Hang 'Em High Review

Hang 'Em High — 

Number nine on my Top Ten Clint Eastwood Westerns is Hang 'Em High, a 1968 United Aritsts release which marked Clint's first starring role in a Hollywood movie, after having become an international superstar in the Italian-made "Spaghetti Westerns " directed by Sergio Leone.

Hang 'Em High is essentially an American-made Spaghetti Western, about a man who survives a hanging to wreak vengeance on the men that strung him up. Eastwood's character, Jed Cooper, lacks the wit and otherworldly shooting ability of The Man With No Name, as he grimly goes about getting his bloody revenge on the hanging party. 

Instead of obscure Italian actors with dubbed voices, Eastwood's co-stars include such well-known character actors as Ed Begley, Pat Hingle, Ben Johnson,  Alan Hale Jr., Bruce Dern, Dennis Hopper, and LQ Jones, with Inger Stevens (The Farmer's Daughter) as Clint's love interest.

The film was produced and co-written by Leonard Freeman, who would go on to create and produce the long-running TV crime drama Hawaii Five-O. James McArthur's bit part in Hang 'Em High led directly to his casting as Steve McGarret's right hand man Danny "Dan-O" Williams on Five-O, and the rest is history. Book 'em!

Beyond the requisite violence and brutality, another crucial element of the Spaghetti Western that is thankfully present is a killer theme song, composed by Dominic Frontiere. It was covered for a hit by Booker T. & the MGs.

After years of seeing this film in cut, pan-and-scan versions on television, it's good to see it in its original widescreen form. Director Ted Post was no Leone, but Eastwood would work with him again in 1973's Magnum Force.  

 Available on DVD from MGM Home Video.