HIGH NOON is one of the most overrated movies of all time. It is an anti-western for anti-moviegoers, to paraphrase Andrew Sarris. It is the kind of western people who don't see westerns tend to like. Aesthetically, it is slow and talky and for the most part without tension. Narratively, it is frustrating and laughable to see a western "hero" act so spineless. (Howard Hawks made RIO BRAVO as a direct response to this picture, telling the same story but in reverse: everyone wants to help John Wayne but he won't let them!)
The "real-time" gimmick is just that -- a gimmick. And it results in showing many scenes which in and of themselves are dull and talky -- not what you want in a western. Furthermore, if you watch the film carefully, you will see that it "cheats" -- it in fact is not told 100% in real time. But that really doesn't matter, as it's a totally arbitrary device anyway. Ironically, the one scene in the picture that really does work is the "clock montage" towards the end, which builds tension through cutting. The rest of the time, Zinneman follows around Cooper listlessly. And Cooper gives another wooden performance. He was a movie star but never a great actor.
It's easy to spend time watching this movie thinking, "Why doesn't Cooper just get ON with it? Why run around crying for help? Why doesn't the movie itself get on with it?"
There are dozens of better westerns. Here are a few. I defy anyone to see these movies and think HIGH NOON is more enjoyable, exciting, or involving: WINCHESTER '73, THE NAKED SPUR, BEND OF THE RIVER, THE MAN FROM LARAMIE, THE TALL T, RIDE LONESOME, SEVEN MEN FROM NOW, COMANCHE STATION, THE SEARCHERS, THE WILD BUNCH, MAN OF THE WEST (and this one stars Cooper!), RUN OF THE ARROW, SHANE, SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON..... etc etc.
The "real-time" gimmick is just that -- a gimmick. And it results in showing many scenes which in and of themselves are dull and talky -- not what you want in a western. Furthermore, if you watch the film carefully, you will see that it "cheats" -- it in fact is not told 100% in real time. But that really doesn't matter, as it's a totally arbitrary device anyway. Ironically, the one scene in the picture that really does work is the "clock montage" towards the end, which builds tension through cutting. The rest of the time, Zinneman follows around Cooper listlessly. And Cooper gives another wooden performance. He was a movie star but never a great actor.
It's easy to spend time watching this movie thinking, "Why doesn't Cooper just get ON with it? Why run around crying for help? Why doesn't the movie itself get on with it?"
There are dozens of better westerns. Here are a few. I defy anyone to see these movies and think HIGH NOON is more enjoyable, exciting, or involving: WINCHESTER '73, THE NAKED SPUR, BEND OF THE RIVER, THE MAN FROM LARAMIE, THE TALL T, RIDE LONESOME, SEVEN MEN FROM NOW, COMANCHE STATION, THE SEARCHERS, THE WILD BUNCH, MAN OF THE WEST (and this one stars Cooper!), RUN OF THE ARROW, SHANE, SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON..... etc etc.