High Noon (1952)

High Noon
Directed by Fred Zinnemann
Written by Carl Foreman from the magazine story “The Tin Star” by John W. Cunningham
1952/USA
Stanley Kramer Productions
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
#260 of 1001 Moview You Must See Before You Die

[box] Judge: This is just a dirty little village in the middle of nowhere. Nothing that happens here is really important.[/box]

There is not a single thing I would change about this classic.

The story takes place in real time in a small town in the Old West.  It is the wedding day of Marshall Will Kane (Gary Cooper) and Amy Fowler (Grace Kelly).  The bride is a Quaker and has inspired Kane to turn in his badge and become a shopkeeper.  They are about to depart on their honeymoon when the town learns that Frank Miller has been pardoned from his murder sentence.  Kane apprehended Miller, who formerly ran their town, and he has sworn vengeance.  He is expected on the noon train and three members of his gang are already waiting at the train station to meet him.  All Kane’s friends advise him to get out of town as soon as possible and he begins to before deciding that he cannot abandon the town or keep on the run from the insane Miller for the rest of his life.

Kane is severely tested.  First, Amy demands that they leave and avoid violence.  When Kane refuses she simply walks out on him.  Then his jealous deputy Harvey Pell (Lloyd Bridges) demands that his support for the Marshall job and also abandons him when Kane refuses.  Finally, the time ticks down while all the townsfolk who had been so grateful to Kane for restoring law on order find one reason or another for refusing to help him by joining a volunteer posse. Kane stays strong and the movie ends with a showdown between him and the Miller gang. With Katy Jurado in a strong performance as the former girlfriend of Miller, Kane and Pell, Lee Van Cleef in his film debut as a member of the Miller gang, and Lon Chaney Jr, Harry Morgan, Thomas Mitchell, and Otto Krueger as pillars of the community.

I watched the Blu-Ray edition of this film and never has the sparse cinematography looked so beautiful to me.  I’ve loved this movie for as long as I have had an interest in classic movies and it never disappoints.  I love it in its talky moments and during the action sequences.  The acting is absolutely first rate, the writing is powerful, and this is one of my favorite movie scores.  Surely a must see.

The Blu-Ray I rented had a good “making of” documentary with Leonard Maltin featuring interviews with a great many of the principals, including Zinnemann, producer Kramer, Cooper, and Bridges.  I had not know prior to watching it that this was Bridges’s last major film prior to being blacklisted for several years.  He continued to work in B movies and in television.

High Noon won Academy Awards in the categories of Best Actor, Best Film Editing, Best Music, Original Song (“High Noon ‘Do Not Foresake Me, Oh My Darlin'”) and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic of Comedy Picture.  It was nominated in the categories of Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Writing, Screenplay.

Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5an9OuXKxBw

Clip – The Ballad of High Noon (opening credits)