HIGH NOON

Since this 1952 Western now has classic status it's something of a surprise to learn that it wasn't immediately embraced as such upon its release.

Part of this was down to its unconventional structure and lack of action: most of the film concerns Marshal Will Kane's attempts to persuade someone (anyone!) in his town to help him fight a bad guy Frank Miller who is arriving on the noon train, where he will meet up with  his gang of three ne'er-do-wells.

The story is told in real time and we have to wait for most of the 85 minutes before the train arrives and we get a shootout.

But although most of the film is wordy (at one point we even get an abbreviated debate among the townspeople in the local church as to whether to support Kane) it's not at all boring, quite the opposite.  

This is down to the excellent screenplay by Carl Foreman, which raises issues that have universal resonance even now, about how to maintain a decent society and whose responsibility it is.  It was also seen at the time as an allegory of McCarthyite blacklisting, which Foreman himself became a victim of.  This naturally made it controversial, with the likes of John Wayne calling it un-American.

Thankfully he turned down the role of Kane, as did Gregory Peck, Marlon Brando, Charlton Heston, and Montgomery Clift.  It's really hard to imagine anyone than Gary Cooper in the part, for which he won an Oscar.

The direction by Fred Zinneman is pitch perfect, and I also appreciated the splendid black-and-white cinematography by Floyd Crosby (incidentally the father of the great David Crosby).  The shots of the three gang members waiting at the railroad station depot must surely have influenced the opening scene of 'Once Upon A Time In the West'?

And of course there's the Oscar-winning song 'Do Not Forsake Me', and Katy Jurado is terrific as usual even as a rather implausible character.

But I have a few small reservations. Frank Miller when he turns up is not that fearsome given the build-up, and Grace Kelly's performance as Kane's new wife (yes the film starts with their wedding) is rather forgettable although to be fair she's not given a lot to work with.  

Never mind, when all's said and done you'd have to be a real contrarian to dispute this film's place in the Western Hall of Fame.