A Tin Star

#27—High Noon

I don’t know if it is coincidence or if it was planned that the last couple of movies centered round one many fighting against incredible odds. #27 on American Film Institute’s Top 100 list is another film of this same sort. However, this particular film is rumored to be one in which art is imitating life in one of the scariest times to be any type of filmmaker within Hollywood. On a brighter note however, this film would also catapult the career of a true Hollywood princess. Set your watch for AFI’s second western on their top 100 list, High Noon.

Will Kane (Gary Cooper The Pride of the Yankees) not only has just retired as the town marshal, but he has just gotten married to the beautiful Amy Fowler (Grace Kelly Rear Window). Though the retirement/wedding party seems to last only a short time due to the arrival of the Miller gang. Not causing any trouble (yet), the gang is waiting on the coming of their leader Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald). Miller has just been released from custody due to a technicality and is coming back to town to exact his revenge on Kane. Feeling personally responsible for his beloved town, Kane decides to stick around and rid the town of Frank Miller and his gang once and for all.

I’m going to go with coincidence that these last three movies on this list were ones of this action. I don’t want to think that AFI planned this list and ranked these films on the pure value they have. With that said, I do believe that this film was imitating a particularly hard time in the life of screenwriter Carl Foreman’s life. During this time the ‘Red Scare’ was running rampant in Hollywood and Foreman was one of their victims. The  second ‘Red Scare’ was brought on the world by Senator Joseph McCarthy, believing that there were communists amongst the American people and making it a witch hunt to find people affiliated with the political party. How did this affect Hollywood? Well everyone from actors, directors, and producers were ‘blacklisted’ if they had any hint of being a communist. High Noon showcases a town marshal asking for help from his ‘friends’ to take on the oncoming, and most likely, death from a man out to get him. Many believe that this is how Foreman felt when writing the script for the film. Fortunately for Foreman, not only did the film get made (obviously), but the film has become a staple in Hollywood history and among the western genre.

The film resurrected the career (albeit for a short time) of the great Gary Cooper. Even when facing certain death, Cooper’s Kane is calm and very determined to face the overwhelming odds. I think that the high morals that Copper’s character has makes him one of the most favorite marshal’s in Hollywood history. One of Kelly’s first film roles sets her up for a most glamorous career. Kelly’s Amy tries her hardest to convince Kane to leave with her and never look back, but Kelly slowly transitions her character to one that wants to understand her new husband.

I think one of the great accomplishments of director Fred Zinnemann (Oklahoma!) has on this film is the way he is able to isolate Kane. Though most of the film Kane is asking for help or interacting with other people, Zinnemann has a way of giving the feeling that Kane is ultimately alone. This is mainly achieved by Kane’s clothes (which are darker than everyone else’s) and the crane shots that Zinnemann uses when Kane is really physically alone. Kane is by himself on his personal mission and Zinnemann makes sure his audience knows it.

I can definitely see the significance of the film, but I think that the film is a little high on this list. As a genre piece, High Noon really does define what a western sheriff should be and shows what the genre really looked like during the height of it’s peak. However, overall I believe that the film probably could have been a little lower on AFI’s list.

The Verdict: Maybe Listed Lower.