Spikeopath Good Day for a Hanging is directed by Nathan Juran and adapted to screenplay by Daniel B. Ullman and Maurice Zimm from the story The Reluctant Hangman written by John H. Reese. It stars Fred MacMurray, Robert Vaughn, Joan Blackman, Margaret Hayes, James Dury and Wendell Holmes. It is filmed in Columbia Color with cinematography by Henry Freulich. After claiming his daughter's childhood sweetheart killed the marshal of Springdale during the aftermath of a bank raid, the new marshal, Ben Cutler (MacMurray), finds himself in conflict with his family and the townsfolk who question the motives of his testimony. Good Day for a Hanging is one of those films that you feel that with a few tweaks it could have been a bona fide great 50s Western. As it is, in spite of some viable complaints from those who have bothered to review it, it's still a hugely enjoyable broody Oater. Film hinges on MacMurray's moody and stoic performance. Ben Cutler finds himself fighting a lone battle in getting outlaw Eddie "Kid" Campbell (Vaughn excellent) on to the gallows. Campbell's standing in the town is high, he's fondly remembered and after laying on a truly heartfelt plea of innocence during the trial, practically everyone is convinced that he is innocent, even the members of the Cutler posse who were there when Campbell gunned down the old marshal! And with those closest to Ben also firmly against him hanging Campbell, he is being pulled apart emotionally. It's a nicely etched turn from MacMurray, full of inner torment and believable bravado. Juran constructs some very good passages in the story, the opening robbery is very tense, the court case deftly handled with its observations of how manipulation of the law can happen, and the building of the gallows outside Campbell's cell - and the subsequent morbid interest of the townsfolk - really puts an edge on proceedings. Unfortunately the final outcome to the excellent mood building is undone by an unconvincing turn of events, and it feels very rushed. It's a shame because it just needed someone to step forward and suggest changing the ending from that of the source material. You have to think that the likes of Boetticher and Mann would have put a different spin on it. Still, and I note and agree that some of the dialogue is out of time for the era, this is way above being an average B Western. At the time Variety wrote in their notices that the colour wasn't right for the tone of the picture. To some degree I agree that shadowy black and white would have worked a treat, but in this High Def age you can really see the benefits of Freulich's photography, it's beautiful, but I viewed it from UK TCM HD Channel, which invariably means I'm seeing it different to those in 1959! I fully endorse this to Western fans who haven't seen it, and especially to MacMurray and Vaughn fans. It has problems, and yes it's kinda like a poor man's version of High Noon - Ruth (Ben's love interest played by Hayes), even suggests that Ben throw his marshal badge in the dirt - yet it's a mature throwback well worthy of viewing investment. 7/10

lrcdmnhd72 I feel that "A Good Day for a Hanging," (1959) is an above average western. I was somewhat pleasantly surprised by this movie, overall. For about the first 2/3s of this movie, I thought it was leaning in the direction of the liberal left. Towards the end, however, I was thinking, "Maybe not." As it turned out, it showed how law abiding citizens can be easily duped by the wrong type of people. The killer, (Robert VAUGHN) who went to trial for murdering the marshal (Emile MEYER), wasn't very interested in his girlfriend (the new marshal's (Fred MacMURRAY) daughter) while he was holding the getaway horses while the bank was being robbed. But, when he was in jail awaiting execution, he acted very blubbery towards her, obviously, because he wanted her to smuggle in a gun to him to aid in his escape. When he hit her at the jailbreak, this may have knocked some sense into her. This killer's girlfriend then turned herself around by warning the marshal (MacMURRAY), thereby saving his life. The doctor, (James DRURY) seemed a little hard nosed for a doctor, but more in my line of thinking.One point that wasn't stressed that , perhaps, should have been, even if Robert VAUGHN didn't actually kill the marshal, he could have been held as an accessory to murder, which would have made him equally guilty. I'm not sure how the law read back in those days.

bkoganbing On a peaceful day in a small western town in Nebraska in 1878, a bank robbery occurs and Marshal Emile Meyer is killed pursuing the gang. But citizen Fred MacMurray, a former marshal, kills one of the gang and wounds the one who he saw shoot Meyer.It was Robert Vaughn a young kid who was a former resident of the town who left some years earlier. It's now obvious what he took up doing after he left. MacMurray's daughter Joan Blackman is kind of fond of Vaughn even though she's been keeping company with the young town doctor, James Drury.Good Day For Hanging has some good intentions and other reviewers have faulted for having the cast speak in modern idiom. That's not the film's problems, it's trying to graft a 20th century urban plot on a 19th century rural western situation.Try as I may, I can't believe that these frontier townspeople are so squeamish about hanging this punk. Even as Vaughn claims, he did not do the actual shooting of Meyer, he's as guilty of the murder of this peace officer whether he pulled the trigger or not. The attitude expressed in such films as True Grit and Hang 'Em High is far more typical of the times than Good Day For A Hanging.Of course in all this MacMurray is called to put on badge again and it's his testimony that actually convicts Vaughn. Still public opinion gradually turns against him for what I can see, no discernible reason. The controversy puts a strain on his relationship with Blackman as well as with fiancé Margaret Hayes.Best performances in the supporting cast are from Edmon Ryan who plays more of a modern defense lawyer in this western. Still he does do a fine job. And I particularly liked Kathryn Card as Meyer's widow. Her scenes count and you will remember her performance over everyone else's in Good Day For A Hanging.Fred MacMurray was not overly fond of westerns. In his salad days with Paramount he only did one, The Texas Rangers and during the fifties he did a few of them before becoming a Disney star. His famous quote was that he never felt at one with the horse'. His riding scenes were probably doubled, but in the scenes in town MacMurray acquits himself admirably.But this one in the last analysis was an eastern/western.

malvernp "A Good Day for a Hanging" (GDH) shows us once again that there is a finite number of original plots that can be turned into a film story.The similarities of GDH to the classic "High Noon" are substantial. Gary Cooper's name is Marshall Will Kane in "High Noon" while Emile Meyer's name in GDH is Marshall Hiram Cain. Coincidence? I think not! The Fred MacMurray character (Ben Cutler) is about to be married (as was the Cooper character); upon the death of Marshall Cain in GDH, Cutler reluctantly becomes the new Marshall; the MacMurray/Cooper characters find out just how lonely and isolated it is to be an honorable law enforcer in a small Western town; both prospective wives want to break off the impending marriage because they perceive a conflict between the lawman's doing his duty and the peace and stability of married life; both present the unwanted intrusion of outlaws into the life of the quiet town; both involve the eventual rejection of the lawman and his efforts to uphold the law by the town-folks who put him into his position in the first place; both have the requisite climactic shootout with the outlaws which our hero survives; both end up in reconciliation between the MacMurray/Cooper characters and the town-folks as well as the prospective wives; and both validate the need for law and order to maintain civilization in the Old West.MacMurray seems to have fashioned his lawman character as though he IS Cooper---only in color this time and with a less well-known cast of supporting players. And instead of the ticking down time feature of "High Noon", we are given the slow construction of a gallows for the jailed killer as GDH's plot hook----a structure that we know will never be used-----except in the telegraphed ironic ending."High Noon" is good enough in its own right to deserve a respectable knock off-----which GDH is. If imitation is the greatest form of flattery, the creators of "High Noon" should have been mighty pleased with GDH.But there are differences between the two films. MacMurray was never in the same acting league as Cooper, and Margaret Hayes could never be mistaken for Grace Kelly. Ian MacDonald (Frank Miller) is a far more menacing villain in "High Noon" than the rather young Robert Vaughn is in GDH.For those of you who enjoy the Western genre and are fans of "High Noon", GDH is well worth seeing just to become familiar with an obscure copycat version of a true classic.