High Noon: Utterly fascinating 1952 Hollywood movie about small town community's cowardly attitude towards law enforcement marshal under revenge attack by released convict

Last updated on 20th Jan. 2020

I found the movie dialogues as well as acting by key figures, to be a superb portrayal of small town community cowardly attitude towards law enforcement personnel who are targeted by pardoned murder convict who was originally arrested and sentenced by them. At the time of the trial itself the murder convict had promised to come back and kill the Marshal (as he had arrested him which led to his trial). I should say that the movie sets seem to be very basic, and the plot does not seem to be a realistic one. However, even if it is viewed as a contrived plot, the dialogues and acting of the key figures portray typical small town issues when confronted by danger. [As an example of a contrived plot, the movie has the Marshal resigning immediately after his marriage as he wants to lead a different life after marriage, and the new Marshal is expected to take over the next day. Then the information about the convict being released and arriving in town in a short while (with intent to kill the Marshal as revenge) is conveyed. The technicality of the Marshal having resigned and no Marshal being in charge on that day at High Noon, is used by some to justify not forming an armed posse to fight along with the Marshal against the villain and his group.]

The Marshal has been vital to bring law & order (women and children being safe on the streets) to the town. However, the villain is a murderous fellow who strikes fear in the hearts of the town's residents. And then the villain has 3 other rogues with him who are intent on killing the Marshal (and judge) who arrested and convicted the villain.

Some in the town have seen their business suffer after the villain was arrested and would prefer to have the villain back as the power running the town!

The good guys are in church and like what the Marshal has done. Prior to the Marshal's good work, women and children were not safe in the town's streets! [A big indicator of how safe a town is, is whether women and children are safe in the town's streets at least during daytime. A town where they are not safe on the streets even in daytime is a wretched place.] The good guys in church want to help the Marshal. But they do not want to risk fighting with the villain and his group! So finally the Marshal is left all alone.

[I think this seems to be a well portrayed and true reflection of reality of small town communities. I think it applies to many parts of India and perhaps of the world even today, even if the situation is somewhat different with police being around in larger numbers. As a whistleblower I came face-to-face with this reality. People don't want to take risks and fight for truth (Sathya & Dharma). If some whistleblowers do that, they are watched from the sidelines by the majority but very few want to get involved directly if there is risk of backlash from those exposed. Like the Marshal in the movie finds himself all alone in the face of revenge danger from convict, the whistleblower(s) also finds himself/themselves rather alone when those exposed try to hit back. I think that fear is a very big factor in small town communities in India in such matters and I think that may be the case in most small towns in the world with the exceptions being small towns where policing is of high quality and very effective. Therefore I find this movie, even if it is a 1952 one and in the context of old USA Western town with guns, to be very instructive of such community behaviour even in our early 21st century times, in small town India.]

The judge flees town and advises the Marshal to do the same. There is a romantic angle as well for the Marshal with his newly wedded wife also asking him to flee (along with her).

The not-church-going type guys are in the bar with some of them openly supporting the villain and his group and hoping that the villain will be back in power in town. A bet is proposed with odds on how long it will take for the Marshal to be killed after the villain arrives in town by train at high noon where he will be met by three members of his group.

The Marshal tries to flee with his wife (without his weapon) but realizes that the villain and his group will come after him and that he would be easily killed by them that way. Instead his chances of living are better if he fights them with his guns in the same town.

It is four villains vs. the hero Marshal (with his wife assisting at a key point) in the gun fight but the Marshal eventually wins with all four villains being killed (one of them being killed by his wife).

After all the danger is over, many of the townsfolk come outside their homes/church and gather around the Marshal.

The movie ends with the Marshal throwing his tin Marshal badge in the dirt road (dusty path rather than a proper road), showing his contempt for the cowardice of almost all of the community (one youngster courageously had wanted to help him in the gunfight but the Marshal refuses his help as he is too young), before he and his wife drive out of town.

High Noon movie script: https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/movie_script.php?movie=high-noon

High Noon 1952 Gary Cooper from THE REEL COWBOYS of HOLLYWOOD, https://vimeo.com/156370921, around 1 hr. 25 mins.

Youtube movie clips:
High Noon (1952) | (1/5) | Ultimatum, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm0iEYCUw5I, 2 min. 34 secs.

High Noon (1952) | (2/5) | Bar, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZobOYRjIGb8, 1 min. 39 secs.

High Noon (1952) | (3/5) | Leaving, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzA0H0RLCDY, 1 min. 51 secs.

High Noon (1952) | (4/5) | Church, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of30ZLYgjQc, 2 min. 8 secs.

High Noon - Final Showdown, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZil728hUy0, 8 min. 34 secs. [5/5 clip seems to be included in this clip.]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ycu2ZRK63ew, 1 hr. 10 mins [Seems to have most of the movie but in smaller size; Have not checked it out.]
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A few extracts from the movie script are given below, with some comments from me in italics, within square brackets, and prefixed by Ravi:

[Around 6 min. 15 secs.]
Do you, Will Kane, take Amy [Ravi: Will Kane is the Marshal. Amy is his fiancee/wife.]
to be your lawful wedded wife
to have and to hold from this day forward
until death do you part?
I do.
Do you Amy take Will
to be your lawful wedded husband
to have and to hold from this day forward
until death do you part?
- I do.
- The ring, please.
Then by the authority invested in me
by the laws of this territory,
I pronounce you man and wife.
...

[Around 9 mins into the video]
Marshal, a telegram for you.
It's terrible, it's shocking.
- They've pardoned Frank Miller. [Ravi: Frank Miller is the pardoned murder convict who has sworn to kill the Marshal, Will Kane.]
- I don't believe it.
We could go too.
- Nice of them to let you know.
- That ain't all.
Ben Miller is down the depot [Ravi: Ben Miller is Frank Miller's brother.]
with Pierce and Colby.
- He asked about the noon train.
- The noon train?
Well.. You get out of this town.
Get out of this town this very minute.
...
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Just saw that the story background along with key dialogue lines are available here:  https://www.filmsite.org/high.html. So I am not providing more dialogue extracts I had planned to give, as all that is already available at the afore-mentioned link.