Amazing Movie. Classic!

This is my first viewing. I thought High Noon was good for 1952. And it was surprisingly suspenseful. I'm not sure about 96%, but it was ok movie.

Everyone else can rave about this film, and it is a genuine classic western. What I enjoy is looking for the goofs - the powerlines, the modern buildings high on a distant hill, and, most of all, the refrigerated AC unit hanging out a back window of an outdoor set that also doubled as a production office. As long as you watch the movie as a movie, you'll enjoy it. Trivia - the Sean Connery Sci-fi film Outland (a true closet classic) was based on High Noon.

"High Noon" stands above and apart from other Westerns. It covers all the familiar bases, but has a depth and morality to it that transcends the genre. Unconventional in plot, it tells the story of a couragous sheriff who must stand alone against an approaching villain because the town he's defending is too cowardly to support him (faint echoes of McCarthyism). Feroucious and bold, it still makes a powerful statement, even today. Gary Cooper is the quintessential American icon in this role (for which he won the Oscar), and the story takes place in real time, ratcheting the tension every minute until the eponymous clock-strike. The Citizen Kane of Westerns. (And I can't get the Tex Ritter/Dimitri Tiomkin theme song out of my head--Oscar winners for Best Song and Best Score.)

I don't care about the politics. I would have liked to have a duel between Miller and Kane

Best westerns of all time 1 High Noon 2 Unforgiven 3 Tombstone 4 The man who shot Liberty Valance 5 The shootist 5

The reason I only give it four stars is because it gets a little old, I mean the whole waiting and waiting thing!!! But I can totally see why it's such a loved classic!!! Definitely at least worth renting and watching!!!

High noon is easily one of the great American classics

I had heard about this movie for a long, long time, but this was the first time I had seen it. Frankly, I don't get what all the hype has always been about. Maybe it was supposed to be so great because it had a lot of big actors in it, but, watching it in 2012 for the first time, I was pretty bored by the whole thing. I did not see any type of outstanding acting from Gary Cooper. I don't recall him breaking a single look on his face for practically the whole movie until right at the end. I found his character extremely stoic, even though he was supposed to be in extreme mental anguish. I think a two year old could be more dramatic than Gary Cooper. Now, as a disclaimer, I don't recall ever seeing another Gary Cooper movie, and I could not say I was any type of fan, so maybe this was dramatic for him! Who knows! I did not get Grace Kelly's character. What bride would desert her new husband at his greatest time of need? I didn't buy it. And, the other characters: I did not believe that an entire town of people who has known this guy for so long would desert him without a single sole to help. That is not realistic. Not only did they not help, they publicly chastised him for wanting to defend the town! What? No way. Not believable! Not only was I not interested in watching the movie a second time, I barely got myself to watch the end. All I had to do was to read Wiki-pedia about the movie, and, I think, I would have been fine. But I decided to give the movie the full opportunity. Whoops! My fault.

Agree fully with all of the accolades given by others but wish to add to some of the lore about this movie. When a film has plentiful stories to tell about it, such as Citizen Kane, Gone With the Wind, High Noon, etc I add a "+" to the 5 star rating, Besides being the incomparably beautiful Grace Kelly at age 19 in her 1st movie with more than a cameo appearance the story behind the story is notable. The original screenplay had the same theme nut was ***not*** a western. The studio would only make it if it was a western because that's what the public wanted so it was rewritten. There was an autobiographical element with screenwriter/producer Carl Foreman writing a story of US Government House Un-American Committee (HUAC) seeking to get members of Hollywood to to reveal who was a communist sympathizer. Carl Foreman was named and guilt by association was the standard used to round up communists so his "friends" walked away using many of the excuses found in the film. Gary Cooper was a vocal anti-communist but an even more loyal friend and did help prevent Foreman's blacklisting which got him an interrogation by HUAC, largely a publicity stunt by HUAC as they likely would have been laughed out of DC if they tried to prove Coop was a "red." As noted by another commenter, Cooper was suffering from an ulcer and back problems during production but still did his own stunts including a beautifully filmed and thrilling fight scene with Lloyd Bridges. The writer of the Plot Summary addressed a piece of lore that bears challenging in my opinion and that is John Wayne being incensed by a sheriff asking for help leading to the making of Rio Bravo. Rio Bravo was made 7 years after High Noon and John Wayne was a big fan and friend of Coop's. These facts would seem to counter the fore-. mentioned statement. So watch one of the 10 greatest westerns of all time for its unique story line including the elevation of a Mexican woman to peer status in her character's part and for the actress Katy Jurado.