High Noon
Short description
High Noon centres on Will Kane, the marshal of the small New Mexico town of Hadleyville. Newly married to a Quaker woman named Amy, he intends to give up his post and leave with her. Word then reaches town that Frank Miller, an outlaw Kane helped send to prison years earlier, has been released and is due to arrive on the noon train, backed by gunmen who intend to take revenge. Kane decides he cannot run, and he sets out to raise a group of volunteers from among the townspeople. As the hour approaches, those he has protected refuse to stand with him, leaving him to face the gang largely on his own.
Fred Zinnemann directed, working from a screenplay by Carl Foreman for producer Stanley Kramer. The film follows the 1938 short That Mothers Might Live in Zinnemann's credits and precedes From Here to Eternity, Oklahoma!, The Nun's Story, A Man for All Seasons, The Day of the Jackal and Julia. Gary Cooper plays Kane, with Grace Kelly as Amy, Thomas Mitchell as Mayor Jonas Henderson, Lloyd Bridges as Deputy Marshal Harvey Pell, Katy Jurado as Helen Ramírez and Otto Kruger as Judge Percy Mettrick. The production credits 72 cast members and 41 crew.
The western drama runs 85 minutes and was released in June 1952. It took roughly 8 million dollars worldwide and holds strong audience scores, 7.9 out of 10 on IMDb from about 116,000 votes and 7.7 out of 10 on TMDB from a smaller base. A critics' rating of 9 out of 10 from 90 reviews places critical approval markedly above the already favourable audience reception.
What's left behind the scenes
- Gregory Peck, Charlton Heston, Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift were invited for the lead male role. In the end, Will Kane was played by Gary Cooper. The actor suffered from a bleeding ulcer, back and hip pain, and didn't even want to film the final shootout, but still refused a stunt double.
- Initially, Lee Van Cleef was supposed to play Deputy Sheriff Harvey Pell, but producer Stanley Kramer decided that the actor’s nose was too “hooked,” that he looked too “villainous,” and ordered him to alter its shape. Van Cleef refused point-blank, and the role went to Lloyd Bridges. Van Cleef instead played Jack Colby, one of Miller’s bandits.
- The film marked Lee Van Cleef's debut in cinema, although he doesn't utter a single line throughout the entire film.
- Grace Kelly, who played Kane's wife, was discovered by the director in an off-Broadway production.
- Fred Zinnemann fought against the colorization of the film, but it was done by Ted Turner's company after his death.
- According to director Fred Zinnemann, the black smoke accompanying the train means that the braking system is failing and is about to break down. Zinnemann and cinematographer Floyd Crosby had no idea about this and nearly found themselves under the wheels. The tripod on which the camera was mounted fell onto the tracks, breaking the camera, but the film survived and the scene just shot made it into the film.
- During filming, Carl Forman was blacklisted in Hollywood, and Kramer removed his name from the credits (although this did not prevent Forman from being nominated for an "Oscar").
Auditions in India
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