High Noon (1952)

User Rating:

8.3/10   

Director:

Fred Zinnemann

Writers:

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

Release Date:

30 July 1952 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Western

Tagline:

Simple. Powerful. Unforgettable.

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Revenge | Wedding | Badge | 1880s | Famous Score

Awards:

Won 4 Oscars. Another 11 wins & 8 nominations

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

Also Known As:

Le train sifflera 3 fois (Belgium: French title) (France) [fr]
Zwölf Uhr mittags (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
A la hora señalada (Argentina) [es]
Al punt del migdia (Spain: Catalan title) [ca]
B'Tzohoray Ha-Yom (Israel: Hebrew title) [iw]
Délidöben (Hungary) [hu]
De trein zal drie maal fluiten (Belgium: Flemish title) [un]
Kahraman serif (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Le train sifflera trois fois (Belgium: French title) (alternative spelling) [fr]
Matar ou Morrer (Brazil) [pt]
Mezzogiorno di Fuoco (Italy) [it]
Mezzogiorno di fuoco (Italy) [it]
O Comboio Apitou Três Vezes (Portugal) [pt]
Quand le train sifflera trois fois (France) [fr]
Sheriffen (Sweden) [sv]
Sheriffen (Denmark) [da]
Sheriffi (Finland) [fi]
Solo ante el peligro (Spain) [es]
Tacno u podne (Yugoslavia: Serbian title) [sr]
To traino tha sfyrixi treis fores (Greece) [el]
V pravé poledne (Czechoslovakia) [cs]
W samo poludnie (Poland) [pl]

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Canada:G (Nova Scotia/Quebec) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Canada:G (Manitoba) | Iceland:L | South Korea:15 | Germany:12 (DVD rating) | West Germany:12 (f) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 (original rating) | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 (re-release) | Sweden:15 | UK:U | USA:Approved (PCA #15653)

Filming Locations:

Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Stanley Kramer Productions

Trivia:

As Carl Foreman's script bore certain similarities to John W. Cunningham's story "The Tin Star", producer Stanley Kramer bought the rights to Cunningham's novel to protect the production against accusations of plagiarism.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Once the showdown began, the first time Kane is fired upon by an off screen gunman, the bullet strikes the side of a barn about a foot over his left shoulder. At the same time Kane grabs his upper left arm as if he was wounded. His shirt from that point on is torn as if damaged by a bullet. The ballistics involved for that scenario just doesn't work, the bullet would have had to bounce off Kane's arm in an impossible trajectory.

Quotes:

Hotel Clerk: You're Mrs. Kane, ain't you?
Amy: Yes.
Hotel Clerk: You're leaving on the noon train?
Amy: Yes.
Hotel Clerk: But your husband ain't?
Amy: No, why?
Hotel Clerk: No reason, but it's mighty interesting. Now, me, I wouldn't leave this town at noon for all the tea in China. No, sir, it's going to be quite a sight to see!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in 'Duel': A Conversation with Director Steven Spielberg (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

High Noon

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.