BlazeLime Strong and Moving!

GazerRise Fantastic!

Brenda The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

classicsoncall Here's a solid little Randolph Scott number with a fine supporting cast taking place only a few weeks after the Civil War has ended. That's unknown to Major Matt Stewart (Scott), and his band of Rebels at the time they hijack a quarter million dollar gold shipment from a band of Union soldiers. Attempting to outrun the authorities that are soon to follow, they find themselves holed up at a way station with two stagecoach travelers who were on board when the Rebs sought cover for their getaway.Lee Marvin gets a fair amount of screen time as the Major's trigger happy, hot headed second, and the story offers a number of scenes where the two collide verbally and physically. It was somewhat of a breakout role for Marvin, who prior had mainly uncredited film parts and a few TV series appearances. The expected final confrontation between the pair however is interrupted by the young soldier Jamie (Claude Jarman Jr.) watching his commanding officer's back. It was somewhat of a twist to the story for this viewer, as all the while, the film kept making it a point that the young man had never killed anyone before, not even during the war. It brought full circle to a remark the Major made to him early in their story that before they got back home, Jamie would have to find a way to become a man.I guess I'm not used to seeing someone like Donna Reed in a Western, so her appearance took some getting used to. I can't say I was fully convinced with her character falling in love with the Major, considering the circumstances of their involvement with the Rebels, and even more so, the palpable difference in their ages. It didn't hurt that her traveling companion and self professed fiancée (Richard Denning) was such a lout, thereby setting up the comparison between himself and Scott's character.The near finale with the Major against the leader of the outlaw posse (Ray Teal) was somewhat original in it's execution and outcome. Oddly staged, it was surprisingly believable that the villain could be hauled away, stuck in his horse's stirrup. Thinking about it, I wondered how far the horse might have run and what the fate of Teal's character Quincey might have been. Would he have been dragged to death, fallen loose, or left to some other fate? Curious to ponder if nothing else.Ultimately, the Major vindicates himself in his sweetheart's eyes when he and his partner Jamie drop their saddlebags of gold bars. You kind of wondered what would happen with all that gold, and in some measure, I still do. Left with the station agent and his daughter in law, there wasn't much in the neighborhood they could do with it all.

Marlburian 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).

krorie Harry Joe Brown and Randy Scott produced some of the best westerns Hollywood ever made. This is one of them, one of only two films directed by the brilliant writer-producer Roy Huggins, who ended up devoting much of his time to some fine TV series, including "Maverick" and "The Rockford Files." A person can only spread himself so thin yet it's unfortunate that Huggins didn't direct more movies. There is so much highly creative work here, both on and off the screen.The story written by Huggins concerns the final days of the tumultuous Civil War that not only split the nation asunder, but families and friends as well. Major Matt (Scott) is in command of a small band of rebel soldiers whose assignment is to hijack a union gold shipment in far off Nevada and take no prisoners. They succeed only to learn that Lee surrendered to Grant several weeks earlier. What to do? The major and his rebels decide to keep the gold and determine what to do with it later. The only rascal amongst the rebels is Ralph, an early role for Lee Marvin, who as usual steals the show. It seems his meanness has only grown as a result of all the violence he has experienced during the war. His killer proclivities have come to dominate his psyche. Though old pals in the saddle, Ralph and the Major are continually at each other's throats. Also a member of the rebels is a youngster who has not yet tasted blood, Jamie (Claude Jarman Jr. who first scored big as a twelve-year-old in "The Yearling").As the rebels make their getaway, knowing that they will be hunted down as murderers and traitors by the Yankees, they are set upon by a gang of outlaws who claim to be seeking justice but who really want the gold. The rebels are chased to an outpost via stagecoach where they hold up in what turns out to be a standoff. The leader of the outlaw gang is Quincey, portrayed by veteran actor Ray Teal in one of his best roles. He was always a reliable actor who could be counted on to give a good performance. But this time he goes beyond the expected and turns in one of the best acting jobs ever. Today he is most famous for playing Sheriff Roy Coffee in the ever popular "Bonanza" TV series. Another surprise is to see Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams, who usually played good old boy types, half-comic, half tough guy, as one of the meanest hombres around, Smitty. He is more sadistic and cruel than Lee Marvin in this film, which is saying a lot. Sweet Donna Reed is, well, sweet, but handles the part of a nurse, Molly, engaged to a slime ball, Lee Kemper (Richard Denning of TV's Mr. North fame), beautifully. Jeanette Nolan and Clem Bevans are effective as daughter and father of a young man who died in battle after his father had been killed in the war. The lead role is filled admirably by Randolph Scott. He captures all the nuances and contradictions of Major Matt while remaining charming enough to capture the heart of Nurse Molly. The rest of the cast including the redoubtable Frank Faylen provides the necessary support for this excellent western.The title "Hangman's Knot" is metaphoric. Literally, the knot is tied to hang Cass (Faylen), but the knot also stands for the symbolic noose around the neck of each character for various reasons explored by the interaction of a great cast.

Robert J. Maxwell It's not a complex story either physically or morally but it's not a simple-minded Western as Western's go. True, whenever the hero removes his hat his hair is combed and jelled, but it's not as if we had John Wayne in an oversized Stetson battling evil with a comic sidekick either.Scott was the great stone face of Westerns. He had two or three expressions, a deep voice that sounded as if he had a slight cold, and that was it. His career progressed from light-hearted roles in the 1930s, through war movies in the 40s, and into Westerns in the 50s. He retired in the early 60s after one of his best movies, "Ride the High Country," one of the richest men in Hollywood, retreated to his golf course and never gave another thought to movies. We have, too, Claude Jarmon, Jr., who made "The Yearling" and then more or less faded away. But we also have Lee Marvin in his thuggish heavy period. He's great. In every scene his pulpy oleagenous lower lip seems to droop down and keep his mouth open. He's selfish, a murderer, a rapist, and a betrayer of his word. It takes several slugs from Jarmon, Jr., to kill him and he pitches down with his limbs splayed, his most flamboyant death besides that of Liberty Valence. But then, come to think of it, it takes several slugs to kill anybody in this movie. Every shot that misses is a resounding ricochet. The story. Ex-confederates rob gold from ex-Yankees and are chased by a band of money-hungry brigands. The ex-Rebs take a couple of hostages and hole up in a stagecoach stop surrounded by murderous goons. The core of the plot involves the interaction of a dozen or so people, divided into initially conflicting groups, having to come to terms with one another's real selves. For instance, Donna Reed, who looks as if she'd been raised in Iowa exclusively on a diet of applie pie a la mode, is a nurse who is almost engaged to Richard Denning, who wears a splashy vest. (You must always beware of men in the West wearing suits and loud vests.) He turns out to be a rotter and Reed falls for Scott instead and -- well, you get the picture. In some ways the most touching of these sub-plots involves Jarmon, Jr., as a young Reb who's never killed anyone, and his deepening relationship with a crusty old Yankee man and his embittered and widowed daughter who have lost their young man in the war. Okay, it's all a little mechanical, but it's the sort of thing that you wouldn't find Gene Autry mixed up in.I don't agree that this film is as good as the ones Scott made later with director Boettiger and writer Kennedy. Scott being Scott, his movies tend to be as good as their villains. Except for Lee Marvin these guys are pretty colorless. Boettiger did one of his movies with Scott, in which Marvin was the chief heavy and on display more often than he is here. There is no real comparison between the two Scott-Marvin films. Boettiger's is a lot more fun, although this one isn't bad.