MovieChat Forums > Hang 'Em High (1968) Discussion > Cooper, what is he playing at?

Cooper, what is he playing at?


In Oklahoma territory where there was no law and nothing you could do if raiders massacred your family while you were out of the ranch, it seems understandable that settlers would fight back and lynch these men when they could, rather than let them carry on regardless, after all this was the Old West, not a hippy commune.
So Cooper should maybe have forgotten about these guys who posed no threat to law abiding people and pursued the guys who were commited crimes at the present.

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There was a lawman they should have turned to.

The Hangin' Judge had jurisdiction over the territory where Cooper was initially hung.

The vigilantes that hung him, should have brought him to the judge.

Vigilantes always are thinking about vengeance, not justice. They do not listen to reason. Even to the fact that an innocent is innocent because he IS!

This film is anti-vigilantism and pro-law, and yes, he should have bothered bringing them back.

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