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High Noon
USA 1952
produced by
Stanley Kramer for Stanley Kramer Productions/United Artists
directed by Fred Zinnemann
starring Gary Cooper, Thomas Mitchell, Lloyd Bridges, Katy Jurado, Grace Kelly, Otto Kruger, Lon Chaney jr, Harry Morgan, Ian MacDonald, Eve McVeagh, Morgan Farley, Harry Shannon, Lee Van Cleef, Robert J. Wilke, Sheb Wooley, James Millican, Guy Beach, Jeanne Blackford, Larry J. Blake, Howland Chamberlain, Virginia Christine, Cliff Clark, John Doucette, Paul Dubov, Jack Elam, Dick Elliott, Virginia Farmer, Tim Graham, Tom Greenway, Harry Harvey, Nolan Leary, Tom London, Merrill McCormick, William Newell, William 'Bill' Phillips, Lucien Prival, Ralph Reed, Ted Stanhope, Slim Talbot
screenplay by Carl Foreman, based on the story The Tin Star by John W. Cunningham, music by Dimitri Tiomkin, song performed by Tex Ritter
review by
Mike Haberfelner
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The Old West: It should have been the perfect ending to a successful
career as a lawman: Marshall Will Kane (Gary Cooper) marries the prettiest
girl in town, Amy Fowler (Grace Kelly), and then they skip town to start
somewhere else afresh, running a hardware story, while the townspeople
know Kane has left the place a haven of law and order. But the wedding's
not even over yet when word reaches Kane that Frank Miller (Ian
MacDonald), a homicidal outlaw Kane has hoped to have put away for good,
has been released from prison, and his gangmembers Colby (Lee Van Cleef),
Pierce (Robert J. Wilke), and his brother Ben (Sheb Wooley) are already
awaiting him at the train station as he's due to arrive with the 12
o'clock train. And everybody knows, Frank will have vengeance on his mind,
vengeance directed at Kane. At first, Kane plans to skip town with Amy,
like he originally intended to, but his conscience weighs just too heavy
on him, and he decides to stay to guard the city, even if Amy threatens to
leave him, and buys herself a ticket on the train that Frank Miller is to
arrive with to that effect. Initially, Kane thinks driving Miller out of
town won't be a big thing, all it needs is a posse to impress him and his
gang by sheer numbers. But wherever Kane turns for support, doors are
closing on him, be it the saloon or the church, and even his two deputies
bail on him, one (James Millican) out of cowardice, the other, Harv (Lloyd
Bridges) out of ill-directed jealousy, as does his old mentor, the former
Marshall (Lon Chaney jr - in real life 5 years Cooper's junior).
Meanwhile, Amy meets Kane's old flame, Helen Ramirez (Katy Jurado) -
incidently the source of Harv's jealousy -, and she opens her eyes about
what kind of a man Kane is, so much so that she ultimately does not board
the train to leave. Shooting it out with Miller and company, Kane holds
his own fairly well, but it's not long before he's weighed down by their
numbers, and he would have walked into an ambush if it wasn't for Amy,
against her nature and all her beliefs, would have picked up a gun and
shot one of the Miller gangmembers. Miller eventually takes Amy hostage,
but when she fights back, that's all the distraction Kane needs to move in
for the final kill. With the streets cleaned, the locals flock out to
celebrate "their" hero, but he just throws his tin star into the
dirt and leaves in disgust with Amy. A success at the box
office back in the day and awarded with 4 Oscars as well as 4 Golden
Globes back when, this movie's popularity has only grown over the years,
and today High Noon is known as one of the most iconic westerns of
all time - even if on closer inspection, the film is all but your typical
western and more of a parable on human nature and especially cowardice,
and of course back in the day it could be understood as an allegory for
McCarthyism and the resulting Hollywood-blacklisting. But the film works
even without these reference points as it feels real, Gary Cooper in one
of his finest performances, makes the desparation of his character
palpable, as do the other characters in their sometimes not so noble
attitudes - down to the finale that defies genre convention by giving the
leading lady a very active role. In all, a deserved classic for sure.
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