Jed Cooper (Clint Eastwood) is strung up by a nine-man lynch mob and left for dead, setting the stage for revenge and retribution in United Artists' Hang 'Em High.

Director Ted Post delivers one of the most violent Western films of the 1960s, with Clint Eastwood playing a rancher-turned-avenging lawman in Hang 'Em High. Inger Stevens, Pat Hingle, Ed Begley, Charles McGraw, James MacArthur, Bruce Dern, et al. appear in bloody support.

Screenplay, Director, Music

Hang 'Em High was written for the screen by Leonard Freeman and Mel Goldberg. Directing the action was Ted Post, who had previously directed a number of episodes for CBS-TV's Rawhide (1959-66) starring Clint Eastwood as Rowdy Yates.

Originally offered the director's chair on Hang 'Em High was Sergio Leone, who declined because of a previous commitment to Once Upon a Time in the West (1968).

Providing Hang 'Em High's spooky, spur-rattling music score was Dominic Frontiere.

The Cast

Heading the cast was Clint Eastwood as Jed Cooper. A very hot commodity at the time, Eastwood was paid $400,000 for his services plus 25% of the movie's profits. Hang 'Em High would also mark the first film produced by Eastwood's company, Malpaso Productions.

Joining Eastwood in the cast were Inger Stevens (Rachel Warren), Pat Hingle (Judge Adam Fenton), Ed Begley (Captain Wilson), Ben Johnson (Marshal Dave Bliss), Charles McGraw (Sheriff Ray Calhoun), Ruth White (Madame Sophie), Arlene Golonka (Jennifer), James MacArthur (The Preacher), Bruce Dern (Miller), Alan Hale Jr. (Stone), Dennis Hopper (The Prophet), L.Q. Jones (Loomis) and Joseph Sirola (Reno).

Filming Locations

Budgeted at $1.8 million, Hang 'Em High was filmed on location in New Mexico. Locales used were Las Cruces and White Sands National Monument near Alamogordo.

Performing one of his own stunts during filming was Clint Eastwood, who is seen being dragged across a river by the vigilantes. Ted Post wanted to use a double, but Eastwood nixed that idea, saying he wanted to register the proper reaction for the cameras.

When You Hang a Man, You Better Look at Him

Set in 1889 Oklahoma and Indian Territory, Hang 'Em High opens in grisly fashion, with a band of nine men confronting rancher Jed Cooper. Accusing him of cattle rustling and murder, the vigilantes string up the unfortunate Cooper, leaving him for dead.

A passing lawman, Marshal Dave Bliss, comes upon the partially-hanged Cooper, cutting him down and bringing him in front of Judge Adam Fenton, the infamous "Hanging Judge." After being exonerated, Cooper, an ex-lawman in St. Louis, becomes one of 19 U.S. Marshals for the 70,000-square mile territory, earning $250 a month plus expenses.

With Judge Fenton's blessing, Marshal Jed Cooper now proceeds to track down the lynch mob who had nearly killed him. His first encounter is with the one-eyed Reno, who is in possession of Cooper's personalized saddle.

"When you hang a man, you better look at him," Cooper tells the astonished Reno at a saloon, showing him the ugly rope scar carved into his neck. Reno panics and draws his gun, but Cooper proves faster, killing him before Judge Fenton can render formal justice.

That's one down, eight to go...

Release, Reviews, Box Office

Hang 'Em High, which garners its title from an impassioned speech on justice by Judge Fenton ("Hang 'em and hang 'em high, there's no justice in Fort Grant") , premiered on July 31, 1968.

"A rambling tale which glorifies personal justice, mocks and derogates orderly justice..." said Variety (7/17/68).

"Director Ted Post tries to make Hang 'Em High stylish and spirited enough to swing. It swings all right -- like a body at the end of a rope," reported Time magazine (8/23/68).

Hang 'Em High grossed $6.778 million at the box office, earning the #18 position on the list of the top moneymaking films of 1968.

Hang 'Em High has been out on DVD since 1997.

"Tell him to shut up and let's get it over with," an impatient Swede (Herbert Ellis) tells his executioners as a fellow prisoner (Michael O'Sullivan) drones on with a temperance lecture up on the gallows.

Okay, let the hanging, er movie, begin...