An amazing western!
I really loved the real time aspect here, a pacing intertwined with the great soundtrack by Dimitri Tiomkin. Talking about that, what a great theme song led by Tex Ritter's powerful voice!
The cinematography is great, the acting too... everything put together just makes a damn good movie.
A lot of people talk about the final clash, as anticlimax and all,
But I guess the the main message remains on one of the last shots.
Possibly the best western of all time. The final fight may be disappointing for some but it gets the message across well. It's really a satire on McCarthyism so it doesn't focus on action as much as a traditional Western would but the movie is genius. Fun Fact: the film is in real time, so if 5 minutes pass in the real world, then five minutes pass in the movie world as well.
In the context of what initially seems to be an old, corny, low-quality cowboy movie, you can see why High Noon is legendary. Pretty quickly you understand what it's trying to do, and I just hoped the movie could pull it off as I was watching it. I figured he'd get one or two people to help him, because there was no way an entire town of good-character citizens would abandon him, but in the end, when he was standing all alone, not only was it surprising and intriguing, it was believable. Which was great. The finale was set up so well, but the actual execution of it fell a little short. Couldn't help thinking that a well-made remake would be unbelievable.
Masterful use of editing, used not simply as a gimmick but as an integral part of the storytelling and tension-building. Cooper isn't an actor that I tend to like, but there's a quietness here that I can appreciate. Better than most Westerns.
Best Western made in the US I've seen in a long time. Great story. Not everybody was a heroic gunslinger in the wild west. Too often people don't feel real in those old western movies. But here, all the characters act credibly. Like real persons. Definitly not like in a John Wayne western. It's suspenseful (great idea to tell it in real time). As everyone awaits the arrival of the train, the suspension builds. The final shootout ain't even the best "chapter". It's even a bit disappointing that the end wasn't tragic. Best scenes are when local townsmen had to figure out on what side they were on or whether they even preferred to flee. It's more than an ordinary western: it's about personal risk, fear and heroism, the good of families, the need to care for your loved ones, marriage, sense of duty, morale and the breakdown of civility, justice, policing, religion, feminism.
The score is not great though (Morricone set the bar too high).
Best expression: Livery yard. It's like a parking garage and car rental. Only for horses.
PS: I'm always mesmerized when I see Grace Kelly in movies. She was a princess before she became a real one.
Too clearly, noon leaves existence high and dry.
For being a western I was hoping for more action and less talking. Still I did like the real time aspect and I thought the final fight was good. Gary Cooper is great.
Shout by ElieBlockedParent2017-11-13T21:45:08Z
I haven't covered much ground when it comes to Western movies but I can easily say that it was blast watching it.
I expected a little more from the ending but don't let that hold you back.
The tension building was amazing and the movie actually flows in real-time. So every 1 minute = 1 minute in the movie.
Highly recommended !