Movie Review: Good Day for a Hanging (1959)

The movie stars Fred MacMurray, Joan Blackman, Margaret Hayes, Robert Vaughn and James Drury.

I came across this film on one of our movie channels a few days ago and, since I saw it starred Fred MacMurray (who is originally from my home town), I decided to record it so I could watch it over one (or two) of my lunches. I actually ended up watching it this past weekend and, as it turns out, it was a pretty good film.

The thing I found I liked about this movie is it wasn't nearly as predictable as many other classic westerns. Ben Cutler (MacMurray) started out as the hero of the town and seemed to want to do the right thing, including letting the outlaw, Eddie Campbell (Vaughn) have his day in court when many in town wanted to lynch him. But, the way his reputation was quickly brought into doubt made me wonder if his desire to do the right thing would come back to haunt him.

The way his reputation was tarnished was also interesting. Between a fast-talking defense attorney (Edmon Ryan), who was looking to create reasonable doubt, and his own daughter (Blackman), who believed her childhood sweetheart would never be able to commit murder and did her best to convince everyone else of that too, I don't think Cutler stood a chance.

In fact, when his fiancee (Hayes) had her doubts too, I probably wouldn't have blamed him if he threw his star in the dirt and left town. After all, if he were REALLY trying to get revenge on Campbell because he disapproved of his relationship with his daughter, why bother with the trial?

In addition to a well-written plot, the movie also had a good mix of good old fashion western action, complete with horse chases, fist fights and shoot outs. These helped keep the movie from becoming too bogged down but were kept to just enough of a minimum to allow the main story to progress.

I'm not a huge fan of classic westerns but do come across the occasional one I enjoy watching. This is one of those movies and one I would recommend.

My Grade: A