Five Star Movie: High Noon

There are certain classic Western Movie themes, like good versus evil and order versus chaos, but at the heart of all Westerns there is a hero or heroes.  Often they float in to save the day and then float out.  As characters we often have very limited knowledge of who they are and we rarely have any insight into what it is like to be the person who stands up to the evil or the chaos and tame it.

In 1952 when High Noon was released there was a war going on in Korea.  Tens of thousands of men would die fighting for a country in which they had no stake.  I don't know how those men felt about the help they received from the Koreans, but I do know that often when we go and help fight for others we are often disappointed by the fact that they were happy to cheer us on while we were fighting, but then just as happy to see us go once the fighting is done. 

High Noon is the story of a man who came to a town, cleaned it up, and is then forced into a situation where he has to turn to the town for help to protect his life.  Celebrated as a hero when times were great, he is told time and again in his hour of need that no aid will come to him.  The limited action in High Noon may not have held up that well over the years, but the story in which we watch this proud man be torn down has, if anything, gotten more poignant with age. 

I have no doubt that High Noon is the greatest Western ever made, and strongly believe it is one of the greatest movies ever made.  Gary Cooper is iconic in his portrayal of Will Kane.  The pain he buries with each rejection grows on his face and it is not an understatement to say Cooper gives one of the best film performances ever put on screen.  He plays a quiet, close to the vest kind of man.  A proud man who is facing his death and the betrayal of everything he holds dear.  Cooper somehow manages to portray all of Kane's pain and anguish and yet never let slip the quiet pride.  It is hard not to watch Will Kane and feel miserable for him and for all of us who sit in our comfortable lives while we ask others to die for our safety.