I just watched High Noon for the first time. I decided to watch it after seeing Gary Cooper play Howard Roark in The Fountainhead and being very impressed with his screen presence.
The ballad that is sung by Tex Ritter at the beginning and played in snatches throughout was odd, but haunting. It was also clearly what Mel Brooks was parodying in The Ballad of Rock Ridge in Blazing Saddles - but I never knew that before.
And here’s a small confession - I missed a simple, central detail to the plot that had me confused the whole movie (I HATE doing that). I missed the fact that the three guys hanging out at the train depot were waiting for Frank Miller to arrive. I couldn’t figure out for most of the movie what the three guys were waiting for! I mean, if they were going to trash the town and kill Marshall Kane, why did they need to wait for the train? Why not just ride into town and get started? Boy did I feel like an idiot.
But it didn’t stop me from enjoying it. It wasn’t the best movie I ever saw — or even as good as Blazing Saddles in my opinion — but it was good. I liked Gary Cooper in this too, so I think I’ll rent a few other movies he was in, to see if I like them. It was also a hoot seeing a young Harry Morgan and a young Lloyd Bridges.
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