In 1865, a troop of Confederate soldiers led by Major Matt Stewart (Randolph Scott) attack the wagon of gold escorted by Union cavalry and the soldiers are killed. The only wounded survivor tells that the war ended one month ago, and the group decides to take the gold and meet their liaison that knew that the war ended but did not inform the troop. The harsh Rolph Bainter (Lee Marvin) kills the greedy man and the soldiers flee in his wagon driven by Major Stewart. When they meet a posse chasing them, Stewart gives wrong information to misguide the group; however, they have an accident with the wagon and lose the horses. They decide to stop a stagecoach and force the driver to transport them, but the posse returns and they are trapped in the station with the passenger. They realize that the men are not deputies and have no intention to bring them to justice but take the stolen gold.

"Hangman's Knot" is a simple but effective Western in the after American Civil War period mainly about lack of communication and greed. Randolph Scott and Lee Marvin in the beginning of his career perform their usual type of characters, a fair rough man and a bad character. The story is engaging with many conflictive situations and the screenplay is very tight. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Laço do Carrasco" ("The Hangman's Noose")

I was kind of torn as to whether to give this movie a 6 or a 7. After all, while entertaining and well done compared to most westerns, it also suffers a bit from a claustrophobic feel as well as a lot of similarity to other films--even other Randolph Scott films. I'll give it a 7, simply because even a mediocre Scott film is better than the norm.

The film starts with Scott leading a raiding party of Confederates on a Union gold shipment. The problem is that they don't realize that the war is over--and that by killing these troops and taking the gold that they might be viewed as crooks, not men serving their country. Instead of returning the gold and surrendering (which probably would have kept them from a hanging),they decide to keep the gold and make a run for it. Scott says he's keeping the gold and plans on using it to rebuild the South, but the rest of the gang isn't so strongly inclined. However, before the whole thing degenerates into an all-out brawl for the money, an outside force intervenes. Various posses are looking for them once the dead soldiers are found and one group that corners them isn't particularly interested in bringing anyone to justice--they just want to steal the gold and kill everyone to get rid of witnesses--forcing the ex-Confederates to strongly bond together--except for a problematic guy played by Lee Marvin--a very typical 1950s role for him.

The film benefits from excellent acting all around and despite some very familiar story elements and clichés, is quite entertaining. HOWEVER, there is one seriously bad problem and one smaller one with the film. First, the really bad. In a fight between Marvin and Scott, you can very, very clearly see that they are stuntmen and this might just be the worst non-deliberate example I've seen (I'M GONNA GIT YOU SUCKA's is worse, but clearly meant to be as white guy with a mustache doubles for a black woman). They obviously are not Marvin or Scott--it's not even close. The other smaller problem are some story elements that, if you think about them, make no sense. Why did Scott and his men hold up the wagon? This made no sense, nor did Donna Reed suddenly falling for Scott at the end (an obvious cliché). Regardless, Scott fans will love this and non-western lovers will probably find it all tolerable at best.

Hangman's Knot may be too short at only an hour and twenty minutes or so, there are one or two scenes that take too long to get going and some of the characters are clichéd(ie. nurse devoted to duty). However, it is a very well made movie, with tight editing, lavish scenery and beautiful photography. The film is beautifully directed, I love the metaphorical title, the script is well-written and intriguing, the opening twenty minutes set the tone of the film brilliantly and the sequence involving the "Rebs" is fantastic. The acting is very good and do a credible job in making us care for their somewhat clichéd characters. Randolph Scott is commanding, Donna Reed is as lovely as ever and Lee Marvin makes a positive impression without stealing his scenes too much. Overall, a very effective and underrated western. 7/10 Bethany Cox