The Hanging Tree

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The Hanging Tree

1959,

1h 46m,

Western

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Watchlist

89%

9 Reviews

Tomatometer

72%

1,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

89%

Tomatometer

9 Reviews

72%

Popcornmeter

1,000+ Ratings

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 land them both in trouble.

Nick Rogers

Midwest Film Journal

Jul 7, 2025

4/5

Gary Cooper brings a ruthlessness to Frail, a sort of strange mixture of kindness and control expressed by a doctor itching to do at least some harm. An uncomplicated Western about four complicated people and the squabbles that swallow their happiness.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Jul 6, 2025

3/4

Perhaps no other actor in Hollywood history played more flawless heroes than Gary Cooper, which makes his character in the Western drama The Hanging Tree an interesting one.

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Ian Kane

Epoch Times

Dec 31, 2023

4/5

“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.

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George Bourke

Miami Herald

Sep 2, 2020

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

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Nicholas Bell

IONCINEMA.com

Aug 26, 2020

3.5/5

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.

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Nathanael Hood

Unseen Films

Jun 16, 2020

8/10

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

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Finn R

Aug 7, 2018

Doc Joe is one cool customer.

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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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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 land them both in trouble.

Director: Delmer Daves
Producer: Martin Jurow, Richard Shepherd
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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