Hang 'Em High story
Hang 'Em High is a 1968 American DeLuxe Color revisionist Western film directed by Ted Post and written by Leonard Freeman and Mel Goldberg. It stars Clint Eastwood as Jed Cooper, an innocent man who survives a lynching; Inger Stevens as a widow who helps him; Ed Begley as the leader of the gang that lynched Cooper; and Pat Hingle as the judge who hires him as a U.S. Marshal.
10 total · 3 choice · 4 major · 3 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| crime and punishment | choice | The story concerned how criminals ought to be punished in 19:th century Oklahoma when there was not enough resources to run a functioning contemporary court system. |
| taking the law into one's own hands | choice | A central theme was how the near-lawlessness of 19:th century Oklahoma prompted some people to mete out extrajudicial justice. Both sides in this dilemma were weighed and feature: Jed subjected himself and others to excessive risk and hardship by insisting on taking three criminals back to where they would assuredly be hanged, rather than just allow them to be hanged on the spot. |
| the desire for vengeance | choice | Central to the story was Jed's desire to avenge himself on the vigilantes that had unjustly hanged him. A point was made about how many of them were actually rather good people. A point was made about the misery Jed inflicted on himself and others in pursuit of his vengeance. Additionally, we learn that Rachel wanted to visit vengeance on unknown outlaws that had once raped her, although towards the end she managed to abandon this pursuit and find peace. |
| capital punishment | major | The story made a point of portraying the systematic legal hanging of criminals in 19:th century Oklahoma. It portrayed various reactions to the use of the six-people gibbet that existed for the purpose. |
| infatuation | major | Jed first became besotted with a prostitute. Later he fell for Rachel. |
| law enforcement | major | Jed became a Federal marshal and worked to bring criminals to court in Oklahoma. |
| legal occupation | major | Central to the story was a judge who presided over the only court in Oklahoma. |
| killing in self-defense | minor | There was at least one scene where Jed faced one of his former tormentors with an intention of bringing him in, yet was forced to kill him as the man went for his gun. |
| prostitution | minor | Jed spent some nights in a posh Wild West brothel. He had a lengthy involvement with one of the girls working there. |
| prostitution in society | minor | Though not explored in any depth, the story featured the goings on in a posh Wild West brothel. |