Good Day for a Hanging (1959)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Pretty Good

One of my all time favorites.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

The western "Good Day for a Hanging" isn't one of the better westerns to come out of the 1950s, but western fans should find it an okay viewing provided they are prepared for some flaws, particularly some familiar elements. The biggest problem with the movie is that the story for the most part feels straight out of a episode of a western television show from the same period. Yes, there's color and better production values, and it runs longer than an hour, but until near the end this story has echoes of TV westerns.I will admit that towards the end of the movie, there are some interesting and unpredictable elements that make the story end on an unexpected note. And while the movie up to that point may be predictable at times, it all the same remains buoyant. The plot thread of the townspeople slowly losing their taste for the upcoming hanging is interesting. Fred MacMurray does make a good lead, possessing a likability even when events start to turn against his character... and change his character. And Robert Vaughn does well as the accused prisoner, showing a sympathetic side while simultaneously suggesting he might be hiding something... or is he? Not a perfect western, as I earlier pointed out, but it is serviceable.

Stylish, well paced , solid , meticulous and agreeable look with crossfire and intense drama Western . This finely acted movie is gripping every step of the way . This is the story of the sheriff who'd worn it -till he'd faced one gun too many...the young Eddie . Novice sheriff he had to learn to wear it- or watch to die and the boy who lived only to wear one of his own ! Marshal Ben Cutler (Fred MacMurray) finds unexpectedly opposition from the townspeople when he captures killer Eddie Campbell (Robert Vaughn) . After claiming his daughter's childhood-sweetheart killed the marshal, one man finds himself in conflict with his daughter (Joan Blackman), his fiancée (Maggie Hayes) and many of the townsfolk . Sheriff Cutler is going to have trouble when Campbell is sentenced to hang .Good adult Western with exciting battle of wits between an obstinate marshal and an astute young killer who begins to psych out the sheriff's daughter and townsfolk . This acceptable , meaty Western contains interesting plot , gun-blazing shootouts , a love story , and results to be quite entertaining . This passable Nathan Juran Western balances action , suspense and drama . Decent western is plenty of suspense as the dreaded hanging hour approaches and the protagonist realizes he must stand alone but his fellow town people for help , nobody is willing to help him . The highlights of the film are the court house scenes and the climatic final showdowns . The traditional story and exciting screenplay were well written by Daniel B. Ullman and Maurice Zimm based on a short story by John Reese . Nice acting by Fred MacMurray as beginner but old marshal standing against impossible odds . Top-notch Robert Vaughan as the charismatic gunslinger who gains townsfolk sympathy . Fine support cast such as Joan Blackman , Denver Pyle , Phil Chambers , Bing Russell , Emilie Meyer , and James Drury of The men of Shiloh , among others . Adequate cinematography in Technicolor superbly caught by cameramen by Henry Freulich and Henry Jaffa ; however , a perfect remastering being necessary . Atmospheric and lively musical score , the theme song for 3.10 To Yuma (1957) directed by Delmer Daves is played frequently here especially in scenes involving Vaughan and Blackman . The motion picture was realized by a magnificent duo, the producer Charles H Schneer and the director Nathan Juran who sometimes used pseudonym "Nathan Hertz" ; both of whom collaborated in several films . Before entering the film industry as an art director in 1937 Nathan Juran won an Academy Award for art direction on How Green Was My Valley (1941). World War II interrupted his film career, and he spent his war years with the OSS. Returning to Hollywood, he turned to directing films in the 1950s. He handled mostly low-budget westerns and sci-fi opuses, his most famous being The attack of the 50 foot woman (1958) . He was also responsible for the superb fantasy adventure The 7th voyage of Sinbad (1958). Juran directed some Westerns starred by Audie Murphy such as ¨Drums Across the River¨, ¨Tumbleweed¨ , ¨Gunsmoke¨ and ¨Law and Order¨ with Ronald Reagan . In the early 1960s, he journeyed to Europe, where he spent several years piloting adventure epics and spaghetti westerns such as ¨Land raiders¨. Juran made sensational Sci-fi and fantastic movies , such us : ¨First men oh the moon¨, ¨The 7th voyage of Simbad¨ , ¨20 million miles to earth¨, ¨Jack the Giant Killer¨ and several others

I feel that "A Good Day for a Hanging," (1959) is an above average western. I was somewhat pleasantly surprised by this movie, overall. For about the first 2/3s of this movie, I thought it was leaning in the direction of the liberal left. Towards the end, however, I was thinking, "Maybe not." As it turned out, it showed how law abiding citizens can be easily duped by the wrong type of people. The killer, (Robert VAUGHN) who went to trial for murdering the marshal (Emile MEYER), wasn't very interested in his girlfriend (the new marshal's (Fred MacMURRAY) daughter) while he was holding the getaway horses while the bank was being robbed. But, when he was in jail awaiting execution, he acted very blubbery towards her, obviously, because he wanted her to smuggle in a gun to him to aid in his escape. When he hit her at the jailbreak, this may have knocked some sense into her. This killer's girlfriend then turned herself around by warning the marshal (MacMURRAY), thereby saving his life. The doctor, (James DRURY) seemed a little hard nosed for a doctor, but more in my line of thinking.One point that wasn't stressed that , perhaps, should have been, even if Robert VAUGHN didn't actually kill the marshal, he could have been held as an accessory to murder, which would have made him equally guilty. I'm not sure how the law read back in those days.

On a peaceful day in a small western town in Nebraska in 1878, a bank robbery occurs and Marshal Emile Meyer is killed pursuing the gang. But citizen Fred MacMurray, a former marshal, kills one of the gang and wounds the one who he saw shoot Meyer.It was Robert Vaughn a young kid who was a former resident of the town who left some years earlier. It's now obvious what he took up doing after he left. MacMurray's daughter Joan Blackman is kind of fond of Vaughn even though she's been keeping company with the young town doctor, James Drury.Good Day For Hanging has some good intentions and other reviewers have faulted for having the cast speak in modern idiom. That's not the film's problems, it's trying to graft a 20th century urban plot on a 19th century rural western situation.Try as I may, I can't believe that these frontier townspeople are so squeamish about hanging this punk. Even as Vaughn claims, he did not do the actual shooting of Meyer, he's as guilty of the murder of this peace officer whether he pulled the trigger or not. The attitude expressed in such films as True Grit and Hang 'Em High is far more typical of the times than Good Day For A Hanging.Of course in all this MacMurray is called to put on badge again and it's his testimony that actually convicts Vaughn. Still public opinion gradually turns against him for what I can see, no discernible reason. The controversy puts a strain on his relationship with Blackman as well as with fiancé Margaret Hayes.Best performances in the supporting cast are from Edmon Ryan who plays more of a modern defense lawyer in this western. Still he does do a fine job. And I particularly liked Kathryn Card as Meyer's widow. Her scenes count and you will remember her performance over everyone else's in Good Day For A Hanging.Fred MacMurray was not overly fond of westerns. In his salad days with Paramount he only did one, The Texas Rangers and during the fifties he did a few of them before becoming a Disney star. His famous quote was that he never felt at one with the horse'. His riding scenes were probably doubled, but in the scenes in town MacMurray acquits himself admirably.But this one in the last analysis was an eastern/western.