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High Noon

1952

Fred Zinnemann

Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Thomas Mitchell, Lloyd Bridges ...

8.1

28,277

Western. Mystery A killer that Sheriff Will Kane (Gary Cooper) put away has been let out of the prison and now he and his gang of bad guys are coming to the town of Hadleyville to exact their revenge. While Kane is willing to face his enemy, the town's people who he has protected for many years abandon him. It follows the 84 minutes before the big showdown at high noon.

	Author	Review
United States	Bosley Crowther The New York Times	"Meaningful in its implications, as well as loaded with interest and suspense, High Noon is a western to challenge Stagecoach for the all-time championship"	POS
United States	Michael Atkinson Village Voice	"A scorching and sour portrait of American complacence and capacity for collaborationism"	POS
United States	Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader	"Some of the results ring false, but the memorable theme song and some equally memorable character acting (by Thomas Mitchell and Lon Chaney Jr. more than Lloyd Bridges and Katy Jurado) help things along"	NEU
United Kingdom	Philip French The Guardian	"The result is a classic example of what had come to be known in the late 1940s as an 'adult' or 'psychological' western."	POS
United Kingdom	David Wood BBC	"A film about what it means to be a man that manages to avoid the musk of machismo, 'High Noon' is truly a film that improves with each and every viewing (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Kim Newman Empire	"As a western, 'High Noon' plays as an allegory of the human condition (...) The reason it has become a classic is the perfect fusion of story and character to create suspense (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Time Out	"It's worth seeing simply as the anatomy of what it took to make a man before the myth turned sour."	POS
United States	William Brogdon Variety	"A basic western formula has been combined with good characterization in 'High Noon', making it more of a western drama than the usual outdoor action feature."	POS
United States	Nathan Rabin AV Club	"It's curiously lacking in dramatic tension until a justly famous climax (...) 'High Noon' belongs to the curious class of American films that manage to become iconic classics without being particularly good."	NEG

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