Product Description

Gary Cooper won the Oscar(R) for the Best Actor in this classic tale of a lawman who stands alone to defend a town of cowardly citizens against a gang of revenge-seeking criminals. In the greatest showdown in the history of cinema, Cooper stands to lose not only the town but his new wife, Grace Kelly. The film also stars one of Hollywood's most beloved and prolific actors, Lloyd Bridges, and marks the first starring role for a beautiful young actress and internationally adored screen legend - Grace Kelly. HIGH NOON garnered a total of four Academy Awards(R) including Best Editing, Score and Original Song.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11520 in DVD
• Brand: LION'S GATE ENTERTAINMENT
• Released on: 2008-06-10
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: AC-3, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Collector's Edition, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 85 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
One of the greatest Westerns ever made gets the deluxe treatment on this superior disc from Republic Home Video's Silver Screen Classics line of special-edition DVDs. Written by Carl Foreman (who was later blacklisted during the anticommunist hearings of the '50s) and superbly directed by Fred Zinnemann, this 1952 classic stars Gary Cooper as just-married lawman Will Kane, who is about to retire as a small-town sheriff and begin a new life with his bride (Grace Kelly) when he learns that gunslinger Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald) is due to arrive at high noon to settle an old score. Kane seeks assistance from deputies and townsfolk, but soon realizes he'll have to stand alone in his showdown with Miller and his henchmen. Innovative for its time, the suspenseful story unfolds in approximate real time (from 10:40 a.m. to high noon in an 84-minute film), and many interpreted Foreman's drama as an allegorical reflection of apathy and passive acceptance of Senator Joseph McCarthy's anticommunist campaign. Political underpinnings aside, this remains a milestone of its genre (often referred to as the first "adult" Western), and Cooper is flawless in his Oscar-winning role. The first-rate DVD gives this landmark film all the respect it deserves, beginning with a digitally remastered transfer from the original film negative. Additional features include the exclusive documentary The Making of High Noon, hosted by film historian Leonard Maltin and featuring interviews with the late Lloyd Bridges (who played Cooper's rival ex-deputy), director Fred Zinnemann, and producer Stanley Kramer. Also included is the original theatrical trailer and a special chapter stop highlighting the Oscar-winning song "Do Not Forsake Me." Offered in English and dubbed French and Spanish, with English closed-captioning or Spanish and French subtitles. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

New High Noon 2-disc Ultimate Collector's Edition due out June 10th, 2008!
Lionsgate has announced a new DVD release of High Noon with new special features. There is what appears to be a reliable report, though unconfirmed, that it will include a new transfer of the film, restored by Paramount. The current and older DVDs are only of average video and audio quality.

This a true classic, combining traditional Western themes with contemporary concerns about popular acquiescence to evil, done in a gripping, unusual (nearly real-time) way, with great actors.

Town marshal Will Kane (Gary Cooper) is caught between his new pacifist Quaker wife Amy (Grace Kelly) and a felt duty to face down evil men coming on the noon train to take revenge on him (and presumably cause whatever other trouble they please). Most of the drama takes place in the lead-up to a climactic battle, as the townspeople choose whether to support Kane with action or to let him stand alone. Amy too must choose between her spouse and her own moral beliefs. The tension builds relentlessly as we see clocks ticking towards noon. The innovative black and white cinematography emphasizes the dramatic points, while the internal drama is captured in Cooper's face.

The new DVD features are these:

-- "Inside High Noon," a 50-minute documentary on the making of the film (see below for more on this)
-- "Tex Ritter: A Visit to Carthage, Texas," on the Tex Ritter Museum
-- the full performance of "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin'" from the Jimmy Dean TV Show

The features carried over from the current release are:

-- commentary with Gary Cooper's daughter Maria Cooper Janis, screenwriter Carl Foreman's son Jonathan Foreman, director Fred Zinneman's son Tim Zinnemann and Tex Ritter's son John Ritter
-- "The Making of High Noon" featurette
-- "Behind High Noon" featurette
-- radio broadcast with Tex Ritter

Whether the new features will warrant an upgrade is a matter of personal preference, of course. A 50-minute documentary could be quite interesting, if it's well done.

It does sound interesting. The "new" documentary, actually made a couple years ago but shelved until now, is by film and Gary Cooper expert John Mulholland. It's expected to cover, among other things, the conflict between Cooper and John Wayne over the participation of the blacklisted screenwriter Carl Foreman. Given that the film is intended in part as an allegory of the public's acquiescence in the Red Scare, this will have more than the usual gossipy behind-the-scenes relevance. It includes interviews with three of the children of the principles who participated in the DVD audio commentary: Cooper's daughter Maria, director Zinneman's son Tim, and Foreman's son Jonathan. There are also interviews with Grace Kelly's son Prince Albert of Monaco, Western and film historians Brian Garfield, Lee Clark Mitchell, Stephen Prince and Meir Ribalow, and High Noon fan President Bill Clinton. The narration is by actor Frank Langella.

Lack of agreement between Paramount and Lionsgate prevented the earlier release of a restored transfer and the documentary, in case you're wondering why this didn't come out before.

(Amazon has a habit of removing or not even accepting outside links, but if you want to read more about this, some of the more interesting tidbits are from a discussion at hometheaterforum. Just do a web search for "high noon" plus "ultimate collector's edition" or "inside high noon" and such keywords to find the links--easy to find.)

A parting note on the ethical side of the film. While everyone can appreciate the strength of Cooper's character and the contrast to the weakness of others, which is no doubt the intended moral focus, we can wonder why the seemingly parallel choices facing Will and Amy are treated differently, with one portrayed heroically for choosing perceived broader duty over duty to spouse, while the other is seemingly approved in doing the opposite (those who have seen the movie will be able to see how that is). I'm not sure writer Foreman saw that parallel as I put it here, and maybe there are good reasons to argue they aren't really parallel. It could be a statement about the limits of pacifism, or it could be a reflection of other cultural mores that Foreman didn't question. Or it could be largely motivated by the need for a certain kind of ending. I'm not a film historian, so maybe these questions have already been addressed. If so, feel free to leave a comment about it.

Cooper Against The Clock
High Noon is a classic tale of a man who is torn between his duty and love. Gary Cooper stars as Will Cain, a sheriff of small town Hadleyville, NM, who has just gotten married to Amy played by Grace Kelly. Amy is a Quaker and in deference to her pacifist beliefs, Will is turning in his badge. But just as the newlyweds are preparing to leave town for a new life, Will learns that a criminal, Frank Miller, he put behind bars is being paroled and arriving in town on the 12 noon train for a showdown. Tension fills the air as the anticipated showdown draws closer. Amy begs for Will to leave with her, but he knows he can't run away. He must stay and defend the town and his honor. Will finds himself alone in the battle as everyone in town, including his deputy sheriff Harvey Pell, played by Lloyd Bridges, have turned away from him. The film is just a little over 80 minutes long and it unfolds in essentially real time on the screen. Director Fred Zinnemann effectively uses clocks to convey the time ticking away towards the battle. The movie is filled with tension as the showdown draws near and Mr. Cooper brilliantly plays his part for which he won his second Best Actor Oscar. Tex Ritter, John's father, sings the Oscar winning song, "Don't Forsake Me" which perfectly captures the essence of the film. High Noon is not only a classic western, but a classic American film.

The tin star in the dust
This is the quintessential Hollywood western. It will continue to represent the genre for many decades to come.

It stars Gary Cooper, one of the most beloved of leading men who personified soft-spoken heroic courage in scores of important films, including Beau Geste (1939), The Pride of the Yankees (1942), Along Came Jones (1945), The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955), etc., and Grace Kelly in her debut role. Directed by Fred Zinneman, whose credits include From Here to Eternity (1953), A Man for All Seasons (1966), Julia (1977) and a dozen more, High Noon tells the story of Will Kane, a small town marshal who, on his wedding day faces a man just let out of prison with three of his outlaw friends who are aiming to get revenge for his being sent up.

The enduring image of the film is Gary Cooper walking tall in the deserted streets of the town in a black Western hat, a black vest, long-sleeved white shirt, black string necktie, watch chain, boots, and low slung holster and two belts, while off to the side inside the wooden buildings we see "that big hand move along, nearin' high noon"--which is when the train arrives carrying the freed prisoner.

Will Kane has cleaned up the town, but now the gunslingers return and he is their target. His wife of less than an hour (Kelly) demands that he leave town. The town itself, in fear of the gunmen, also wants him to leave town, hoping to take the fight away from them. He tries to recruit deputies but everyone is afraid. Even his lone deputy (Lloyd Bridges) deserts him. In the background is Dimitri Tiomkin's haunting ballad, sung by Tex Ritter: "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling (On This Our Wedding Day)." Both Cooper and the song won Oscars. Noteworthy was the fine performance by Kay Jurado as ... Ramirez, Cane's ex, a shrewd barroom lady and proprietress.

What is interesting about the moral conflict (from the story, "The Tin Star" as interpreted for film by screenwriter Carl Foreman), that of facing your enemy rather than running, is that Kane's rationale is logical. If he runs they will only come after him again and again. Only two people get this, Kane and Ramirez. The larger moral issue of whether to fight to defend yourself (Grace Kelly is cast as a Quaker and does not believe in killing) is resolved during the climatic shootout by Grace Kelly's character herself in a manner that did not set well with Quakers.

How well does this black and white classic Western play today? The town people seem cliches and the outlaws are quickly drawn, but Gary Cooper as Will Kane seems entirely believable, admirable, heroic in the best sense of the term as a man who knows the dangers, feels the fear, and yet must act, and he does. He is no shallow, two-fisted, machine-gun hero so often seen in Hollywood productions, but a man of maturity whose "grace under pressure" (a fine definition of courage) tells us and himself who he really is.

See this for Gary Cooper whose "slow-talking, slow-walking," (lyrics from the Coaster's hit song from the fifties, "And Along Came Jones"), and soft-spoken heroics delighted and enthralled a couple of generations of film-goers.