High Noon

High Noon

Directed by Fred Zinnemann

Starring

Gary Cooper – Marshall Will Kane

Grace Kelly – Amy Fowler Kane

Lloyd Bridges – Deputy Marshall Harvey Pell

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Martin: People gotta talk themselves into law and order before they do anything about it. Maybe because down deep they don't care. They just don't care.

High Noon opens with a long shot of a man smoking a cigarette then top another man coming in by horse. These shots are specifically distinctive to westerns – shots that show the power and romanticism of the west. They show the possibility of expansion and freedom.

As the three horsemen come into town everyone watches, everyone is scared. The horse is scared of the Marshall sign though. There is a great backwards tracking shot that is under cranked showing the justice of the peace sign as both Amy Fowler and Will Kane get married. This speed up in cinematography shows the tumultuous relationship they will go through as the bandits come into town.

Marshall Kane (Gary Cooper) turns in his badge after getting married. After Frank Miller is pardoned everyone wants him to leave town. Will Kane though stays in town despite it’s his honeymoon and last day on the job. Amy Fowler (Grace Kelly) begs him to leave but he refuses. His duty is more important than her. Despite threatening to leave him if he stays to defend the town Will Kane chooses his duty unflinchingly.

Amy Fowler Kane chooses to leave town to St. Louis despite Kane. As Kane struggles to find men to fight off Frank Miller, a convicted murderer, he finds no one to help him. He stays though.

On top of all these struggles Kane has to deal with his power hungry second-in-command Harvey Pell who dates Helen Ramirez, Kane’s ex, to gain power. He also tries to manipulate Will Kane for control of the town early on for the glory but Kane fulfills his last day dutifully.

As Kane is alone everyone is also against him. Even an old shopkeeper bets within five minutes he will be dead. No one join his crew because they know they will be dead in such a small band. To make matters even worse Kane sets aside his pride and begs the townspeople in the church to help defend the town. The preacher turns to cowardice as he can’t advocate defending the town as it involved murder. The most influential person who can sway people’s moral judgment and action falters.

Besides Will Kane, Helen Ramirez is the only one with dignity because she tells it like it is when she has to explain that Will Kane is brave going at it alone and Harvey Pell is a coward for falling back. Even Kane’s wife, Amy, is a coward who begs Kane to leave.

The most revealing part of Harvey Pell is when he tries to get Will Kane to leave town to mask his own cowardice and fear. He is persistent and unrelenting in trying to get Kane on the horse and gone./ He fights him when Kane decides to stay but Kane won’t budge because he chooses honor and duty above all else.

There is an excellent shot of doom in the railroad station with the three cowboys in focus in the foreground, midground and background. Their sizes are staged to get bigger from left to right giving a sense of heightened danger. The man on the right only has his gun in the frame providing excellent purpose and tension. They all look at and prepare their guns without speaking.

The tension of the train is intercut with various shots of the cowboys, townspeople bidding farewell and Kane writing his will. Shots of an empty town show the people’s reluctance to stand up and fight. During the shootout there are many low angle shots and over the shoulder close-ups bringing us into the battle as intense as a movie from this decade can get.