A Man for Hanging (1972)

Peter Breck is Avery Porter, an outlaw who just held up the bank in Willow Springs and is en route to a rendezvous with his three partners in crime.

He’s also a tortured man, wearing a mask over the left side of his face to hide a scar left by a former lover and eager to exact revenge on any pretty lass he comes across.

That’s what happens at the Barrenger ranch, where he stops to replace the a horse that’s gone lame.

Catching pretty Sally Barrenger in the barn alone, he viciously attacks her.

He’s in the process of ripping off her clothes and raping her when he’s interrupted by her mother-in-law.

Porter kills her with a pitchfork, then rides off, leaving the younger woman cowering behind a shed, traumatized.

When the Barrenger men — Shep and his younger brother Tom — return to the ranch to find the carnage, they immediately set off in pursuit of the man responsible.

Deputy Cal Hartner will lead this posse. And the Barrenger ranch won’t be the last place Avery Porter visits and Sally won’t be the last woman he terrorizes.

Peter Breck as Avery Porter, arriving at the Barrenger ranch in search of a fresh mount in A Man for Hanging (1972)

Brooke Bundy as Liz, the woman who loses two friends to Avery Porter’s meanness in A Man for Hanging (1972)

Review:

Yep, that’s Peter Breck, formerly Nick Barkley, one of Barbara Stanwyck’s sons on “The Big Valley,” in the role of the crazed killer.

He stars in a film that’s different enough to be interesting, but not nearly as horrifying as it could have been given the material.

IMDb lists it as a TV movie, which seems unlikely given the level of violence — especially sexual violence — and the fact that some scenes are partly blurred for airing on TV today.

Wondering about the traumatized ladies here. Victoria Thompson and Virgina Wood had brief acting careers, each with less than 15 screen and TV credits, according to IMDb.

Brooke Bundy, on the other hand, racked up more than 100. She also appeared in 174 episodes of Days of Our Lives between 1975 and 1977.

As for Breck, he continued acting through the 1990s. He died in 2012 at age 72. He next movie role would be a wee bit different, playing the human lead in a family film called “Benji” (1974) about an adorable dog who saves the lives of two children.

Paul Carr as Shep Barrenger, pulling a gun on the posse’s prey in A Man for Hanging (1972)

David Macklin as Tom Barrenger, parched from the long search for Avery Porter in A Man for Hanging (1972)

Directed by:
Joe Mazzuca

Cast:
Peter Breck … Avery Porter
Paul Carr … Shep Barrenger
Brooke Bundy … Liz
David Macklin … Tom Barrenger
Walker Edmiston … Deputy Cal Hartner
Virginia Wood … Ellen Rennell
Michael Pataki … Fred Rennell
Victoria Thompson … Sally Barrenger
Bob Hoy .. Romero
Lesley Woods … Ma Barrenger
Steve Raines … Willie

Runtime: 75 min.

Title song: “A Man for Hanging”
Sung by: Ernie Macy and The Blue Infinity

Victoria Thompson as Sally Barrenger, futilely ordering Avery Porter off her family’s spread in A Man for Hanging (1972)

Virginia Wood as Ellen Rennell, growing wary of the stranger who shows up at her home in A Man for Hanging (1972)

Memorable lines:

Avery Porter as he encounters another damsel about to be in distress: “Ellen. Ellen. Well, I’ll be damned, you’re all beginning to look alike, aren’t you?”

Liz, as the posse rides up, looking for water and directions: “You don’t look like bandits anyway. You look too tired.”

Shep Berrenger, coming across the bruised and beaten: “Sure is great at fighting women, isn’t he?”

Peter Breck as Avery Porter, ordering Ellen Rennell to strip for his pleasure in A Man for Hanging (1972)

Walker Edmiston as Deputy Cal Hartner, leader of the posse on Avery Porter’s trail in A Man for Hanging (1972)

Bob Hoy as Romero, the leader of the Mexican bandits who pull a bank job with Avery Porter in A Man for Hanging (1972)

Lesley Woods as Ma Barrenger, bidding her youngest son Tommy farewell as he heads off to town in A Man for Hanging (1972)

Paul Carr as Shep Barrenger and Victoria Thompson as his wife Sally, happy before a madman’s visit in A Man for Hanging (1972)

Peter Breck as Avery Porter, threatening to stab Liz to death in A Man for Hanging (1972)