What Makes "High Noon" Great.

In a time where westerns were usually seen as grand spectacles that took place over several locations and several widespread landscapes, a cheap little movie called "High Noon" was released. It's running time was short, it's locations limited, and had a relatively small scale in terms of story. Many people were disappointed, they expected shoot outs, beautiful scenery, and all the other tropes that the genre is known for. But if you look past that, the film is a deep character study of how far a man will go to keep a sense of honor when everyone else is either turning his back on him or telling hem to run away.

In a small out west, Marshall Will Kane is on the verge of retiring and settling down with his new married wife Amy Fowler (Grace Kelly), however, soon after their wedding they hear news of a former outlaw whom Kane sent to jail Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald) has been released and is arriving on the train at noon with his posse waiting for him to take their revenge on Kane. While everyone tells Kane to leave before Miller shows up, Kane chooses to stay and face the threat, believing he would be a coward for leaving, Kane chooses to stand his ground and face the gang. The rest of most of the movie is the buildup to the noon arrival of the train. Kane attempts to get a posse together to help him out against Miller and his gang, but the townsfolk are too scared and turn their back on them, believing he will die, and even criticize him for not leaving when he could.

Due to the limits in terms of scope director Fred Zinnemann and screenwriter Carl Foreman instead goes for the build-up to the inevitable moment. The film takes place practically in real time with the time it takes for Miller to arrive always being kept in check with Kane frequently looking at the clock as his arrival draws near. The buildup is simply masterful thanks to the masterful Oscar-winning editing by Elmo Williams (In what is possibly one of the best-edited films of all time), each passing moment Kane becomes more and more aware of the idea that he might die today. He meets with several people in the hopes of assistance from them, but most are either too cowardly or simply physically unable. The only people who are eager to help Kane are vision impaired drunk Jimmy (William Newell), and a young fourteen-year-old boy, whom Kane rejects both for obvious reasons. A great scene that captures this desperate search for help is when Kane goes to a local church and asks them for help their only for them not only to reject Kane but to publicly shame him for the danger they believe he has put them in by not giving in. This is a man who has risked his life and protected this town for years, and when he is rejected for asking just for a little help, it's heartbreaking. It's scenes like this that make Kane such a likable and make the audience root for him. In the end, when he can't find any help, he is forced to confront the danger alone in one of the greatest shots in cinema history with Kane standing alone in a deserted town with the camera rising showing how empty the town is and how alone Kane is in this fight.

Gary Cooper's Oscar-winning performance as Will Kane is one of the most deserving ever, he plays Kane as a man who while willing to stay and fight is still only human, and nervous and scared of the dangers that await him. It's a classic hero trope of standing your ground no matter what others may think or tell you (emphasized in the great title song "High Noon" which describes the plot and themes of the film to a tea). Kane is even pushed away by his pacifist wife who leaves on a train believing Kane will die but is finally convinced by Kane's ex-lover Helen Ramirez (Katy Jurado) to stand by Kane in his hour of need. In the climatic shoot out (which is the only big action set piece in the film) in which Kane emerges alive and victorious thanks to the last minute safe by his wife who is forced to pick up a gun to save her husband. When the dust settles and Kane stands with his wife in triumph surrounded by the townsfolk, there is no celebration to cap of the ending, but instead Kane simply tosses his star on the ground in a symbolic way of saying "you people aren't worth it", and leaves with his wife to start a new life.

Thanks to a masterful and intense buildup and a terrific performance by Gary Cooper as one of the best film protagonists in history, High Noon proofs that not every great western has to have large scale production values or spectacular shootouts to stand out in the genre.