Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that there are grown-up elements in this Western, including some more-or-less innocent teenage boys facing execution as accessories to rustling. In addition to the expected shoot-em-ups of a cowboy picture, raw elements include prostitution (in which the hero partakes), euphemistic talk of a rape-murder, drinking, smoking, suicide, and a theme of capital punishment taken to extremes, so that seeing men hung becomes a sort of vulgar spectator sport. Religion on this frontier seems an ineffectual element, with a briefly-glimpsed Bible fanatic who must be gunned down. Though this was released before the MPAA rating existed, Hang 'Em High got a retroactive PG-13 badge for home video.
Sexual
Content
Though it's never called such by name, a house of prostitution is an accepted part of the community, and Marshall Cooper uses its services. He's shown in bed with a hooker after sex (both discreetly covered up).
Violence
Shootings, some fatal, some not, including a dog found shot dead. Fistfights and beatings. Hangings and attempted hangings. A dead man with a knife in him. The heroine describes in euphemistic terms how she was repeatedly raped ("they took me").
Language
"Bastard" and "hell."
Social
Behavior
Tries to convey that "legal" execution, done without deliberation or appeal, is no better than murder via lynching. Sub-theme about conditions in a frontier society that require such harsh justice.
Consumerism
Not applicable
Drugs / Tobacco /
Alcohol
Saloon drinking. The hero smokes, as does a prisoner and a casual prostitute-girlfriend. A prisoner about to be hung happily chews tobacco. Another preaches against liquor, blaming it for his crime.
