History Film / HighNoon

* HeroLookingForGroup: Subverted. See {{Posse}} below.

The movie's plot ''is'' rather simple: Will Kane (Creator/GaryCooper) is the town [[USMarshal marshal]] of Hadleyville, New Mexico, who's planning to retire and live happily with his new bride Amy (Creator/GraceKelly) – [[{{Retirony}} two sure signs of impending doom]]. On Will's last day, the whole town learns that Frank Miller (no, not [[Creator/FrankMiller that one]]), a criminal Will had sent to prison some years earlier, has been released and will be arriving 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.

Creator/LloydBridges (father of [[Creator/JeffBridges Jeff]] and [[Creator/BeauBridges Beau]]) plays Kane's callow deputy. Creator/ThomasMitchell plays the cynical mayor of Hadleyville. Creator/LonChaneyJr is the town's arthritic former marshal. Creator/HarryMorgan, who would later become a TV star on ''Series/{{Dragnet}}'' and ''Series/{{MASH}}'', is a cowardly townsman. A young Creator/LeeVanCleef (doing what he did best, i.e., playing villains in Westerns) appears as one of Miller's henchmen. And Ian [=MacDonald=] plays Frank Miller.

Creator/FredZinnemann's ''High Noon'' (1952) is one of the most famous [[TheWestern Western]] films ever released, in spite of -- or perhaps because of -- the fact that it [[AvertedTrope averts]] and even [[SubvertedTrope subverts]] many of the genre's conventions; in some ways it's really a gentle {{deconstruction}} of the Western, with its depiction of a hero mired in moral complexities rather than the simple, black-and-white clash between "good guy" and "bad guy" typical of the genre.

The movie's plot ''is'' rather simple: Will Kane (Creator/GaryCooper) is the town [[USMarshal marshal]] of Hadleyville, New Mexico, who's planning to retire and live happily with his new bride Amy (Creator/GraceKelly) – [[{{Retirony}} two sure signs of impending doom]]. On his last day, the whole town learns that Frank Miller (no, not [[Creator/FrankMiller that one]]), a criminal Will had sent to prison some years earlier, has been released and will be arriving 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.

The actual plot ''is'' rather simple: Will Kane (Creator/GaryCooper), the town [[USMarshal marshal]] of Hadleyville, New Mexico, is planning to retire and live happily with his new bride Amy (Creator/GraceKelly), [[{{Retirony}} two sure signs of impending doom]]. On his last day the whole town learns that Frank Miller (no, not [[Creator/FrankMiller that one]]), a criminal Will had sent to prison some years earlier, has been released and will be arriving 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.

The screenplay (adapted from "The Tin Star", a short story by John Cunningham first published in ''Collier's'' magazine in 1947) was written by Carl Foreman, while he was under investigation by the House Un-American Activities Committee (and subsequently [[UsefulNotes/TheHollywoodBlacklist blacklisted]] in Hollywood) during the early-'50s RedScare. The film has been interpreted by many as a parable about U.S. society in general, and U.S. intellectuals in particular, abandoning those summoned to appear before the committee.

* PrematurelyMarkedGrave: Marshall Kane is not amused to find the local carpenter building several coffins in anticipation of the impending gunfight.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The movie was inspired by the then-ongoing Hollywood blacklisting by the HUAC. A man is turned on by his so-called friends and colleagues when a threat comes to town. They are either too cowardly to fight back, sympathetic to the villain, or more interested in debate then action.

* DeliberatelyMonochrome: While it doesn’t hurt that color wasn't in vogue for serious/art films at the time, the black-and-white color schemes are suggestive of a good-vs.-evil conflict in a morally-complex story. The photography was [[MonochromePast intended to look 19th-century]], and especially intended to resemble the solemn palettes from photography of the [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar Civil War]]. When the idea of colorizing black and white films turned to ''High Noon'', WordOfGod was, in essence, “No thank you.”

Fred Zinnemann's ''High Noon'' (1952) is one of the most famous [[TheWestern Western]] films ever released, in spite of -- or perhaps because of -- the fact that it [[AvertedTrope averts]] and even [[SubvertedTrope subverts]] many of the genre's conventions; in some ways it's really a gentle {{deconstruction}} of the Western, with its depiction of a hero mired in moral complexities rather than the simple, black-and-white clash between "good guy" and "bad guy" typical of the genre.