HIGH NOON is a movie that can be taken down from the DVD or Tape shelf and played again and again. Gary Cooper fans will find this to be one of the best, if not THE best, Cooper performance. The plot, the performances, the brutal series of events leading up to the final show down gun fights all contribute to a feeling one has that it truly is noon day with a relentless sun beating down. This is a Western which almost makes one smell the dust of the town streets. The sheer masculinity of Marshall Kane is beautifully balanced with superb feminine grace and strength found in Grace Kelly and Katy Jurado. Ian MacDonald's Frank Miller comes across as a villain par excellence. This is a perfect presentation for black and white. Color would have diminished the sense of impending death that builds relentlessly with each coward's refusal to help Marshal Kane. The film emphasizes that triumph often comes with a price. In the end, Kane removes his lawman's badge and throws it down into the dust, and he rides off with his Quaker bride who must forever live with the fact that she took a human life in violation of her religious convictions. Courage and valor do not come easily.
Reviews
3 Reviews
The Verdict
(1982)
A Masterpiece of Good vs Evil
20 October 2003
THE VERDICT is a masterpiece of good versus evil. It is also a portrayal of failure turned into success as a result of a challenge accepted by an individual whose inner character and core beliefs sustain him during a time of bitter struggle. This is a bittersweet victory for the hero. Having achieved professional glory by virtue of a single jury verdict, he suffers the loss of a woman who betrays him both personally and professionally. Supporting actors are superb and add a touch of reality that is almost brutal at crucial moments of the unfolding plot. A monumental film that has the flavor of Boston and beautiful courtroom surroundings. A movie that one can watch over and over and always be captivated, never bored.
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
(1969)
A Movie I Love to Hate
20 October 2003
Drawing many rave reviews and even Academy Award nods, this remains one of my personal choices for a truly horrible film. I have tried over and over to watch this thing, telling myself to turn more positive and all that stuff. It doesn't work. Usually the sheer whiny and lifeless dialog alone makes me stop the video tape long before I have seen more than a third of the scenes. Seen by many as a great 60's portrayal, it lacks even the excitement of that era. The thought of having an affair, sexual or otherwise, with any of these morbid and depressing characters is totally out of the question for me.
Inveterate hippies who still smoke a joint a day will continue to find this movie a joy, even when their days of prostate problems and wrinkles have arrived. As Ancient Greece was important to the eventual development of drama, this movie is important to the eventual development of the X rated disasters currently in production.
Inveterate hippies who still smoke a joint a day will continue to find this movie a joy, even when their days of prostate problems and wrinkles have arrived. As Ancient Greece was important to the eventual development of drama, this movie is important to the eventual development of the X rated disasters currently in production.
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