Hanging Tree, The (1959)

The Hanging Tree (1959), directed by Delmer Daves.

A kindly but very tough doctor (Gary Cooper) sets up office in a mining camp. He first rescues a wounded young thief, and then a woman (Maria Schell) who is sole survivor of a stage coach robbery. He has to save her from rape twice, both times from the jolly but very crude and dangerous "Frenchy" Plante (Karl Malden). She gets into mining herself, with success that is itself dangerous.

It's a good western without being exceptional. It reminds me of other mining town westerns like Tourneur's Canyon Passage (1946) (were they mining? I forget...), Logan's Paint Your Wagon (1969), Eastwood's Pale Rider (1985), or even the Deadwood TV series.

I review it for the talent involved:

Filmed in Washington State. Title song performed by Marty Robbins.

Available on DVD from a poor quality source. Very soft image; the Technicolor deserves restoration.

After writing this I find it is available on Blu-ray from Warner Archive, but I haven't seen that disc.

http://watershade.net/public/hanging-tree.jpg