Justice?
I agree with all the things I've read here about this having been one of the best TV movies ever made, and about it having one of the most powerfully emotional endings ever. However, the ending simply doesn't sit well with my sense of justice. I see Myrl's point about his actions having inadvertantly caused the rancher's wife to have accidentally gotten shot. However, the rancher committed perjury on the stand, lied about how it went down, lied about not having known anything about the beef between Myrl and Ballard (he was at the barn earlier when Myrl set fire to it), and got away with all his lies.
Myrl was put to death because of false testimony. I agree that he should have faced consequences for his vigilante-style antics, but not death by hanging. The punishment didn't fit the crime, and the ending outraged me! I couldn't believe no one else has commented on this! Am I the only one who feels this way?