NR | 1h 47m | Western | 1959
By the time “The Hanging Tree” was produced in 1959, mature Westerns were in full swing. It’s based on author Dorothy M. Johnson’s 1957 book of the same name and stars legendary actor Gary Cooper (in one of his last roles) as a man with a mysterious past in search of a new life.
Things kick off in 1873, smack-dab in the middle of the Montana gold rush (1860s through 1870s). Dr. Joseph “Doc” Frail (Cooper) rides into the outskirts of a mining boomtown ominously named Skull Creek, Montana and fixes his eyes on a large tree that has a rope tied around one of its branches. The curious thing about the rope is that its end is missing as if it was cut or shot off.
Frail is a sort of jack-of-all-trades type of fella, equally gifted as a doctor, gambler, gunslinger, and, as we’ll discover later, fist-fighter.
After checking out the town of Skull Creek to ensure it has a pulse (he finds that it’s a bustling place with lots of new construction going up), Frail promptly purchases a small house from a local man for $500 in gold.
Later, we find townsfolk sifting for gold along a nearby river. One of them, Frenchy Plante (Karl Malden), spots a young thief named Rune (Ben Piazza) trying to steal gold from a sluice and shoots him. Wounded, the youth manages to run off. Frenchy quickly forms a band of fellow townsmen who are eager to carry out a little mob justice, but Frail rescues Rune and hides him in his new house.
However, since Rune doesn’t have a single penny to pay for Frail’s medical services, he is expected to become the doctor’s “manservant” (basically owning him), for an unspecified period of time. Although Rune doesn’t want to be tied down anywhere for too long, he reluctantly agrees to the terms, since Frail saved his life. Plus, Frail threatens to reveal the kid as the “sluice robber” who earlier escaped Frenchy’s bloodthirsty mob.
For a while, things are touch and go for Frail. Although he becomes a valuable asset for the town’s medical needs, some townspeople understandably don’t trust him; he’s a recent arrival with not much to say about his past. Frail’s questionable antics while gambling—he beats up and almost shoots a fellow gambler for trivial reasons—also don’t help his reputation.
One day, highwaymen ambush an inbound stagecoach and kill everyone on board except for its lone female occupant, Elizabeth Mahler (Maria Schell). When the town finds out that the woman is missing, Frenchy gets everyone all riled up, and he heads out with yet another search party. Rune rides along, but Frenchy doesn’t recognize him as the attempted gold thief he shot.
While on the rescue trip, Rune talks with Tom Flaunce (Karl Swenson), who owns Skull Creek’s general store. Tom is the only person in town who knows Frail from years before, and he alludes to the doctor’s past, but the details are sketchy at best.
A Great Cast
One of the things that makes this film work is the ever-evolving plot. Just when I thought I had things figured out, it threw curveballs at me. For instance, at times I thought a character’s relationship with Frail would go one way, but it ended up going in a completely different direction. This was partially due to the multifaceted personalities of the well-drawn characters, as well as how realistically the actors played them.
The entire cast is at the top of their game here, with Cooper and Schell naturally turning in fine performances as a couple of inscrutable people from curious backgrounds. Another treat was to witness the screen debut of George C. Scott. He plays a rather bizarre faith healer named George Grubb, who develops an intense rivalry with Frail. Scott was fresh out of the theater world at that time, and you see how well he channeled all of his experience into the role.
“The Hanging Tree” asks us to visit a place we think we’ve been before in past Westerns, but ends up bucking many of the genre conventions. Just like many of its enigmatic characters and places, the film has an intriguing title, bolstered by gorgeous cinematography, a handsome score, and a memorable storyline.
