High Noon

The last time that I watched High Noon, I was struck by the women in the film. On this viewing, I saw it as a Tocquevillian tragedy of isolated individuals who have withdrawn from public life, leaving their self-interest disconnected from the public interest.

Gary Cooper plays Will Kane, marshal of Hadleyville, a Western town that he helped to make safe for women and children. The film begins with his marriage to a Quaker, Amy (Grace Kelly), and with him turning in his badge--he is leaving to tend a store elsewhere at her request. When his old nemesis, troublemaker Frank Miller, returns to town to take revenge on the marshall for sending him to jail, Kane has to decide whether to stay and face him or to run and hide. The film traces his struggle with his conscience--he feels that he must remain to defend himself and his town in spite of being deserted by his friends and in spite of their unanimous recommendation that he leave town.

What is intriguing in this film is how the same townspeople who several years before had helped the marshal put Frank Miller behind bars are no longer interested in helping him fight Miller. The process of cleaning up the town and founding the political order required Kane to work with the townspeople. Maintaining the established order, however, was much less difficult. As a result, there were fewer men deputized, and people had fallen out of the habit of contributing to the governing of their town.

When Kane goes to see the judge and ask him for help, the judge is packing up. He realizes that without the marshal the town will return to its previous disorder. However, he is not as deeply committed to the town as the marshal is, so he's happy to move on rather than stay and fight. He knows human nature, that people are the most changeable thing: he tells Kane a story of people in Athens who banished their tyrant and eight years later welcomed him back and watched him execute those who led the opposition. The Judge has learned his lesson from history and warns Kane that he, too, should move on, that his friends in the town won't help him fight Frank Miller.

The Judge says that this is just all too fast--that people need time to work themselves up to do good. The theme of time is present throughout the film. High Noon is set in real time: the suspense builds slowly; there are frequent shots of clocks to remind you exactly how little time has passed.

While Kane is admirably committed to his town, he has, sadly, dropped the ball in terms of involving the people in the process of governing themselves. The townspeople argue that they shouldn't have to help him defend their town against Frank Miller, because that's what they pay him to do. They want to see government as something other than themselves. They need the force of the marshal to create a place for women and children to live safely; however, they want the person who uses that force to be separate from them. They want the government to be other--they want to hire someone to do their dirty work. What they don't realize is that they themselves are the town.

At the end of the day, it's a little community that saves him: his wife, Amy, finally (holy goodness, it takes a ridiculously long time) comes to her senses and returns to support him.

The Polish Solidarity movement picked up Gary Cooper in High Noon as a symbol of Solidarity, which is interesting because solidarity is exactly what's missing in the film.