80/80 - Hang em High

Eastwood was returning to the US a superstar for his first home produced movie since the Leone epics - Hang em High starts with a homage to the classic The Ox-Bow Incident in which Jed Cooper is strung up for rustling even although he has been tricked and thought he'd bought the cattle at a good price, not realising that the seller had actually rustled the animals.

However Cooper survives the lynching when he is cut down by a passing lawman and taken to Fort Grant to face trial. Found not guilty Cooper swears revenge on the lynch mob but is persuaded to bring them to justice under the colour of the law.

WILD WEST FACT: Hanging was the preferred method of execution in the Old West - the hangings were often botched leading to prolonged suffering and often decapitation. In 1890 the more humane method of electric chair was introduced.