A Reel Retro Review: HIGH NOON (1952)

With the 93^rd Academy Awards approaching, this month’s Retro Reviews will look back at Oscar nominees and winners from the past. 

It’s Oscar Week! Every year the buildup leading to the Academy Awards involves conversations around all the times the wrong film was selected for Best Picture. The most egregious of them all was in 1998 when SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE bested the heavy favorite, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. Prior to that, one of the biggest all-time upsets came at the 25^th Academy Awards in the Spring of 1953, when Cecil B. DeMille’s THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH won over the favored Western, HIGH NOON. How good is/was HIGH NOON? Let’s strap on the six-shooters and find out…

 

In a small town in the New Mexico territory, Marshal Will Kane (Gary Cooper), is set to retire after marrying Amy (Grace Kelly). Just when he turns in his badge, word comes that Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald), a vicious outlaw that Kane had once sent to prison, will be arriving in town on the noon train to team-up with his old gang to get revenge.

 

Directed by Fred Zinnemann and based on The Tin Star by John W. Cunningham, HIGH NOON takes place in real-time, counting down the minutes until the noon train arrives with a vengeful Miller. During this time, Kane looks to recruit townsfolk to his side, but doesn’t have an easy time doing so. Miller still has friends in town who are harboring some resentment towards Kane, and others seem to dislike the iron-fisted way the marshal had been running things over the years. On top of that, Kane’s new wife Amy, a devout Quaker, simply doesn’t understand the need for gunplay and her new husband’s desire to put their lives on hold for one last mission of justice. 

 

HIGH NOON surprised audiences in 1952 as it wasn’t a typical Western, and it still holds that element. Most audiences going into a Western expect wild shootouts and chases, and HIGH NOON doesn’t get around to that until the very end. The picture is very much a talkie, with characters debating the need for more bloodshed, Kane’s past, and his reluctance to hang up the tin star for civilian life. This was deep stuff for 1952, and it still works. 

 

The entire cast puts in great performances. Gary Cooper is perfect in the role. He was 51 at the time but plays the part older; a world-weary man who isn’t quite done with gunfighting even though that world is telling him otherwise. Grace Kelly, who was only 21 at the time of filming, lights up the screen every time, and gets the honor of being the heroine who saves the day; again, new territory for 1950’s Westerns. The film also includes future stars such as Harry Morgan (MASH), and Lee Van Cleef (THE GOOD, THE BAD, & THE UGLY)…along with a minor role from the legend Lon Chaney Jr. (THE WOLF MAN). 

 

The big shootout finally comes around in the final minutes, and has a weight to it because the work was done throughout the film to make it matter…and the final resolution is a surprise. There is a lot in HIGH NOON that would provide material and inspiration for the Western in the decades to come; inspiring filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino and Clint Eastwood. It can be said that HIGH NOON is ground-zero for the modern Western, and that is the highest honor any film can ask for. 

 

BOTTOM LINE: See it 

 

Reel Facts: HIGH NOON would win four of its seven Oscar nominations, including Best Actor for Gary Cooper. It would be his second and final win before his Honorary Academy Award in 1961. Director Fred Zinnemann would have better luck the following year, when his drama/romance FROM HERE TO ETERNITY would win eight Oscars, including Best Picture and Director.