High Noon (1952)
Written by Carl Foreman
Directed by Fred Zinnemann
1998 List Ranking: 33
2007 List Ranking: 27
To get right to the point, the moment I saw the title of this film, I groaned. Another western, I thought. Feeling at least blessed by its 85 minute runtime, I settled in for an unenjoyable viewing experience. I found myself surprised, however, that I ended up enjoying the film more than I suspected I would. I still wouldn’t say I’m a HUGE fan of it (it IS still a western, after all), but High Noon was more interesting and better paced than some of the other westerns I’ve come across on these lists.
Gary Cooper as Will Kane
High Noon focuses on a newly-former marshal, Will Kane (Gary Cooper), who, immediately after marrying his bride Amy (a pre-princess Grace Kelly), discovers that an outlaw he helped put away has been released and is returning to the town via train (scheduled to arrive at noon) to exact revenge. Despite his new wife’s pleas, Kane tries to rally support and backup to take on the outlaw and his partners, but is spurned at every turn. At the stroke of noon, Kane, abandoned and alone, sets off to face the four men alone.
The stars of High Noon: Lloyd Bridges, Katy Jurado, Gary Cooper, and Grace Kelly
As Kane, Cooper does a pretty good job of portraying a stoic desperation as everywhere he turns, his pleas are rebuffed and ignored. I’m going to talk a bit about the tension that permeates the film later, but suffice it to say that as a human vessel for that tension, Cooper does an excellent job. He is surrounded by other fine performances, notably Lloyd Bridges (as a deputy marshal who believes Kane is responsible for his lack of a promotion) and Katy Jurado, a former lover of Kane’s who…well, I guess she doesn’t really serve a purpose except to be an accessory to the other plot lines. I mean this as no disrespect to Jurado, the first Mexican woman to win a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress in this role; I merely mean that in attempting to identify a solid plot line for her that relates to the others, she doesn’t really have one. She could have been cut from the film and it wouldn’t really change that much. Jurado still gives a great performance nonetheless, and she was definitely captivating while on screen.
Grace Kelly’s sole facial expression in the film
The actor that stumbles most is Grace Kelly, who spends the majority of the film being upset that Kane isn’t taking her advice to just leave the town (and the outlaw) behind, disregarding Kane’s excellent reasons as to why that won’t work. She also spends time in the film being jealous of Jurado (who basically tells her to get over herself and start supporting her husband). Kelly’s performance is just wooden and dull; at one point, she is captured by the outlaw (because of course she is) and she has no reaction whatsoever: no screaming, no fear, just…”okay, now I’m captured. Woe is me.”. I suppose I could forgive her, as this is only her second film, but seriously…she’s the best the casting director could do?
Perhaps my favorite thing about the film, and a primary source of its tension, is the use of real-time in its narrative. From beginning to end, the film plays out completely in real time, reinforced by repeated shots of clocks. As the clock gets closer and closer to noon, Kane’s desperation becomes more and more apparent, particularly in a montage set during the last couple of minutes before the clock strikes noon. Not only do we see Kane write out his last will and testament (and have a small breakdown), but we also see, again, all the different townspeople he has asked for help and been denied. There is something really great about everyone essentially watching the clock, especially when most of them know that, by not offering their help, they’ve condemned Kane to certain death.
The ending of the film
Their refusal to help is spurred, in part, by what was really happening in America in 1952. At the time, the House Un-American Activities Committee was in full force, and many Hollywood personalities were called and asked to participate in the witch-hunt by naming names of suspected communists. Failure to do so likely would result in being blacklisted, which is exactly what happened to the film’s writer, Carl Foreman. Here, Kane is essentially blacklisted by his fellow townsfolk (for a variety of reasons) and left to face the gang alone. I don’t want to spoil too much, but the ending is clearly a rebuke against the act of blacklisting, and therefore feels highly appropriate.
In addition to the blacklisting allegory the film was already controversial for (John Wayne, who supported the blacklist, was adamant that the film was awful), many audiences were disappointed in this “new type” of western. The bulk of the traditional western action is contained to the final 10-15 minutes, and much of the film is spent on emotions and morals. However, I rather enjoyed that aspect, as it helped to humanize the different players and made the story much more about the journey, not the destination.
High Noon, as surprisingly enjoyable as it was, still is not the “savior of the westerns” that I need to give the genre a better view in my eyes. However, of the westerns I’ve reviewed, this film has probably come closest. It’s a tightly-paced film that provides some good work for its actors, even if some of them just…sit there looking worried (Grace Kelly, I’m 100% looking at YOU).
FINAL GRADE: B+
