High Noon

New High Noon 2-disc Ultimate Collector's Edition due out June 10th, 2008!
Lionsgate has announced a new DVD release of High Noon with new special features. There is what appears to be a reliable report, though unconfirmed, that it will include a new transfer of the film, restored by Paramount. The current and older DVDs are only of average video and audio quality.

This a true classic, combining traditional Western themes with contemporary concerns about popular acquiescence to evil, done in a gripping, unusual (nearly real-time) way, with great actors.

Town marshal Will Kane (Gary Cooper) is caught between his new pacifist Quaker wife Amy (Grace Kelly) and a felt duty to face down evil men coming on the noon train to take revenge on him (and presumably cause whatever other trouble they please). Most of the drama takes place in the lead-up to a climactic battle, as the townspeople choose whether to support Kane with action or to let him stand alone. Amy too must choose between her spouse and her own moral beliefs. The tension...

Masterful filmmaking
"High Noon" is frequently mentioned among the best Westerns and even among the best films ever made. It is rated #33 by the American Film Institute on their top 100 of the 20th century. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won four, including best actor for Gary Cooper, best song and best editing. But, was it really that good? After all, it was a bare bones black and white Western in an age of Technicolor spectaculars.

It was that good and more. "High Noon" was not really a Western as the genre had been defined to that point. It was more of a character study of the human condition. It just happened to be set in the American West. Westerns at that time were action films with white hats and black hats. There were fistfights and gunfights throughout the entire film. They clearly differentiated good guys, on the side of justice and righteousness, from bad guys who spurned laws and sneered at those who obeyed them. The heroes were always noble and fearless, typified...

Cooper Against The Clock
High Noon is a classic tale of a man who is torn between his duty and love. Gary Cooper stars as Will Cain, a sheriff of small town Hadleyville, NM, who has just gotten married to Amy played by Grace Kelly. Amy is a Quaker and in deference to her pacifist beliefs, Will is turning in his badge. But just as the newlyweds are preparing to leave town for a new life, Will learns that a criminal, Frank Miller, he put behind bars is being paroled and arriving in town on the 12 noon train for a showdown. Tension fills the air as the anticipated showdown draws closer. Amy begs for Will to leave with her, but he knows he can't run away. He must stay and defend the town and his honor. Will finds himself alone in the battle as everyone in town, including his deputy sheriff Harvey Pell, played by Lloyd Bridges, have turned away from him. The film is just a little over 80 minutes long and it unfolds in essentially real time on the screen. Director Fred Zinnemann effectively uses clocks to...

Click to Editorial Reviews