IMDb #213 Review: High Noon (1952)

Source: Wikipedia

When the West was still wild, a freshly wed U.S. Marshal takes up the tin star one last time. Why? To defend his life, his wife, and a whole town full of ungrateful bastards.

That's right. Gary Cooper just married Grace Kelly, so now he pulls a George Bailey and postpones the honeymoon to get right back to work.

Again, why? Well, because he did his job so well, a murderous outlaw he put away (recently pardoned) is moseying back into town on the noon train, to plug him. Despite the killing heat, the villains wear all black, because subtlety, like color television, hadn't been invented yet.

The marshal recruits special deputies from the townsfolk and receives an impressive variety of excuses. They hem and haw; attend church, then interrupt church for a town meeting/haranguing session; hide from his house calls; bet against him in the saloon and Sunday school, within earshot of the guy in question.

The only one on his side? His Quaker wife, a pacifist, against four ruthless ruffians. While the lawman frets, the wife visits the marshal’s ex, the local harlot, to fail the Bechdel Test.

Spoilers ahoy -- the final fight embodies the quintessential Western showdown. One obstinately moralistic macho moron stands against a pack of cartoonish evildoers. Add melodramatic orchestra, and you have a classic. Like any sensible idiot, the marshal fights dirty. For a good cause, so it’s OK.

This thrilling yarn, compressed into one awful morning, both elevates and debases human courage. The lesson: don’t rely too much on people, but be really frigging great at dealing with them. Preferably with a six-gun.

85 minutes.