Customer Reviews

Good Day for a Hanging [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Fred MacMurray starred in several westerns in the fifties, and "Good Day for a Hanging", released in 1959, is an engrossing "duster" that holds your attention throughout. It raises issues such as capital punishment, loyalty, duty, family and the nature of justice.

A gang of outlaws holds up a bank and escapes, with the popular town marshall and a posse in hot pursuit. During a shoot-out in the hills, the marshall is shot dead by one of the gang. The youngest member of the gang, Eddie Campbell ( Robert Vaughn in a terrific performance ), is wounded and brought back to town by the posse. Posse-member, Ben Cutler ( Fred MacMurray ), is sure that young Eddie is the outlaw who shot the marshall, although he convinces townspeople that there should be a fair trial, rather that a quick lynching. Ben reluctantly agrees to take over as marshall, which soon causes problems with his bride-to-be, Ruth Granger ( attractive Maggie Hayes ), and his daughter, Laurie ( petulant Joan Blackman) who has a crush on Eddie
( Ben is a widower ). This, however, is a horse opera not a soap opera--there are fisticuffs, gunfights, a very tense trial scene and an excellent showdown at the end of the film.

Today I suspect most people remember Fred MacMurray as the affable and immensely likeable star of TV's "My Three Sons", and a number of Disney films. Film buffs know that,in fare such as "Double Indemnity" and "The Apartment", Mr. MacMurray could also be effective in less sympathetic roles. In "Good Day", he certainly has an edge to his performance, and gives us a convincing western hero. In addition to the intense Mr. Vaughn, we have a "pre-Virginian" James Drury as Dr. Ridgely, doting on Laurie Cutler, but unable to distract her from her obsession with young Eddie. Western fans will spot such actors as Denver Pyle, Gregg Barton, William Fawcett, Harry Lauter and the ubiquitous Tom London in supporting roles.

I see that the movie was produced by Charles H. Schneer and directed by Nathan Juran, better known for their collaboration with stop-motion effects master, Ray Harryhausen.

I found the widescreen, colour picture quality to be excellent--the sound typical for films of this vintage.

If you like westerns, Fred MacMurray may not be the first name you would think of. However, he was a fine actor, and was right at home throwing punches or lead ! "Good Day for a Hanging" delivers a "good" ninety minutes of western suspense and excitement. Recommended.

A Good Day For A Hanging, a solid and entertaining Western, bookends nicely with a much more heralded 50's Western, High Noon. High Noon, in addition to dealing with courage and personal responsibility, dealt with the problems of enforcing law in a society that is afraid to protect itself from imminent criminal activity. This film deals with the frustrations of properly punishing criminals once they are caught.

Fred MacMurray stars as a store owner who joins a posse chasing bank robbers. One of the bank robbers is a young punk played by Robert Vaughn, who also is very friendly with McMurray's young daughter. During the ensuing chase, the elderly and much loved town sheriff is killed by Vaughn, who is in turn shot and captured by McMurray and the posse.

MacMurray becomes acting sheriff, and pushes forth the prosecution of Vaughn. But to MacMurray's utter amazement, the town begins to sympathize with Vaughn,to the point that no one wants to believe that he is guilty. MacMurray's dogged pursuit of justice causes him strained relations with everyone in the town (especially his daughter) except the young town doctor, played by James Drury.

Well acted and written, this film continues where High Noon left off by indicting those who are always screaming for law and order, but do not have the will to enforce it. It is great that this film is being released on DVD.

A town marshal is shot and killed while pursuing a group of fleeing bank robbers. Community pillar Ben Cutler (Fred MacMurray) reluctantly agrees to become the new marshal. Cutler, a member of the outlaw-chasing posse, wounds and apprehends the trigger man, bad boy Eddie `The Kid' Campbell (Robert Vaughn.)
With Vaughn as a troubled youth - he never had a chance given the way he growed up - and MacMurray the middle aged, moral man at odds with the apathetic town he defends, think of GOOD DAY FOR A HANGING as a mixture of The Blackboard Jungle and High Noon, with a shady defense attorney and an extended courtroom scene thrown in for good measure.
The 1950s were the decade of message westerns, or a least westerns with a social sense and an accusatory finger to point. 1959's GOOD DAY FOR A HANGING isn't as strident as some of that era, but it's serious in its way, flaying a bit of the flesh of the fickle and apathetic townfolks while deifying the last honest man. Fortunately, GOOD DAY possesses the reassuringly mellow presence of MacMurray as the man behind the badge, calming whatever worries we may have harbored that GOOD DAY will get too carried away with whatever message it's trying to deliver.
My expectations were fairly modest for GOOD DAY FOR A HANGING, and I'm happy to say I wasn't disappointed (wasn't pleasantly surprised, though, either.) A traditional western with a competent cast, recommended especially for fans of the genre.

Good Day For A Hanging features Fred MacMurray in what is more of a character drama than a standard Western. MacMurray plays Ben Cutler, a former Marshall who gets caught up in the aftermath of a bank robbery gone wrong. A gang of bank robbers botches what was otherwise a well planned robbery of the town bank, only to be chased out of town by the Marshall and a makeshift posse. During the chase the Marshall is shot and killed, with all of the posse as witnesses. The shooter, Eddie "the Kid" Campbell, is wounded, but relatively unharmed before he is brought back to town.

It is here that the movie shifts to a solid character drama, as a prominent defense attorney shows up to take Campbell's case. Campbell grew up in the town and the attorney begins to plant the seed of reasonable doubt in the members of the posse - leading to a conflict with Cutler. Campbell is convicted on the strength of Cutler's testimony, but the townspeople begin to doubt Cutler's motives as they wonder if there really was enough evidence to convict the Kid. A movement in town grows to try to get the Kid's sentence commuted to life in prison, creating a conflict with Cutler, who is determined to see the sentence carried out.

Good performances from MacMurray and Robert Vaughan (as Campbell) help Good Day For A Hanging become as entertaining and engrossing as it is. The dialog and laid back style are very much in line with some TV Westerns, but it's all just a cut above that level. The direction from Nathan Juran is good, and sometimes inspired, and the cast does a good job of portraying a very tight-knit, family oriented town where everyone knows each other.

While Good Day For A Hanging isn't at the level of the best Westerns from the 50's (like Winchester '73, The Searchers, Warlock, Last Train from Gun Hill, The Man From Laramie, etc), it is still a good movie and well worth your time if you are a fan of the genre.

3 1/2 Stars.

At the end of the decade of the 1940s Columbia Pictures was producing and releasing both Gene Autry and Durango Kid series "B" Westerns, and doing well with them. During the 1950s, Columbia upgraded to more expensive fare, and produced a number of fine color Westerns with such solid actors as Randolph Scott, Fred MacMurray, and others. GOOD DAY FOR A HANGING was one of several that MacMurray did for Columbia (also notable is FACE OF A FUGITIVE), and it's a very good one. MacMurray has a unique style in just about everything he does (as anyone who remembers "My Three Sons" will recall!)--more meditative and quizzical, but always likeable. He shines in GOOD DAY FOR A HANGING, and manages to convey a resolve and determination that is also at the same time very human. This is no super-hero, but rather a man of real emotions, and thus identifiable with most viewers. In the end MacMurray's reasoned determination, albeit tested severely, is proven correct.

Production values and print quality are excellent; Columbia (Sony) continues to release some fine Westerns from the 1940s and '50s (e.g., THE VIOLENT MEN, LUST FOR GOLD, JUBAL, COWBOY, THE DESPERADOES, HANGMAN'S KNOT, several of the Durango Kid series, etc.), and GOOD DAY FOR A HANGING is one of the better ones.

I like this movie. It's a different kind of a western. It doesn't have a religious hook; it isn't about the big land baron against the little guy; it isn't about the railroad coming in and taking away everyone's land. It's just good old fashioned black hat/white hat good versus evil, sort of a concept movie about good and bad and how far the limits can be pushed with each. I didn't really care for Fred MacMurray in his part; he didn't seem to be in tune with his acting, to me. Robert Vaughn makes the perfect psycho. He's a real nut case in this film, a poison pill, playing the ego all the way. He's fun to watch, and James Drury (aka The Virginian)plays a nice doctor caught up in the small town drama. It's a lot of good acting and good storyline. Also, the man that plays Floyd the Barber from the Andy Griffith show is in this movie, and it is nice to see such a contrast in acting in this gentleman. If you like Westerns, this one is a go.

Robert Vaughn hadn't quite come to be heavily identified as a suave but ruthless heavy yet by the time he made this interesting 1959 Nathan Juran-directed western, though there is something of the typical Vaughn sneering going on, as he does in fact play the bad guy in this somewhat politically conservative but relatively nuanced piece about a marshall (Fred MacMurray) who has to deal with a popular prisoner (Vaughn) who he knows committed a murder, but whom the townspeople seem very disposed to just let off for the crime - despite their respect for the marshall. All in a small city in Nebraska in 1878, with the desire to see itself as "civilized" and put the lawless days of lynch mobs and gunfights in the streets behind it.

At the beginning of the film, Ben Cutler (MacMurray) is a widowed ex-marshall, now shopkeeper about to marry Ruth Granger (Margaret Hayes), another widower with a young son. Cutler has a daughter, Laurie (Joan Blackman) who stops in the street to talk to a boy she grew up with and loved who she hasn't seen in years, Eddie Campbell (Vaughn). Unbeknownst to her, Vaughn is the horse-handler and lookout guy for a group of bankrobbers busy taking out the bank right behind her. Something goes wrong with the holdup and they all take off; this scene is nicely put together as we feel that Laurie might be in danger throughout, but it turns out they get away without hurting anyone. Soon Marshall Cain (Emile Meyer) takes off after them with a half-dozen impromptu posse members in tow including Cutler. It's a hard pursuit and the outlaws are just about caught when they take a switchback up a wash and one of them turns back to fire, killing the marshall. Cutler fires at the gunman and takes him down, and it turns out to be Campbell. The others escape, and the wounded gunman brought back.

Despite the marshall having been close and witnessing the whole action, the town seems divided almost from the beginning as to whether to believe his story, or Eddie's. Young Campbell apparently was a troubled kid with a lot of problems growing up, and the nice liberal folks of the town want to give him a break - and they also see Cutler - now the Marshall - as having it in for him as he disapproves of his daughter still being interested in the outlaw. An oily sort of attorney (Edmon Ryan) comes from out of town to defend the kid, and the state-appointed prosecutor (the wonderfully named Wendell Holmes in the best secondary role of the film) seems to regret his part in the whole thing; it turns out politics are at play, right up to the governorship, and Marshall Cutler will have much to contend with even after the trial is concluded.

I don't know the history of this film, but I don't think it's an exaggeration to suggest that the law-and-order, protect the victims and take care of the bad guys attitude on display here is somewhat in contrast with such films as TWELVE ANGRY MEN and the "anti-McCarthy" western SILVER LODE from the previous few years. I think the film would have been more interesting in many respects if we the audience didn't know quite clearly from the beginning that Vaughn's character is in fact the killer; and if his unfortunate past had been developed at some length beforehand. As it is, it's hard to feel sympathetic for him at any point and we're always on the side of the Marshall, so the deck is stacked. Still, this is well-constructed and Juran (best known for several of the best fantasy adventures with Ray Harryhausen special effects during this period) has a fine eye for compositions, particularly in the action sequences. The acting is all fine, though it's always MacMurray's film, and if there were a bit more subtlety to the storyline and we were a bit more in doubt of his motives, his performance might have been even more impressive. The "Columbiacolor" process results in plenty of clarity but a rather rust-brown cast to much of the film; it's far from one of the best-looking late 50s westerns. But despite all of it's problems, it's a nice piece of work overall and an interesting addition to the pantheon of politically-oriented westerns from the period.

The DVD offers a reasonably good transfer; subtitles in English and Japanese available; no extras except for full-length trailers of THE PROFESSIONALS and SILVERADO and a highlights trailer for about 20 or so other, mostly Columbia, westerns now on Sony DVD.

There are quite a few things wrong with this movie but it still holds the attention without being irritating. Fans of Westerns will probably find it interesting.

The DVD is quite good although excessively grainy in some shots. Colours are good, the images are strongly focused and the sound is clear and clean.

Fred MacMurray stars in this great western as a reluctant Marshall also co-starring Robert Vaughn and Margaret Hayes.It's very well worth watching!!