Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling (Always There are Spoilers)

I had seen High Noon once as a child (my mother was a communications major in college so, in addition to lots of documentaries, we occasionally watched a classic film [as an aside, I found out recently that the leopard brother is also known at college as Amish--not an unusual thing for my friends to call me; they also call him dinosaur, which is not something I've ever been called]). When I watched it as a child, I thought it was slow and tedious. On this viewing, however, I was completely entranced.

High Noon happens in real time, and the viewer is reminded this dozens of times with shots of clocks. The repetitiveness of the theme music also makes the film move very slowly. The slowness, however, isn't bad--it actually does a remarkable job of raising tension with very little action (until the end).

What I was most struck by this time around was how wonderful Mrs. Ramirez is and how Grace Kelly is tolerable at best. I like moody women--and Grace Kelly's initial moody response to her new husband--buying a train ticket, getting on the train, I like. However, Mrs. Ramirez is the real woman here--she recognizes both Gary Cooper and his role in the town for what they are (something that no one else is able to do, not even his friends). She's the only one with any insight at all (besides Cooper himself). Interestingly, neither she nor Cooper are able to articulate this very well ("If you don't know this about your husband already," Ramirez says to Kelly, "I can't explain it to you"). While admittedly Kelly does come around at the end of the film, Ramirez is the one who teaches her what to do, and, most remarkably, even though Ramirez obviously still has feelings for Cooper, she doesn't interfere in his marriage.

Ramirez is (again, besides Cooper) the most faithful, honorable character in the film. Too bad she couldn't handle a gun.

The irony is strong here--this woman who has had a variety of lovers and runs a saloon is a faithful woman. Throughout the film, the the way in which good and bad are mixed together in one person is evident (it's an Augustinian film in this respect).

Kelly, thankfully, stands by her man in the end. The way in which all of Kelly's life changes are tied to particular loves is striking--she converts and becomes a Quaker because she sees her father and brother killed; she uses a gun when her husband's life is threatened. Kelly is an admirable mix of theory and practice and love. But she only becomes a woman in the course of this film--I can't understand why Cooper marries a girl after he'd already known a real woman.