Pythe says > The way the film ends now it's all pretty clear cut--vigilante justice is wrong. But it's only wrong because the mob hanged the wrong men.
Vigilante justice is always wrong because it goes against the rule of law. If we all take matters into our own hands what we get is chaos and lawlessness. Do not confuse vigilant justice with self defense or acting in the defense of another person though. That has do with taking immediate and necessary action to protect life. Vigilantism has to do with retribution and that only leads to an endless cycle of retribution. Living under such a system, no one is safe.
I think the ending would have been much more challenging and thought provoking if the mob had hanged the right men.
I see what you're trying to say but your premise doesn't make any sense. Let's explore your alternate ending.
1. All things being equal, how could they have been guilty? They were accused of killing Kinkaid and stealing his cattle but neither of those things happened.
2. If they were guilty, how would the posse have known? Let's say the sheriff arrived and said the exact same thing, Kinkaid was shot, but this time the guilty party had not been caught. What proof could there have been that pointed to these guys?
3. Let's say the sheriff returns and some of the cattle had been stolen and somehow they knew these guys had stolen them but Kinkaid wasn't dead, why would they be hanged? Rustlers don't usually get death. The men even said that before heading out to the lynching: 'rustling is one thing but this is murder'.
3. Suppose the sheriff arrived and said Kinkaid was dead and some of his cattle had been stolen. The same problem remains; what proof is there that would confirm without doubt that these were the guys who'd done it? Even eyewitnesses can mistaken.
4. Had they been fairly tried in a court of law, had a chance to defend themselves, were found guilty by their peers based on evidence, and sentenced to die, that would be a different matter and a different movie. Most, if not all of the seven who were against the lynching, would have accepted that outcome.
5. What if they had killed Kinkaid in self defense or an accident? The scene involving the stagecoach shows how shots can be fired and people can get injured for all the wrong reasons. For instance, what if they were shot at first or they were shooting at someone or something else when Kinkaid got in the line of fire. These things may be harder to prove but I'm trying to point out there are a myriad of other possibilities.
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Besides the fact it's vigilante justice, the other problem with having hung the three men was the rush to judgment. As we all know, when we rush we're likely to make mistakes because we can overlook important details or fall over ourselves because we're moving too fast to avoid pitfalls.
Woman, man! That's the way it should be Tarzan. [Tarzan and his mate]
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