In his first American-made Western Clint Eastwood (“Bronco Billy”, “Gran Torino”) stars as a great anti-hero in a wonderful picture from director Ted Poster, that is full of brutality and offbeat humour, a formula that a generation of movies would go on to copy.

In “Hang ‘Em High”, Jed Cooper (Eastwood) is beaten and hung by a group of vigilantes that think he’s a rustler and murderer but unfortunately for them, they didn’t finish the job. Jed then takes the responsibility of wearing a U.S. marshal’s badge as he sets out to find the people who done him wrong. Also Jed tries to confront hanging enthusiast Judge Fenton (Pat Hingle “Batman”).

Clint Eastwood is amazing as Jed Cooper. I love when after he guns down one of the men who hung him he says he’s going for some steak and it’s that kind of humour that you also seen in lots of other movies, especially the Arnold Schwarzenegger (“Commando”) library. Lots of Eastwood’s Western characters are brutal but good at heart so I wonder if any of them are related to Harry Callahan (another role he took). Pat Hingle is good as Judge Fenton. The rest of the cast aren’t impressive to say the least.

“Hang ‘Em High” is a simple film at heart; it’s about a guy who goes out to get the bad guys that unjustly harmed him but the film has great execution, which makes it really engaging. Execution is everything in a movie like this, if you want to be more than just average that is and that’s something “Hang ‘Em High” craves. The film doesn’t really have anything wrong with it as such but nothing in it makes me want to give any more than the rating I have. I think if you loved the “Dollars” trilogy (Eastwood’s earlier Westerns), I think you’d probably enjoy this one too.