High Noon (1952)

Cinema, despite its indisputable international nature, often has genres or themes that are closely tied with a particular region or nation; perhaps no instance of this is as notable as the Western's intimate link, both thematically and geographically, with the United States.  High Noon is a Western film unlike any other that had preceded it, its inherent uniqueness primarily stems from its nearly unheard of decision to allow its characters to move beyond the typical stereotypes of the fearless hero, the dutiful sidekick, and the supportive wife and townspeople.  Directed by Fred Zinnemann, the film stars Gary Cooper as Sheriff Will Kane with Grace Kelly, and Lloyd Bridges in supporting roles as his new bride and his deputy, respectively.

The film opens with Will Kane, a respected and highly competent sheriff in a small town, being married to his young Quaker bride Amy in a courthouse.  The newlyweds plan on leaving town that morning to open a general store somewhere where his violent profession and her haunted memories (both her father and brother were gunned down previously) will not sour their marriage.  Their happiness is short-lived as news comes in that the most dangerous man Kane ever put behind bars, Frank Miller, is out on a legal technicality and arriving on a train that morning with the intent to murder Kane and reclaim the town he once controlled.  Kane determines to stay in town to face both his enemy and his fears, while the townspeople remain inactive due to their own fear of Miller's retribution.  Amy, a pacifist, refuses to accept Kane's reasoning that Miller would follow them until Kane was dead if he did not face him now and threatens to leave without him.  His deputy sees Kane's bravery and determination as insulting to his own character, causing him to back away from his duties and lash out against Kane; this causes a rift with his lover Helen Ramirez, who had been involved with the honor-bound sheriff in the past.  As the clock ticks along, Kane's internal struggle with his fears, his duties, and the revelation of the true character of all of the people that he had protected during his years as sheriff comes to a head when he goes out alone to face the man intent on making his new bride a widow.

High Noon, at first glance, appears to be a standard, run-of-the-mill Western film, of the sort that Cooper had starred in prior to (and after, for that matter) High Noon.  The changes to the standard format implemented by Zinnemann and the writers are inspired.  The use of real time allowed for the tension that the audience feels while watching to build in tandem with the fear and hesitation felt by Kane.  Real time, though not unique to the film, is used in such a way that the film is able to seem both frantic and meditative simultaneously; the combined effect packs a blow aimed squarely at those blacklisting artists in Hollywood powerful enough to cause those who were preaching in favor of McCarthyism to lash out in protest and rage. John Wayne and Howard Hawks were appalled enough by the film to make Rio Bravo in protest, the film was decent but is hardly the masterwork or genre-transcending film that High Noon is.

The greatest strength that High Noon as a film possesses is the performance of Will Kane given by Gary Cooper.  Cooper, one of cinema's most beloved and enduring stars, took the character of the small town sheriff and did something unheard of at the time: he portrayed the hero as human.  Kane asked for help, he showed apprehension, and he struggled with his choices, but he still showed up to face his fears and defend himself and the town that essentially turned his back on him.  The willingness to have the hero be a character worth admiring and emulating, as well as someone with the potential for fear and failure elevated High Noon into the  upper echelons of Western cinema, and cinema in general.  The other actors in the film perform ably, especially Lloyd Bridges as the immature and petty deputy who cannot conceive of why Kane would stand and fight alone when he could so easily run.  Grace Kelly is nice to look at, but her performance as the pacifistic Amy is stale and does not demonstrate her skills as an actress like later films (particulalry those directed by Alfred Hitchcock) would.

All in all, High Noon is both an enjoyable Western and a fascinating parable on the foolishness of assuming that those around you are also willing to protect and assist you in times of crisis (whether that crisis is a villain arriving on a train or a senator obsessed with rooting out communists).  Gary Cooper gives one of his best performances as Will Kane and proved, for the umpteenth time, why he was and is one of America's favorite movie stars.  High Noon is not a long film, but it still remains one of the biggest ones, in terms of importance and daring, to have ever been filmed.

10/10

Note: This review was previously posted on another blog I wrote.