Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

Gary Cooper is Will Kane, newly-married town marshal who has decided to retire and start a new life with his bride, Amy (Grace Kelly). However, Kane's past threatens to catch up with him when he learns that revenge-seeking Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald), who Kane sent to prison years before, intends to come to Hadleyville on the noon train. Though Kane is urged to leave town and avoid a confrontation with the Miller gang, he feels obligated to protect Hadleyville. Kane has a surprise in store, though. When he asks for help, he has no takers among the townspeople who had been so generous with encouragement in past years. His deputy (a young Lloyd Bridges) and the former marshal (Lon Chaney, Jr.) fail him, having no interest in risking their lives for a town that will not even try to defend itself. Even Kane's new wife, herself a pacifist, abandons him when she cannot convince him to leave town. Although he is totally betrayed and fearful, Kane feels it his duty to protect the town, even if he must fight alone. As the clock nears "high noon", Will prepares for the showdown.

Gary Cooper gives a stellar performance in this classic 1952 Western. Cooper plays Kane in his typical tight-lipped manner, not wasting words, but still revealing a very complex character. Grace Kelly as Amy serves as the requisite "lady" in the film, as a counter to Katy Jurado's Helen Ramirez, Kane's mistress before his marriage. Kelly's character does not have a dynamic role in the film but is the "big name" co-star that a film of this magnitude required.

Director Fred Zinneman makes masterful use of several devices to heighten the tense and suspenseful mood of the 85-minute-long film. His use of a realtime aspect to the movie action is one such device. The action of the film corresponds to the actual time frame of the plot--minute by minute. Another effective tension-building device is the song Do Not Forsake Me O My Darlin', sung by Tex Ritter and played repeatedly as the film reaches its conclusion. Possibly the strongest tension builder was the strategy of constant camera cuts to a ticking clock.

High Noon is notable especially for its complicated psychological themes not normally seen in traditional westerns. There was also a great deal of action taking place behind the scenes during the making of the film. Filmed during the time of the Hollywood Blacklisting, High Noon was a collaboration from both sides of the issue. Screenwriter Carl Foreman was a Communist sympathizer whose blacklisting Cooper managed to postpone until the end of filming. Cooper himself was a staunch anti-Communist, Tex Ritter had strong Republican leanings, Stanley Kramer was an avowed liberal and Lloyd Bridges and Howland Chamberlain both were blacklisted. John Wayne, a strong political right-winger, assessed the film as the most "un-American" movie he had ever seen. Not only was he displeased with the political composition of the film's staff, but having a plot in which a marshal would solicit help from people in the town (as Kane does in the film) repulsed him.

Although Will Kane is victorious in the shootout with the Miller gang (helped somewhat by Kelly as she returns to his side), he remains disillusioned and disgusted by the townspeople's cowardice. Preparing to leave for the last time, he throws his tin star into the dust and rides away, as the shamed townspeople silently look on. High Noon marked the first of the "serious" westerns--films which dealt with deeper human issues and complex character development. The film won four Academy Awards, including a much-deserved Best Actor award for Gary Cooper. For any fan of classic films, Gary Cooper or Westerns, High Noon is a must-see.

Recommended: Yes

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