Classic Movie Review: High Noon
By Clint Chirpich
January 21, 2016
BoxOfficeProphets.com
One of the first westerns I decided to watch in my quest to broaden my knowledge of the genre was High Noon, the 1952 classic from director Fred Zinnemann and writer Carl Foreman. This is a unique film in many ways, from the themes depicted to the film-making style used.
Gary Cooper plays Hadleyville Marshal Will Kane, who we meet on his wedding day as the ceremony is taking place. He's just wed the beautiful Quaker pacifist Amy Fowler (Grace Kelly) and is turning in his badge so they can leave town and start a new, peaceful life together. Kane learns that Frank Miller - a man Kane captured and sent to be hanged - has been released from prison on a technicality and is on his way, along with his gang of cohorts, back to Hadleyville to seek revenge on the marshal. Miller will arrive on the noon train.
Kane has two options - stay and fight Miller and his gang or leave town as planned. Of course, since Kane is an honorable and proud man, he chooses to stay and stand up against the outlaws. Fowler is upset, with good cause, and threatens to leave with or without him, but Kane doesn't change his mind. He can't bear the thought of Miller running amok through Hadleyville. For most of the film, Kane proceeds to look for help from the townspeople, hoping to deputize as many as possible in order to fight off Miller when the time comes. He runs into problems, though, as most of the people aren't interested in helping him, for various reasons.
High Noon plays out almost in real time. Kane learns of Miller's impending arrival at 10:40 a.m., so he has an hour and 20 minutes to prepare, and the film runs about 65 minutes before the train arrives and Miller is revealed. This film-making choice is interesting and effective as it results in the tension and suspense being ratcheted up each time Kane glances at a clock or at his pocket watch. The audience knows that something terrible is going to happen when the train comes in, and we get to experience the lapse of time right alongside Kane.
There's not a lot of traditional action in High Noon, or at least certainly nowhere near as much as most westerns. When it comes, though, the action is handled extremely well. There's one fist fight and then the climatic shootout. Both scenes are photographed and choreographed in an excellent fashion - they pull you in and keep you engaged. What really intrigued me, though, was the psychological action that fills most of the film. As I said before, Kane spends most of the time speaking with people, trying to get them to join him. Each conversation is like a mental brawl, with Kane fighting for his life. It's excellent stuff, thanks to the writing and performances.
Cooper, who won the Best Actor Academy Award for the role, is simply magnificent. His tired and weathered face shows a lifetime of hard work and worry - you can tell just by looking at him that he's paid his dues and deserves some comfort in life, even if he's reticent to actually retire. Cooper perfectly nails not only the rough and tumble nature of a lawman in the Old West, but also the sweet and civilized side of Kane - the side that wants to make and keep his new bride happy. Also, Cooper just looks so cool in the role. Kane has to be one of the coolest movie characters I've ever seen and the shot of Cooper walking down the deserted street in that glorious black and white photography is one of the most iconic images in the entire western genre.
While Cooper dominates nearly the entire film, he's surrounded by a stellar supporting cast. Grace Kelly may be the most beautiful woman to ever grace the silver screen, but she was also a talented actress. High Noon was one of her very first film roles and she plays the part with elegance and just the right mixture of emotion and iron will. Fowler isn't one to mess around - she knows what she wants and won't settle for any less - and yet Kelly allows you to see the scared young woman hiding just under the surface.
Lloyd Bridges adds a charm and macho attitude to the film as Deputy Marshal Harvey Pell. Bridges was always a charismatic actor, and his scenes with Cooper are excellent. The pace of the film is tremendous, so I wouldn't want to mess with that at all, but I could have watched much more of Bridges' work; he was so good.
The last major supporting player is Katy Jurado, who plays Helen Ramirez, a woman who used to be romantically linked to Miller and then Kane, but is now involved with Pell. She's a very interesting character and I can't imagine there were many like her in the early 1950s. Jurado's performance is full of smoldering passion and barely hidden subtext - she's promiscuous, but not ashamed of her past, and is even able to help the slightly repressed Fowler in her time of need.
The rest of the cast is filled out with some notable names in some very small parts. Thomas Mitchell, Lon Chaney Jr., Harry Morgan, Otto Kruger, and Lee Van Cleef (in his film debut) all significantly add to the film's appeal, even though they don't have a lot of screen time.
The one member of the cast who just didn't do much for me was Ian MacDonald as Frank Miller. Miller's character is so talked about and built up during the first hour or so of the film that I was really expecting a more menacing figure to step off that train. MacDonald didn't seem to bring much to the role - he was just there. If I had the power to recast that role, I would have gone with someone like Jack Palance, Lee Marvin or Charles Bronson - someone with a little edge and swagger to make the villain more memorable.
The script by Foreman is tight and well written. There doesn't seem to be a wasted bit of dialogue, as each line either moves the story forward or reveals something important about the characters. It's Screenwriting 101 type stuff, but it's amazing how much time most scripts waste. I fully believe that High Noon should be held up as one of the best scripts for young writers to learn from, right up there with Chinatown, Casablanca, Rocky, and Tootsie - screenplays that are all taught at colleges and workshops around the country.
High Noon encountered a lot of controversy when it was first released, mostly due to the fact Foreman had once been a member of the Communist party and had refused to name names during the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings. Many people see High Noon as allegory, with the townspeople standing in for citizens of the United States - people who were too scared to stand up and fight against the HUAC. John Wayne, the most popular actor of the time, was offered the lead role, but turned it down, saying he thought High Noon was "the most un-American thing I've seen in my whole life." He later regretted passing on the role, though, when Cooper took home the Best Actor trophy.
It's interesting to note that over time, both sides of the political spectrum grew to appreciate High Noon, and several United States presidents (Eisenhower, Reagan, and Clinton) considered it one of their favorite films of all-time.
I have very few problems with the film, but one major component really rubs me the wrong way. High Noon's score and soundtrack (featuring the same song repeated throughout) was just awful. I thought the score was heavy handed and obvious, underscoring moments that didn't need to be highlighted, and the song ("High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin')" performed by Tex Ritter) was silly, corny, and way too overused. It played in its entirety during the opening credits, but then snippets of it played repeatedly and it even closed out the film, slightly marring one of my favorite film endings (which I don't want to spoil here). My reaction to the song went from mild annoyance to disgust by the time the film concluded. Of course, this could just be a personal preference situation since the score and song both won Academy Awards, so quite a few people must have loved it. I can't understand why, but it happened.
Luckily, the music is the only sizable blemish on an otherwise stellar film and I agree with many of the accolades that High Noon has received since its debut. In addition to winning Best Actor, Score, and Song at the Academy Awards, High Noon was also deservedly awarded Best Editing and was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay. Throughout the years, it has ranked high on several different American Film Institute lists, including Top Movies (#27), Top Thrills (#20), Top Heroes (Kane at #5), and Top Westerns (#2, only trailing The Searchers). All this adds up to a film that has been lovingly adored for more than 50 years, and I'm sure it will continue to be loved far into the future.