High Noon

(1952)

Posters

- click on any image for a larger view -

Cast

     Grace Kelly               as Amy Kane
     Gary Cooper              as Will Kane
     Thomas Mitchell       as Jonas Henderson
     Lloyd Bridges            as Harvey Pell
     Katy Jurado               as Helen Ramirez
     Ian MacDonald         as Frank Miller

Credits

     director:                     Fred Zinnemann
     production:                United Artists
     producer:                   Stanley Kramer
     screenplay:                 Carl Foreman
                                                      (based on the story The Tin Star
                                                       by John W. Cunningham)
     music composer:        Dimitri Tiomkin

Synopsis

                           On a bright June morning in 1875 marshal, Will Kane is marrying a patrician Quaker girl, Amy
                     Fowler in his town's courtroom. The newly-wed couple, surrounded by friends and admirers, is
                     about to leave and settle down to ranch life, when news comes that the revengeful outlaw, Frank
                     Miller, sent in prison by Kane five years earlier, arrives on the noon train. Suddenly, every citizen
                     finds his own reason for turning his back on the marshal. Amy's pacifist beliefs prompt her to join
                     the town's general betrayal of her husband too. But under the stress of events, she changes her
                     mind, returning dramatically to his side.

Shot in high contrast, precise, documentary-like, metaphorical, tensed, psychologically complex,
the film is one of the finest studies of life ever made. Timeless and true.

Quotes

***

Kane: I think I ought to stay.

***

Amy: You're asking me to wait an hour to find out if I'm going to be a wife or a widow.
I say it's too long to wait. I won't do it.

***

            Helen:   If Kane was my man, I'd never leave him like this. I'd get a gun. I'd fight.
            Amy:   Why don't you?
            Helen:   He is not my man. Yours.

***

Kane: I'm tired of people telling me what to do.
***

             Notes
         -   Grace's first major role
          - High Noon is often cited as tthe first 'adult Western' of the 50s.
         -   In the final scene Kane takes off his tin star and drops it into the dust. It's one of the most
             obvious stereotype-breaking elements in the movie.
         -   Filmed in 'real time' - the sttory runs from 10:40 a.m. to high noon, coinciding with the running
              time of the film.

             Awards
        Academy Award: Best Actor - Gary Cooper
        Academy Award: Best Editing - Elmo Williams, Harry Gerstad
        Academy Award: Best Score - Dimitri Tiomkin
        Academy Award: Best Song - Dimitri Tiomkin (Music), Ned Washington (Lyrics)
              Academy Award Nomination: Best Picture
              Academy Award Nomination: Best Director - Fred Zinnemann
              Academy Award Nomination: Best Screenplay - Carl Foreman