Hangman's Knot

Not as Good as the Boetticher-Scott Films, This One Inevitably Draws Comparison as it is Rich in Conflict and Moral Regards. There are Some Attractions in this Above Average Western. Technicolor, Randolph Scott, and Lee Marvin are the Highlights. Surfacing from the Simplistic Yet Classic Tale of Greed and Men of Varying Scruples, are Some Rich Side-Characters from Familiar Character Actors. Donna Reed is the Love Interest and Only in Hollywood is it Required She Falls in Love with the Honorable Soldier in an A Day and A Night. The Romance is Quick and Not Really Believable and is the Movies Shortcoming. Overall, Worth a Watch Because it is Better than the Standard Stuff of Westerns in the Fifties, A Decade that Saw a Plethora of Pictures Set in the Wild Frontier. Fans of Scott Should Like it and Western Movie Fans can Add this to a Checklist of the Better Ones.

Some of Randolph Scott's Westerns are shown regularly on British TV, but I hadn't seen this one before, and it lived up to my expectations. The colour was good, the cast strong and the plot better than for most Westerns of this period. Lee Marvin was strong in an early role, and Claud Jarman jnr was also good (I wonder why his film career seemed to peter out?) I suppose a pedant might nitpick at the Union cavalrymen's uniforms appearing to be standard wardrobe issue, rather than the sort one might expect to see Civil War men wear. As a heavy, Guinn Williams was cast contrary to his usually semi-comic type, but over the years he hadn't lost his curious way of firing a revolver - almost as if he were tossing bullets out of its muzzle with a flick of his wrist. The jarring note was the obligatory romance for Westerns of this period, this time between 54-year-old Scott (in the beginning of the film at least almost looking his age) and 32-year-old Donna Reed (as delightful as ever).

Hangman's Knot may be too short at only an hour and twenty minutes or so, there are one or two scenes that take too long to get going and some of the characters are clichéd(ie. nurse devoted to duty). However, it is a very well made movie, with tight editing, lavish scenery and beautiful photography. The film is beautifully directed, I love the metaphorical title, the script is well-written and intriguing, the opening twenty minutes set the tone of the film brilliantly and the sequence involving the "Rebs" is fantastic. The acting is very good and do a credible job in making us care for their somewhat clichéd characters. Randolph Scott is commanding, Donna Reed is as lovely as ever and Lee Marvin makes a positive impression without stealing his scenes too much. Overall, a very effective and underrated western. 7/10 Bethany Cox