The Hangman (1959)

This could have been a pretty good Western. It had a solid cast with Robert Taylor, Fess Parker, a young Tina Louise (Ginger on Gilligan's Island) and Jack Lord (Hawaii 5-0). The plot was good about a lawman sent to arrest a wanted fugitive for his part in a holdup that ended in murder.And 3/4 of the movie is very enjoyable, solid 7/10 stars. But...Your reaction to this movie is likely to depend upon your answer to three questions:1. Should lawmen ever allow personal feelings affect how they perform their duties? 2. Should lawmen treat suspects differently because they like or dislike them? 3. Is it right for ordinary people to take the law into their own hands if they like or dislike a suspect?If you answered yes to all these questions, you will probably like it. If you answered no to any of them, you will probably not.

As an user pointed out,DR Kimble ,the fugitive ,might have been inspired by "the hangman"".As for me, I 'd rather think that Dudley Nichols -who took some of his inspiration for "stagecoach" from Maupassant's "Boule De Suif "- had thought of Javert and Jean Valjean in "Les Miserables" Bovard (the name sounds a bit French)appears first a rather unsympathetic character;he places duty over everything (we learn the reason why later in the movie),and understanding and compassion are words unknown to him :isn't he called "the hangman"?Curtiz's movie is first a psychological western -not an action-packed movie full of shoot-outs -in which a man learns humanity.Johnny unintentionally took part in a hold-up (in Hugo's novel,Valjean stole a loaf and was sent to the chain gang),he had to flee to another town where he was known as a good fellow,always ready to lend a helping man ."He made me a better man" says the sheriff Like in "it's a wonderful life" ,a man who's got friends is never lost.(Valjean became the mayor of another town and was considered a known and respected man,who helped the sick and the poor;but Javert was always on his heels)A true friend does not betray :even if she is told that at 24,she looks like she 's 30!The thirty pieces of silver (here represented by 500 dollars)trick does not always work.This is a very suspenseful film (notably the scenes with Tina Louise on the street),often moving,without a single real villain .With a nod to Alfred Hitchcock 's "the thirty-nine steps" (the handcuffs) at that.

By virtually every measure, the name of the film is a misnomer, as the title character repeatedly explains that he doesn't hang anyone, he just captures outlaws and brings them to justice. Figuratively speaking though, Mack Bovard (Robert Taylor) is in the law and order business, and once he's got his sights set on a target, they're as good as done.The film is quite the interesting character study of Bovard, who cynically decries human nature with the admonition that 'everyone has his price'. The deputy U.S. Marshal is about to test that theory once again when he tries to convince the widowed Selah Jennison (Tina Louise) to identify a murder and robbery suspect involved in a Wells Fargo heist. Failure to secure the capture of Johnny Butterfield will mean that he's liable to go scot-free, since the last remaining outlaw involved in the Wells Fargo job is about to hang; he's the only other person who knows what Johnny looks like.The picture makes a pretty good guessing game out of the identity of Johnny Butterfield/Bishop (Jack Lord), possibly the only cowboy in Western movie history who doesn't have an enemy in the world in his settled, unnamed town. Bovard makes an immediate assumption that Bishop is his target, the one stretch that eventually bears out correctly, but it takes some maneuvering to get there. The film briefly detours into comic territory somewhat when Selah Jennison, who knows Bishop's true identity, handcuffs herself to Bovard to waylay the inevitable.There's also a humorous gimmick running throughout the early part of the picture as Miss Amy Hopkins (Mabel Albertson) attempts to catch the deputy marshal's eye, but finally gives up, upset that she couldn't attract his attention to her matured charm and appreciation. Personally, I thought she was a busybody. The other character who caught my eye was the pretty waitress Molly (Betty Lynn) who just a few years later would have the unenviable task of being the girlfriend of hapless Barney Fife on "The Andy Griffith Show".As almost all the other reviewers on this board have mentioned, the ending of the story comes almost out of left field, although attentive viewers might have seen it coming. Making it even more incredible was the way Sheriff Buck Weston (Fess Parker) handled it, he just stood there waving good-bye with no remorse. Maybe he was just too stunned.

This is sort of a crossroads film where some on the way up (Lord, Parker, Louise) cross paths with a Taylor whose career is winding down. As a western, it's not your usual "shoot 'em up." Marshall Taylor, a man on a mission, arrives in town to arrest a murder suspect. The only problem is he doesn't know this man's identity. Enter Ms. Louise as the answer to his problem. Dangling a $500 reward for her identification of the suspected killer, he figures his problems are over. Only issue? They are just starting. With local sheriff Fess Parker and wanted man Jack Lord plus some other familiar faces in supporting roles, The Hangman is much more about dialog and character study than action. The ending was a bit awkward but the journey there an OK ride.For me, the most interesting element of this film was Ms. Louise. I'd only seen her previously as the breathless Ginger Grant, trapped forever (or it seemed that way) on Gilligan's Island. She is definitely a head-turner in this, her third movie, and does a fine job as a somewhat down on one's luck widow who sees more to Taylor than he sees in himself. One never knows why some actors move up the food chain while others sort of stall out. Between this release and Gilligan's Island were a bunch of Italian movies and some rather nondescript US B-films so maybe getting type cast as Ginger wasn't as career crippling as one might presume. Personally, I'd love to know if her trajectory might have changed if she had avoided the Italian phase and been cast in some mid-level US films instead. She certainly didn't embarrass herself in The Hangman and while we might have had to do without Ginger, I'd like to have seen how she fared in more substantial roles.