High Noon (1952)

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A marshall, personally compelled to face a returning deadly enemy, finds that his own town refuses to help him. (imdb)

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Directed By: Fred Zinnemann

Written By: Carl Foreman, John W. Cunningham

Starring: Lon Chaney Jr., Lloyd Bridges, Gary Cooper, Harry Morgan, Lee Van Cleef, Otto Kruger, John Doucette, Thomas Mitchell, Virginia Christine, Katy Jurado, Ian MacDonald, Grace Kelly

Genres: Drama, Suspense/Thriller, Western

Country: USA

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High Noon belongs to 103 collections

1. 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (collaborative: moderated by kozan26 - 232 stars)

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7. New York Times' The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made (collaborative: moderated by theficionado - 31 stars)

8. National Film Registry (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 30 stars)

9. The Guardian's 1000 films to see before you die (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 30 stars)

10. Netflix Instant (collaborative: moderated by somnivore - 29 stars)

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14. 24 hour (or less) timeframe (collaborative: moderated by djross - 24 stars)

15. IMDb Top 250 Complete (collaborative: moderated by Jorg - 23 stars)

16. Academy Award - Oscar - ALL Best Picture, Directing, Acting & Screenplay Nominees (collaborative - 22 stars)

17. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2017 revision) (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 22 stars)

18. They Shoot Pictures' Recommended Viewing (collaborative: moderated by Cinephile - 19 stars)

19. Best of criticker: Drama (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr - 18 stars)

20. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2013 revision) (collaborative: moderated by rant1229 - 16 stars)

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50. Best of criticker: Western (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr - 4 stars)

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53. New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Film (collaborative: moderated by CCLZA - 3 stars)

54. AFI 100 Years... 100 Thrills (collaborative: moderated by iceblox - 3 stars)

55. Real time (collaborative - 3 stars)

56. IMDb Top of The 1950's (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 3 stars)

57. 501 Movie Directors (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 3 stars)

58. Oscar: Film Editing (collaborative: moderated by CarsonWid - 3 stars)

59. 100 Recommended Children's Movies (The New York Times Essential Library) (collaborative: moderated by BeeDub - 3 stars)

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68. Leonard Maltin: 100 Must-See Films of the 20th Century (collaborative - 1 star)

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71. imdb top 250 / 100% (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr - 1 star)

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All Ratings | With Reviews

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TCI | Percentile | Date Rated | # Stars (Reviews)

Stars	User	Rating
8	Pickpocket	1 _12th
The acting is horrendous, the music is overbearing (theme song is an abortion) and you get beaten to death with the themes repeatedly. The dialogue is bad and the ending is rushed and the definition of anti-climatic. I mean, the bad guys are talked up as being super badass the entire film and then get owned in literally 5 minutes by one old guy and Grace Kelly, rofl. I also love how the plan to kill the Marshall was to just walk into town and and shoot him. REALLY, that's it? So fucking stupid.
6	MartinTeller	88 _91st
I'm not usually a big Gary Cooper fan, but he was excellent. And I loved the editing, the ominous shots of clocks and railroad tracks and empty streets, the political undertones, and the fact that it played out in (almost) real time. Also, John Wayne apparently hated it and I fucking hate John Wayne. Very good flick, I feel bad for avoiding it for so long.
5	Nathan S	4 _74th
The film essentially plays out in real time, which is a wonderful device for building both tension and sympathy for Kane's plight. It just keeps getting better and better as the minutes tick away. The climactic shoot-out is one of the best ever filmed. Cooper is wonderful, and the photography is nice too. The film isn't without flaws though, such as Grace Kelly's overplaying and a rather annoying score (except for that little drumbeat) and theme song.
5	Luna6ix	75 _52nd
The appeal of the western is diminishing among younger generations, young adults were only exposed to them by their parents and kids don't play cowboys and Indians these days. This one might be lauded as one of the best westerns of all time, and while it might be pretty good, that is an appraisal likely limited to people who already like westerns, and not one for the uninitiated.
4	Alex Watkins	4 _70th
The best of the classic Hollywood westerns; though it operates firmly within the genre's conventions and standards, there are many details that put it a notch above its contemporaries. The most important of these is the fact that Kane finds not a single person willing to help him; even his best friends urge him to leave town and hide from Miller. Gary Cooper is fantastic, really giving you a sense of his dread and anxiety. The shot of him walking the empty street as the train nears is perfect.
4	mwgerb	72 _88th
It has it's flaws; the overdone score is probably the most obvious candidate. But the film succeeds thanks to its overwhelming atmosphere of tension, emphasized by every ticking clock approaching noon, and the sense of abandonment, finalized when the camera pans out of the empty town, as well as Gary Cooper's noble and weary protagonist.
4	billkerwin	80 _42nd
This is a western for people who don't like westerns: preachy, slow and highly overrated. Cooper's harrowed face and Grace Kelly's beauty are not enough to compensate for the relentless theme song, the charmless supporting cast, the whiny dialogue and the continual, heavy-handed reinforcement of the theme. Watch "Rio Bravo" instead.
4	Paxton	74 _75th
One man that simply would not back down, even when no one would back him up. The most fortunate thing about this movie is the time it takes place, because at night fall Lon Chaney Jr. turns into a werewolf and Lee Van Cleef a weasel.
3	Stain	50 _33rd
I used to like this a lot better. Nowadays it just seems as hoary as the day is long. And the ballad gets repeated and repeated and repeated until you want to scream
3	AndreasThau	65 _50th
Sorry, but how can you put Lee Van Cleef in a movie and not use him? Urgh, it's so saaaaaad! Decent, and I especially like two things: the realtime plot and the fact that the sheriff isn't some macho/romantic western dude. He's pretty normal.
3	SheWas	50 _44th
I could really empathize with that "fucking bisexual girls. every single time" look Katy Jurado had right after Grace Kelly ditched her on the train (Don't even try to deny the amounts of lez-magic that went down right there) for Gary Cooper. MAJOR credibility problem: not even considering going for Lee Van Cleef.
2	Magb	90 _85th
This is a western, but in large part because of its real-time progression of events, it feels like a thriller. It's tremendously frustrating to see the main character Will Kane get abandoned by every single person he asks to help him. I had no prior awareness of the controversy of the film's supposed "un-Americanism", but the political leanings of the filmmakers do come across quite strongly when you think about it, and the film ends up feeling very different from most westerns.
2	CloseFriend	80 _75th
I would've loved this movie even more if Kane punctuated the ending by yelling, "FUCK YOU GUYS," then riding off into the sunset alone with a single middle finger in the air.
2	FoolioM	81 _46th
A friend to all is a friend to none.
2	frederic_g54	8 _77th
The cinematic equivalent of watching a clown interrupt a press conference to perform a great show for about 80 minutes, after which he decides to leave. High Noon comes and goes. Pretty sweet film though.
2	ruloaas	30 _22nd
Overrated like crazy
2	QVT	50 _56th
So here's the problem: What the fuck? The plot makes about as much sense as a pony made of diamonds. I shoulda just been playing Borderlands 2.
2	Kingjohnbbq	50 _9th
pretty underwhelming. the pacing is slow and there is no real pay off. I'm sure that given the right light, I would have loved this movie. but in this day and age, so much oversaturation of things, the simplicity of this movie just doesn't cut it.
2	damil	50 _25th
I might be in the minority here, but I really don't understand why this is so well though of. I found the whole thing to be decidedly average. I didn't really see anything special in this apart from a couple of cool shots. I thought the acting and dialogue were mediocre if not plain terrible at points. Maybe it's just one of those films that was groundbreaking at the time but not so impressive now. Still, I think the best films stand the test of time.
2	le mami	40 _29th
Does not take my interest very much. So obvious references to the "not so strong masculinty unlike other westerner heros" is okay but not that special too. For it's time, the film might be a little bit creative but for today, meh it's boring, predictable and somehow stupid.
2	dardan	83 _88th
'Until death do us part' signifies the beginning of this films' exploration of the ideas that are loyalty and duty; from husband to wife, wife to husband, friend to friend, criminal to criminal, man to his word, townfolk to town, priest to god, an individual to the world and a whole lot more limits are shown through the theme of abandonment.
1	doctor7	91 _93rd
I'm not normally a fan of classic westerns but this one is sufficiently deep to not only been engaging but also high memorable. Certainly it lives up to its reputation as one of the best westerns ever made. It manages to go against a lot of genre conventions and Gary Cooper is excellent as the lead. Iconic film and a must see for sure.
1	Moribunny	68 _70th
This classic Western is slick and pleasant to watch. It's pure Hollywood, relying much more on convention than on integrity, but the story nevertheless intrigues.
1	TheDenizen	90 _95th
Extremely tense and wonderfully acted real-time western thriller.
1	twincinema	80 _75th
It's impossible to watch this film without a historical lens. While High Noon is a good western, it's raised even higher knowing how subversive the film was during the Red Scare. Love how no one pointed out the HUGE age difference between old man Cooper and Kelly.
1	caiman	92 _95th
This movie captures the humanity of the old west admirably. The real, natural emotions that occur to us when things are truly a matter of life and death are portrayed here beautifully. The amount of tension built through the film's short running time is tremendous, with shots of clocks reminding us of impending doom. I've never felt such dread from the sound of an approaching train. And the cast is wonderful all around. Great movie.
1	TedDedon	94 _92nd
High Noon is a really cool lense movie about the red scare in the film industry during the 40s and 50s. It's exquisitely acted by Gary Cooper and directed by the great Fred Zinnemann. It's a movie that everyone should see at least once. Plus it has the beautiful Grace Kelly in it.
1	BillyShears	90 _92nd
Gadzooks! I felt like an old bowl of beans lovin' those opening credits. "Look at all the fucking clocks" = town motto
1	ronthedog	83 _72nd
More than it appears at first, this is a tense, real-time thriller about one man facing his demons alone. The lack of help for the Gary Cooper has led to a lot of allegorical interpretation, especially regarding hollywood's communist witchhunts - while this may be true, it works well as a film on either level.
1	thesleepwalk	98 _99th
M: 95/100 S: 100/100 M: Awesome tension-filled Western carried by a great cast and a simple, sad story. S: I bawled my eyes out from start to finish. Gary Cooper is such a great actor. The movie covers honor, morals, duty, courage, and being abandoned by people you thought were your friends, colleagues, neighbors. One of the neat things about this film is that it moves in almost real time, and builds tension by panning to the clock to update you on how close it's getting to.....high noon.
1	moraesfelipe	65 _62nd
Tbh, I can't consider myself a big Cooper fan, but this is either way well-directed and has a good sense of spatial suspense as it denies as much as it can the final shootout -- which is the less interesting thing about this. Influential and canonic as hell, but not a masterpiece on my opinion.
1	pompousass	60 _85th
Thinking man's Western rounds up a basic unit of stereotypes -- the legendary aging lawman, his pale-skinned pacifist wife, the dark-complexioned shady lady from his past, and a band of desperadoes with a score to settle -- and nearly paralyzes them with repetitious and largely irrelevant anti-populist propaganda. It is a tribute to the genre, and to the sagging face and shoulders of Cooper, that the stereotypes succeed in holding your interest in spite of all the belabored intellectualizing.
1	Seryxa	100 _93rd
A minor Western with a soft-pedaled message for the world, this turned out to be a classic simply because it was well done, with every scene and performance clearly worked out. Cinematically it was pared to the bone, and the theme tune helped.
1	SirStuckey	65 _45th
It's good but I don't see what the fuss is about. The story didn't resonate with me much and the acting was fine for the time. The song was pretty bad.
1	Velvet Crowe	52 _53rd
Has some great dialog in certain scenes and some cool editing, but the plot meanders on its single thematic which doesn't coalesce into anything interesting while also making the film drag at times. The climax and ending are a total wet fart - they spend the entire film building up the villains but nothing they actually do in the shootout is menacing nor is he given much characterization in general. The fact the hero actually prevails with no qualms takes away a lot from the central thematic.
1	hellboy76	97 _99th
This is easily Gary Coopers best movie and I love the sense of dread that builds up in such a short period of time.
1	Noblet	83 _78th
Doesn't rely on action, but instead shows a desperate marshal waiting to die because all of his friends abandoned him. The political undertones are obvious and welcome, since it made John Wayne so mad. Suck it John Wayne. Great film.
1	hajikarimi	88 _37th
not good enough!
1	ratedargh	90 _85th
No filler in sight. It's straightforward and ratchets the tension perfectly. Every new sequence of Cooper walking through the streets alone underlines the growing desperation he's facing as he tries to do what is right no matter what everyone around him is saying. There is a cynical streak to it despite the "happy" ending emphasizing a less than positive outlook on humanity that is far darker than anticipated.
1	jnsoneji	93 _75th
Goons come to town and the marshal gets ready to fight them alone...
1	3dRevelation	70 _47th
It isn't bad, but I had higher hopes for a western that is often mentioned as one of the best.
1	Nepeta	70 _44th
Beautifully shot and fairly gripping western with a nice bleak streak to it (hinting at what was to come for the western in the decade that would follow). Some of the arguments that characters make for not helping the marshall make no sense, and though the final action scene is great it still feels far too easy considering how much effort the film put into building up the bad guys as a genuine threat. Very good, but definitely not among the best the genre has to offer.
1	lisa-	3 _30th
a drama about a heroic man who wants to stay despite it being better for everyone if he leaves, including himself. also filled with boring western generic conventions and a whole load of didactic nonsense about how sad it is we don't have enough cops to stamp out the robbers. so fundamentally this is a film promoting law and order above anything else.
1	nobamba	85 _92nd
Constantly ratcheting up of pressure. Cool shots and lighting. Gary Cooper got a lot done in an hour. Great villain set up. I liked the lack of an overly extended shootout. Grace Kelly was fine but Katy Jurado was the real scene stealer. Goes against a lot of western conventions, mostly shown in the unsupportive townsfolk and cowardly deputies a la Hollywood blacklisting. Fav scene: Kelly discovering the town didn't much care for their marshal.

Average Percentile 69.29% from 2627 Ratings