The Hanging Tree
| The Hanging Tree | |
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| Directed by | Delmer Daves |
| Produced by | Martin Jurow Richard Shepherd |
| Screenplay by |
Wendell Mayes Halsted Welles |
| Based on |
The Hanging Tree 1957 novelette by Dorothy M. Johnson |
| Starring |
Gary Cooper Maria Schell Karl Malden |
| Music by |
Jerry Livingston (title song) Max Steiner |
| Cinematography | Ted D. McCord |
| Edited by | Owen Marks |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
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Release date
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Running time
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106 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $2.2 million (est. US/ Canada rentals) |
The Hanging Tree is a 1959 Technicolor Western film directed by Delmer Daves. Karl Malden took over directing duties for several days when Daves fell ill. The film stars Gary Cooper, Maria Schell, George C. Scott and Malden and is set in the gold fields of Montana during the gold rush of the 1860s and '70s. The story follows a doctor who saves a criminal from a lynch mob, then learns of the man's past and tries to manipulate him.
The film was the first one for Gary Cooper's Baroda Productions company. This marked the first film of Scott. He and Malden later teamed for 1970's Patton, for which Scott won an Academy Award.
Joseph Frail—doctor (Gary Cooper), gambler, gunslinger—rides into small town of Skull Creek, Montana, with miners in a gold rush, looking to set up a doctor's office. He passes by the "hanging tree," an old oak with a thick branch over which has been slung a rope with a frayed end, presumably a former noose.
He rescues and treats Rune (Ben Piazza), a young man who was shot by "Frenchy" (Karl Malden) while trying to steal gold from a sluice. Frail forces Rune into temporary servitude with the threat of revealing he is the thief.
A stagecoach is robbed and overturned, killing the driver and a male passenger. A search party is formed, and Frenchy finds the sole survivor, Swiss immigrant Elizabeth Mahler (Maria Schell), daughter of the male passenger.
Crippled by burns, blindness and dehydration, Elizabeth is moved into a house next to the doctor's house to recover. The placement causes much chagrin among the town's righteous women, who believe that Elizabeth may be paying for her medical care through illicit behavior.
Frenchy sneaks in under the guise of trying to strike a business deal with Elizabeth, but instead tries to kiss her. Frail witnesses the aggression and chases Frenchy back to town. Frail beats him up and threatens to kill him. Meanwhile, a faith healer named Dr. Grubb (George C. Scott) sees Frail's medical practice as a threat.
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Wikipedia