Photo Opportunity #71 Clint at the MGM Studios 1967
For our March Photo Opportunity, I’ve used a photo from our dedicated Hang ‘Em High page. I always try to use something that isn’t featured elsewhere on the site, but to be honest, finding something original is becoming harder and harder – plus it’s such a cracking shot that I’ve always thought it deserved a space of its own.
It’s a photo taken during an interior shot at the MGM studios in California for the film Hang ‘Em High (1967). It was taken during the scene where three members of the original lynch mob Tommy, Loomis and Wilson attempt to kill Cooper in a brothel, and seriously wound him in the process.
On his return home after completing the Dollar trilogy, Clint’s Business manager Irving Leonard, gave him a script to a new film, the American revisionist Western Hang 'Em High, a cross between Rawhide and Leone's westerns, written by Mel Goldberg and produced by Leonard Freeman. However, the William Morris Agency had wanted him to star in a bigger picture, Mackenna's Gold, with a cast of notable actors such as Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif, and Telly Savalas. Eastwood, however, did not approve and preferred the script for Hang 'Em High. It was also the first of Eastwood’s movies to feature his own production company credit - Malpaso.
The film became a major success after release in August 1968, and with an opening-day revenue of $5,241 in Baltimore alone. According to author Patrick McGilligan, Hang 'Em High became the biggest United Artists opener in history, exceeding all of the James Bond films at that time.
