The Hanged Man (1974)

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Best movie ever!

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Released to TV in 1974 and directed by Michael Caffey, "The Hanged Man" is a Western starring Steve Forrest as a condemned man who miraculously survives a hanging and decides to help a widow (Sharon Acker) prevent a ruthless land baron (Cameron Mitchell) from chasing her off her remote desert ranch. Will Geer is on hand as an old-timer on the ranch while BarBara Luna plays the condemned man's babe. Brendon Boone appears as the lead henchman while Rafael Campos plays a priest."The Hanged Man" was a pilot for a series that never materialized. Producers would make these pilots long enough to be released as a self-contained movie to recoup their losses in the event it wasn't picked up and this was the case with "The Hanged Man." Despite being a TV movie, it has a generally realistic vibe. The premise is interesting, the cast is fine and the movie's short-and-sweet. But it lacks the pizazz to cull it from its TV Western mediocrity. There's a reason it wasn't picked up for a series. Still, it's worth checking out if you favor the actors and late 60s/early 70's Westerns.Speaking of the actors, the movie features two alumni from the late 60's Star Trek TV series: BarBara Luna appeared in the acclaimed 2nd Season episode "Mirror, Mirror" while Sharon Acker appeared in the 3rd Season Golden Turkey "The Mark of Gideon." BarBara later appeared on two 2nd Season episodes of Buck Rogers and the 25th Century as Hawk's (totally hot) babe. The film runs 73 minutes and was shot in Old Tucson & Mescal, Arizona, and Red Rock Canyon State Park, Cantil, California.GRADE: C+

Bland, predictable made-for-TV western has Steve Forrest as a feared gunfighter convicted of a murder and sentenced to hang, but who manages to survive the hanging and is set free. By-the-numbers script holds no surprises and the characterizations are all cardboard, including Forrest's one-note portrayal of a killer given a second chance. Bad-guy Cameron Mitchell chews the scenery, pretty Sharon Acker is earnest as a widow who owns a silver mine that "silver king" Mitchell wants to get and Will Geer is somewhat enjoyable as a crusty old-timer called "Nameless" who's Acker's hired hand. It's not long before you can predict exactly what's going to happen, what the bad guy's going to do, what the good guy's going to do and how things will be neatly wrapped up at the end. The whole production looks rushed and cheesy, the equivalent of a Monogram western of the '40s--and, like those Monogram westerns, it's a harmless time-waster. You could do worse, but you could also do much, much better.

The Hanged Man is a pilot to a proposed television series (executive produced by Bing Crosby!) about a godless gunfighter who miraculously survives his own execution and goes on a spiritual journey through the desert where he comes to the aid of a widow and her young son being terrorized by a vicious mine owner played superbly nasty by Cameron Mitchell.This is slightly above average for a seventies TV movie, with neat writing, much of which ponders the mysteries of life and the fear of death and some good scenes like when the the gunfighter rides out of town in broad daylight, days after his execution, Cameron Mitchell's interrupted bath, and Will Geer's death scene.A good climax occurs as the hanged man comes to the conclusion that he was spared by God to be an angel of vengeance! Cameron Mitchell's death scene is very satisfying.

This is a pretty pointless movie. A western about a gunfighter who is hung but somehow comes back to life. He then fights an army of bad guys. These two events are totally unrelated and are the only discernable plot to the movie. Oh yeah, and for some reason this guy can read people's minds through the whole movie. Not much else to say here, except I am wondering how this managed to actually fill 90 whole minutes.