High Noon
High NoonHigh Noon is one of the western films that can move you by its existentialist themes, where an individual's values are above the societal norms and where the authenticity of being is existence. This is the story of a man who creates his own choices and stands up for the right reason when he is confronting such limit-situations as chance, suffering, conflict, guilt, and death. He is the town's marshal, Will Kane, who marries a beautiful Quaker girl in the courtroom. The couple plans to move away to a new town and settle down to have a family. During the celebration, the outlaw Frank Miller is announced to come in town while the gunmen supporting him are already in town waiting for him. Kane is encouraged to get out of town by the moral forces in town, but he has second thoughts. He tells Amy that he's got to go back; the honeymoon will have to wait until his 12 o'clock showdown. The attitude of his wife is that she begs him not to be a hero, handing him an ultimatum on her wedding day. If he won't go away with her, she will go alone by the train, the one that leaves at twelve noon. He resolutely answers her, "I've got to stay." Kane, the anti-hero, is counting on getting special deputies sworn in to assist him.
Everything hinges on midday. The suspense builds and the tension mounts as the clock ticks ever closer to the inevitable fate of high noon. The passing of the time symbolizes the idea of mortality, which is a form of expressionism. Even the judge who sentenced Miller and who is a mirror of society's morals is not willing to take a risk at all by remaining in town. The judge is rationalizing his departure by recalling what Miller had done in the past to those who wronged him. Furthermore, the young deputy Pell provides no support because Kane passed him over as his successor in favor of a stranger from out of town. The men in the saloon and the congregation at the church also represent the imperfect - always weak, dependent and inadequate. Their existence is guided by an unauthentic practice, determined by habit and cultural conditioning. The "ordinary" townspeople are confronted by the limitation of freedom such as death, which is the source of their own dread, and as a result, they choose to avoid pain and experience pleasure. Kane is rejected by everyone in the nihilistic societal crowd. Some people from the church rationalize their noninvolvement as a means to sustain a greater morality by placing themselves above such barbarian violence and bloodshed. The last man Kane sees is the retired marshal Howe who is being very cynical, suggesting also to Kane to leave town. Kane summarizes his plight: "Listen, the judge has left town, Harvey's quit, and I'm havin' trouble gettin' deputies." Kane begins to understand that he...
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