Summary
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End of the Rope
sheds light on North Dakota’s last lynching in a tense Western thriller that historians of that specific place and era have lauded. - The film follows the growing anger after the disappearance of a farm family, which remains a disturbing mystery.
- Directed by Charlie Griak, with Joseph Gray as Sheriff Jacobson, this film intertwines the dusty cowboy aesthetics of Westerns with a relevant history lesson.
“In the early morning hours of January 29, 1931, a mob broke into the small stone jail at Schafer, North Dakota, and seized Charles Bannon. The mob hanged Bannon from a nearby bridge. It was North Dakota’s last lynching,” reads Mike Hagburg’s piece on the history of North Dakota courts. The story is now being told in the tense Western thriller, End of the Rope, which will be released on demand and on digital platforms May 17. It’s a dusty, gritty film wich a runtime of nearly two hours and 20 minutes. You can watch the trailer for the film above, and check out a clip and more information below.
Directed by Charlie Griak (A Heart Like Water, Nina of the Woods), End of the Rope stars Joseph Gray (Princess Cut, Chasing Grace) as CA Jacobson, the Sheriff of Schafer, North Dakota. Jacobson and States Attorney Sam Taylor (Chris Bylsma) are trying to find out what happened to the Havens, a farm family that mysteriously disappeared. When accusations turn to the Haven’s troubled farmhand, Charles Bannon, the two not only have to solve a potential murder but try to hold a whole town together that seems dangerously set on vengeance. It’s a timely story of mob justice and civil unrest as a town turns against itself in its attempt to implement justice. Check out a clip below:
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A Western Brings to Life the Bannon Case of 1931
The disappearance of the Havens remains a disturbing mystery to this day. According to Hagburg:
“The Haven family lived on a farm about a mile north of Schafer, a village east of Watford City. The family had five members: Albert, 50, Lulia, 39, Daniel, 18, Leland, 14, Charles, two, and Mary, two months old. As of February 1930, the family had lived on their farm more than 10 years […] No member of the family was seen alive after February 9, 1930.”
End of the Rope draws from a book of the same name, written by McKenzie County attorney Dennis Johnson, who actually appeared as an extra in the film before passing away. Marvin Baker of Northern Sentry writes, “This movie, which has a lot of similarities to 1923 and Yellowstone, is a must see. It’s old west clashing with modern day and sheds a lot of light on an otherwise weird mystery from nearly 100 years ago in western North Dakota.”
Catch End of the Rope on demand and digital platforms like YouTube, Apple TV, and Prime Video when it released on May 17, 2024.
