SVS: “High Noon”

Today, in a not-entirely-unexpected development given my previously well-documented obsession, I’m of a mind to recommend a Western.

Of course, saying I want to pick something from the “major defining genre of the American film industry” is a bit like throwing darts into the Pacific Ocean. I’ll definitely hit something, and it’ll probably be wet-ish.

But I might want to think about narrowing it down. Just a tad.

I don’t want a super-fun one today, for some reason. But I don’t want an uber-dark one, either. Nothing too Disney, and nothing too Django. That being said, I’m feeling like a film with a bit of ambiguity would be just the ticket. Plus, I think I’m going for a “Classic Western” here, not a “Recently Resurgent Western” (which, somewhat ironically, actually means I’m actually picking a Western from the Middle, given the amazing longevity and influence of the genre). And I want a star, but not Wayne. Oh, and definitely not a musical… …though a catchy opening tune would not go amiss.

There. That should narrow it down a bit.

Well, would you look at that. Fred Zinnemann’s High Noon is streaming on NETFLIX INSTANT. And on YOUTUBE($), VUDU($) and AMAZON($).

A retiring marshal insists on defending his town from a gang of hooligans, but faces the task alone as the cowardly townspeople flee in horror.

My favorite Cooper performance, I think; very raw and (at times) very painful to watch. I frequently find him too stiff for my tastes/his roles, but in this one, it works. Somehow, he manages to combine strength and stoicism with a real vulnerability and suffering. Powerful stuff.

Floyd Crosby’s stark, award-winning B&W cinematography is spectacular, and Zinnemann’s direction has never been better. (The showdown is as tight and suspenseful a sequence as one could want. And don’t even get me started on the near-real-time and the clocks. We’ll be here for hours.)

And who can forget Tex Ritter’s vocal contribution? According to a number of sources, “High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, Oh, My Darlin’)” was “the first Oscar-winning song from a non-musical film,” (and also the first Oscar winning title song). It is also quite the ear-worm, and an instant musical-association trigger. A phrase or two of its opening “hoof-clopping” is all I need to be transported to Hadleyville once again.

I’m still not quite sure what to make of that ending, though. Surface-level, seems happy-ish, at least for the two love-birds. But underneath that surface? All is not well.

You risk your skin catching killers and the juries turn them loose so they can come back and shoot at you again. If you’re honest, you’re poor your whole life. And in the end, you wind up dying all alone on some dirty street. For what? For nothing. For a tin star.

Attribution(s): All posters, publicity images, and movie stills are the property of United Artists/MGM and other respective production studios and distributors, and are intended for editorial use only.