The Hanging Tree

The Hanging Tree is a 1959 movie directed by Delmer Daves. Karl Malden took over directing duties for several days when Daves fell ill. The film stars Gary Cooper, Maria Schell, George C. Scott and Malden and is set in the gold fields of Montana during the gold rush of the 1860s and 1870s. The story follows a doctor who saves a criminal from a lynch mob, then learns of the man's past and tries to manipulate him. The film was the first one for Gary Cooper's Baroda Productions company. This marked the first film of Scott. He and Malden later teamed for 1970's Patton, for which Scott won an Academy Award.