Let's say that you love authentic Italian food. Like, really really love it. When you smell it, you can parse out all the different spices and vegetables used to make the sauce. You can tell when the pasta is cooked just right. You savor this meal. You want to take your time and enjoy it, knowing that you won't be able to move afterward but you will be so satisfied after that you won't care.
Now, let's also say that you don't know how to make authentic Italian food or know exactly what ingredients are needed and in what ratios to get the texture and flavors you desire. You are then presented with a kitchen full of ingredients and utensils that could help you but you don't know for sure. You really want pasta though, so you are going to try your best and just wing it and hope that what you end up with is as close to the thing you love.
Once you are done making it, you see that it kind of looks like what you know. It kind of tastes like what you know. But it definitely is not what you wanted and what you were hoping for.
Film #14 Hang 'Em High (1968)
Here is the imdb.com cast listing. Here is the wikipedia page about the production.
A small time rancher named Jed Cooper (Clint Eastwood), who while minding his own business tending to his recently purchased heads of cattle, is approached by a posse of nine men who believe that he killed the person who previously owned the cattle and stole them for himself. Jed proclaims his innocence, shows his bill of sale, but the men don't believe him. They decided to commit to some frontier justice and hang him on the spot (and take his wallet and saddle). Believing him dead, they ride off.
A marshall finds him in time and cuts him free. Not knowing if Jed is actually guilty of a crime or not, the marshall throws him in a wagon with other criminals and takes them to Fort Grant, where Judge Fenton (Pat Hingle, who I want to believe is the grandfather of Commissioner Gordon) lets Jed go after verifying that Jed used to be a lawman in St. Louis. Fenton gives Jed a choice, become a marshall and go after the nine men legally (and bring them back alive), or be a vigilante and get hung for it. Jed takes the marshall's star and sets out to make the nine men pay for hanging an innocent man.
That's a great start to a film, right? I think so. It feels like Clint Eastwood is made for this kind of role, and he is. It just feels like everything Hang Em' High wants to go someplace or say something interesting but it gets side tracked. At the beginning, the marshall that picks up Jed stops in a small ruined town to pick up a prisoner simply known as the Prophet (Dennis Hopper, I have no idea why). The Prophet brakes free. The marshall shoots him. That's it. The scene is over, having done nothing to add to the film.
The film actually forgets its main plot for about twenty minutes (okay, it doesn't forget but it certainly pushes it aside) towards the end of the film when it brings Jed together with Rachel (Inger Stevens), a shop owner with a tragic past. Her husband was killed by two men when they tried to assault her. So she is looking for justice as well. I am not saying their love story doesn't have merit but I feel like it would have better served the characters and the film better had this been established earlier.
The plotting and pacing of the film feels like it would fit a lot better as a television series than a film, and after reading about the production, that makes sense. Eastwood started in television westerns and and as this film was his first produced feature for his production company, he went with Ted Post as a director. Post directed 56 episodes of Gunsmoke, the show that Eastwood was in, and the two had a good working relationship. Factor in that Eastwood was recently off The Dollars Trilogy with perfectionist Sergio Leone, he probably wanted efficiency over artistry, and it really does show in this film.
Hang Em' High wants to ask what is justice and does it really matter if it comes within or outside the law, but again, it gets close but then veers away. A prolonged sequence showing the hanging of six men and how there is a carnival like atmosphere around it is unsettling. It wants to show the different way each man accepts his fate, and knowing that not all of them really do belong up there (set against a frustrated Jed as he grabs a prostitute and takes her to the brothel to get away from it... ) is also interesting. But when Jed stands up to Judge Fenton about what is more important, justice or the appearance of the strength of law, Jed eventually backs down because he still has men wants to settle a score with. Its a mixed message and I don't think it was truly meant to be complicated and thought provoking. I think that this was still a Hollywood western, so the good guy had to stay on the side of the law and ride off into the sunset.
The closest the film gets to being compelling is the first man Jed tracks down on his list, Reno. I appreciate this scene because of the fire in Eastwood's eyes and his restraint at trying to keep the arrest clean and in line.
Its a good scene. I also appreciate the acknowledgement that law enforcement should have a paper trail in order for it to stick. You can't just go shooting up people in bars, you need to fill those forms out in triplicate.
Eastwood is good in the film, but I don't think he was truly challenged to do much. He has the badass staring and swagger in spades and brings this overall flat production some needed character.
Pat Hingle is also good. His Judge Fenton has a vision for the territory (I mean, he does build a full six man gallows that is set up for ease of use and grand spectacle) and he gets blinded by the means to meet the goal.
Inger Stevens is fine with what she is given. I am biased, though. I have a sweet spot for her in one of the best episodes of the Twilight Zone and one of the not so best. Her eyes are beautiful and sad. She is haunted and you can feel it.
So let's get back to what I was saying at the top. Hang Em' High feels like Hollywood wanted to cash in on the popularity of Spaghetti Westerns, so they wanted to make their own. Look at the ingredients: Eastwood, a wronged man seeking vengeance, some sudden violence with the multiple hangings, a skewed vision of law enforcement, some quick zoom ins on people's eyes as is the style, some meandering story points to try and make the journey feel epic, and more Eastwood.
It kind of looks like an Italian Western. It kind of tastes like one. It certainly is not what I wanted or hoped for. In this metaphor am I accusing Ted Post of being a bad cook? Maybe. I know I am not a great cook and can only follow a recipe if handed to me, I can't just take parts and pieces I see and make it into a flavorful dish from scratch. So please don't expect me to make your favorite pasta dish the way they do at the local Italian owner and operated restaurant. And don't expect Ted Post to not make a television western.
This film has potential. If there was a way to get Eastwood at the same age he was here and remake it today and focus the narrative a little more, I think you would have a hell of a film. Right now, I think you just have a great title, one great scene, and one actor that already did it better.
Western Checklist (nowhere near official or scientific):
- Weird gang member names? The madame of the boredellow was called 'Peaches.' Otherwise everyone had pretty normal names.
- Beautiful landscapes? The white desert sand is always pretty but nothing really stands out in the film.
- Does a building catch fire? No. Everyone seems to be smoking in the film, so maybe that counts?
- Any terrified horses? Yeah, the one that Jed was perched on right before being hung. Someone fires a gun to make it bolt. I will always feel bad for the horses.
- How many Ernest Borgnines? Alan Hale Jr. was one of the nine men and he is in two, two and half scenes and his death is off screen and only mentioned. I can only hope he went onto that three hour tour in the sky.
- Does it have a theme song with the name of the film in the title? Kind of. This is another odd situation where I knew the theme without really knowing the movie it was associated with. The main theme from Hang Em' High plays through out the film and it was nostalgic to me because I have known the Booker T & The MG's cover of it for a very long time. I love this band (You probably know them better for Green Onions) and I knew the song had the same title as the film, I didn't it was the same song. I always thought this music would be great in a western. I was right but was an idiot for not putting two and two together. So, instead of linking a video of the music from the film, please enjoy their version. It is superior in every way.
Bonus bit. I know I just bashed Ted Post above, but I need to link a trailer for a film I have seen once, and now own on blu-ray, and want to share with the rest of the world every chance that I hope to get. 1973's The Baby, directed by Ted Post, is a balls out crazy film about a family that has a twenty something man as a baby. Like an actual baby, in a crib and diapers and everything. My words can not do it justice.
Rating:
I am going to give this 3 out of 5 tin stars. The idea of the an innocent man seeking justice against those that left for dead is a good one. Clint Eastwood is good and carries the film. The flat directing, the pacing, and the toothless ending really keep this from being one that I would come back to. Much like it was presented to me, watch it once to understand how easy it is for the wheels to fall off a film trying to ape a popular genre at the time when it doesn't seem to understand why those films work.
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