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High Noon - 60th Anniversary Edition
Think you know westerns? If you haven’t seen High Noon, then you are two boots short of a genuine cowboy outfit. In 1952, this “little” film defied the genre and saved all its bullet-slinging action for the final few moments. And what of the rest of the film? It’s all suspense and every last bead of perspiration on Gary Cooper’s face is felt as he tries to assemble a few decent men to protect the town from the notorious Frank Miller. Winner of four Academy Awards and considered by many to be the greatest American film ever made, High Noon has finally arrived on blu-ray.
High Noon, at its heart, is a universal morality play that at times is better than anything Shakespeare ever penned. Screenwriter Carl Foreman positions Will Kane (Cooper), the longtime marshal of Hadleyville, New Mexico Territory against recently released Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald) in a violent showdown. Trouble is, Kane can’t seem to rely on anyone to help him face Miller and his gang. His deputy, Harvey Pell (Lloyd Bridges), resigns. His friends and associates, Sam Fuller (Harry Morgan) and Judge Percy Mettrick (Otto Kruger), refuse the call and even his mentor Martin Howe (Lon Chaney, Jr) backs away. His new wife, Amy (Grace Kelley), confused by his past association with Helen Ramírez (Katy Jurado), chooses the train over staying by his side…at first.
Kane is a man alone. Protecting the town is his duty.
Picketed by everyone from the Klu Klux Klan to the All American Activities Committee upon its release, High Noon – due to the screenwriter’s classification as an "uncooperative witness" by the House of Un-American Activities Committee during the Red Scare – quickly was cast out of favor. Even John Wayne hated the film. Director Howard Hawks disliked the film so much he made Rio Bravo with the Duke as a rebuttle to it. Believe it or not, High Noon was that politically received and polarizing.
Nowadays, we simply call it a classic.
Of course, director Fred Zinnemann never intended the Cold War era politics to weigh down the picture. This is a movie about one man’s moral consciousness. Is that truly an unamerican act? Of course not. Latching on to the static image of a cracked railroad, Zinnemann (a relative King among B-movie makers) goes about breaking up the formulaic western genre with an innovative visual punch that matches script to screen time as High Noon ticks its way toward its confrontational showdown.
And not a nuance is missed. Realistic details are pushed forward. Any notions of a picturesque western are shoved aside; the normal cloud-filled skies are stripped of any appeal and there’s only a vast emptiness looking over the happenings. Hadleyville is not a town you want to be in, near, or from. It’s a town you want to avoid.
Cooper might have had no formal training in acting, but that never stopped him from becoming one of our most beloved actors. His performance here is quiet, sure and never melodramatic; he’s a natural. Other actors tend to look as if they are overacting in the scenes they share with him. His lines simply roll out with such snapping precision - much like the quick and fabulous editing job done by Elmo Williams and Harry W. Gerstad. All of which were rewarded for their efforts by the Academy when awards season came about. For Cooper, it would be his one and only Academy Award.
High Noon is a tightly wound film that never loses focus on the duties of the individual and his conflict of conscience. Just as Tex Ritter (the father of the late John Ritter) sings, “Do Not Forsake Me, O My Darlin'”, neither should you ignore this film. It’s a classic and, as a classic, it deserves a new audience each and every year.
MPAA Rating: This film has not been rated by the MPAA.
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