High Noon (1952)

A marshall, personally compelled to face a returning deadly enemy, finds that his own town refuses to help him.

Director:

Fred Zinnemann

Writers:

Carl Foreman (screenplay), John W. Cunningham (magazine story "The Tin Star")

Stars:

Gary Cooper, Thomas Mitchell, Lloyd Bridges

Top 250 #150 | Won 4 Oscars. Another 12 wins & 10 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Gary Cooper	...	Marshal Will Kane
Thomas Mitchell	...	Mayor Jonas Henderson
Lloyd Bridges	...	Deputy Marshal Harvey Pell
Katy Jurado	...	Helen Ramírez
Grace Kelly	...	Amy Fowler Kane
Otto Kruger	...	Judge Percy Mettrick
Lon Chaney Jr.	...	Martin Howe (as Lon Chaney)
Harry Morgan	...	Sam Fuller (as Henry Morgan)
Ian MacDonald	...	Frank Miller
Eve McVeagh	...	Mildred Fuller
Morgan Farley	...	Dr. Mahin - Minister
Harry Shannon	...	Cooper
Lee Van Cleef	...	Jack Colby
Robert J. Wilke	...	Jim Pierce (as Robert Wilke)
Sheb Wooley	...	Ben Miller

Storyline

On the day he gets married and hangs up his badge, lawman Will Kane is told that a man he sent to prison years before, Frank Miller, is returning on the noon train to exact his revenge. Having initially decided to leave with his new spouse, Will decides he must go back and face Miller. However, when he seeks the help of the townspeople he has protected for so long, they turn their backs on him. It seems Kane may have to face Miller alone, as well as the rest of Miller's gang, who are waiting for him at the station...

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Plot Keywords:

lawman | train | revenge | wedding | outlaw | 

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Taglines:

When these hands point straight up...the excitement starts!

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Genres:

Drama | Western

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for some western violence, and smoking

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

30 July 1952 (USA)

Also Known As:

A la hora señalada

Filming Locations:

Brooks Ranch, Jamestown, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$750,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Stanley Kramer Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Fred Zinnemann wanted a hot, stark look to the film. Cinematographer Floyd Crosby achieved this by not filtering the sky and having the prints made a few points lighter than normal.

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Goofs

The position of Kane's hat during the scene where the judge is packing to leave.

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Quotes

Deputy Sheriff Herb Baker: [when Herb volunteer's to be Will's first and only Deputy Sheriff for posse, Herb remarks to Will] I'll be back in ten minutes, loaded for bear.

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Connections

Referenced in The Matrix (1999)

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Soundtracks

"Battle Hymn of the Republic"
(ca 1856) (uncredited)
Music by William Steffe
Lyrics by Julia Ward Howe (1862)
Sung by the parishioners in church

User Reviews

A Man Who Won't Run Away

For me, Will Kane embodies the American ideal of a hero: a man who stands up for what is right, even when nobody else does, even when the temptation is strong to stick the head in the sand.

Will Kane explains his outlook at the outset: there is no point in running away if that means spending the rest of your life watching your back. His best chance is to face his enemies on his home ground. At this point, he still thinks that honest folk will stand by him. The rest of the movie is a study in character: will he stand his ground when his entire world crumbles around him?

It is puzzling that Howard Hawks, John Wayne, and others thought of High Noon as un-American. I am not sure if this is because of the allegory of the McCarthy era; or the people of an American town collectively sticking their heads in the sand; or the Marshal throwing his badge to the ground in the last scene.

Clearly, the movie does not criticize McCarthyism itself. (It has nothing to say about communism, either.) It appears to criticize the people who did not stand up to McCarthy and the HUAAC, but it can equally well be seen as a comment on the appeasers who did not stand up to fascism or communism.

In any case, not too much must be made of the anti-appeasement angle, because the townsfolk is not the primary focus of the movie: the focus is on Will Kane. When the townsfolk behave like cowards, that gives Will Kane a chance to prove that he is a hero. If the town had stood by the Marshal, we would have seen, at best, an excellent Western like Rio Bravo, but not a masterpiece like High Noon. For Will Kane to be a hero, it is necessary that he stands alone.

No statement can convey the dramatic impact of Will Kane throwing his badge away, but it is worth discussing what this gesture means. For me, it means that the town and the badge were not worth fighting for. Will Kane fought for principle: he fought because he does not run away.