Vintage Movies: “High Noon”

MAGNET contributing writer Jud Cost is sharing some of the wealth of classic films he’s been lucky enough to see over the past 40 years. Trolling the backwaters of cinema, he has worked up a list of more than 100 titles—from the ’20s through the ’80s—that you may have missed. A new selection, all currently available on DVD, appears every week.

High Noon (1952, 85 minutes)

Slim-hipped and ramrod-straight with weatherbeaten features, Gary Cooper specialized in characters that didn’t say much unless it really mattered. High Noon, with its haunting Dimitri Tiomkin theme (“Do Not Forsake Me”) lurking around every corner, was an early entry among Hollywood’s more realistic “new Westerns,” full of unshaven folks wearing lived-in clothes, ethnic townspeople in accurate costume and bad guys who didn’t always wear black hats.

U.S. Marshal Will Kane (Cooper) has just married Amy (Grace Kelly), a Quaker girl who’s convinced him to turn in his tin star and open a general store. In the middle of the wedding ceremony, the telegraph operator bursts in with news that Frank Miller has been pardoned from state prison and is apparently headed straight to Hadleyville to carry out his threat to kill Kane, the man who put him behind bars. Three of his cronies are waiting right now at the station for Miller to arrive on today’s train.

The local citizens, grateful for the fine job Kane did cleaning up the town, urge him to leave immediately and open that emporium with his new bride. A few miles out of town, a worried Kane reins in his horses. “It’s no good, Amy. I’ve got to go back,” he says. “I’ve never run from anybody before.” He turns the carriage around toward town to form a posse to deal with the Miller gang.

Noticing the marshal has returned, the barber/undertaker asks his carpenter, “How many coffins we got left? We’re going to need at least two more. Better get busy.” Kane walks through the swinging doors of the local saloon just in time to hear one of Miller’s pals bellow, “I’ll give you odds: Kane’s dead five minutes after Frank gets off the train.” The lawman spins him around and lands a haymaker right on the chin. “I need deputies, and I’ll take all I can get!” announces the anxious marshal, whose entreaty falls upon deaf ears.

Kane’s impulsive, young deputy, Harvey Pell (Lloyd Bridges), now secretly seeing Helen Ramirez (Katy Jurado), Kane’s old flame, is told by the smoldering woman, “It takes more than broad shoulders to make a man, Harvey. I don’t think you will ever make it.” Jealous of Kane’s reputation, Pell rips off his badge and refuses to help the marshal.

Judge Mettrick (Otto Kruger), who sentenced Miller five years ago, is rapidly packing his bags as Kane arrives. Councilman Sam Fuller (Harry Morgan) hides in the back of his house when Kane knocks on the front door. Even Mayor Jonas Henderson (Thomas Mitchell) spinelessly turns against Kane in front of the congregation at the local church. It appears the marshal must face this quartet of ruthless killers alone when they finally arrive in Hadleyville, just about an hour from now, at high noon.