The Hanging Tree (1959)

Plot: Gary Cooper plays a frontier doctor with a dark past in a rough Montana mining town. When Cooper treats an injured Swiss Girl (Maria Schell), he falls in love with her. Karl Malden (Frenchy) is Schell’s unscrupulous partner. George C. Scott is the town’s crazy preacher.

Forgotten after its 1959 release, "The Hanging Tree" is considered an "undiscovered Gem" by some but not by me.  While labeled a "Western" its actually a costume drama, full of "dark" characters behaving in odd and often despicable ways.   I not only disliked the characters, I found them - and the town - unbelievable and historically inaccurate.  Nobody in the Old West behaved this way. Nor do I consider the movie well acted.  Malden wears an absurd hat and overacts shamelessly, Cooper is dull and stone-faced, and Schell is a cipher.  As for the "Romance", it's hard to know what was more creepy, Frenchy's lust or 60 year-old Cooper's obsessive "love".

Summary:  I found the "The Hanging Tree" even darker and weirder than "Man of the West." - and that's not a recommendation.  Rating **