MovieChat Forums > Hang 'Em High (1968) Discussion > How did he survive the beginning?

How did he survive the beginning?

posted 9 years ago by avortac
3 replies | jump to latest

How exactly did he survive the hanging?

In other words;

How does ANYONE survive a hanging?

How long does it take for a man to die from hanging?

I am pretty sure it wouldn't last as long as shown to us. Why didn't his neck 'snap like a twig', like they say at one point in this very movie? Why wasn't there -any- damage to his vocal cords, nervous system, brain (he probably couldn't breathe while the rope was around his neck after the horse was pulled away and he 'started hanging') or the vascular system in the neck?

Was he one of those Shao-Lin monks that can endure a long time hanging from a rope that's around their neck?

What's the deal here? I haven't watched the whole movie yet, but this bothers me, and I sure hope it will be explained by the movie (or in the movie). Though I think it probably won't be explained..

.. which is why I wrote this post.

Is it realistic to survive a hanging like that?

Another point; slavery was 'abolished' in USA officially in 1777 or so, but not completely until 1848 (according to some internet sources). So is it realistic that the black men were working in such highly respected professions, the police, controlling white prisoners? (Why aren't there any black prisoners by the way? Is THAT realistic? Black people often remind the white folk about the ongoing racism - wouldn't that racism mean that black men would have been arrested just for no reason sometimes?)

Realism in this movie... it's not very convincing. I find time-traveling DeLoreans more plausible than some of the stuff this movie is telling us.

By the way, were women freely allowed to touch and fiddle with the prisoners' heads and faces? White women have always been the most protected class, even more than children. And yet they let those 'respectable' women touch potentially dangerous prisoners, perhaps even murderers?

The only thing realistic about this movie so far seems to be cruelty to animals. That looks very, very real indeed. Poor horses, poor cows.

[–] strntz 9 years ago

How long does it take for a man to die from hanging?

There's two kinds of hanging deaths; the neck snap and the suffocation.

When used for execution, the victim would be dropped several feet (carefully calculated to weight) to break the neck quickly and cleanly. The distance was critical because if the drop distance was too small, the neck might not break causing suffocation which is not instantaneous. If the distance is too great, the possibility exists that the head could be ripped off the body. Still a quick death but gruesome to watch.

Eastwood's character had his horse pulled out from underneath him preventing the instantaneous death from a broken neck. I don't know how long he could have remained alive though because the rope could immediately constrict the blood vessels going to the brain.

Is very bad to steal Jobu's rum. Is very bad.

[–] shermandemetrius 9 years ago

I often wondered the same thing. But in his true book Solomon Northrup tells how he was left hanging, surviving a botched hanging and survived until cut down (Like Eastwood survived before being cut down)

[–] strntz 8 years ago

I often wondered the same thing. But in his true book Solomon Northrup tells how he was left hanging, surviving a botched hanging and survived until cut down (Like Eastwood survived before being cut down)

I didn't read the book but the film shows him being strung up and intentionally left to struggle on his tip toes. As long as he could maintain an upright position, he'd avoid the strangulation. If there was a botched lynching attempt of Northrup, the movie didn't cover it (which would surprise me actually)

Is very bad to steal Jobu's rum. Is very bad.