The Ride to Hangman's Tree

Watching this will remind you of the B westerns of the 30's.

However it was made in the late 60's and looks like everything else made by Universal in the late 60's and early 70's when Universal was making a lot of money from TV. It's also a 1.33 film, so it was probably originally made for TV.

It's one of those "I've seen it once, I don't need to see it again" movies.

(I don't know if I've ever seen "camp" used [as the base word of "campiness"], but yes this is intentional camp.) The criticism some have that this 60's movie will remind one of the campy westerns of the 30's is as valid as the criticism that Austin Powers (of the 2000's) will remind one of the spy flicks of the 60's and 70's. Pre "Hawaii 5-0" (i.e. potential good career) Jack Lord is always a treat, and the tongue-in-cheek homage to just about every Western cliche you can think of makes for a nice little watch. This movie wasn't intended to be anything but extremely light fun, which it succeeds in being. Get a little alcohol in you and enjoy!

This movie is so uninspired that it has only two points of interest. First, it is an unacknowledged remake of the much better 1948 movie "Black Bart". Second, the female lead is played by Melodie Johnson who made a few films and then quit movies. I believe she now writes crime novels and is highly regarded. Melodie Johnson is an interesting actress because she had that rare gift of being able to change her appearance completely. (More famous actors with this gift are Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers.) The Melodie Johnson in this movie is unrecognisable from the voluptuous blonde with the plunging cleavage in "Gaily, Gaily", has no similarity with the bimbo who romped in the bath with Clint Eastwood in "Coogan's Bluff", and has nothing in common with the subdued country girl in "The Moonshine War" who offers herself to Patrick McGoohan (and is turned down!!!).

The only reason to watch this feeble movie is to compare Melodie's Johnson's appearance and performance with those in her other films.

Ride to Hangman's Tree is directed by Alan Ratkin and collectively written by Luci Ward, Jack Natteford and William Bowers. It stars Jack Lord, James Farantino, Don Galloway, Melodie Johnson and Richard Anderson. Music is by Frank Skinner (Joseph Gershenson supervising) and cinematography by Gene Polito.

A remake of Black Bart, Highwayman (1948), Ride to Hangman's Tree is fun and unassuming if ultimately forgettable once the end credits have been and gone. The film opens up with the lead actors introducing themselves which straight away takes one out of the mindset of expecting drama to unfold, and so it proves. Picture has tongue in cheek and racks up the Western clichés with carefree abandon, but this never becomes dull once an acceptance of film's intent is reached. The cast are fine, with Johnson socko gorgeous to boot, while the music and scenic photography are decent. 6/10

This stodgy, unimaginative western was made in 1967, ten years after the genre had ceased to interest anyone. Important plot elements are left unresolved. Guy's love for Lillie, once it is thwarted, is simply dropped, and Guy doesn't seem bothered. Nobody refers to it again. The story's ending is utterly unconvincing, as though the writers were unsure how to 'tidy' the plot strands, and simply decided to cut the gordian knot. The actual ride to the tree happens in the first reel, and nothing resembling it happens in the rest of the movie. Jack Lord and James Farentino are pretty, and pretty good, as the male leads: they turn in competent journeyman performances. Melodie Johnson is miscast as Lillie: her radically unsexy screen presence is symbolised by the cringingly awful mimed song in her stage act. A wooden-headed plot, tediously predictable stunt action and weak humour can't prevent this being an amiable, if unchallenging, piece of entertainment. Curiously for such an unambitious film, it echoes and prefigures more sophisticated westerns of its era: the two heroes, trapped in a hovel, wisecrack while their assailants pile on the firepower ("Butch Cassidy", 1969) and they are saved from the noose by their partner's fancy shooting ("The Good, The Bad &c.", 1966). Not worth a trip to the cinema, but a mildly pleasant TV experience on a wet afternoon - which is how I stumbled across it.