As some of you already know, I am a sucker for old films. Therefore, it is not uncommon for me (yes, a 17-year old adolescent) to write about films from well before the 1980s. Whenever I have the time, I either look in shops or look through my dad's collection of films to see if he has any old films that I would be interested in watching. One day, when I was looking through my dad's collection of films, I managed to find a copy of High Noon in his collection of films (much to my surprise).

High Noon is probably known as the best Western of all-time. Despite winning 4 awards and being heralded as the frontrunner of the Best Picture award in 1952, it was shocking that the film lost to Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show On Earth (the reason the film lost could mainly be due to the fact that it was a Western and that the Motion Picture Academy never really had much respect for Westerns and felt that the film had a left-wing, Communist nature to the film, which led to uproar, because Communists were being blacklisted at that time; also people felt that De Mille deserved the award, after all the work he did during the earlier part of his film career). The film did, however, run off with 4 awards for Best Actor (Gary Cooper), Best Film Editing, Best Song and Best Dramatic Score, and despite the fact it did not win Best Picture, it is probably one of the most well-known films of the 1950s. I have to say, it is not hard to see why the film is revered as one of the best 50s films of all-time. However, before I do start praising the film, let’s start off with the plot.

Will Kane (Gary Cooper) is the marshal of Hadleyville, and has just married Amy (Grace Kelly), and they are about to go off to retire in a ranch. However, problems arise for Kane when he finds out an ex-convict, Frank Miller (Ian McDonald), is on his way back to the town (along with other fellow outlaws) on the noon train. He wants to seek revenge, after Kane sent him to prison. Although Kane knows about Miller’s return, the fellow members of his community, led by the ex-sheriff (Lon Chaney Jr.) and his best friend, Jonas Henderson (Thomas Mitchell), try to send him away as quickly as possible.

They do manage to send him away from the danger of facing Miller, but Kane, as the marshal of the town and for being the very reason Miller came back to town, believes that it is only right for him to go back to fight against Miller and his gang, so he turns around and returns to Hadleyville to settle the matter between him and Miller.

However, in order to face Miller and his gang, Kane has to find deputies to help him fight against these thugs. However, more problems arise for Kane, in that not only does his newly-wedded wife, a Quaker, turn against him, his deputy sheriff (Lloyd Bridges), ex-mistress (Katy Jurado), best friend and the ex-sheriff all turn against him as well. As a result, Kane is resigned to his fate, and prepares to face up to these guys by himself. With the whole town against him, Kane is anxious and realizes that if he faces these guys, he will stand no chance against them.

I won’t tell you anymore of the plot. But I will say that the scene where the noon train does arrive is a classic scene. As Kane writes his will before the showdown, the clock strikes 12 and the orchestra comes in with a very dramatic score and as the train arrives, the camera keeps cutting between the looks on the faces of the Hadleyville community to the big grandfather clock in Kane’s office, which shows that it has reached 12. The music gets crescendos, until you finally hear the train tooting its way to Hadleyville. At this point, you are sat frozen in your seat, anxiously waiting to see what happens. The editing during this scene and the dramatic nature of the orchestral score here will just blow you away!

Another major plus for this film is the fact that the film runs in real-time. The film is about 85 minutes long, and the events in the film actually take place within that time frame. Looking at the editing of the film, it must have been quite a daunting task for the editor to actually edit the film, so that everything in the film does take place within the 85 minutes allotted (the film starts at about 10:40a.m. in the film and ends at about 12 noon). Again, I must emphasize. To be able to edit everything into 85 minutes is an amazing feat, and it is not hard to see why the film won the award for Best Editing.

I like the way the film emphasizes on the idea that under any circumstance, one should always ensure that he is remembered by his reputation. Kane clearly shows that throughout the film that he is not a cowardly person, which is the main reason why he has come back to his town to fight Miller and his gang. Even when the town turns against him, Kane makes sure that his reputation is not controlled by the members of the community, and even if he does die in the imminent gunfight, his reputation remains with him at all times. This was repeated over and over again throughout the film, and I thought that by sticking to this theme, it can be said that this is another pro of this film.

The music used in this film is great as well. I particularly loved the way the tune, Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling was used throughout the film. The fact that the lyrics talk about Frank Miller always ensures that we are constantly worrying about Miller and his gang and by repeating the song over and over again throughout the film, it is bound to give you a few goosebumps. I also particularly liked the score used during the “noon-train” scene. The dramatic tension that increases as the music crescendos is always thrilling to any movie watcher.

Another major plus about this film is the acting from Gary Cooper. Cooper is superb as Marshal Kane. He shows very little emotion throughout the film, and even when the heat is on, the calm look on Cooper’s face shows that he is not ruffled by anything in his way. Even when Cooper is walking down the middle of a sandy road in Hadleyville, his posture makes him look extremely intimidating. He even delivers his line in the typical gruffness you would expect from any sheriff in a Western film would, and with all this in mind, it is not hard to see why Cooper won the award for this film (the production crew were actually worried that Cooper was not fit enough to play the role of Kane, because of his ill, fragile condition). Despite Cooper’s amazing performance, Grace Kelly is nowhere near as good as Cooper was. However, this could be due to the fact that Kelly did not have much to work with from her character (she is a Quaker and that’s about it). The other actors in the film, among them Bridges and Chaney, also deliver sound supporting performances throughout the film, most notably Chaney as the ex-sheriff, whose performance is delivered with the wisdom and straightforwardness the character needed. All in all, the acting was very good and this film would be responsible for bringing Grace Kelly and Katy Jurado (for a short while) into fame.

Fred Zinnemann’s direction is nothing short of spectacular! Because of the short timeframe he had to work in, he could not afford to waste any film. And it is clear that in this film, he did not waste any! The pacing of the film was perfect, and through the editing and music, Zinnemann was able to create a film that was thrilling from beginning to end, which is something that is rare for any director to do. Great work from Zinnemann here, who I believe should have won the Best Director award for this film.

However, despite Zinnemann’s superb direction, I feel the ending was a bit too contrived and a bit too melodramatic. The plot twist at this point in the film, although unexpected, was so unrealistic that it seemed ridiculous and was merely done for dramatic effect. But then again, this would not make the film exciting, so I suppose they need the twist at that point in the film.

High Noon is a classic Western film, and I would highly recommend this film to anyone who likes Western films or is a fan of films from before the 1970s.

Thanks for reading the review.


Recommended:
Yes