High Noon (1952)

Entertainment Rating: 5 of 5

This was a great movie. Gary Cooper did a great job, even if he isn’t your typical cowboy character. Even though the film only runs 83 minutes, they don’t waste a single second of it and executed it perfectly; we’ll definitely watch this plenty more times in the future. The Ballad of Frank Miller played throughout the film added a very nice touch.

Moral Rating: 5 of 5

We found ourselves constantly hoping that someone in the town would recognize all the good Marshal Kane had fought for and lend him a hand. Even though the climax occurs when the fight happens at the end, the crux of the movie is on the audience wondering and hoping that the Marshall is going to get someone to help him against the deadly quartet at the train depot. We found ourselves sickened by the townspeople’s lack of goodness.

We’re led to believe at the beginning when Kane gets married that the townsfolk have his best interest at heart and want him to enjoy his honeymoon. However, it turns out they were more likely tired of having to be good with him around. They missed the debauchery that existed when Frank Miller and his gang ran the town. Even though Marshal Kane helped convict a murderer and cleaned up the town so that women and children could feel safe there, the townsfolk didn’t seem to care - they almost seemed to think that Marshall Kane was the reason that Frank Miller would be coming back in the first place. (This last idea is very similar to Batman’s predicament - he gets blamed for all the crazy psychopaths that come to Gotham; if he weren’t there the Gotham citizens/PD would just have to deal with normal criminals).

While we didn’t feel happy or triumphant at the end of the show, it sure made us reflect on how much we sometimes don’t want the good around because it makes us feel guilty of the worldly pleasures we enjoy. We need to learn to give place to good and righteousness in our lives and be willing to sacrifice temporal pleasures for eternal joys.