High Noon

Gary Cooper is a sheriff on his last day when hoodlums threatening the whole town will arrive at Noon. He does the right thing despite receiving almost no help from the townspeople. Cooper's performance is stellar. His character's fear is palpable, but he has to carry through and do the right thing despite it, to many a description of bravery. The movie ends with an action packed shoot-out sequence where he takes on the hoodlums which is very well done. On top of this the movie plays out in real-time.

I can't believe people are giving this new dvd release bad ratings before it's release. I have heard from several sources that this release will have the restored by Paramount from the original negative film version that has never been released in the states. I have not seen this version but have read rave reviews on it's extremely clean and sharp look with perfect brightness and contrast. This print was not allowed to be loaned out for the previous two releases and an inferior print was used. In addition, a friend of mine John Mulholland has done a 50 minute documentory on this movie and he is an expert on both Gary Cooper and High Noon, so it is worth an upgrade just for that. Below is an excerpt from John on High Noon: "HIGH NOON was hailed upon its release in 1952 as an instant classic. It won several Academy Awards, including one for its legendary star, Gary Cooper. It was named the year's best picture by the New York Film Critics Society. And yet, even though it's high on the American Film Institute's 100 Best Films of the Century, HIGH NOON's respect has been hard won, indeed. Perhaps no other classic film has had such a rocky road as this "simple little western." Decried by influential auteurist critics and academics, HIGH NOON has been attacked for being untrue to the western genre - read anti-populist; for being "middle-brow" (whatever that might mean); for being social drama hiding behind the western genre - and muddled social drama, at that; for being the most un-American film ever made (courtesy of John Wayne), etc. However, 56 years after its release, HIGH NOON still powerfully resonates with audiences around the world. When Solidarity needed a universal image to promote democracy and the right to vote in Poland in 1987, they chose Gary Cooper in HIGH NOON, a ballot in his hand rather than a gun. Conservatives and liberals both manage to cite HIGH NOON on the floor of Congress as a metaphor for their competing political ideals. Political cartoonists and headline writers inevitably use HIGH NOON as reference for countless crises. President Eisenhower cited High Noon as his favorite film, as have President Clinton and former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizuma. On one hand, HIGH NOON has been attacked for being a conservative, damaging portrait of arrogant male paternalism. On the other hand, HIGH NOON is praised for challenging entrenched notions of gender, for exploring masculine anxiety, masculinity as a construct. Feminist critics and academics are offering intriguing and complex new readings to HIGH NOON. Example: Amy Fowler (Grace Kelly) is having her new husband, Marshall Will Kane (Cooper), quit his career, leave his town, leave his friends, marry outside his church, and open a store of her choosing (wearing, perhaps, an apron?). Does Will Kane take on the villains at noon as a final gasp of masculine protest, as a declaration of independence from his wife's control? Ernest Hemingway compared a story's meaning to an iceberg - like the iceberg, 7/8th of which lies hidden beneath the surface, 7/8th of a story's meaning lies beneath the surface. Carl Foreman's bare-to-the-bones script and Fred Zinnemann's equally spare direction are a perfect film correlative to Hemingway's iceberg theory. This taut, seemingly straightforward little suspense western is complex, multi-layered, and perhaps even more relevant today than when it opened 56 years ago. John Mulholland, writer/director INSIDE HIGH NOON"

One of the old classics/. Good for entire family.

fun to watch

While many view this movie simply as a great western (which it is!) there are several subtexts to this classic film that will keep you thinking for a long time after Kane tosses his badge into the dust. If fact, you could put this story into almost any historical context with the same situations and people and come away with some very basic understandings of cowardice, jealousy, greed, suspicion of the other, situational morality and religious hypocrisy. What would YOU do when faced with standing for your beliefs of honor, right and wrong? Would you run? Would you cave to popular opinion? Would you be willing to lose family members and friends for those beliefs? Marshal Kane could have ridden off with his beautiful new bride and saved himself a lot of pain and grief, but he didn't. Also, bathed in the light of the Red Scare and McCarthyism at the time, High Noon becomes a treatise on how far a civilization is willing to go to self-destruct over fear and the need for "safety". This Olive Signature Blu-ray offers a fantastic 4k restoration. Some medium and closer in shots looked like they were done yesterday with a black and white filter. The finest film grain is present with no DNR or edge enhancement. The harsh, natural outside lighting is allowed to come through unimpeded making beads of sweat, skin and clothing textures to pop and overall detail to be wonderfully present. The lossless mono sound is extremely clear. Dimitri Tiomkin's famous score comes through with great fidelity and dialog is crystal clear. This disc is highly recommended as both a film classic and a great Blu-ray 4k restoration of picture and sound and belongs in every collection.

Everyone knows that HIGH NOON is a great film so I won’t review it here. I’m only giving 4 stars because the disc is pictured on Amazon with a slipcover, but it arrived as a standard disc with no slipcover. This is Kino disc and they usually sell discs with a slipcover for a limited time at a higher price, and the same title without the slipcover at a lower price. So basically what Amazon is doing is bait and switch. It’s still a 4K disc, but buyer beware - it’s a standard edition 4K, not the limited edition with the slipcover.

La copia es infinitamente mejor que los DVD editados hasta la fecha en Espana. Sobre la pelicula, creo que esta ya todo escrito.

Parfait et dvd arrivé 3 jours avant la date prévue !!

A classic western with Gary Cooper and even includes a very young Grace Kelly (her second movie role but before she made it big). A bit of controversy because at the time Cooper was around 51 and Kelly was about 22. The movie clocks in at around 90 minutes which is surprising. It is a Kino Lorber release. So a bunchmor festurettes are included as well as a bunch of trailers - mostly with Cooper in them.

Still one of the very best westerns ever made - a monster psychological drama too. Gary Cooper was the most believable of cowboys because he had self-doubt. At the time it was seen as an allegory on the way people abandoned their friends during the 'McCarthy witch-hunt'. Still essential.

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