Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I really love High Noon. Second time is even better than the first time. It feel so perfectly shot, cleanly edited, well-timed; I just love the way Gary Cooper fits into his character Will Kane, and I get more and more attached to him the more and more everyone abandons him.The last few minutes of gun fighting feel very real. For the most part Kane is on the run and yet he fights back without any trace of cowardice. In contrast to another great Western The Searchers, where the heroes are the pursuers, the hero is the hunted one. I think that works very well; it also feels more satisfying to see his defeat of the bad guys in the final moments.Yet there's a real bittersweet thing going on here. Helen Ramirez is gone from the town, never to return. The town is full of corrupt and cowardly people. Only the young boy who was eager to aid Kane but was turned down gets a smile from Kane at the end of the movie. And Will Kane's wife had to abandon her Quaker pacifism to save her husband. Nothing comes easy here."Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling" felt a bit tacky at first, but I took a liking to it.Everything feels stripped down, meat-and-potatoes, and I think it surprised a lot of American moviegoers when they first saw it in 1952. Now it feels less strange, but it still feels "other" compared to the great Westerns of John Ford or Howard Hawks, or even the Sergio Leone spaghetti Westerns.I think this is one of my favorite 1950s films, alongside The Big Heat, The Searchers, The Ten Commandments, Seven Samurai, and Ben-Hur. Say what you will about the puritanism of the American 1950s era, but it was a really fertile period for American movies and even for other non-American movies.

A recent book about the making of "High Noon" had me rummaging in a box of DVDs in my garage for the movie. The book was "High Noon: The Hollywood Blacklist and the Making of an American Classic" By Glenn Frankel. I bought it after reading his "The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend". Both bring their respective films to life with background on the personalities involved and the times in which they were made."High Noon" opens as Will Kane (Gary Cooper) is about to leave town after marrying Amy Fowler (Grace Kelly), his young Quaker bride, and retiring as town marshal. However an old enemy is due on the noonday train to join three mean-looking dudes waiting at the station. Will won't cut and run. He tries to organise a posse, but he finds everyone is busy all of a sudden. He will have to face the four gunslingers alone. Shakespeare couldn't have created a more classic scenario.It seems producer Stanley Kramer didn't really appreciate Cooper's naturalistic acting. Not many would agree. If any role suited Coop's style it was this one - despite being old enough to be Grace Kelly's father. Grace in her first big role showed that a tight bodice with matching bonnet could be as sexy as Victoria's Secret.Claims that a drastic edit saved the movie hurt director Fred Zinnemann who felt such claims diminished his role in the film's success. Many things made the film work, not least the music. For any film music buff, Dimitri Tiomkin's film scores loom large. Here, Tiomkin's music combined with lyrics by Ned Washington and vocals by Tex Ritter act like a minstrel accompanying Kane, celebrating him in song as he confronts his enemies and his demons.Frankel's book presented surprising layers of information. His research and insights into the pressure the HUAC investigations applied to Carl Foreman and Stanley Kramer put everything into context. However, for me, the most interesting aspect was the creative process behind the making of the film. "High Noon" had a tight budget, but you wouldn't know it, it's a class act all the way. Its quality shines through seven decades after it was made.

Despite the fact that "High Noon" is highly regarded as one of the greatest western films of all- time, it took me a long time to actually spin it up in the DVD player. Probably because, to be honest, I was afraid it would be little more than a "stock western". When I did "give in", however, I now completely understand the praise.For a basic plot summary, "High Noon" is a story about an Old West town that is about to see the return of Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald), a convicted gunslinger freshly released and ready to wreak havoc on the town that sent him "up the river". Waiting for him is a posse led by fellow no- gooder Jack Colby (Lee Van Cleef). In the town itself, Marshal Will Kane (Gary Cooper) has just been wed to his beloved Amy (Grace Kelly) and about to begin the honeymoon when he gets news of Frank Miller's return. Kane's high moral standards compel him to stick around for the confrontation, but will he be able to rally the town around him to clean up the streets once again?There are two reasons why I consider this movie to be a cinematic classic:First, it is actually a very complex film in terms of thematic material. It is most definitely NOT the traditional 1950s western flick. The movie really delves into themes of humanity and how people react in times of great stress. Seemingly every single person or group of people in the film have their own set of values, and at some point they are all called into question as the intensity ratchets up.Secondly, the tension just continues to pick up as "high noon" (the train's destination time) approaches. With every passing moment, the weight of the day pushes down harder on Marshal Kane.The acting in this movie is also top-notch. Besides those already mentioned above, Thomas Mitchell, Lloyd Bridges, and Katy Jurado play great auxiliary roles, adding their own little niches to the overall tapestry.Overall, I really had no expectations going into this movie and by the time the credits rolled I was thoroughly impressed by the human drama. This is one of the most entertaining westerns ever made, provided you enjoy movies with great character interactions. Yes, you do get the gunfights and the typical western iconic landmarks, but you also get top-notch drama to boot.

'High Noon' is one of the most acclaimed, respected and influential films not just within the Western genre, but in all of American cinema history. Along with a handful of other films, 'High Noon' paved the way for a new wave of films called 'Revisionist Westerns' which subverted the conventional clichés of past Westerns along with blurring the distinctions between good and evil.The screenwriter Carl Foreman wanted his screenplay to reflect the demons of McCarthyism which was prevalent in Hollywood at the time. On watching the film with this prior knowledge, one can easily see that it has those allegorical subtext in it due to the extensive presence of betrayal and isolation. But the film can easily resonate with anyone even if the viewer doesn't see any connection with McCarthyism, this is because at the heart of it, 'High Noon' is a tale of moral dilemma.The director Fred Zinnemann and screenwriter Carl Foreman have actually kept the door open for multiple interpretations. Yes from an idealistic viewpoint, the viewer will certainly put himself/herself in Marshal William Kane's shoes and sympathise with him. From that perspective the town folks who backed out on him and refused to support him will look ever so cowardly. However, this film can be easily watched from the perspective of the town's folks. From this perspective, one can easily see why they wanted Kane to leave as soon as possible so that the blood loss could be avoided. Kane could have escaped with his wife and allowed his succeeding Marshal to deal with Frank Miller and his gang. Even though Kane was a great Marshal, but even then Kane's zeal to stick to his 'code' can be easily seen as a machismo fueled act of foolishness to retain his own ideas of masculinity and heroism in his own eyes. The excuses given by the people who refuse to side with Kane in this encounter for the most part actually seem plausible and understandable. I also understand the Mayor when he asks the people to veer off from any potential violence as he thought this would steer away all the investors up North who might be viewing this town as potentially investment worthy. So this is morally ambiguous and the viewer can view the themes in any way he/she feels. It is a heavily cynical film about the human spirit and our inherent selfishness. This is why I think this film will work as a great companion piece with either Billy Wilder's 'Ace in the Hole' if you want similar cynicism or Frank Capra's 'It's a Wonderful Life' if you want to undercut 'High Noon's cynicism with a touch of unity.'High Noon' is majestically directed. The intro to the film with the three horse-riders riding into the small town and the onlookers reacting to them was breathtaking and utterly evocative. This intro heavily reminded me of 'Yojimbo'. Zinnemann is masterful at composing frames be it POV shots, unbroken shots, still shots,etc. The film takes place in real time and it moves along with great pace. Zinnemann brilliantly uses the 'High Noon Ballad' to raise tension, but he also knows exactly when to remove background music and let the visuals and real sounds take over to accentuate the emotional effect. The director brilliantly handles the mythic aspect of the character of Frank Miller. The concept of the unseen and invisible but ominous evil is beautifully done through the use of clocks, momentary shots of the railway, tracks, etc. with the music adding to it.Gary Cooper is a bit like Jeff Goldblum in my eyes, his acting style can be a bit jarring, but the tentativeness and vulnerability that is a fixture in his gestures and mannerisms is perfect for the role William Kane as the character himself feels extremely vulnerable under pressure of the adverse circumstances that he finds himself in. Kane's character itself subverted the concept of having the all powerful, idealistic, stoic hero, instead we get a human being who although being idealistic is prone to feelings and emotional vulnerability. We even see him break down at one point in the film after being overwhelmed by the fear of ominous adversity. Everyone else like Lloyd Bridges, Katy Jurado, Grace Kelly, Thomas Mitchell,etc. are great too. 'High Noon' in my opinion thoroughly deserves its reputation as a masterpiece. It is multi-layered, its cynicism has depth, and it dared to do something different in terms of character representation within the Western genre at a time when it was almost unheard of. Well written, brilliantly directed and well acted, this is an essential watch.