History Film / HighNoon

Town [[USMarshal marshal]] Will Kane (GaryCooper) is planning to retire and live happily with his new wife Amy (Creator/GraceKelly), [[{{Retirony}} two sure signs of impending doom]]. On his last day the whole town learns that Frank Miller (no, not [[FrankMiller that one]]), a criminal Will had arrested, will arrive on the noon train with his gang, looking for {{revenge}}. Will seeks support from the townsfolk, but none of them will stand with him, not even his deputy. Amy, a pacifist, urges him to leave, but he refuses, choosing to fight Frank alone.

* GunsAkimbo: Colby, a member of Miller's gang (LeeVanCleef) rushes into the barn blazing wildly with two guns. Kane picks him off neatly with one gun.

* TheVoiceless: Colby, the harmonica-toting thug played by Lee Van Cleef, has no lines.

Perhaps the most famous [[{{movies}} film]] [[TheWestern western]], despite [[AvertedTrope omitting]] or [[SubvertedTrope subverting]] many of the genre's tropes. ''High Noon'' is in some ways a gentle {{deconstruction}} of TheWestern, depicting a hero mired in moral complexities, rather than the simple black-and-white of the traditional western.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Kane's first reaction, interestingly enough, is to grab his wife and a wagon and get out of town. He stops when he realises that he's panicking; he doesn't even have his guns with him. On returning to the town he finds the judge calmly packing up his horse to leave town, being aware from prior experience that the townspeople will not help Kane.

'''Helen''': [beat] He is not my man. He's yours. \\

Additionally, ''High Noon'' "inspired" ''RioBravo'' and ''Film/{{Outland}}''[[hottip:*:See RecycledInSpace for more.]]

* LockAndLoadMontage: Subverted. Two minutes before he faces Frank Miller alone at noon, Kane sits down in his office and begins preparing by writing his will. Enter Dimitri Tiomkin's score and a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MooNISe8aM montage]] of Kane at his desk, the omnipresent clock, Amy and Helena in the hotel, Miller's goons at the depot, and pretty much everybody else in the whole town at the saloon or church.

* HeroLookingForGroup: Tragically subverted. See {{Posse}} below.

* DownerEnding: Will was able to defeat Miller but departs by throwing down his badge without a word, disillusioned by the townspeople's cowardice. The townspeople are now left without anyone defending them and are too cowardly to take the mantle.

Town [[USMarshal marshal]] Will Kane (GaryCooper) is planning to retire and live happily with his new wife Amy (GraceKelly), [[{{Retirony}} two sure signs of impending doom]]. On his last day the whole town learns that Frank Miller (no, not [[FrankMiller that one]]), a criminal Will had arrested, will arrive on the noon train with his gang, looking for {{revenge}}. Will seeks support from the townsfolk, but none of them will stand with him, not even his deputy. Amy, a pacifist, urges him to leave, but he refuses, choosing to fight Frank alone.

'''Helen''': He is not my man. He's yours. \\

* OffstageVillainy: Frank Miller for most of the movie.
* MagicCountdown: Subverted; the hour before the train arrives is done real time.

* NeutralFemale: Subverted. Amy vows not to support or help her husband fight the thugs, but ultimately she is the only person to help him fight. She shoots a bad guy and is even able to break free of Miller's hold so her husband can shoot him.

* RealTime: Kane's one hour deadline ticks down in real time.

* RidingIntoTheSunset: Will and Amy at the end, though [[CaptainObvious it's not a sunset]].

** FridgeBrilliance: They could be synchronising it to the noon train.

''High Noon'' is the film most requested for viewing by [[ThePresidents the U.S. Presidents]]. BillClinton named it his favorite (allegedly having it screened in the White House a record 17 times), but RonaldReagan and DwightEisenhower also liked it.

* MayDecemberRomance: Gary Cooper was 28 years older than Grace Kelly.

In the end [[spoiler: Amy kills one of the gang, sacrificing her principles to do the right thing and save her husband]]. Frank then takes her hostage, telling Will to [[PutDownYourGunAndStepAway put his gun down]], but Amy struggles, allowing Will to kill Frank. Victorious, he throws his badge into the dust and walks away.

->''Do not forsake me, Oh my Darlin'''\\
''On this our wedding day.''
->-- '''''The Ballad of High Noon'''''

* HairOfGold: Amy, initially depicted as naive and innocent, she insists that she is familiar with violence and ultimately becomes Kane's only supporter.

''High Noon'' was written by Carl Foreman, while he was under investigation by the House Un-American Activities Committee, and he was subsequently blacklisted. The film can be seen as a parable about US society in general, and US intellectuals in particular, abandoning those summoned to appear before the committee, leaving them to face Senator [=McCarthy=] and his gang alone; which caused no end of confusion, since Senators don't normally head House committees.

* BrokenAesop: This film's message is supposedly about innocent men (Ordinary citizens) being treated as criminals (Communists) by a legal authority (Joe [=McCarthy=]) abusing its power and being abandoned about their friends (The American public). This film's ''content'' is about a legal authority figure (Joe [=McCarthy=]) losing the support of his friends (The American public) because they won't help fight a band of obvious criminals (Communists).

* NamesTheSame: FrankMiller
** The film was, incidentally, one of his favourites.

* RecycledInSpace: The sci-fi film ''Film/{{Outland}}'' is often dismissed as ''High Noon'' [-IN SPACE!-], but it isn't really.

* ImplausibleSynchrony: There's a clock prominently displayed in every house in town, and they're all showing the exact time, just so there's no doubt as to how soon the big showdown will take place.