THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY OF HIGH NOON

 

 

 

For many people, HIGH NOON is the western. For others, it is simply one of the greatest films of all time. A genuine masterpiece. It is has been viewed in the White House more times than any other film. It was President Eisenhower’s favorite film, as it is former President Clinton’s. Former Japanese Prime Minister Koizuma cites it as his favorite film. The list goes on.

 

But this low-budget -- $750,000 -- independent film has had a rocky road to its classic status. Every studio turned it down. Seemingly half of Hollywood’s leading men turned it down. And its initial preview was an utter disaster.

 

The House un-American Activities Committee was in overdrive in 1951. And High Noon was in its cross-hairs. At least half-a-dozen people involved in High Noon were blacklisted; among them, screenwriter Carl Foreman and cinematographer Floyd Crosby.

 

Gary Cooper, who had testified before HUAC in 1947 as a “friendly” witness (even though he had named no names, named no scripts, and was only there, as he put it: “To show the committee that Hollywood was not a nest of Communists”), put his career on the line for ex-Communist Carl Foreman during and after production, hailing Foreman as “The finest kind of American.”

 

The real-life story behind the making of HIGH NOON is dramatic, suspenseful, gripping. Like the film itself, it’s a story of fear, of heroism, and the very real danger of political abuse. What happens up on the screen is in many ways a metaphor for the extraordinary events behind the camera.

 

But Inside High Noon also explores the film itself:

 

why it has aroused controversy among critics

why its treatment of women was far ahead of its time

why its treatment of masculinity was far ahead of its time

why it has remained popular decades and decades after its release

 

Indeed, why High Noon is the masterpiece it is.