmmmm I would agree to an extent about your assessment of this film - Hang 'em High.  Not the greatest but Clint is in it - need I say more.  You want a despicable Clint film !!!! - The Bridges at Madison County.  I hate that film ! Clint slipped when he made that one !!  I mean having an affair with a married woman and not a gun in sight - Aaaaaaahhhhhhh !!!!! I was sleepless for days - in mourning for months - sack cloth and ashes - to say the least !

[KC]

at wombat's reaction to The Bridges of Madison County! It reminds me of the wag's remark that a lot of men were disappointed in the film "because they thought Clint was going to blow up the bridges"!

[Jed Cooper]

at wombat's reaction to http://The Bridges of Madison County! It reminds me of the wag's remark that a lot of men were disappointed in the film "because they thought Clint was going to blow up the bridges"!

That's so funny; I remember thinking it was going to be something like The Bridge Over River Kwai because I'd only heard the title, not what it was about.

I like Bridges, but Hang 'Em High better.

[Agent]

Here's a funny quote from Clint on this E! Online site:

"When I was doing The Bridges of Madison County, I said to myself, 'This romantic stuff is really tough. I can't wait to get back to shooting and killing.' " --Daily News, November 15, 1996

[philo]

I too like Hang 'em high , I remember being allowed to stay up and watch it during an ITV film season called "The savage west" back in the late 70's.

I always liked the score and the film did it's job. I still watch it from time to time.

I also liked Bridges more than I thought, however in the hands of Spielberg it could have lost the edge Eastwood put on his vision of the film.

I must pick up the UK DVD of Bridges as we have confirmation that it is anamorphic widescreen.


Philo .

[Squinty]

haha, Bridges was better than I heard it to be. Just and Hang em'. I learned not to listen to what the general public has to say. I dunno, I have to rate a film for myself. It's just a thing I have. Many don't like hang em' high. A friend of mine told me that it was terrible and borring. Now, being a big clint fan, I was skeptical. I watched it, and really liked it. It was a change of pace. more of a "what's next!?" than the regular shoot em' up, good vs. evil.

[Perry]

hi Guys:
                 Personally, I like Hang Em'High. The only negative thing I can say is i think the scene where they r going to hang the brothers and Bruce Dern is a little too long, but You have to remeber it was Clints first movie after the Spaghetti Westerns and for 1968 that movie was pretty bold in its presentation of capital punishment and the aftermath of rape with the Inger Stevens role.
If i had to pick a movie whcih I really dont think has aged well is Coogans Bluff. I found that extremely talky and boring and repetitive, especially the dialalogue between Eastwood and Lee J.Cobb. I liked it years ago, but after seeing it on AMC last week, I really didnt care for it..very very slow.

              Perry

[Dannyman]

I saw it Coogan's Bluff on AMC and almost the entire pool room fight scene was cut out! It only lasted like 10 seconds    Along with many other portions that were cut.
 

[Chessie]

Yeah I wasn't thrilled about that either, I couldn't believe it!  So lame.  

[philo]

I was lucky enough to see it on the big screen. (not in 1968, they wouldn't let me in at the age of 5  )

The Technicolor prints for all five films were great and I saw it as part of an all night Eastwood screening in London around 1979.
Also on the bill were The Beguiled, Two mules for sister Sara, Joe Kidd and The Eiger sanction.

The DVD version is the theatrical cut, we talked about the extras scenes in the tv version only, recently in another thread.


Philo .

[blonde]

I really like Hang em High and Coogan's Bluff.  Those 2 films have always been one of my favorites.  

[English_Bob_270]

I really liked Hang em High especially when Clint character tells Reno that "You better look at a man when you hang him!" I can't remeber the quote exactly but it was good. Someone please correct me if i'm wrong.

[KC]

When you hang a man, you better look at him.