The Hanging Tree (DVD)

Many stars saddled up and rode into Technicolor sunsets during the great Western revival of the 1950s, but only a few would be forever associated with the rugged individualists of the West. Among them are John Wayne, Randolph Scott and the start of the Hanging Tree, Gary Cooper. The story takes place in Skull Creek, an 1870s Montana gold camp. Dr. Joseph Frail (Cooper) arrives, setting out his shingle near the camp's boom-or-bust hubbub of adventurers, ladies of fortune, mountain men and just plain decent folks. As skilled with a six-gun as with a scalpel, Frail will need both. A tragic past shadows his days. The treachery of the mob clouds his future. A determined immigrant (Maria Schell), a shifty-eyed miner (Karl Malden) and a hellfire preacher (debuting George C. Scott) figure prominently in Frail's showdown with fate. Prominent, too, is the breathtaking countryside. Here the mountains are imposing. And a man alone looms ever taller.

Starring: Gary Cooper, Maria Schell, Karl Malden, George C. Scott, Karl Swenson, Ben Piazza, Stanley Rhodes, Carl Clark, Slim Talbot, Annette Claudier, Rae M. Lee, E. Jane Maddux, Bud Osborne, Virginia Gregg, John Dierkes, King Donovan, Larrie L. Armstrong, Elsie Sanders, Guy Wilkerson, Harold Millen, George William Schrindel, Dorothy Klewer, Karen Norris, John V. Dale, Terrill Douglas, Martin Eric, Fern Barry, Joseph DuBuc, Clarence Straight, Cactus McPeters, Billy Benedict, Baron Lichter, Dan Borzage, Fred Marlowe, Boyd Stockman, John Hudkins, Dick Hudkins, Don Turner, Frank Hagney, Bob Morgan, Sailor Vincent

Director: Martin Jurow, Richard Shepherd