Highest-Rated Movies about 'Lynching', Sort by Popularity

Rosewood (1997), The Here After (2015), The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till (2004), Scottsboro: An American Tragedy (2000), They Won't Forget (1937), Black Legion (1937), Hang 'Em High (1968), Along the Great Divide (1951) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Lynching movies.

#1. Rosewood (1997)

Storyline: Rosewood, Florida, is a small, peaceful town with an almost entirely African-American population of middle-class homeowners, until New Year's Day 1923, when a lynch mob from a neighboring white community storms the town. Among the carnage, music teacher Sylvester (Don Cheadle) and mysterious stranger Mann (Ving Rhames) stand tall against the invaders, while white grocer John (Jon Voight) attempts to save the town's women and children. The film is based on a true story.

Plot Keywords: teacher, stranger, grocer, mother, child, dark, disturbing ...

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#3. The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till (2004)

Storyline: This documentary presents a sobering reminder of the racial tensions that gripped America not so long ago. In Mississippi during the '50s, a black teenager named Emmett Louis Till, who is from Chicago and visiting his great-uncle, whistles at a white woman in public. Not too long afterward, he is kidnapped and murdered. The filmmakers revisit the public outrage that follows, revealing Till's family as being particularly brave for standing up to white racism when it was clearly unsafe to do so.

Plot Keywords: mother, civil rights activist, family member, sheriff, teenager, al sharpton, raw ...

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#4. Scottsboro: An American Tragedy (2000)

Storyline: A look at the infamous "Scottsboro Boys" case that occurred in Alabama in 1931, in which nine young black men were arrested, tried and quickly convicted in the rape of two white women, despite overwhelming evidence that showed their accusers had falsely accused them and the fact that one of the women later admitted that no rape had in fact occurred (although both had had sexual relations with their boyfriends on the day prior to the "rape"). The case was one of the first that shined a spotlight on what many called the "legal lynchings" that occurred in the South whenever blacks were accused of crimes, especially against whites and most especially against white women.—frankfob2@yahoo.com

Plot Keywords: african-american teenager, white person, prosecutor, accuser, defense attorney, disturbing, powerful ...

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#5. They Won't Forget (1937)

Storyline: A southern town is rocked by scandal when teenager Mary Clay is murdered on Confederate Decoration Day. Andrew Griffin, a small-time lawyer with political ambitions, sees the crime as his ticket to the Senate if he can find the right victim to finger for the crime. He sets out to convict Robert Hale, a transplanted northerner who was Mary's teacher at the business school where she was killed. Despite the fact that all the evidence against Hale is circumstantial, Griffin works with a ruthless reporter to create a media frenzy of prejudice and hate against the teacher.—Daniel Bubbeo <dbubbeo@cmp.com>

Plot Keywords: student, district attorney, professor, judge, governor, janitor, tense ...

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#6. Black Legion (1937)

Storyline: Frank Taylor joins the "pro-American" Black Legion when he loses his chance at foremanship to a foreign-born man. The organization is a sort of Ku Klux Klan in the industrial sphere. Frank has troubles with his wife over this and causes serious trouble when he tells all to his best friend Ed Jackson.—Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>

Plot Keywords: factory director, immigrant, wife, best friend, factory worker, disturbing, disheartening ...

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#7. Hang 'Em High (1968)

Storyline: A band of vigilantes catch Jed Cooper (Clint Eastwood) and, incorrectly believing him guilty of cattle rustling and murder, hang him, and leave him for dead. But he doesn't die. He returns to his former profession of lawman to hunt down his lynchers and bring them to justice.

Plot Keywords: marshal, judge, cattle rustler, criminal, victim, cool, dark ...

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#8. Along the Great Divide (1951)

Storyline: New Federal marshal Len Merrick saves Tim Keith from lynching at the hands of the Roden clan, and hopes to get him to Santa Loma for trial. Vindictive Ned Roden, whose son Ed was killed, still wants personal revenge and Tim would like to escape before Ned catches up with him again. Can the marshal make it across the desert with Tim and his daughter? Even if he makes it, will justice be served?—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>

Plot Keywords: us marshal, deputy, cattle rustler, cattle baron, son, amusing, charming ...

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#9. Rebel in Town (1956)

Storyline: Ex-Confederate Bedloe Mason and his four sons ride into a small Western town with robbery in mind. Hearing a suspicious "click," Wes Mason whirls and shoots dead a boy playing with a cap pistol. The Mason clan then flees but Gray Mason, feeling remorse, decides to return to the town. He winds up at the home of John and Nora Willoughby who, unknown to him, are parents of the dead boy. Nora recognizes him as one of the Confederates but keeps quiet, wishing to avoid more violence. However, when John learns of Gray's true identity, he determines to avenge his son's death.—dinky-4 of Minneapolis

Plot Keywords: robber, father, son, brother, young boy, mother, fiery ...

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#10. Thunder Over the Plains (1953)

Storyline: It's 1869, Texas has not yet been readmitted to the Union, and carpetbaggers have taken over the state. Federal Captain Porter, a Texan, has to carry out orders against his own people. He brings in the rebel leader whom he knows is innocent of the murder for which he is charged. But in trying to prove his innocence, Porter now finds he is a wanted man.—Maurice VanAuken <mvanauken@a1access.net>

Plot Keywords: lawman, politician, wife, prisoner, veteran, gutsy, tense ...

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#11. Mudhoney (1965)

Storyline: It's 1933, in the midst of the Depression and Prohibition. Calif, a stranger with a past walks into Spooner, Missouri on his way from Michigan to California. He hires on with Lute Wade to earn some travelling money, but gets entangled in a bad family situation: Lute's daughter is married to Sidney, a good-for-nothing drunk that frequents the rural equivalent of a whorehouse and beats his wife and is just waiting for Lute to kick the bucket to get his money. When Sidney and a local wacko preacher begin orchestrating a smear campaign against Calif, he finds it difficult to conceal his past and his growing affection for Sidney's wife.—Ed Sutton <esutton@mindspring.com>

Plot Keywords: drifter, beautiful woman, husband, preacher, prostitute, farmer, passionate ...

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#12. Star in the Dust (1956)

Storyline: Sheriff Jorden of Gunlock (John Agar) is planning to hang Sam Hall (Richard Boone), who shot three farmers found on cattle land, at sundown. At the casino, betting is 8 to 3 he won't make it. The cattlemen are set to rescue Sam. The farmers hope to lynch him before he can be rescued, and Hall schemes for escape with his girl Nellie Mason (Colleen Gray). But Sheriff Jorden is most concerned with finding out who hired Hall: a leading suspect is the Sheriff's future brother-in-law.—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>

Plot Keywords: sheriff, farmer, brother-in-law, fiancée, villager, suspenseful, brooding ...

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#13. Law and Order (1953)

Storyline: Having cleaned up Tombstone, marshal Frame Johnson quits after an attempted lynching, and hopes to settle down on a ranch near Cottonwood with his sweetheart Jeannie. Before he can do so, it looks like he may have to clean up Cottonwood too. But how great a sacrifice will he make for law and order?—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>

Plot Keywords: marshal, love interest, outlaw, rancher, daughter, tense, rousing ...

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#14. The Moonlighter (1953)

Storyline: In the early 1900s, Wes Anderson is arrested for night-time cattle rustling (moonlighting). He had been gone from his home town for five years, leaving his sweetheart, Rela, to wait for him. Wes' brother, Tom, has chosen a different path in life and works as a teller in a bank in Rio Hondo. Tom is in-love with Rela and he pressures her to marry him in Wes' absence. Languishing in a sheriff's jail, Wes is awaiting trial, which promises to be a fair one, at least according to the town sheriff. But an angry lynch mob of local ranchers agitate in front of the jail, swinging a hanging rope and hankering for Wes' blood. When the sheriff leaves his jail for a lunch-break, the mob breaks into the jail, grabs an imprisoned hobo by mistake and hangs him. The lynch-mob believes to have hung Wes but he is safe, in jail. After he escapes from jail, Wes vows revenge on the members of the lynch mob. During the following days, Wes raids the ranches of those who participated in the lynch mob. He burns their ranches and barns, kills their livestock and he gets into gunfights with the ranchers. Wounded during a raid, Wes runs home to his mother's house. There he heals his wounds, re-connects with his mother and brother and also meets with Rela. Wes is still in-love with her but she claims not to be interested anymore. She prefers marrying Wes' brother, Tom, who offers more security than Wes. However, when Tom looses his job at the bank, Wes lures him into a bank-robbing scheme. Angry at his former employer, Tom agrees to join his brother Wes in robbing the bank in Rio Hondo. Tom figures he could use the robbery money to marry Rela. A third man, outlaw Cole Gardner, joins the Anderson brothers in their plan. The robbery has unexpected hitches that sends the robbers into a mountain hideout. Some double-crosses occur and the sheriff's posse trails the robbers. In a last-minute twist, Rela asks the sheriff to deputize her with the rest of the posse and promises to bring the robbers to justice. Will Rela shoot the men she loves or Vice-Versa ?—nufs68

Plot Keywords: cattle rustler, brother, old flame, hobo, sheriff, rancher, fiery ...

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#15. Blazing Guns (1934)

Storyline: After Slug Raton takes Brady's horse, hat, and gun, the Sheriff arrests Grady thinking he is the outlaw. Slug's men chase them to Ricard's ranch which they burn. After Grady saves the Ricard's from their burning house, Betty Lou saves Grady from hanging at the hands of the masked vigilantes. Grady recognizes the voice of Raton among the vigilantes and now knows who to go after.—Maurice VanAuken <mvanauken@a1access.net>

Plot Keywords: cowboy, stranger, sheriff, rancher, old friend, father, melodramatic ...

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