Vic’s Classics – Hang Em High (1968)

“Hang ‘Em High”

Directed by Ted Post

8 out of 10

Director Ted Post ( Gunsmoke, Magnum Force) and TV writers Leonard Freeman ( Hawaii Five-O ) and Mel Goldberg (Bonanza) brought to the screen one of Actor / Director Clint Eastwood’s (Million Dollar Baby, Firefox) more memorable westerns about revenge and injustice. It isn’t by far the most seminal of Eastwood’s westerns of the 1960’s but it is an interesting character study and has enough juice to demand we stick around and find out what becomes to the men that run afoul of Eastwood’s main character named Jed Cooper. Cooper is a no nonsense type like many of Eastwood’s cowboys who happens to be herding some cattle in Oklahoma in the year 1889. As he does he is approached by a posse of nine men looking to get to the bottom of the murder of  the Herd owner. Apparently, Cooper purchased the Herd not from it’s owner but from a rustler who had killed him and posed as it’s owner during the sale of the herd to Cooper. Even as he shows the posse his receipt he is still met with hostility from the men. Only one, Jenkins (Bob Steele) shows a bit of concern and doubt as to Cooper’s culpability in the alleged robbery and murder. This though does not stop the men from taking the law into their own hands and it is this plot device that propels the story and movie forward in an entertaining fashion despite a bit of laziness from director Ted Post here and there.

2 men named Reno and Miller (Bruce Dern) steal a saddle and wallet from Cooper. The men then grab Cooper, hang him and leave him to die painfully as they ride away. Well, as it happens, a Federal Marshal named Dave Bliss (Ben Johnson of Terror Train) sees Cooper hanging and cuts him down barely alive. Bliss helps out Jed and gets him on a horse and takes him to Fort Grant to let a frontier Judge named Adam Fenton. Fenton is loosely based on a true life Judge named Issac Parker who in real life was called “The Hanging Judge” and didn’t get that name from selling cookies. Fenton finds Cooper innocent and he then lets him free to re-coup in Fort Grant. Eventually he is offered the position of a Marshal and Cooper accepts. On one condition from Fenton: That he does not hunt down and kill the men that wronged him. Later in the film things get hairy for Cooper as finds his saddle on a horse in a small town saloon. He finds Reno who tries to shoot Cooper but not in time and he is shot dead. Jenkins on the other hand gives himself up. As more men are found Cooper is drawn into a moral battle with himself and tries to do what s right by the law. The film straddles those gray areas and Eastwood and Post, both in good form, deliver a decent western with some drama, wry levity and great performances.

“Hang em High” can at times seem a bit like a carbon copy of previous Italian westerns and Eastwood has indeed done better but I felt that the story, while a bit dated even for 1968, was cool enough to keep me interested. This is done by the good performances here by the large cast which includes Bruce Dern, Pat Hingle, Eastwood himself, Ben Johnson, Alan Ladd Jr., the beautiful Inger Stevens (The Twilight Zone) and a young Dennis Hopper (Blue Velvet, Waterworld) as “The Prophet” who is gunned down by Bliss in a foiled escape attemot. The cast all work well within the revenge tale and Bruce Dern stands out as an especially slimy bad guy to oppose Eastwood. Clint here is stern, gravelly voiced and dead serious. Eastwood the way Eastwood should be. Being Eastwood’s first american western and the first Malpaso Company production, the film is a good indicator from which to forsee some greatness being born for Eastwood’s future movies. The film is indeed under-appreciated and plays out true to form. I feel the film may be a bit under-estimated as well. It isn’t a magical western like “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly” or the seminal “Unforgiven” but it is thought provoking and features solid action and style. Some of the convictions and motivations fall by the wayside though when some characters make strange decisions but these things never distract Post, Eastwood and the writers from spinning a cool and stable revenge yarn. Eastwood finally puts a name to his fabled image of the cowboy with “no name” and here we get a truly interesting side to this mythos. It’s not magical like the Leone pictures but it just fine. Richard Kline’s (Body Heat, The Andromeda Strain) photography is nice and engaging with frames filled with great costumes, grit and dusty landscapes. I thought Dominic Frontiere’s ( Color of Money, Chisum) music was a bit underwhelming but appropriate in the right places. All in all this Eastwood western entry is not bad but it isn’t great either. It strives to work though. I appreciate it’s ability to remain an under-appreciated and oft overlooked movie in Eastwood’s body of work. It’s just that it is eclipsed, appropriately, by better fare like the Leone films and the director’s own powerhouse, “Unforgiven.”

The Ten Greatest Directors

Welcome to the final installment of The Ten Greatest Directors.

We started with a list of 45 directors and each post removed ten directors from the list with an explanation as to why we cut them. It wasn’t easy, but we’re finally down to the Ten Greatest Directors. There was a lot of debate behind the scenes, but here they are, in no particular order. We’re simply naming them The Ten Greatest Directors.

Jean-Luc Godard
He is one of the pioneers of the French New Wave wasn’t just a great director but changed the language of filmmaking forever. Prior to Godard, such things as having a character address the camera, jump cut editing, and non-linear storytelling were considered taboo. Now, without Godard, we wouldn’t have Tarantino, Von Trier, or Coppola.

Federico Fellini
The ultimate dreamer who made dreams come alive on the screen. His films were a dance with a rhythm, intelligence, and sly wit that no other director in history can match. His legacy is assured and his movies are timeless. Be sure to see La Dolce Vita and 8 1/2. They changed the way viewers looked at filmmaking.

Ingmar Bergman
The auteur of the top 10 also is underrated when it comes to delivering a film that also enlightens and entertains. His strongest attribute was dealing with the most basic human emotions: love, life, death, and family and making the films convey these feelings without condescending the audience. I have never watched a Bergman film without thinking about it for at least a week afterwards. They stay with you like all great art.

Charlie Chaplin
Most people know him as The Tramp — the iconic character with the funny mustach, top hat and cane. And it’s a phenominal character, but he also wrote and directed his best films, like The Kid, City Lights, and The Gold Rush. He had 72 films directed, won a lifetime achievement award from the Academy, best actor, and even one for best original score. He knew how to make great films, and was a notorious perfectionist.

Fritz Lang
If you don’t know him, the directors you love certainly do. Lang is one of the most influential directors, and is considered the father of film noir. He never won an Academy Award — most likely because he was born in Germany, and even though he moved to America because of his strong distaste for nazis, was still looked at as a “German filmmaker.” His movies, like M, Metropolis, and Fury are classics still shown in film schools around the world to this day. They are iconic, timeless, and resonate with great awe.

Alfred Hitchcock
He was master storyteller who churned out movies like it was his job… which it was. Over a 50 year career, he cranked out nearly 70 films as a director, plus he wrote and produced his own television series and other films. But he will be remembered most as a director for his uncanny ability to capture suspense, play with our minds with stunning visuals, and create iconic images in films like “Psycho” “The Birds” “North by Northwest” “Vertigo” and the list goes on. He set the stage for other directors in a genre he brought respect to.

John Ford
He’s arguably the greatest. He directed more than 100 films, including classics like Stagecoach, The Grapes of Wrath, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Searchers, and also was a four-time Oscar winner for directing. His pace, understanding of timing, respect for actors and iconic imagery all make up his incredible talent. A master, through and through, and a workhorse.

Martin Scorsese
He came out of the NYU film school, and lead a generation of directors that bucked the Hollywood system and its traditional film-making techniques  and story lines. He made movies, like Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, that challenged the viewer and put them in an uneasy chair. His mafia movies, like Good Fellas and The Departed, are unmatched in the genre. He approaches film humbly, and understands stories and imagery like no other. We love Scorsese, and we hope he never retires.

Stanley Kubrick
Kirk Douglas, after the making of Spartacus, said, “Stanley Kurbick is a talented shit.”

He only made 15 films in his career, which was one of his regrets as a director, but he was a perfectionist and his pictures were a reflection of that. His last film, Eyes Wide Shut, took five years to make. No other director has been given that freedom, and for good reason. Every Kubrick film is a masterpiece.

There has never been a director who understood a camera better. He was a still photographer before he became a motion picture director and his use of light and how it impacts stories and characters as a storytelling vehicle is extremely thoughtful. His storytelling skills are superb, but he never used narrative stories, or rarely did. His movies made you feel the story. They never handed it to you on a silver plate. He challenged viewers with his stories and portrayed them with stunning beauty. He was the Mozart of film making.

Akira Kurosawa
Ironically, Kirosawa was panned in Japan in his early days for being too influenced by western directors, like John Ford, and for bringing too much emotion to his pictures. But that was his strength. He captured both the action of war and its drama. He paid exquisite detail even to the most mundane characters, and brought humanity to war and famine. “The Seven Samurai” “Yojimbo” “Rashômon” and “The Hidden Fortress” continue to influence directors to this day.

The Ten Greatest Directors Part 4

Welcome to part 4 of our series on The Ten Greatest Directors.

We started with a list of 45 directors and each day until our anniversary have remove five directors from with an explanation as to why we cut them. The next post in the last one, with 15 directors left.

Let us know which ones you think should stay, and which should go — and maybe some directors  you thought should have been in the mix that weren’t.

Brian
Woody Allen I’m a big fan but Woody Allen is more of a brilliant writer than a director. That doesn’t mean he isn’t great but he’s not one of the ten best ever.

Oliver Stone
Has some amazing work (Platoon, JFK, and Born on the 4th of July) but he’s also made some legendary stinkers, like Alexander, Any Given Sunday, and U-Turn.

Yasujiro Ozu
A legend who’s films get better with age but outside of Late Spring and Tokyo Story, the rest are merely average to good. This one hurt to drop.

Milos Forman
Had three amazing films — One Flew over the Cuckoos’ Nest, Amadeus, and The People vs Larry Flynt — but his work filmography is short and there’s not much outside those three films. I also contend his work didn’t revolutionize films the way the rest of the directors on the list did.

Christopher Nolan
I think in 10-15 years he may end up in the top 10. But, he hasn’t built up enough of a resume yet to be considered one of the 10 best ever.

Matt

Ridley Scott
Thelma & Louise, Gladiator, Matchstick Men, and of course, Blade Runner, are all excellent pieces of work. He’s a great director, but when you get right down to it, there are directors left with far greater films.

Sergio Leone
Not a lot of people may realize this, but he only directed 13 films — five of which were uncredited. A Fistful of Dollars is arguably the best western ever made, as is Once Upon a Time in the West. He’s the king of spaghettis westerns, but it’s not enough to be named one of the ten best ever.

Joel and Ethan Coen
Fargo, True Grit, No Country for Old Men, The Man Who Wasn’t There and The Big Lebowski are just a few of their excellent films. They have such a strong case, but I think they’re just on the periphery. Talk to me in a few years.

Paul Thomas Anderson
The Master, There Will Be Blood, Magnolia and Boogie Nights are all great films, but he has a very small body of work. I think he’ll be considered the best of his generation when he’s done, and maybe one of the best ever. But today, he’s not.

David Lynch
Mulholland Drive is one of the best films of the past 25 years, Eraserhead is an intriguing film with lasting power, and the Elephant Man is a masterpiece. At this point, we’re not cutting directors with ease. This one stings.

Directors Remaining
Quentin Tarantino
Charlie Chaplin
Billy Wilder
Fritz Lang
Terrence Malick
Robert Altman
Ingmar Bergman
Federico Fellini
Martin Scorsese
John Huston
Stanley Kubrick
Jean-Luc Godard
Alfred Hitchcock
Akira Kirosawa
John Ford

The Ten Greatest Directors Part 3

Welcome to part 3 of our series on The Ten Greatest Directors.

We started with a list of 45 directors and each day until our anniversary, we will each remove five directors from the list and give an explanation as to why we cut them.

Let us know which ones you think should stay, and which should go — and maybe some directors  you thought should have been in the mix that weren’t.

MATT

Francis Ford Coppola
Bram Stoker’s Dracula was probably the last really good film he’s made, and that was in 1992. I know it stings to take Coppola off this list, but he made the Godfather trilogy, and not a lot after or before.

Orson Welles
After Citizen Kane, Welles didn’t do a whole lot. He directed a lot of television projects. It’s strange that someone who directed such a beautiful looking film, with such great influence, never really met his potential.

Pedro Almodovar
I’m a big fan. Volver, if you haven’t seen it, was great. Talk to her, was also quite good. But his collection of work isn’t strong enough to warrant Top 10.

Sam Peckinpah
He only directed 14 films, but made some great ones — like Straw Dogs and The Wild Bunch. But I think his true strength was as a writer.

Steven Spielberg
What?! Yes, Spielberg is getting cut. This is a band-aid that just needs to be ripped off. For Every Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan, there’s an Indiana Jones 4 or War Horse. This one is tough to cut, but again, I go back to relevance. He’s making Indiana Jones 5 right now. Lincoln was great, but you have to go back to 2001’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence for his last good movie. This is a pattern for him.

BRIAN 

Mel Brooks
I’m a huge fan of the Producers but a lot of his humor falls flat with me. Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein are highly overrated one joke premises.

Wes Anderson
He’s the king of the dry humor. I loved Rushmore and Royal Tenebaums. Wasn’t crazy about Zizou and Darjeeling Limited. Either way, he’s not in the top 10

Tim Burton
I loved Pee Wee and think Ed Wood is one of the most underrated films ever made. But, he made Mars Attacks and Planet of the Apes and those weren’t just bad, they were complete disasters.

Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Delicatessen and City of Lost Children are fantastic. But, he directed Alien: Resurrection, which was horrendous. Also, Amelie is very cute but terribly overrated.

Brian Depalma
He has some great movies on his résumé: Carrie, Blow Out, Scarface. But, he’s still working today and hasn’t even made anything good in 20 years.

Remaining Directors:

Woody Allen
Quentin Tarantino
Charlie Chaplin
Billy Wilder
David Lynch
Ridley Scott
Fritz Lang
Terrence Malick
Robert Altman
Oliver Stone
Paul Thomas Anderson
Ingmar Bergman
Federico Fellini
Martin Scorsese
Joel and Ethan Cohen
John Huston
Stanley Kubrick
Sergio Leone
Milos Forman
Jean-Luc Godard
Yasujiro Ozu
Alfred Hitchcock
Akira Kirosawa
Christopher Nolan
John Ford

The Ten Great Directors Part 2

Wecome to part 2 of our series on The Ten Greatest Directors.

We started with a list of 45 directors and each day until our anniversary, we will each remove five directors from the list and give an explanation as to why we cut them.

Let us know which ones you think should stay, and which should go — and maybe some directors  you thought should have been in the mix that weren’t.

Brian

George Lucas
He made perhaps the greatest popcorn film ever made, THX 1138 was great, American Graffiti was solid, and then… The prequels..oh, those prequels….

Darren Aronofsky
 Loved Pi and Black Swan, liked requiem, and the rest? Meh. Not enough quality to keep him on the list.

Spike Lee
Lately, he’s more famous for attending New York Knicks games than he is for his films. He hasn’t made anything even remotely relevant in at least 15 years. He did direct Do the Right Thing though. That is one of the best films of the last 25 years.

Robert Zemeckis
He has some great work over his career, particularly Forest Gump, Back to the Future, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? But, not really any form of a ground breaking talent.

Cecil B. Demille
An important and historic director whose work dates back to the silent era. The problem is that he’s really only remembered for the Ten Commandments. It’s good, but very dated.

Matt

James Cameron
He’s never made a movie, to me, that is worthy of making the final list. His dialogue is bad – see Titanic. He makes immensely popular movies with formulaic storylines. He’s skilled and makes an entertaining film, but not one of ten greatest.

Clint Eastwood
He’s made some great movies, but didn’t really get going until later in life because of a successful acting career that spanned decades. Mystic River was a wonderful film, but he does suffer from being overly nostalgic at times. Great director, but I have to cut him.

Roman Polanski
He’s got some serious chops, and a long list of great films — Rosemary’s Baby, The Pianist, Tess and Chinatown. It’s tough to cut some of these guys because they’re so talented, but Polanski screwed his career with some horrendous decisions and alleged crimes that have held him back.

Sam Mendes
Awesome director with a great start to his career — American Beauty and Skyfall among them. But he’s only made six movies. There’s guys on this list with way more impressive resumes.

Danny Boyle
Another talented director with a couple great movies — 127 Hours and Slumdog Millionaire, but he’s only made 10 films. Talk to me in 20 years and he may be higher.

Here are the remaining directors:
Woody Allen
Francis Ford Coppola
Quentin Tarantino
Orson Welles
Charlie Chaplin
Billy Wilder
David Lynch
Ridley Scott
Fritz Lang
 Terrence Malick
Robert Altman
Oliver Stone
Brian De Palma
Paul Thomas Anderson
Ingmar Bergman
Federico Fellini
Martin Scorsese
Joel and Ethan Cohen
John Huston
Tim Burton
Mel Brooks
Sam Peckinpah
Stanley Kubrick
Wes Anderson
 Pedro Almodovar
Steven Spielberg
 Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Sergio Leone
Milos Forman
 Jean-Luc Godard
 Yasujiro Ozu
Alfred Hitchcock
 Akira Kirosawa
Christopher Nolan
John Ford

The Ten Greatest Directors Part 1

Our three-year anniversary is here! It’s been an awesome run, and we’ve really enjoyed interacting with you and sharing our reviews and articles.

The past two years we’ve had epic lists. Our first year we named the Ten Greatest Films Ever Made, and in year two we did the Ten Worst Movies We’ve Ever Seen. This year we’ve decided to name the Ten Greatest Director.

Here are the list of 45 directors, in no particular order, we will consider for the ten greatest ever. Each day we’ll both cut five from the list until we’re paired down to the Ten Greatest Directors.

Let us know which ones you think should stay, and which should go — and maybe some directors  you thought should have been in the mix.

Woody Allen
Francis Ford Coppola
Quentin Tarantino
Orson Welles
Charlie Chaplin
Billy Wilder
Clint Eastwood
David Lynch
Ridley Scott
Fritz Lang
Terrence Malick
Robert Altman
Oliver Stone
Robert Zemeckis
George Lucas
Brian De Palma
Cecil B. DeMille
Spike Lee
Paul Thomas Anderson
Darren Aronofsky
Ingmar Bergman
Federico Fellini
Martin Scorsese
Joel and Ethan Cohen
John Huston
Tim Burton
James Cameron
Mel Brooks
Sam Peckinpah
Stanley Kubrick
Wes Anderson
Roman Polanski
Pedro Almodovar
Danny Boyle
Steven Spielberg
Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Sam Mendes
Sergio Leone
Milos Forman
Jean-Luc Godard
Yasujiro Ozu
Alfred Hitchcock
Akira Kirosawa
Christopher Nolan
John Ford

Invictus

The film tells the inspiring true story of how President Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) joined forces with the captain of South Africa’s rugby team (Matt Damon) to help unite their country. Newly elected President Mandela knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid. Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela rallies South Africa’s rugby team as they make their historic run to the 1995 Rugby World Cup Championship match. Directed by Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby, Gran Torino… Do we really need to go on?).

Matt
Rating: 6 out of 10

As a rugby player and fan, I was pumped to finally have a good rugby movie. I have not seen 2008’s “Forever Young” and the handful of foreign films about my favorite sport, but they’re few and far between.

But this is, after all, a sports movie, and this one follows suit to its sappy predecessors. Nelson Mandela is an incredible human being. He saw small ways to fix problems, and rugby was a part of that. It was a small piece in the extremely complex social puzzle of post-Apartheid South Africa. But this film takes some historical leaps, pinning the change of culture entirely on the Rugby World Cup.

While the story is true — Mandella did call on François Pienaar, the captain of the South African team to help bridge the gap between whites and blacks — it wasn’t the pinnacle turning point for the country. Some argue it still hasn’t happened.

But looking past that, the film has a great cast. Damon is solid and Freeman simply becomes Mandela. There are likable moments, moments where words are said that make you cringe, and parts of the film that tug on your heart strings with the unbearable weight of melancholy nostalgia. It’s a solid film, but far off from Eastwood’s other masterful work, like “Mystic River” and “Unforgiven,” but is far better than most American sports movies. It’s a must watch for rugby fans.

Top 5 action movies of all time

The action genre, perhaps more than any other, is full of throw-away, direct-to-DVD titles, like “Universal Solider”‘ and “Need For Speed 25” — or whatever iteration they’re on now. This is a segment where once in a while you get an action movie that stands above the rest. Defining an “action movie” was tough. Our definition is an “action movie” is one where the action is the focus and featured element of the film.

Brian

5.  Die Hard: This adrenaline pumping movie came out of nowhere and established Bruce Willis as a household name and box office draw.  It’s by far the best film of its kind because we believe in John McClain.  Unlike Dirty Harry or Rambo, he’s a normal guy who has the odds stacked against him.

4.  Dirty Harry: Before Dirty Harry, Clint Eastwood was known primarily as the man with no name in Sergio Leone’s terrific spaghetti westerns.  The story is simple but because his character is so engaging, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.  Also, Andy Robinson is perhaps the best action villain of all time.

3.  The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: I’m throwing this into the action genre because it contains some of my favorite gunfights in screen history.  3 men on the trail of $200,000 worth of gold.  Who will get it?  Well, get ready to have a blast finding out.

2.  The French Connection: The winner of 1971’s Best Picture has the greatest car chase in screen history.  William Friedkin attached cameras to the hoods of the cars and the effect it created felt like you were in the car.  Ever since, countless films by every major director copied and re-copied it to great effect.  Oh, and Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider are fantastic too.

1.  Raiders of the Lost Ark: George Lucas took a character inspired from the 1930’s serials that he loved and handed the directing reigns to Steven Spielberg to create the greatest action film ever made.  With barely a moment to catch your breath, from snakes to plane crashes, to chases through the desert, tarantulas, rolling boulders, and historic artifacts, this movie gives you your money’s worth and then some.

Matt

5. The Seven Samurai: Akira Kurosawa is a master filmmaker and storyteller. This is an epic focused around the simple story of a poor farming village terrorized by bandits. They hire samurai to protect them and train them to fight. The imagery is wonderful, the landscapes exquisite, and there’s action aplenty.

4. Enter the Dragon: Wrap a spy movie and a martial arts movie together and add Bruce Lee, and you have a kick ass action film with lots and lots of action. This was the first Hollywood-produced Kung-Fu movie.

3. French Connection: William Friedkin did everything right with this film, from the excellent cast with Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider to the groundbreaking car chases. It may feel dated, but there was no CGI back then. Everything was real.

2. The Matrix: In the words of Keanu Reeves, “Whoa.” I remember disregarding this movie because it had Reeves in it. That was a huge mistake. This movie was both intellectually challenging and visually stunning, with fight scenes that have to be watched several times to digest. All in all, an awesome, classic action movie that will stand the test of time.

1. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon: This was the most ambitious martial arts film ever. There is no CGI. Period. It’s seems almost impossible when you watch it, but this film broke ground in a major way. Academy Award winning director Ang Lee is a master. His epic may never be surpassed. It drips with history, honor, tradition and wraps beautiful love stories and action around a tremendous cast. This is one of my favorite films of all time.