2005 Film Index Back to Main Site		Back High Noon USA / 85 minutes Directed by Fred Zinnemann Produced by Stanley Kramer Screenplay by Carl Foreman This 1952 classic stars Gary Cooper as just-married lawman Will Kane, who is about to retire as a small-town sheriff when he learns that gunslinger Frank Miller 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. The story unfolds in approximate real time (from 10:40 a.m. to high noon in an 84-minute film). The screenplay of High Noon was written during a politically-oppressive atmosphere in the early 1950’s when McCarthyism and political persecution were rampant. In fact, the film’s story has often been interpreted as a morality play and a metaphor for the threatened and blacklisted artists (one of whom was screenwriter Foreman) who faced political persecution from the HUAC during the McCarthy era.