* AwardSnub: It received an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nomination for Best Picture...and nothing else. To this day it's the last film that has ever done such.
* EthnicScrappy: Pancho, the none-too-bright Mexican peasant.
* FairForItsDay:
** Pancho does get a moment of seriousness and solemnity when he takes Juan's confession as the only one among the posse who could understand Spanish.
** Juan is a comparatively positive portrayal of Mexicans. Although he may or may not be an outlaw on the run, he is presented as brave, noble, intelligent, and the most mature of the three accused men.
** Sparks is subservient to the white men, but is also a positive, non-stereotypical African-American character, who joins with the posse out of a desire to see the law enacted ''fairly'' and goes out of his way to comfort the three accused men, and is the first to vote against the hanging. He even gets a speech to Carter explaining how his own brother was lynched without anyone bothering to find out whether he was guilty or not. The film adds to this even more, depicting him as a preacher who comes along to pray for the men's souls, and implicitly the posse's as well.
* TearJerker: The hanging scene, especially in the film where Sparks sings "Lonesome Valley" as everyone else leaves.
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