Best movie of this year hands down!

Brilliant and touching

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Nicely done and good entertainment. I like when a movie starts-up and gets right to the point. We are not disappointed here and quite frankly not surprised either. Cattle rustling was a serious crime along with stealing horses as life was hard and people who chose the easy (and wrong) way out were severely punished. This movie makes that point. We are also treated to a nice dose of comeuppance where the supposed good guys get a bad guys return on some faulty rash thinking. Clint is at his best in helping us believe what a ordinary decent person would do or not do. Westerns tell a unique stories of hard life that led to the creation of our towns, cities and laws we have today. The stories are without end and remind us of how anything worth having requires our participation which serves as part of the reward or return. It didn't take much money to live on but it took discipline and consistency to make a life for ones self. Also note that the many who chose to prey on others instead of working for their own could only be stopped with the threat of death or death itself. Hanging was the lesson at large to teach the population not to do certain things or this is how it would end. That's why kids, women and fathers/men attended these living lessons on how to behave or else for their educational value too. Good movie to snack on with a tasty drink. This Western goes down smooth

Another Clint Eastwood western and another outing that offers a rather good time. This 1968 western is nowhere near classics like Leone's Dollars trilogy, but it's nevertheless a well-made, well-acted picture. The film starts off confusing, lacking much in terms of depth, but once it progresses it's much better with some terrific sequences involving one where Eastwood walks into a bar and finds one of the men who tried to wrongly hang him, and the brilliance within that scene is most exciting. There's some solid dialogue, impressive direction from Ted Post and some good writing, as well as nice cinematography. The picture also has some really good performances; Eastwood is terrific as usual as Jed Cooper, Pat Hingle is a strong presence as no nonsense judge Fenton and Ed Begley is an impressive villain, playing Captain Wilson. One performance that doesn't work is Inger Stevens who play's Rachael Warren, a weird, expressionless woman who consistently stairs at all the men who are to be put to death, and she simply wasn't very compelling, and rather unnecessary here.There are parts that are a bit harsh, showing detailed hangings, lingering on the moment too much, some of these men didn't even murder or rape anyone, so seeing them go on and on with one of these scenes was a mistake, and during that scene there was a lecture about God from one of the doomed men, who annoyed the hell out of me, I was anticipating someone to shut him up already. After that the picture gets back on track yet again with some really good, slow building sequences, one in the dead of night and one somewhere before that. I also enjoyed the chemistry between Hingle and Eastwood, there scenes together was very entertaining, where they disagree with one another and even something simple as a discussion radiates the screen. However the film has a lame love story that thankfully doesn't last long between Jed and Rachael, because it was slow, boring and took me away from the main storyline, it's another five or ten minutes that could have been changed. Overall though Hang Em High may have its flaws, but it showcases two great performances from Eastwood and Hingle, Solid direction from Ted Post and some truly exciting moments that fans of the genre will surely enjoy.

It took a young Western star to move to Italy and make the best spaghetti westerns ever made and then to return to Hollywood and start his own studio and make this movie. This is what it took to bring Westerns back from the dead by reinventing them. His studio went on to make many excellent movies--westerns included.In "Hang 'Em High" you can still recognize some Italian style directing and scene changes, and there are a few errors of the sort that amateurs make, but they're forgiven. It's not that easy to start your own studio. Over the years, the Italian directing and editing styles evolved into the Hollywood-Italian-Eastwood style that we all love.The first time I watched this film a dark realization came over me. Hey, sometime this wonderful movie is going to end, and I'll have to leave it.

An intensely morally conscious Western, Hang 'Em High offered interpretations of violence. When is violence right or wrong? Should there be a point where violence has to be stopped? What are the consequences of violence? These ambiguous interpretations emphasised Hang 'Em High's harrowing and confrontational portrayal of a violent frontier.Mistaken for a wanted murderer Jed Cooper (Clint Eastwood) is left hanging from a tree by a posse bent on delivering 'justice'. Understandably affected by his near-death experience, Jed becomes Deputy Marshall at the behest of Judge Fenton (Pat Hingle) to make the posse accept their consequences even if it means death. However along the way Jed becomes at odds with Judge Fenton regarding violence's complex nature. A Western setting is appropriate to play out Hang 'Em High's themes of violence. A harsh terrain unforgiving of the devoid characters occupying its space which Jed was against perfectly back-dropped the violence. Undertaking three prisoners to face trial, Jed comes up against Miller (Bruce Dern) the most experienced of these prisoners. When Miller tries killing Jed it leads to a fantastic fight sequence, intensified by their opposing personalities. Once Miller realises he's lost the fight, he tells Jed to kill him. Instead Jed ties Miller on a horse intent on Miller facing the law. What makes this scene powerful is the variations of violence at play. Miller knows the consequences of his violence will lead to his execution whereas Jed will not commit violence upon Miller as an easy way out from execution. Hang 'Em High offers violence's portray to audiences with the same complexity as the characters dealing with it through Hang 'Em High's narrative. Whilst we can cheer Jed's revenge, we also have time to reflect upon other forms of violence in Hang 'Em High such as public executions. Clearly presented to be morally questionable with shots of children on a family outing to see condemned men being put to death, the bizarre fulfilment gained from witnessing their executions. Hang 'Em High has to be commended for offering this space of thought to audiences. On a side note a love interest develops between Jed and Rachel (Inger Stevens), a woman with her own checkered past. But this happens with little convincibility and takes place too late in the narrative to be heartfelt. Overall Hang 'Em High should be thought of as tackling variations of violence.