Friday, January 17, 2014

HANGMAN'S KNOT 1952 (SONY)

I have been watching a lot of westerns lately, and this is one of the best.

Randolph Scott, one of my favorite actors stars in this wild and wooly western about a group of Confederate soldiers who are falsely led to believe the war isn't over when they steal gold from a wagon train and then are hunted by vigilantes.

They hold up in a stagecoach waystation while the vigilantes wait outside for them. The tension grows between the men inside and their hostages. Scott is always good, and here he is the leader of the Confederates, Major Matt Stewart. Donna Reed is Molly Hull, a nurse who was on the coach that the men hijacked to get to the waystation. Claude Jarman, Jr. is a young man who has never killed before and only joined the confederates a few weeks before the war ended. Lee Marvin is excellent as Rolph Bainter, the hot headed member of the group who just wants to kill.

This is a very tight and well made film that every western fan would love. The performances are all top notch, the scenery is beautful and the ending works very well. The cast is rounded out by Glenn Langan, Frank Faylen, Jeanette Nolan and Richard Denning.

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