Hangmans Knot (1952)
In 1865, a troop of Confederate soldiers led by Major Matt Stewart attacks the wagon of gold escorted by Union cavalry and the soldiers are killed. The only wounded survivor says that the war ended one month ago, and the group decides to take the gold and meet their liaison that knew that the war ended but did not inform the troop. The harsh Rolph Bainter kills the greedy man and the soldiers flee in his wagon driven by Major Stewart. When they meet a posse chasing them, Stewart gives wrong information to misguide the group, but they have an accident with the wagon and lose the horses. They decide to stop a stagecoach and force the driver to transport them, but the posse returns and they are trapped in the station with the passenger. They realize that the men are not deputies and have no intention to bring them to justice but take the stolen gold.
When Lynch Law Held Nevada in a Noose!
Lee Kemper: [Lee laughs] You got 'em confused.
Lee Kemper: They'll a-find out though and get their hands on it, there ain't gonna be nobody left alive in here to tell. You got any plans?
Major Matt Stewart: Mm-hmm. We go out shooting.
Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA
Corriganville, Ray Corrigan Ranch, Simi Valley, California, USA
After the scene of Lee Marvin holding Donna Reed against the wall, she was so terrified by him that she did not let him come near her on and off the set.
Although Roy Huggins was blacklisted (for being a former member of the Communist party), he still was able to write and direct "Hangman's Knot" under his own name. Producers Randolph Scott & Harry Joe Brown brought him in to direct it for Columbia Pictures. It was a financial success.
When Lee Marvin (Bainter) shoots Glenn Langan (Petersen) in the back, at around the 12-minute mark, it is one of the first uses of a blood squib in a Western. It predates other claimed 'firsts' by several years.
As of 2024 Claude Jarman Jr. is the only surviving actor. All actors unfortunately passed before the new millennium.
Continuity
About 68(?) minutes in, seven shots were fired through the trapdoor in the stage stop. Several minutes later they open the trapdoor to toss the gold down. There are no bullet holes in the door.
Revealing mistakes
The man fighting with Lee Marvin is obviously not Randolph Scott.
Anachronisms
When the Confederates ambush the Union gold shipment, they use dynamite. The film is set in 1865, but dynamite was not patented by its inventor, Alfred Nobel, until 1867. Dynamite was not in use during the American Civil War by either side.
Crew or equipment visible
During the gold robbery, there is an obvious dummy 'driving' the wagon just before the mules separate from it.
The same dummy is used when one of the characters gets his foot caught in a stirrup, and is dragged off at high speed by his horse.
Plot holes
When Bainter throws the stick of dynamite during the robbery, three cavalry troopers are blown off their horses and killed, but the horses suffer no injuries.