High NoonIs it a hero who faces down insurmountable odds without support in the name of honor and goodness, or a fool? High Noon is a Western film about Will Kane (Gary Cooper), the noble marshal of the small town of Hadleyville in the fading days of the "Wild West". On the day of Will's wedding to Amy Fowler (Grace Kelly)--and his retirement from law enforcement--a telegram brings word that the notorious outlaw, Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald), has been pardoned and is on his way to Hadleyville, presumably set to get revenge against the lawman who put him away. Anticipating a confrontation--and aware that the town is currently without a marshal--Will tries to deputize brave men to stand by him from among the townsfolk he liberated from this villain five years ago, only to come up empty handed.
|
|
Viewing High Noon from over half a century after its release, it is sometimes difficult to appreciate just how influential the film has been on both the genre, as well as in the structure and themes of countless movies that followed it. Despite its simple premise, it takes the idea of a man staring down evil all alone at (appropriately) "high noon" in the open streets of a nigh-deserted town beyond what has since become a cliche of Westerns and turns the film's climactic set piece into one that carries the deathly pallor of grim inevitability. High Noon is constantly conscious of time; there is almost always a clock in each scene that shows time progressing in pace with the movie's running time. This fosters sympathy between the audience and Will, ratcheting up a constant sense of dread from scene to scene in his increasingly futile search for help. The townsfolk of Hadleyville hardly appear ungrateful or craven; they sing Will's praises and call him--in no uncertain terms--the man who made their town "safe to raise children in" and where a "decent woman could walk down the street" without being accosted. At Will's marriage to Amy, friends and colleagues wish him well, and reassure him that he can hang up his tin star--that the town will be safe for a day until his replacement arrives. It is only when the fateful telegram does arrive that the first faint hints of something amiss creeps out. Consider how they desperately try to shoo him off to safety with his new bride; they almost succeed, too, before Will turns his carriage around and returns. The lingering question for the remainder of High Noon is why Will really came back to town. In Will's absence, the only other active lawman is the younger Deputy Marshal Harvey Pell (Lloyd Bridges), who resentments being passed up for promotion, and suspects that Will had something to do with this perceived snub. Additionally, Harvey's been seeing Will's old flame, a Mexican proprietress of the local saloon named Helen Ramirez (Katy Jurado). Will's return seems to confirm his lack of confidence in Harvey...at least in Harvey's eyes. As such, Harvey is one of the first men to deny the would-be martyred marshal, turning instead to drinking his cares away in the saloon after petulantly quitting his job, outraged that Will won't put in a word to have the new marshal's appointment reconsidered in his favor.
Will knows that he doesn't have much time to organize a posse against Frank and his trio of greasy outlaws; and he discovers that no one has any genuine interest in standing by him, for varying reasons. The only man who volunteers to be deputized from the start, Herb Baker (James Millican), eventually bows out when no one else shows up, meaning Will's defeat is all but assured. Even the judge who married him less than an hour before, Percy Mettrick (Otto Kruger), hollowly regales him with historical anecdotes--ancient and contemporary--where the return of tyrants and butchers was not met with heroic resistance but timid acquiescence. Though everyone treats Will as a living legend--whether feigned or heartfelt--none of them are willing to get involved in what they anticipate to be a suicide mission. (The irony is that it would be far less likely to end in violence with additional manpower behind Will.) Yet Will's own behavior in this stressful time does little to engender support. When he comes to the saloon with spare tin stars to hand out, he discovers a patron making bets on the likelihood of his death; Will decks the man, and is subsequently chastised for it on the basis of supposedly being the exemplar of law and order. Most of the other men at the watering hole add--now unafraid of reprisal--that many of them were friends of Frank Miller, and imply that they look forward to Will getting his due. And when Will interrupts the church sermon to ask for the very same aid, the preacher, Dr. Mahin (Morgan Farley), also criticizes Will for not getting married in his church, until Will cites that Amy is a Quaker. Will begs the congregation for aid, receiving various replies in favor and against raising arms in the impending shootout. But it is the eloquent Mayor Jonas Henderson (Thomas Mitchell) who--in a perfectly political proclamation--speaks for the crowd and intimates that if Will had just heeded his advice and left town, there wouldn't be any threat of a bloodbath in the first place. And with that, in spite of some robust arguments for joining Will, all of the parishioners return to their pews. Neither the sinners nor the saints prove to be willing to compromise the comfortable lifestyles Will's prior bravery has afforded them, leaving Will to pick up the proverbial tab for their debit of freedom.
Will is convinced that Frank would track him and Amy down no matter where they fled, which is how he justifies returning to Hadleyville despite her protests--to have the confrontation out in the open. Superficially, Will does this because he wants to ensure a safe future--for his family and the town. He vividly recalls Frank's oath to revenge himself against Will--a couple of shots of an empty chair in his office and Will's recollection of it virtually replays the scene in the mind of the audience. Though Will hasn't seen Frank in five years, he is convinced that the ex-con has only grown more embittered over time. Revenge stories like his--as intimated by Will's mentor and erstwhile marshal, Martin Howe (Lon Chaney Jr.)--speak to the thankless work of a lawman in the Wild West, yet Will is undeterred to find someone to stand with him. The only couple of people who make the offer include a man with one eye named Jimmy (William Newell) and a fourteen year-old boy, both of whom would only be a liability in a gunfight. Instead, Will spends this final hour preparing for the stark likelihood that he will not survive through the afternoon, even making out his last will and testament. But Will doesn't run, despite all of the rejection he has endured; he fights for himself and what he believes in. The denouement of High Noon is bitterly succinct, exemplified by a simple motion at the very end that underscores the futility of fighting a thankless battle for reasons that no longer matter.
Recommended for: Fans of a classic Western that uses an iconic scenario from the genre to question the motivations for fighting a seemingly impossible battle and the value of trust when it is at its most important. High Noon was released around the time of the "Red Scare", but its political overtones still feel relevant today in an era of tepid social media activism, political pandering, and the dangers of a sense of entitlement that comes from a life of comfort and security.
Will knows that he doesn't have much time to organize a posse against Frank and his trio of greasy outlaws; and he discovers that no one has any genuine interest in standing by him, for varying reasons. The only man who volunteers to be deputized from the start, Herb Baker (James Millican), eventually bows out when no one else shows up, meaning Will's defeat is all but assured. Even the judge who married him less than an hour before, Percy Mettrick (Otto Kruger), hollowly regales him with historical anecdotes--ancient and contemporary--where the return of tyrants and butchers was not met with heroic resistance but timid acquiescence. Though everyone treats Will as a living legend--whether feigned or heartfelt--none of them are willing to get involved in what they anticipate to be a suicide mission. (The irony is that it would be far less likely to end in violence with additional manpower behind Will.) Yet Will's own behavior in this stressful time does little to engender support. When he comes to the saloon with spare tin stars to hand out, he discovers a patron making bets on the likelihood of his death; Will decks the man, and is subsequently chastised for it on the basis of supposedly being the exemplar of law and order. Most of the other men at the watering hole add--now unafraid of reprisal--that many of them were friends of Frank Miller, and imply that they look forward to Will getting his due. And when Will interrupts the church sermon to ask for the very same aid, the preacher, Dr. Mahin (Morgan Farley), also criticizes Will for not getting married in his church, until Will cites that Amy is a Quaker. Will begs the congregation for aid, receiving various replies in favor and against raising arms in the impending shootout. But it is the eloquent Mayor Jonas Henderson (Thomas Mitchell) who--in a perfectly political proclamation--speaks for the crowd and intimates that if Will had just heeded his advice and left town, there wouldn't be any threat of a bloodbath in the first place. And with that, in spite of some robust arguments for joining Will, all of the parishioners return to their pews. Neither the sinners nor the saints prove to be willing to compromise the comfortable lifestyles Will's prior bravery has afforded them, leaving Will to pick up the proverbial tab for their debit of freedom.
Will is convinced that Frank would track him and Amy down no matter where they fled, which is how he justifies returning to Hadleyville despite her protests--to have the confrontation out in the open. Superficially, Will does this because he wants to ensure a safe future--for his family and the town. He vividly recalls Frank's oath to revenge himself against Will--a couple of shots of an empty chair in his office and Will's recollection of it virtually replays the scene in the mind of the audience. Though Will hasn't seen Frank in five years, he is convinced that the ex-con has only grown more embittered over time. Revenge stories like his--as intimated by Will's mentor and erstwhile marshal, Martin Howe (Lon Chaney Jr.)--speak to the thankless work of a lawman in the Wild West, yet Will is undeterred to find someone to stand with him. The only couple of people who make the offer include a man with one eye named Jimmy (William Newell) and a fourteen year-old boy, both of whom would only be a liability in a gunfight. Instead, Will spends this final hour preparing for the stark likelihood that he will not survive through the afternoon, even making out his last will and testament. But Will doesn't run, despite all of the rejection he has endured; he fights for himself and what he believes in. The denouement of High Noon is bitterly succinct, exemplified by a simple motion at the very end that underscores the futility of fighting a thankless battle for reasons that no longer matter.
Recommended for: Fans of a classic Western that uses an iconic scenario from the genre to question the motivations for fighting a seemingly impossible battle and the value of trust when it is at its most important. High Noon was released around the time of the "Red Scare", but its political overtones still feel relevant today in an era of tepid social media activism, political pandering, and the dangers of a sense of entitlement that comes from a life of comfort and security.