High Noon

Rating:
Summary: Great, great movie
Review: Quite realistic. The one brave enough to stop Frank Miller from taking over the town again cannot get any help from the people he's saving. Even his friends hide in thier houses and pretend they aren't there. Cowards! Very good. Supposed to be a mediphore for the McCarthy era. Wouldn't have caught that until somebody told me.

Rating:
Summary: A Film Masterpiece
Review: "High Noon" is simply one of the greatest films of all time. The screenwriting, acting, directing, and editing are all of superior quality. I think this is Gary Cooper's finest performance, filled with depth and feeling. This is a story of good vs evil, of doing the right thing vs cowardice. Grace Kelly's character--his newlywed wife--does not understand him or his risking his life in a stand against evil but his former mistress, played by Katy Jurado in a fine performance, does understand why Kane must do it. One by one the support of the townspeople fade away as the noon hour approaches...the tension builds to an incredible level as the clock ticks away. An extraordinary film.

Rating:
Summary: 1952's version of an indie film
Review: 1952's High Noon is considered by many to be the first "adult" Western. A Western that finally addressed bigger subjects than simple good vs. evil, white vs. black.

Marshal Will Kane (Gary Cooper) has just married a Quaker named Amy (Fowler) Kane (Grace Kelly) and is giving up his post as Marshall in Hadleyville to appease his pacifist wife. Just as he's hung up his gun and star, the news comes that Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald), a man the Marshall had sent away 5 years ago, has been paroled and is on his way back on the Noon train to make good on his threat of revenge against Kane.

Kane's first impulse is to grab Amy and run from the town, but his sense of obligation kicks in and he heads back to Hadleyville with the intention of forming a posse to confront Miller and his gang. Upon getting back to town, Amy informs Will that she will have no part of this and is leaving on the train if he is going to do this. He says he has no choice, and heads out to get the help of the townspeople.

What follows is a tension filled hour where citizen after citizen informs Kane that they would like to help, but..... After years of service to the town, after being told repeatedly how he made the town safe, the town deserts him in his moment of need.

This is an unsettling film in that it shows how the majority of men will talk a good game, but don't ever ask them to actually do anything. Even Amy is a victim of this as she proclaims her peaceful ways for the entire movie, but in the end, even she has no choice but to go against the game she talks.

Fred Zinnemann crafts as fine an amount of tension as I have ever seen. The lingering shots of clocks, showing Kane's time ticking away. The silent moments of staring down the straight train tracks, knowing that soon they will bring violence. The gut wrenching moment when the train whistle blows, filling you with a mix of dread and relief that the anticipation has ended. All of these deliver the desired emotional responses, which is not always an easy task for a filmmaker. And the idea that this was shown in close to real time must have been a jaw dropper of an idea back in the 1950's.

At times this almost feels like a modern day indie film. The use of visuals is in unusual for a movie of this time period. the concept of playing out over real time and the amount of symbolism is astonishing. Pay close attention to how Cooper treats his Marshal badge when he first hangs it up to the end of the film, and you will witness a truly gorgeous example of a nuanced performance.

The DVD itself has two nice little documentaries about the production of the film. If you watch closely, you can also catch Leonard Maltin in an amusing slip of facts. He states that Gary Cooper won his only Oscar for this film...um...Leonard...Cooper won 2 Oscar's, this was #2. Amusing when you consider what an expert on films he is supposed to be. I would have liked to have seen one or two more extras, but overall, a nice package.

4 out of 5 stars for the film
3 out of 5 stars for the DVD

Rating:
Summary: Buy This Movie And Save It For Your Grandchildren!
Review: In "High Noon," Gary Cooper personifies the principles that caused America to become a great nation: duty, courage, honor, and the the uncompromised belief that truth and justice are precious enough to die for if need be. "High Noon" says in effect: these are the things that REALLY matter in life. How desperately America's youth needs to be instructed in these principles, how tragic it is that they are not. That is why I said, "Buy This Movie And Save It For Your Grandchildren!" High Noon is timeless. It is one of the very best motion pictures of all time!

Rating:
Summary: The classical film that was the first Adult Western
Review: "High Noon" is the film that has been screened most often at the White House for the President of the United States. Given that this is the story of a man who stands up to considerable opposition to do the right thing, even when he is abandoned by everyone who should be rushing to his side, the idea that this is a perennial Presidential favorite is rather reassuring (as opposed to the legend of Richard Nixon watching "Patton" before deciding to invade Cambodia). You can imagine that "High Noon" has been screened at the White House once or twice in the last three years.

Regardless of any impact on America's political and military history, "High Noon" is a seminal film in the genre of Western movies. Until 1952 Hollywood was producing what we would know call the traditional western, where the good guy in the white hat defeats the bad guy in the black hat. In this format we not only followed the adventures of the Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers, and Hopalopng Cassidy, but we also knew the names of their horses (Silver, Trigger, and Topper, respectively). However, with "High Noon" (and "Shane" the following year), we had the creation of the Adult Western, which introduced the notion of moral doubt and had a hero that was going to end up kissing a woman rather than his horse. In these westerns the hero remains the moral leader of the community, but now he can make mistakes, although they are rarely fatal errors. Ironically, the hero's flawed character actually makes him even more heroic, because he has to struggle against himself as well as against the bad guys.

Director Fred Zinnemann's film contains the same elements as the Traditional Western, but with significant differences. Will Kane (Gary Cooper) is the moral lawman who protects the town of Hadleyville, but he is about to marry Amy Fowler (Grace Kelly), a Quaker who insists that he give up his job as the marshal of his western town. There is the big gunfight with the bad guys, but it takes place at the climax of the film. Except for one brief fistfight, this is much more of a psychological drama than an action film until the final scene. But the suspense of the film, especially as the clock is ticking down to twelve, becomes quite intense, helped by Elmo Williams' editing. There is a sense in which the final gunfight is almost anti-climatic, because whether Will Kane lives or dies he has made his main point. But the gunfight is also subversively different, because it is not played out in the main street of town but in the barns and back alleys, more like guerilla warfare than the traditional mano-e-mano contest.

Less than two hours after the wedding, convicted murderer Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald) is arriving on the noon train. Miller is coming to town to kill Kane, the man who sent him to prison, and a trio of his henchmen are waiting for their boss at the station. Everyone in town, the mayor (Thomas Mitchell), the judge (Otto Kurger), and even the former marshal (Lon Chaney), all want Kane to run away. His deputy (Lloyd Bridges) deserts him and even when Kane goes to a church to ask for help he is turned down. His new wife will leave him and he will have to stand by himself against Miller and his gang, but Kane cannot run away. The quintessential camera shot in "High Noon" is when Kane is standing alone in the street. Cinematographer Floyd Crosby (who had won an Oscar in 1931 for "Tabu"), begins with a close up of Kane, sweat streaming down his face, and his hand shaking; then the camera pulls back on a crane shot to show the marshal standing all alone in the deserted street of his town.

Cooper deservedly won his second Oscar for this role and the fact that it Gary Cooper that was up there on the silver screen showing that he was afraid made all the difference in the world. Will Kane was afraid, but he went ahead and did his job. For audiences raised on westerns up to that time it was a shocking idea, although those who had fought in World War II could probably identify with the notion. "High Noon" redefines the notion of heroism in an important way. A man can be afraid, and still act bravely. It is, in simple terms, a more adult conception of heroism. This movie is also the "24" of its time, taking place pretty much in real time. The wedding happens after 10 and all the clocks we see throughout the film ticking down to noon are in the ballpark, although I admit I have never timed them. This is just a landmark film on so many levels. For example, "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh, My Darlin'" was the first song from a non-musical film to ever win the Oscar for Best Original Song.

There are lots of stories that have sprung up about "High Noon." There are those who read "High Noon" as an allegory regarding those who stood up to the House Un-American Activities Committee during the McCarthy era and refused to cooperate with their blacklisting efforts. Screenwriter Carl Foreman, cinematographer Floyd Crosby, and actor Lloyd Bridges were all blacklisted shortly after this film came out, which gives credence to the allegory idea although it would constitute more of a prediction. Then there is the story that John Wayne declared the film to be "Un-American," but then he picked up Cooper's Oscar for him at the Academy Awards the next year and apparently complained that he had not been offered the part (which actually had been offered to Gregory Peck first). I am not sure that Wayne could have pulled it off, though it would have been interesting to see him try. Jimmy Stewart did a similar role opposite the Duke in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance."