''High Noon'' is a 1952 American
Western film produced by
Stanley Kramer
Stanley Earl Kramer (September 29, 1913February 19, 2001) was an American film director and producer, responsible for making many of Hollywood's most famous "message picture, message films" (he would call his movies ''heavy dramas'') and a libera ...
from a screenplay by
Carl Foreman, directed by
Fred Zinnemann, and starring
Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his strong, quiet screen persona and understated acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, a ...
. The plot, which occurs in
real time, centers on a town
marshal whose sense of duty is tested when he must decide to either face a gang of killers alone, or leave town with his new wife.
Though mired in controversy at the time of its release due to its political themes, the film was nominated for seven
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
and won four (Actor, Editing, Score and Song)
as well as four
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of ...
s (Actor, Supporting Actress, Score, and Black and White Cinematography).
[IMDB List](_blank)
of nominations and awards for Stanley Kramer
Stanley Earl Kramer (September 29, 1913February 19, 2001) was an American film director and producer, responsible for making many of Hollywood's most famous "message picture, message films" (he would call his movies ''heavy dramas'') and a libera ...
's ''High Noon''. The award-winning score was written by Russian-born composer
Dimitri Tiomkin
Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin (, ; May 10, 1894 – November 11, 1979) was a Russian-born American film composer and conductor. Classically trained in St. Petersburg, Russia before the Bolshevik Revolution, he moved to Berlin and then New York Ci ...
.
''High Noon'' was selected by the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...
as one of the first 25 films for preservation in the United States
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...
for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" in 1989, the NFR's first year of existence. An iconic film whose story has been partly or completely repeated in later film productions, its ending in particular has inspired numerous later films, including but not just limited to westerns.
Plot
In Hadleyville, a small town in
New Mexico Territory, in 1898,
Marshal Will Kane
William "Will" Kane is the protagonist of the film ''High Noon'' (1952). He was first played by Gary Cooper, then by Lee Majors in '' High Noon, Part II: The Return of Will Kane'' (1980), and by Tom Skerritt in ''High Noon'' (2000), a remake for ...
, newly married to Amy Fowler, prepares to retire. The happy couple will soon depart for a new life to raise a family and run a store in another town. However, word arrives that Frank Miller, a vicious outlaw whom Kane sent to prison, has been released and will arrive on the
noon train. Miller's gang—his younger brother Ben, Jack Colby, and Jim Pierce—await his arrival at the train station.
For Amy, a devout
Quaker and
pacifist, the solution is simple—leave town before Miller arrives—but Kane's sense of duty and honor make him stay. Besides, he says, Miller and his gang would hunt him down anyway. Amy gives Kane an ultimatum: she is leaving on the noon train, with or without him.
Kane visits a series of old friends and allies, but none can or will help: Judge Percy Mettrick, who sentenced Miller, flees on horseback, and urges Kane to do the same. Harvey Pell, Kane's young deputy, is bitter that Kane did not recommend him as his successor; he says he will stand with Kane only if Kane goes to the city fathers and "puts the word in" for him. When Kane refuses, Pell turns in his badge and pistol. Kane's efforts to round up a posse at Ramírez's Saloon, and then the church, are met with fear and hostility. Some townspeople, worried that a gunfight would damage the town's reputation, urge Kane to avoid the confrontation entirely. Some are Miller's friends, but others resent that Kane cleaned up the town in the first place. Others are of the opinion that their tax money goes to support local law enforcement and the fight is not a posse's responsibility. Sam Fuller hides in his house, sending his wife Mildred to the door to tell Kane he is not home. Jimmy offers to help, but he is blind in one eye, sweating, and unsteady. Kane tells him he will call him and gives him money for a drink. The mayor encourages Kane to just leave town. Martin Howe, Kane's predecessor, is too old and arthritic. Herb Baker agrees to be deputized, but backs out when he realizes he is the only volunteer. A final offer of aid comes from 14-year-old Johnny. Kane admires the boy's courage, but refuses his help.
While waiting at the hotel for the train, Amy meets Helen Ramírez, who was once Miller's lover, then Kane's, then Pell's. Helen, who is leaving as well, tells Amy that if Kane were her man, she would not abandon him in his hour of need.
At the stables, Pell saddles a horse and tries to persuade Kane to take it. They end up in a fist fight. After knocking his former deputy senseless, Kane returns to his office to write out his will. The clock ticks toward noon.
Kane then goes into the street to face Miller and his gang alone. Amy and Ramirez ride by on a wagon with their luggage, bound for the train station. The perspective elevates and expands, showing Kane standing alone on a deserted street. The gunfight begins. As the train is about to depart, Amy hears the gunfire, leaps off, and runs back to town. Kane guns down Ben Miller and Colby, but is wounded as Miller attempts to burn Kane out of a barn. Choosing her husband's life over her religious beliefs, Amy picks up Pell's pistol and shoots Pierce from behind, leaving only Frank Miller, who grabs Amy as a human shield to force Kane into the open. When Amy claws Miller's face, he pushes her to the ground, and Kane shoots him dead.
Kane helps his bride to her feet and they embrace. As the townspeople cluster around him, Kane throws his marshal's star in the dirt and departs with Amy on their wagon.
Cast
Main cast
Uncredited
Production
The production and release of ''High Noon'' intersected with the second
Red Scare and the
Korean War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Korean War
, partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict
, image = Korean War Montage 2.png
, image_size = 300px
, caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...
. In 1951, during production of the film,
Carl Foreman was summoned before the
House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) during its investigation of "Communist propaganda and influence" in the motion picture industry. Foreman had once been a member of the
Communist party
A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of '' The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engel ...
, but he declined to identify fellow members or anyone he suspected of current membership. As a result, he was labeled an "uncooperative witness" by the committee, making him vulnerable to
blacklisting
Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist (or black list) of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list. If someone is on a blacklist, t ...
.
After his refusal to name names was made public, Foreman's production partner
Stanley Kramer
Stanley Earl Kramer (September 29, 1913February 19, 2001) was an American film director and producer, responsible for making many of Hollywood's most famous "message picture, message films" (he would call his movies ''heavy dramas'') and a libera ...
demanded an immediate dissolution of their partnership. As a signatory to the production loan, Foreman remained with the ''High Noon'' project; but before the film's release, he sold his partnership share to Kramer and moved to Britain, knowing that he would not find further work in the United States.
Kramer later asserted that he ended their partnership because Foreman had threatened to falsely name him to HUAC as a Communist. Foreman said that Kramer feared damage to his own career due to "guilt by association". Foreman was indeed blacklisted by the Hollywood studios due to the "uncooperative witness" label and additional pressure from
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
president
Harry Cohn,
MPA president
John Wayne
Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed The Duke or Duke Wayne, was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films made during Hollywood's Go ...
, and ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
'' gossip columnist
Hedda Hopper.
According to ''Darkness at High Noon: The Carl Foreman Documents''—a 2002 documentary based in part on a lengthy 1952 letter from Foreman to film critic
Bosley Crowther—Foreman's role in the creation and production of ''High Noon'' has been unfairly downplayed over the years in favor of Kramer's. Foreman told Crowther that the film originated from a four-page plot outline he wrote that turned out to be very similar to a short story by
John W. Cunningham called "The Tin Star." Foreman purchased the film rights to Cunningham's story and wrote the screenplay. By the time the documentary aired, most of the principals were dead, including Kramer, Foreman, Zinnemann, and Cooper.
Victor Navasky, author of ''Naming Names'', a definitive account of the Hollywood blacklist, told a reporter that, based on his interviews with Kramer's widow and others, the documentary seemed "one-sided, and the problem is it makes a villain out of Stanley Kramer, when it was more complicated than that".
Richard Fleischer
Richard O. Fleischer (; December 8, 1916 – March 25, 2006) was an American film director whose career spanned more than four decades, beginning at the height of the Golden Age of Hollywood and lasting through the American New Wave.
Though h ...
later claimed he helped Carl Foreman develop the story of ''High Noon'' over the course of eight weeks while driving to and from the set of ''
The Clay Pigeon
''The Clay Pigeon'' is a 1949 American film noir directed by Richard Fleischer and written by Carl Foreman, based on a true story. The drama features Bill Williams and Barbara Hale, a real-life husband and wife.
Plot
Jim Fletcher (Williams), a ...
'' (1949) which they were making together. Fleischer says his RKO contract prevented him from directing ''High Noon''.
Casting
John Wayne
Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed The Duke or Duke Wayne, was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films made during Hollywood's Go ...
was originally offered the lead role in the film, but refused it because he believed that Foreman's story was an obvious allegory against
blacklisting
Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist (or black list) of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list. If someone is on a blacklist, t ...
, which he actively supported. Later, he told an interviewer that he would "never regret having helped run Foreman out of the country". Gary Cooper was Wayne's longtime friend and shared his conservative political views; Cooper had been a "friendly witness" before
HUAC but did not implicate anyone as a suspected Communist, and he later became a vigorous opponent of blacklisting. Ironically, Cooper won an
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
for his performance, and since he was working in Europe at the time, he asked Wayne to accept the Oscar on his behalf. Although Wayne's contempt for the film and refusal of its lead role were well known, he said, "I'm glad to see they're giving this to a man who is not only most deserving, but has conducted himself throughout the years in our business in a manner that we can all be proud of ... Now that I'm through being such a good sport ... I'm going back to find my business manager and agent ... and find out why I didn't get ''High Noon'' instead of Cooper ..."
[''High Noon''](_blank)
retrieved October 13, 2022.
After Wayne refused the Will Kane role, Kramer offered it to
Gregory Peck, who declined because he felt it was too similar to his role in ''
The Gunfighter
''The Gunfighter'' is a 1950 American Western film directed by Henry King and starring Gregory Peck, Helen Westcott, Millard Mitchell and Karl Malden. It was written by screenwriters William Bowers and William Sellers, with an uncredited rewri ...
'', the year before. Peck later said he considered it the biggest mistake of his career.
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he received numerous accolades throughout his career, which spanned six decades, including two Academ ...
,
Montgomery Clift, and
Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston (born John Charles Carter; October 4, 1923April 5, 2008) was an American actor and political activist.
As a Hollywood star, he appeared in almost 100 films over the course of 60 years. He played Moses in the epic film ''The Ten ...
also declined the role.
Kramer saw
Grace Kelly in an off-Broadway play and cast her as Kane's bride, despite Cooper and Kelly's substantial age disparity (50 and 21, respectively). Rumors of an affair between Cooper and Kelly during filming remain unsubstantiated. Kelly biographer Donald Spoto wrote that there was no evidence of a romance, aside from tabloid gossip. Biographer Gina McKinnon speculated that "there might well have been a roll or two in the hay bales", but cited no evidence, other than a remark by Kelly's sister Lizanne that Kelly was "infatuated" with Cooper.
Lee Van Cleef made his film debut in ''High Noon''. Kramer first offered Van Cleef the Harvey Pell role, after seeing him in a touring production of ''
Mister Roberts'', on the condition that Van Cleef have his nose surgically altered to appear less menacing. Van Cleef refused and was cast instead as Colby, the only role of his career without a single line of dialog.
Filming
''High Noon'' was filmed in the late summer/early fall of 1951 in several locations in California. The opening scenes, under the
credits
Credit refers to any form of deferred payment, the granting of a loan and the creation of debt.
Credit may also refer to:
Places
* Credit, Arkansas, a ghost town
* Credit River, a river in Ontario, Canada
* Credit River (Minnesota), a river ...
, were shot at
Iverson Movie Ranch near Los Angeles. A few town scenes were shot in
Columbia State Historic Park, a preserved
Gold Rush
A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New ...
mining town near
Sonora
Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into 72 municipalities; the ...
, but most of the street scenes were filmed on the
Columbia
Columbia may refer to:
* Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America
Places North America Natural features
* Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region i ...
Movie Ranch in
Burbank. St. Joseph's Church in
Tuolumne City was used for exterior shots of the Hadleyville church. The railroad was the old
Sierra Railroad in
Jamestown, a few miles south of Columbia, now known as
Railtown 1897 State Historic Park, and often nicknamed "the movie railroad" due to its frequent use in films and television shows. The railroad station was built for the film alongside a water tower at Warnerville, about 15 miles to the southwest.
Cooper was reluctant to film the fight scene with Bridges due to ongoing problems with his back, but eventually did so without the use of a stunt double. He wore no makeup to emphasize his character's anguish and fear, which was probably intensified by pain from recent surgery to remove a bleeding
ulcer.
The running time of the story almost precisely
parallels the running time of the film—an effect heightened by frequent shots of clocks to remind the characters (and the audience) that the villain will be arriving on the noon train.
Music
The movie's theme song, "
High Noon" (as it is credited in the film), also known by its opening lyric, "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling", became a major hit on the
Country-Western charts for
Tex Ritter, and later, a pop hit for
Frankie Laine
Frankie Laine (born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio; March 30, 1913 – February 6, 2007) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor whose career spanned nearly 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to his final ...
as well.
Its popularity set a precedent for theme songs that were featured in many subsequent Western films. Composer
Dimitri Tiomkin
Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin (, ; May 10, 1894 – November 11, 1979) was a Russian-born American film composer and conductor. Classically trained in St. Petersburg, Russia before the Bolshevik Revolution, he moved to Berlin and then New York Ci ...
's score and song, with lyrics by
Ned Washington, became popular for years afterwards and Tiomkin became in demand for future westerns in the 1950s like ''
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral'' and ''
Last Train from Gun Hill.''
Reception
The film earned an estimated $3.4 million at the North American box office in 1952.
Upon its release, critics and audiences expecting chases, fights, spectacular scenery, and other common
Western film elements were dismayed to find them largely replaced by emotional and moralistic dialogue until the climactic final scenes. Some critics scoffed at the unorthodox rescue of the hero by the heroine.
David Bishop argued that had Quaker Amy ''not'' helped her husband by shooting a man in the back, such inaction would have pulled pacifism "toward apollonian decadence".
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...
thought Kelly's performance was "rather mousy" and lacking in animation; only in later films, he said, did she show her true star quality.
''High Noon'' has been cited as a favorite by several
U.S. presidents
The president of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States, indirectly elected to a four-year term via the Electoral College. The officeholder leads the executive branch of the federal government and ...
.
Dwight Eisenhower screened the film at the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
,
and
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...
hosted a record 17 White House screenings of it. "It's no accident that politicians see themselves as Gary Cooper in ''High Noon''," Clinton said. "Not just politicians, but anyone who's forced to go against the popular will. Any time you're alone and you feel you're not getting the support you need, Cooper's Will Kane becomes the perfect metaphor."
Ronald Reagan cited ''High Noon'' as his favorite film, due to the protagonist's strong commitment to duty and the law.
[Mulholland, J. ''Inside High Noon''. DVD documentary.]
By contrast, John Wayne told an interviewer that he considered ''High Noon'' "the most un-American thing I've ever seen in my whole life," and later teamed with director
Howard Hawks
Howard Winchester Hawks (May 30, 1896December 26, 1977) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era. Critic Leonard Maltin called him "the greatest American director who is not a household name."
A ...
to make ''
Rio Bravo'' in response. "I made ''Rio Bravo'' because I didn't like ''High Noon''," Hawks explained. "Neither did Duke
ayne I didn't think a good town marshal was going to run around town like a chicken with his head cut off asking everyone to help. And who saves him? His Quaker wife. That isn't my idea of a good Western."
Zinnemann responded, "I admire Hawks very much. I only wish he'd leave my films alone!" In a 1973 interview, Zinnemann added, "I'm rather surprised at Hawks' and Wayne's thinking. Sheriffs are people and no two people are alike. The story of ''High Noon'' takes place in the Old West but it is really a story about a man's conflict of conscience. In this sense it is a cousin to ''
A Man for All Seasons''. In any event, respect for the Western hero has not been diminished by ''High Noon''."
The film was criticized in the Soviet Union as "glorification of the individual".
In Chapter XXXV of ''
The Virginian'' by
Owen Wister, there is a description of an incident very similar to the central plot of ''High Noon''. Trampas (a
villain) calls out the Virginian, who has a new bride waiting whom he might lose if he engages in the gunfight. ''High Noon'' has even been described as a "straight
remake" of the
1929 film version of ''The Virginian'' in which Cooper also starred.
Accolades
''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...
'' ranked Will Kane on their list of ''The 20 All Time Coolest Heroes in Pop Culture''.
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees.
Lead ...
recognition
* 1998
AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Movies #33
* 2001
AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Thrills #20
* 2003
AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Heroes and Villains:
**
Will Kane
William "Will" Kane is the protagonist of the film ''High Noon'' (1952). He was first played by Gary Cooper, then by Lee Majors in '' High Noon, Part II: The Return of Will Kane'' (1980), and by Tom Skerritt in ''High Noon'' (2000), a remake for ...
, hero #5
* 2004
AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Songs:
** "
High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin')" #25
* 2005
AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores #10
* 2006
AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Cheers #27
* 2007
AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) #27
* 2008
AFI's 10 Top 10
''AFI's 10 Top 10'' honors the ten greatest American films in ten classic film genres. Presented by the American Film Institute (AFI), the lists were unveiled on a television special broadcast by CBS on June 17, 2008. In the special, various act ...
#2
Western film
Legacy and cultural influence
''High Noon'' is considered an early example of the
revisionist Western.
Kim Newman calls it the "most influential Western of the 1950s (because) its attitudes subtly changed the societal vision of the whole (Western) genre". The traditional format of the Western is of a strong male character leading the civilised against the uncivilised but, in this film, the civilised people fail (in a way described by John Wayne as "un-American") to support their town marshal. Newman draws the contrast between the "eerily neat and civilised" town of Hadleyville and the "gutlessness, self-interest and lack of backbone exhibited by its inhabitants" who will allow the town to "slip back into the savage past" from which Kane and his deputies once saved it. In his article, ''The Women of "High Noon": A Revisionist View'', Don Graham argues that in addition to the man-alone theme, ''High Noon'' "represents a notable advance in the portrayal of women in Westerns". Compared with the "hackneyed presentation" of stereotypical women characters in earlier Westerns, ''High Noon'' grants the characters of Amy and Helen an expanded presence, the two being counterpoints. While Helen is socially inferior, she holds considerable economic power in the community. Helen's encounter with Amy is key because she tells Amy that she would never leave Kane if he were her man – she would get a gun and fight, thus predicating Amy's actions. For most of the film, Amy is the "Eastern-virgin archetype" but her reaction to the first gunshot "transcends the limitations of her genre role" as she returns to town and kills Pierce. The gang's actions indicate the implicit but very real threat they pose to women; as is suggested by the Mexican woman crossing herself when the first three ride into town. Graham summarises the many references to women as a community demoralised by the failure of its male members, other than Kane. The women, he asserts, equal Kane in strength of character to the extent that they are "protofeminists".
In 1989, 22-year-old Polish graphic designer Tomasz Sarnecki transformed Marian Stachurski's 1959 Polish variant of the ''High Noon'' poster into a
Solidarity election poster for the
first partially free elections in
communist Poland. The poster, which was displayed all over Poland, shows Cooper armed with a folded ballot saying "Wybory" (i.e., elections) in his right hand while the
Solidarity logo is pinned to his vest above the sheriff's badge. The message at the bottom of the poster reads: "W samo południe: 4 czerwca 1989", which translates to "High Noon: 4 June 1989."
As former Solidarity leader
Lech Wałęsa wrote, in 2004,
The 1981 science fiction film ''
Outland'', starring
Sean Connery
Sir Sean Connery (born Thomas Connery; 25 August 1930 – 31 October 2020) was a Scottish actor. He was the first actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond on film, starring in seven Bond films between 1962 and 1983. Origina ...
as a federal agent on an interplanetary mining outpost, has been compared to ''High Noon'' due to similarities in themes and plot.
''High Noon'' is referenced several times on the
HBO drama series ''
The Sopranos
''The Sopranos'' is an American crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster, portraying his difficulties as he tries to balance ...
''.
Tony Soprano cites Gary Cooper's character as the archetype of what a man should be, mentally tough and stoic. He frequently laments, "Whatever happened to Gary Cooper?" and refers to Will Kane as the "strong, silent type". The iconic ending to the film is shown on a television during an extended dream sequence in the fifth-season episode "
The Test Dream".
''High Noon'' inspired the 2008 hip-hop song of the same name by rap artist
Kinetics
Kinetics ( grc, κίνησις, , kinesis, ''movement'' or ''to move'') may refer to:
Science and medicine
* Kinetics (physics), the study of motion and its causes
** Rigid body kinetics, the study of the motion of rigid bodies
* Chemical kin ...
, in which ''High Noon'' is mentioned along with several other classic Western films, drawing comparisons between rap battles and Western-film street showdowns.
Sequels and remakes
* A television sequel, ''
High Noon, Part II: The Return of Will Kane'', was produced in 1980, and aired on
CBS in November of that year.
Lee Majors and
Katherine Cannon
Katherine Cannon (born September 6, 1953 in Hartford, Connecticut) is an American actress.
Career
Cannon's early roles included '' Hawaii Five-O'' (episode: "Time and Memories", 10/7/1970); '' Fools' Parade'' (1971); '' Private Duty Nurses'' (1 ...
played the Cooper and Kelly roles.
Elmore Leonard wrote the original screenplay.
*''
Outland'' is a 1981 British science fiction thriller film written and directed by Peter Hyams and starring Sean Connery, Peter Boyle, and Frances Sternhagen that was inspired by ''High Noon''.
* In 2000, Stanley Kramer's widow
Karen Sharpe Kramer produced
a remake of ''High Noon'' as a TV movie for the cable channel
TBS. The film starred
Tom Skerritt as Will Kane, with
Michael Madsen as Frank Miller.
* In 2016, Karen Kramer signed an agreement with Relativity Studios for a feature film remake of ''High Noon'', a modernized version set in the present day at the US-Mexico border. That deal collapsed when Relativity declared bankruptcy the following year; but in 2018, Kramer announced that Classical Entertainment had purchased the rights to the project, which will be produced by Thomas Olaimey with writer-director David L. Hunt.
References
Further reading
* Allison, Deborah. "'Do Not Forsake Me: The Ballad of High Noon' and the rise of the movie theme song." ''Senses of Cinema'' 28 (2003).
* Burton, Howard A. "'High Noon': Everyman Rides Again." ''Quarterly of Film Radio and Television'' 8.1 (1953): 80–86.
*
*
* Hamilton, Cynthia S. ''Western and Hard-Boiled Detective Fiction in America: From High Noon to Midnight'' (Springer, 1987).
*
*
* Rapf, Joanna E. "Myth, Ideology, and Feminism in High Noon." ''Journal of Popular Culture'' 23.4 (1990): 75+.
External links
*
*
*
*
*
''High Noon''essay by Daniel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010 , pages 458–460
"The 34 best political movies ever made" Ann Hornaday, ''The Washington Post'' January 23, 2020), ranked #27
{{Authority control
1952 films
1952 Western (genre) films
1950s American films
1950s English-language films
American black-and-white films
American Western (genre) films
Films about McCarthyism
Films about Quakers
Films based on American short stories
Films directed by Fred Zinnemann
Films featuring a Best Actor Academy Award-winning performance
Films featuring a Best Drama Actor Golden Globe winning performance
Films featuring a Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe-winning performance
Films produced by Stanley Kramer
Films scored by Dimitri Tiomkin
Films set in New Mexico
Films set in the 1880s
Films shot in California
Films that won the Best Original Score Academy Award
Films that won the Best Original Song Academy Award
Films whose editor won the Best Film Editing Academy Award
Films with screenplays by Carl Foreman
Revisionist Western (genre) films
United Artists films
United States Marshals Service in fiction
United States National Film Registry films