Reliques du Cinema: High Noon

Do not forsake me, Oh, my darlin'

On this our wedding day...

I do not know what fate awaits me

I only know I must be brave.

Now that you are well initiated into the world of High Noon, via the lyrics to it's very own Oscar-winning ballad, let's dissect it, modern-day style. The bravery of the main character, Marshall Will Kane (played by Gary Cooper, who won the Oscar for this role), is legendary to the town where he resides.  Unfortunately, no one wants his brand of old-fashioned bravery anymore.  He faces an old we-thought-he-was-vanquished enemy returning for vengeance on the noon train.  He must face him alone, because even the woman he married at 10:30 AM has decided she won't stand by him.  This could be due to the fact that she seems half his age and must have been thinking another man will come along, any minute. 

The device that must have grabbed all the critics and movie-goers at the time is the "real-time" progression of events.  The movie is one hour twenty four minutes in duration.  The action of the movie begins a couple minutes past 10:30 AM and ends at a quarter past noon.  In other words, this is the first "24."  Replete with Jack Bauer, his daughter Kim, and the villain of seasons 1 and 3, Nina; the real time story unfolds much like a really boring season of "24" (i.e. season 7). 

Jack, of course, is played by Gary Cooper. 

Kim is played by Grace Kelly, note the resemblance:

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And Nina is played by Ian MacDonald and, like her, is not revealed until the last 15 minutes of the movie.  He remains such a mysterious villain that no pictures are available of him. 
Also playing a big role in High noon, just as it does in "24," is the clock (it appears no fewer than 10 times in the movie).

I won't give away the ending, but you might have guessed it by now, based on the comparisons to "24."

And so, in watching High Noon, we find the original inspiration for "24," with a few tweaks.  I can understand how it was interesting at the time, but the dialogue is plodding.  This is a movie featuring a classic actor at the end of an era.  Soon, Marlon Brando would be successful in his search for an Oscar and would change the face of movie acting forever.  He would usher in an era where actors do not wait patiently for the other actors in a scene to finish their lines before quickly spouting their own line.  Thankfully, the big screen has changed for the more realistic in that area.  What remains of the legacy of High Noon is the thrill of real time action.  Also remaining is the classic good guy Marshall who gets his man.  In short, what remains are Jack Bauer and a race against time.