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| A fabulous old-timey poster made with superb craftsmanship for Fred Zinnemann's High Noon |
Newly-wed, soon-retiring sheriff Will Kane of the small town of Hadleyville in New Mexico Territory gets himself an unwelcome piece of news, when it becomes clear that a murderer that he put behind bars and who swore him dead has been released and is presently returning to town on the noon train!
High Noon is written by Carl Foreman (The Key (1958)), partly based on the short story The Tin Star (1947) by John W. Cunningham (Warhorse (1956)), and directed by Austrian-Hungarian/American master filmmaker Fred Zinnemann (Redes (1936)).
It is an iconic American film with Gary Cooper (Dallas (1950)) as the man who must do the right thing in a town that's not worth much. Grace Kelly (Fourteen Hours (1951)) is wonderful as his Quaker wife; Katy Jurado (Evita Peron (1982, TV movie)) is good as the Mexican beauty Helen Ramírez that's between Cooper and Lloyd Bridges (Cross of Fire (1989, TV movie)) on the brink of madness. With a very disillusioned Lon Chaney Jr. (Apache Uprising (1965)) and a kinkily scowling Lee Van Cleef (Arena (1953)) in his screen debut, the film also has wonderful, clear images (cinematography by Floyd Crosby (Tales of Terror (1962))) and a strikingly composed, strong score by Dimitri Tiomkin (The Unforgiven (1960)).
High Noon at times may seem so iconic as to feel distant to me, but it is certainly a formidable western.
Related post:
Fred Zinnemann: From Here to Eternity (1953) - Zinnemann, Taradash and Jones' Hawaii-set classic
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 730k $
Box office: Reportedly 12 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 16.43 times its cost)
[High Noon premiered 1 May (London) and runs 85 minutes. Reportedly Foreman had made a 4-page outline that was similar to Cunningham's story, so that he purchased the rights to it before writing the script. Meanwhile he was questioned at the HUAC (House Un-American Comittee) in Washington over past membership of the Communist Party. Failure to name names designated him an 'uncooperative witness', and Foreman consequently left the US, as this landed him on the Hollywood blacklist. Cooper was paid 60k $ and an unspecified percentage of the film's profits for his performance. Shooting took place from September - October 1951 in California. The film made reportedly 3.4 mil. $ at the North-American box office in 1952. Howard Hawks and John Wayne were vocally opposed to the film and its alleged un-American values and made Rio Bravo (1959) in response. It was nominated for 7 Oscars, winning 4: Best Actor, Editing, Song (High Noon (Don't Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin') by Tiomkin and Ned Washington) and Score - Drama/Comedy. It lost Best Director to John Ford for The Quiet Man, Picture to The Greatest Show on Earth and Screenplay to Charles Schnee for The Bad and the Beautiful. It also won 4/7 Golden Globe nominations and a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Zinnemann returned with The Member of the Wedding (1952). Cooper returned in Springfield Rifle (1952). High Noon is certified fresh at 94 % with an 8.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of High Noon?
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