When an innocent man barely survives a lynching, he returns as a lawman determined to bring the vigilantes to justice.
A band of vigilantes catch Jed Cooper (Clint Eastwood) and, incorrectly believing him guilty of cattle rustling and murder, hang him, and leave him for dead. But he doesn't die. He returns to his former profession of lawman to hunt down his lynchers and bring them to justice.—John Oswalt <[email protected]>
Jed Cooper (Clint Eastwood) is accused by nine men of killing one of their neighbors and stealing his cattle. When he fails to convince them of his innocence, they hang him. Fortunately, there is U.S. Marshal Dave Bliss (Ben Johnson), who is in the area, and saves Cooper, who is then brought to Fort Grant for trial. Eventually, it is discovered that the man Cooper bought the cattle from was, in fact, the killer. Cooper is released, but still wants to get the nine men who hung him. Judge Adam Fenton (Pat Hingle) warns Cooper about taking the law into his own hands, who responds by saying that he knows the law, being a former lawman. The judge then offers Cooper a job as a Marshal. Cooper, while in a town picking up a prisoner, discovers one of the nine men and kills him after he draws on Cooper. When he returns to Fort Grant, Cooper learns that another member of the mob has turned himself in after learning of Cooper's innocence. He provides Cooper with the names of the rest and Cooper leaves to round them up. On his way to bring in the lynchers, Cooper is sidetracked by a report of another rustling and murder. Upon finding the rustlers, one of whom was in the posse that lynched Cooper, the posse wants to lynch them, but Cooper insists that they need to be tried and is left to bring them in on his own. Following a difficult road back to Fort Grant, the remaining members of the posse that hung him try to buy him off, then decide that the only way they can live free is to finish the job and kill him.—[email protected]
While crossing a river with his cattle, former Marshal Jed Cooper (Clint Eastwood) is surrounded by nine men and accused of killing the rancher that owned the cattle. They leave Cooper hanging on a tree, but he is rescued by Marshal Dave Bliss (Ben Johnson) and brought to Fort Grant to the court of Judge Adam Fenton (Pat Hingle). His innocence is proven and Judge Fenton invites Cooper to the position of Deputy Marshal to help him to implement the law in the large area. Cooper accepts the position and chases the vigilantes with the warrants of Judge Fenton. Meanwhile, the leader of the lynchers, Captain Wilson (Ed Begley), realizes that they have committed three mistakes: they returned the money Jed Cooper had paid for the cattle expecting to get rid off him; they hung an innocent man; and they did not complete their task.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
In *Hang 'Em High*, the story begins with Jed Cooper, a former lawman, as he drives a herd of cattle across the Oklahoma Territory. His character is demonstrated as he saves a foundering calf from drowning. Suddenly, he is surrounded by a posse led by the vindictive Captain Wilson. The posse accuses Cooper of murder and cattle theft, refusing to believe his protests or examine the bill of sale he presents as proof of his innocence. Swiftly and mercilessly, they decide to lynch him. The men string him up on a tree and leave him to die, abandoning him as a symbol of their rough brand of frontier justice. Yet Cooper's fate takes an unexpected turn when he is found, still barely alive, by U.S. Marshal Dave Bliss. The marshal rescues him, cuts him down, and brings him to Fort Grant, where Cooper is determined to clear his name.
At Fort Grant, Cooper appears before Judge Adam Fenton, the sole judge in the territory, known for his firm, no-nonsense approach to upholding law and order. After reviewing the facts and realizing Cooper's innocence, Judge Fenton releases him. However, rather than dismissing Cooper's grievances, Fenton sees an opportunity to recruit him as a deputy U.S. marshal, noting his skill and resilience. Fenton offers Cooper a badge and a mandate to bring criminals to justice under the law, warning him against seeking personal revenge. He urges Cooper to see this as an opportunity to channel his anger constructively, by upholding legal justice in a lawless land. Cooper, still reeling from the trauma of his near-death experience, reluctantly agrees, setting his sights on capturing the men responsible-not out of vengeance, he insists, but to see justice served.
Cooper's journey as a marshal leads him across rugged terrain and into dangerous encounters as he pursues the members of the posse who wronged him. He arrests several criminals along the way, grappling with the ethical complexities of frontier justice. Some of the posse members beg for mercy, claiming they acted out of fear, while others remain defiant. His encounters reveal the fragility of law in a place where vigilante justice often prevails. At each step, Cooper is forced to confront his own sense of morality and the fine line between justice and revenge. Although tempted by the thought of exacting personal retribution, he remains committed to his role as a marshal, bringing each man in to face a trial.
The tension escalates as Cooper confronts Captain Wilson and the last of his lynchers. The final showdown embodies the central conflict of the film, exploring whether true justice can ever be served in a place where life is cheap and justice often subjective. Cooper's dedication to upholding the law, despite his personal vendetta, ultimately underscores the film's message about the cost of revenge and the harsh, often flawed nature of frontier justice.
In the end, *Hang 'Em High* delivers a powerful meditation on the themes of justice, morality, and the toll of vengeance. Cooper's journey is not just one of survival but of reckoning with the violent world he inhabits, as he chooses to abide by the law even when tempted to forsake it. His choice marks him as a figure of integrity in a world where such values are rare, leaving the audience with a nuanced perspective on what justice truly means in the unforgiving landscape of the American West.
