Backdrop fallback

The Hanging Tree

The Hanging Tree

Share

The Hanging Tree

"From The Prize Novel -- A Picture Of Thundering Power!"

1959

1h 47m

6.7(129 votes)

Western

Overview

Joseph "Doc" Frail is a doctor with a past he's trying to outrun. While in Montana, he comes across a mining camp with a hanging tree and rescues a man named Rune from the noose. With Rune as his servant, Frail decides to settle down, and he takes over as town doctor. He meets Elizabeth, who is suffering from shock, and the two soon fall in love. But when Elizabeth is attacked, Frail's attempt to help her lands them both in trouble.

Links & Resources

Social & External

Production Companies

Warner Bros. Pictures

The people behind it

Cast & crew

10 featured cast members

Starring

Gary Cooper

Gary Cooper

Dr. Joseph "Doc" Frail

Maria Schell

Maria Schell

Elizabeth Mahler

Karl Malden

Karl Malden

Frenchy Plante

George C. Scott

George C. Scott

George Grubb

Karl Swenson

Karl Swenson

Tom Flaunce

Virginia Gregg

Virginia Gregg

Edna Flaunce

John Dierkes

John Dierkes

Society Red

King Donovan

King Donovan

Wonder

Ben Piazza

Ben Piazza

Rune

Emile Avery

Townsman (uncredited)

Creative team

Directed by: Delmer Daves
Written by: Wendell Mayes
Halsted Welles
Produced by: Martin Jurow
Richard Shepherd

Similar Movies

Mackenna's Gold

Mackenna's Gold

A bandit kidnaps a Marshal who has seen a map showing a gold vein on Indian lands, but other groups are looking for it too, while the Apache try to keep the secret location undisturbed.

Charro!

Charro!

Vince Hackett's gang steals a prized victory canon from Mexico and blames the deed on ex-member Jess Wade, who wants to go straight.

Bells of Capistrano

Bells of Capistrano

America's favorite singing cowboy Gene Autry stars in this vintage tale as an up-and-coming rodeo singer caught in the middle of two rival companies, both angling to ride the talented crooner to riches. Featuring several memorable musical performances from Autry, including renditions of "Forgive Me" and "In Old Capistrano," this rousing Western co-stars Smiley Burnette, Virginia Grey and Lucien Littlefield.

The Salvation

The Salvation

In 1870s America, a peaceful American settler kills his family's murderer which unleashes the fury of a notorious gang leader. His cowardly fellow townspeople then betray him, forcing him to hunt down the outlaws alone.

The Sons of Katie Elder

The Sons of Katie Elder

The four sons of Katie Elder reunite in their hometown of Clearwater, Texas for her funeral and discover that the family ranch is now in the hands of Morgan Hastings, a corrupt businessman who wants to exploit the area around the town.

Soldier Blue

Soldier Blue

After a cavalry group is massacred by the Cheyenne, only two survivors remain: Honus, a naive private devoted to his duty, and Cresta, a young woman who had lived with the Cheyenne two years and whose sympathies lie more with them than with the US government. Together, they must try to reach the cavalry's main base camp. As they travel onward, Honus is torn between his growing affection for Cresta.

Calamity Jane

Calamity Jane

Sharpshooter Calamity Jane takes it upon herself to recruit a famous actress and bring her back to the local saloon, but jealousy soon gets in the way.

Joe Kidd

Joe Kidd

A band of Mexicans find their U. S. land claims denied and all the records destroyed in a courthouse fire. Their leader, Louis Chama, encourages them to use force to regain their land. A wealthy landowner wanting the same decides to hire a gang of killers with Joe Kidd to track Chama.

Two Mules for Sister Sara

Two Mules for Sister Sara

When a wandering mercenary named Hogan rescues a nun called Sister Sara from the unwanted attentions of a band of rogues on the Mexican plains, he has no idea what he has let himself in for. Their chance encounter results in the blowing up of a train and a French garrison, as well as igniting a spark between them that survives a shocking discovery.

The Missing

The Missing

When rancher and single mother of two Maggie Gilkeson sees her teenage daughter, Lily, kidnapped by Apache rebels, she reluctantly accepts the help of her estranged father, Samuel, in tracking down the kidnappers. Along the way, the two must learn to reconcile the past and work together if they are going to have any hope of getting Lily back before she is taken over the border and forced to become a prostitute.

A Man Called Horse

A Man Called Horse

In 1825, English peer Lord John Morgan is cast adrift in the American West. Captured by Sioux Indians, Morgan is at first targeted for quick extinction, but the tribesmen sense that he is worthy of survival. He eventually passes the many necessary tests that will permit him to become a member of the tribe.

Oklahoma!

Oklahoma!

In the Oklahoma territory at the turn of the twentieth century, two young cowboys vie with a violent ranch hand and a traveling peddler for the hearts of the women they love.

The Searchers

The Searchers

As a Civil War veteran spends years searching for a young niece captured by Indians, his motivation becomes increasingly questionable.

Open Range

Open Range

A former gunslinger is forced to take up arms again when he and his cattle crew are threatened by a corrupt lawman.

Hang 'em High

Hang 'em High

Marshall Jed Cooper survives a hanging, vowing revenge on the lynch mob that left him dangling. To carry out his oath for vengeance, he returns to his former job as a lawman. Before long, he's caught up with the nine men on his hit list and starts dispensing his own brand of Wild West justice.

The Wild Bunch

The Wild Bunch

An aging group of outlaws look for one last big score as the "traditional" American West is disappearing around them.

For a Few Dollars More

For a Few Dollars More

Two bounty hunters both pursue the brutal and sadistic bandit, El Indio, who has a large bounty on his head.

Stagecoach

Stagecoach

A group of people traveling on a stagecoach find their journey complicated by the threat of Geronimo, and learn something about each other in the process.

Rio Bravo

Rio Bravo

A small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a disabled man, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy.

Once Upon a Time in the West

Once Upon a Time in the West

As the railroad builders advance unstoppably through the Arizona desert on their way to the sea, Jill arrives in the small town of Flagstone with the intention of starting a new life.

Recommended Movies

The Proud Rebel

The Proud Rebel

Searching for a doctor who can help him get his son to speak again--the boy hadn't uttered a word since he saw his mother die in the fire that burned down the family home--a Confederate veteran finds himself facing a 30-day jail sentence when he's unfairly accused of starting a brawl in a small town. A local woman pays his fine, providing that he works it off on her ranch. He soon finds himself involved in the woman's struggle to keep her ranch from a local landowner who wants it--and whose sons were responsible for the man being framed for the fight.

Western Union

Western Union

When Edward Creighton leads the construction of the Western Union to unite East with West, he hires a Western reformed outlaw and a tenderfoot Eastern surveyor. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation in 2000.

Don't Come Knocking

Don't Come Knocking

Howard Spence has seen better days. Once a big Western movie star, he now drowns his disgust for his selfish and failed life with alcohol, drugs and young women. If he were to die now, nobody would shed a tear over him, that's the sad truth. Until one day Howard learns that he might have a child somewhere out there...

The Bravados

The Bravados

Jim Douglass arrives in the small town of Rio Arriba in order to witness the hanging of the four men he believes murdered his wife. When the convicts escape, Jim tracks them into Mexico, determined to see that justice is done. But the farther Jim goes in his quest for vengeance, the more merciless he becomes, losing himself in an unrelenting spiral of hatred and violence.

The Five

The Five

A scorned woman enlists the help of five strangers to execute a bank robbery. Tensions rise as the men anxiously await her arrival with the money, leaving the crew to wonder if they have been betrayed.

Firecreek

Firecreek

A peace-loving, part-time sheriff in the small town of Firecreek must take a stand when a gang of vicious outlaws takes over his town.

Ride in the Whirlwind

Ride in the Whirlwind

Three cowboys, mistaken for members of an outlaw gang, are relentlessly pursued by a posse.

McLintock!

McLintock!

Aging rancher and self-made man, George Washington McLintock is forced to deal with numerous personal and professional problems. Seemingly everyone wants a piece of his enormous farmstead, including high-ranking government men and nearby Native Americans. As McLintock tries to juggle his various adversaries, his wife—who left him two years previously—suddenly returns. But she isn't interested in George; she wants custody of their daughter.

Comanche Station

Comanche Station

A white man trades with the Comanche for the release of a female stranger and the pair cross paths with three outlaws who have their eyes on the handsome reward for bringing her home and Comanche on the warpath.

Canyon Passage

Canyon Passage

In 1850s Oregon, a businessman is torn between his love of two very different women and his loyalty to a compulsive gambler friend who goes over the line.

Go West

Go West

A con man heading west to search for gold teams up with a pair of scheming brothers along the way. The trio soon find themselves in the middle of a feud between two rival families and two underhanded land developers.

The Cowboys

The Cowboys

When his cattlemen abandon him for the gold fields, rancher Wil Andersen is forced to take on a collection of young boys as his cowboys in order to get his herd to market in time to avoid financial disaster. The boys learn to do a man's job under Andersen's tutelage, however, neither he nor the boys know that a gang of cattle thieves is stalking them.

Silverado

Silverado

Four unwitting heroes cross paths on their journey to the sleepy town of Silverado. Little do they know the town where their family and friends reside has been taken over by a corrupt sheriff and a murderous posse. It's up to the sharp-shooting foursome to save the day, but first they have to break each other out of jail, and learn who their real friends are.

Sergeant Rutledge

Sergeant Rutledge

Respected black cavalry Sergeant Brax Rutledge stands court-martial for raping and killing a white woman and murdering her father, his superior officer.

The Westerner

The Westerner

Drifter Cole Harden is accused of stealing a horse and faces hanging by self-appointed Judge Roy Bean, but Harden manages to talk his way out of it by claiming to be a friend of stage star Lillie Langtry, with whom the judge is obsessed, even though he has never met her. Tensions rise when Harden comes to the defense of a group of struggling homesteaders who Judge Bean is trying to drive away.

Support Your Local Sheriff!

Support Your Local Sheriff!

In the old west, a man becomes a Sheriff just for the pay, figuring he can decamp if things get tough.

Lonely are the Brave

Lonely are the Brave

A fiercely independent cowboy arranges to have himself locked up in jail in order to then escape with an old friend who has been sentenced to the penitentiary.

Support Your Local Gunfighter

Support Your Local Gunfighter

A con artist arrives in a mining town controlled by two competing companies. Both companies think he's a famous gunfighter and try to hire him to drive the other out of town.

Destry Rides Again

Destry Rides Again

Tom Destry, son of a legendary frontier peacekeeper, doesn’t believe in gunplay. Thus he becomes the object of widespread ridicule when he rides into the wide-open town of Bottleneck, the personal fiefdom of the crooked Kent.

The Tin Star

An experienced bounty hunter helps a young sheriff learn the meaning of his badge.