The Hanging Tree

Released Feb 11, 1959

1h 46m

Western

List

86%

7 Reviews

Tomatometer

73%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Joseph "Doc" Frail (Gary Cooper) 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 (Ben Piazza) from the noose. With Rune as his servant, Frail decides to settle down, and he takes over as town doctor. He meets Elizabeth (Maria Schell), 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.

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Audience Member

Really good western here highly recommend this James Welch, Henderson, Arkansas July 15, 2023

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

07/16/23

Full Review

deke p

1959. Interesting Gold 'mining town' yarn. GARY COOPER! (one of his last) as strangely gruff Doctor FRAIL. KARL MALDEN as is iconic 'bad self'. Maria Schell alluring as 'strong woman'. GEORGE C. SCOTT was in it somewhere. It kinda went off the rails at the end. Nobody wd leave their gold unattended, tell everyone, then give it all away just to save someone's life when there cd have been a better way. Finally saw it on late nite MOVIE CHANNEL 3.17.2021

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Doc Joe is one cool customer.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/23/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Interesting western with the gold rush as its background. Gary Cooper gives us a characterful frontier doctor.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

Full Review

dave j

Doctor and professional gunfighter, Doc Joe Frail making a new transition to a mining community. He would then come across Rune (Ben Piazza) and makes him to be aid and servant with revelations about Docs personal life to follow.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Solid western about an old west doctor, Gary Cooper, who sets up office in a wild mining camp. Cooper's character has a mysterious past with a shadow surrounding the death of his wife and him as the prime suspect. There are a few story threads to the film, one with Karl Malden trying to strike it rich, Cooper helping a blind girl, and also a dangerous religious fanatic played by George C. Scott in his film debut. Not a classic, but it's gorgeously filmed and features a strong cast.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/31/23

Full Review

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Delmer Daves

Director

Gary Cooper

Dr. Joseph "Doc" Frail

Maria Schell

Elizabeth Mahler

Karl Malden

Frenchy Plante

Ben Piazza

Rune

George C. Scott

Dr. George Grubb

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George Bourke

Miami Herald

Daves directed in a fashion to give Coop full leash in playing his grim but sympathetic lend role.

Sep 2, 2020

Full Review

Ian Kane

Epoch Times

“The Hanging Tree” asks us to visit a place we think we’ve been before in past Westerns, but ends up bucking many of the genre conventions.

Rated: 4/5

Dec 31, 2023

Full Review

Nicholas Bell

IONCINEMA.com

Maria Schell and Karl Malden add some nice shades of color, but for something a bit more salacious concerning mankind's wayward nature filtered through the Gold Rush, check out Erich von Stroheim's Greed.

Rated: 3.5/5

Aug 26, 2020

Full Review

Nathanael Hood

Unseen Films

The microcosm Delmer Daves creates here would make Billy Wilder pause, and the final five minutes are a masterstroke of nihilism.

Rated: 8/10

Jun 16, 2020

Full Review

Isabel Quigly

The Spectator

The Hanging Tree seems, if you go by the cast, all set to become a Top Western; but somehow has slithered.

Jul 13, 2018

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Gary Cooper shines in one of his very last pictures, a Western directed by Delmer Daves.

Rated: B+

Apr 21, 2012

Full Review

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Synopsis

Joseph "Doc" Frail (Gary Cooper) 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 (Ben Piazza) from the noose. With Rune as his servant, Frail decides to settle down, and he takes over as town doctor. He meets Elizabeth (Maria Schell), 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.

Director: Delmer Daves
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Production Co: Warner Brothers/Seven Arts
Genre: Western
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 11, 1959, Original
Release Date (Streaming): May 3, 2017
Runtime: 1h 46m

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