High Noon (1952), a classic American Western movie, was one of the first films selected for preservation in the United States Film Registry by the Library of Congress.  It tells the story of Will Kane (Gary Cooper), who, as the long-time marshal of Hadleyville in the New Mexico Territory, had cleaned up what was once a wild and lawless town, making it a place where decent people could live and raise a family.  As the film opens, Kane has just married Amy Fowler (Grace Kelly), a pacifist Quaker, and has turned in his badge so he and Amy can start a new life keeping a store somewhere.

Just at that time, word comes that Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald), a desperate outlaw Kane had brought to justice, had been released from prison on a “legal technicality,” and will arrive on the train in one hour intent on killing Kane for revenge.  Miller will not be alone, though.  His brother and two other members of his gang are already at the station awaiting the train.¹

Initially, Kane listens to the pleas of his new wife and leaves town with her.  Before they get too far, though, Kane decides he must go back.  He argues that Miller will keep chasing him until he can seek revenge, and that the people of Hadleyville are in danger because the new marshal will not be in town and on the job until the next day.

Back in town, he begins asking the local citizens for assistance so they can present a united front against Miller and his henchmen.  No one will help him, though.  They all have some excuse:  I’m a coward.  You never came to our church service.  If you leave, Miller will go, too.  I wanted to be the new marshal, but you wouldn’t endorse me for the position.  Any altercation will be bad for the town’s image.  I’m just too old.

Amy is not supportive, either.  She tells Kane that if he does not leave with her immediately, she will leave without him, taking the same train out of town that is bringing Miller in.

Kane must decide what action to take in these most difficult circumstances.  He ultimately chooses to face all four of the outlaws alone.

The plot is pretty straightforward, everything happening in virtually real time over a period of little more than one hour.  The underlying themes of the film are much more complicated, however.

The screenplay was written by Carl Foreman, who had been a member of the Communist Party a decade or so earlier until he became disillusioned and quit.  While he was working on this screenplay, he was summoned before Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s Senate committee and the House Unamerican Activities Committee, was blacklisted by Hollywood and had to move to England in order to continue writing.  High Noon is seen by some as an allegory of the Communist witch hunt and a criticism of the establishment intellectuals who would not stand up for those who were being persecuted.

The film’s director, Fred Zinnemann, was a Polish Jew who had lived in Germany before immigrating to the United States in the 1930s.  Both of his parents lost their lives in the Holocaust.  With that background, the film is also seen as an allegory of those who were complicit in the violence of the Fascist regimes before and during World War II.

One of the most common adjectives used to describe the movie is “existential.”  Kane is clearly a human being caught up in an existential crisis.  It has been compared to Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot (or, I might add, the Firesign Theater’s Waiting for the Electrician).  The significant difference is that Godot and the electrician are never going to come.  For Kane, on the other hand, the clock is ticking down for Miller’s entrance.

I chose the theme song from this film as Song of the Week because there has been so much news lately about excessive use of force by police officers.  Within the past few days, two people here in Colorado have died while in police custody, a police officer in Ohio was indicted for murder because of an on-duty shooting, a great deal of attention has focused on a Black woman who died in Texas after being arrested for a minor offense – and the list could go on and on.

I was reminded of a conversation I had with a veteran police officer – an intelligent, brave, perceptive and respected gentleman I will simply call “Pat.”  This was back a few years when I was practicing law and Pat was involved in an Age Discrimination case.  He told me that as a police officer, he faced existential crises every day.  When he arrived at the scene of some incident, he told me, he realized that if he got out of his car he would more than likely have to fight with someone.  If he stayed in his car, he could wait for backup that would make his actions less risky, but could permit the difficult situation to which he had been called to get out of hand, possibly resulting in injury or death to one or more people.  Or, Pat said, he could simply drive away.

I don’t know enough about any of the situations that have recently been in the news to be able to say who is right or wrong.  Certainly, there are some police officers who overreact or are bullies or racists who should not be wearing a badge.  Other times, as Pat or Gary Cooper could tell us, tragedies can result when decent people face decisions that bring the meaning or value of life into question.

Returning to this week’s Song, the music for “The Ballad of High Noon” was written by Dmitri Tiomkin and the lyrics by Ned Washington.  It was an innovative song in several ways.  Before High Noon, it was unusual for Western movies to even have a theme song.  This was not only a good song but a narrative précis of the plot and characters – all in less than two and a half minutes.  It was also a theme, parts of which were repeated throughout the film, to aid in building suspense and moving the action to its exciting conclusion.

The most popular version of the song was done by Frankie Laine; but that was not the original version.  To make it a better popular song, the lyrics in Laine’s adaptation were changed slightly so that they did not refer directly to the characters of High Noon.  The original version from the soundtrack was performed by country music legend, and one of the original “singing cowboys,” Tex Ritter.  Here is how Tex sang the song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5an9OuXKxBw

The Ballad of High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me)
By Dmitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington

Do not forsake me O my darlin’
On this our wedding day.
Do not forsake me O my darlin’
Wait, wait along.

The noonday train will bring Frank Miller.
If I’m a man I must be brave
And I must face that deadly killer
Or lie a coward, a craven coward,
Or lie a coward in my grave.

O to be torn ‘twixt love and duty!
S’posin’ I lose my fair-haired beauty!
Look at that big hand move along
Nearin’ high noon.

He made a vow while in State’s Prison,
Vow’d it would be my life or his and
I’m not afraid of death, but O,
What will I do if you leave me?

Do not forsake me O my darlin’
You made that promise when we wed.
Do not forsake me O my darlin’
Although you’re grievin’, I can’t be leavin’
Until I shoot Frank Miller dead.

Wait along, wait along
Wait along
Wait along

Copyright: Volta Music Corp., Universal Music Corp. O.B.O. Volta Music Corporation, Shapiro Bernstein O.B.O. Catherine Hinen Music, Patti Washington Music
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1.  An interesting note is that Frank Miller’s younger brother, Ben, was played by Sheb Wooley, who wrote and sang “Purple People Eater” and was the husband of Roger Miller’s cousin.  He was mentioned briefly back in December when “Our Hearts Will Play the Music” was Song of the Week.