(This review was written on November 8, 2004, with a few modifications)
Starring: Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Thomas Mitchell, Lloyd Bridges, Katy Jurado
Directed by: Fred Zinnemann
Produced by: Stanley Kramer, Elmo Williams
Genres: Western
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
I learned about the movie “High Noon(1952, by Gary Cooper) ” from Bill Clinton's book "My Life". The author once was asked by a reporter what was his favorite movie and he answered right away: “Nigh Noon”. Then I watched it and I liked it very much. In the rental store, it was labeled as a Western movie, but I think it should be more like in the drama category, although the movie story happened to occur in a Western town in the West era.
The story was not complicated, but the plot was well thought out. Different from most people would expect from a Western movie, it didn't have any action until at the very end, though it did give the audience a sense of tension from the very beginning. As the story gradually unfolded, with a metaphor of clocks ticking, the tension within the town, along with people's emotions, was growing higher and higher. Everyone in town had a certain kind of stake in the incident that was going to happen. Everyone had a good reason for his or her own reaction or behavior toward it...Suddenly I realized why the title is called 'High Noon': The tension and anxiety had been built up very HIGH waiting for something to happen at the very NOON time (My interpretation).
If a story can last forever it must have something that can last. The vivid depiction of our human being's nature happened in the old town can still apply to us now, and probably will continue so in our future. The human's cowardliness shown in the movie, easily made me think of the cowardliness of our times. Once in a while it would come one of those times when the cowardliness is built up so visible that people who have a big share of it could form a simple majority at the time. The music and the rhythm helped a great deal too.
It was an old, black and white movie with a low budget; the shooting of the movie only took twenty-eight days back then. But I believe people like me are discovering this treasury film every day, and people who watched it probably will keep coming back and watch it again, as I saw it running on a movie channel recently. Besides, it was Gary Cooper's only Academy Award movie.
This movie certainly has been placed on the top of my favorite movie list.
This movie is classified as a Western movie and I didn’t feel like it is, in terms of Western-style actions. That was why it surprised me.