This movie is adapted from the novel of Walter Van Tilburg Clark’s by the same name. This movie is a tense drama highlighting the dangers inherent in the nature of man. The vision is that of a mob mentality that can and will replace reason.
Henry Fonda and Henry Morgan portray cowboys new into town that is plagued by cattle rustling. The news of a local rancher getting murdered raises a storm of fury in the community and a posse of local men most bent on revenge is formed. The leader is an ex-Confederate major who wants to toughen up his son. The two cowboys are sweep up in the posse because not going would make them look guilt being new in town. The vigilante justice delivered by the posse casts a blind eye to the possibility that the three men may be innocent and hangs them all. The meaning is visibly clear that blind prejudice can lead to the death of innocents.
This life lesson was and is always true. This western movie contains an important living truth that things done in the heat of a crisis can often result in the wrong action. I highly recommend this movie as one to see. The movie was nominated for an Oscar in 1943 as Best Picture and lost out to Casablanca.
