"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.
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.