High Noon

Synopsis: On the day he gets married and hangs up his badge, lawman Will Kane is told that a man he sent to prison years before, Frank Miller, is returning on the noon train to exact his revenge. Having initially decided to leave with his new spouse, Will decides he must go back and face Miller. However, when he seeks the help of the townspeople he has protected for so long, they turn their backs on him. It seems Kane may have to face Miller alone, as well as the rest of Miller's gang, who are waiting for him at the station...
Director(s): Fred Zinnemann
Production: United Artists
  Won 4 Oscars. Another 13 wins & 10 nominations.
 
IMDB:
8.0
Metacritic:
89
Rotten Tomatoes:
96%
PG
Year:
1952
85 min
4,704 Views


# Do not forsake me, oh my darlin'

# On this, our weddin' day

# Do not forsake me, oh my darlin'

# Wait, wait along

# The noon day train will bring Frank Miller

# If I'm a man, I must be brave

# And I must face that deadly killer

# Orlie a coward

a craven coward

# Orlie a coward in my grave

# Oh, to be torn 'tweenst love and duty

S'pposin'I lose my fair-hairbeauty

# Look at that big hand move along

Nearin' high noon

# He made a vow while in state prison

That it would be my life or his

# I'm not afraid of death, but oh

# What will I do if you leave me

# Do not forsake me, oh my darlin'

# You made that promise when we wed

# Do not forsake me, oh my darlin'

# Although you're grievin', I can't be leavin'

# Unti'l I shoot Frank Miller dead

# Wait along, wait along

Did you see what I saw? Come on,

open her up. We'll have a big day today.

- You're in a hurry?

- Yeah, I sure am.

You're a fool Come on.

All right, ladies and gentlemen.

Let us begin.

Would the bride and groom

kindly step forward?

Will Kane and Amy Fowler,

you appear before me in my capacity

as Justice of the Peace of this township

to be joined together

in the bounds of holy matrimony.

- Man, it sure is hot

- Hot? You call this hot?

Well, I'll be...

I thouht I saw Ben Miller.

- He's down Texas somewhere.

- I know.

Looked Like Pierce and Colby, too.

Oh, it couldn't be.

My goodness gracious

- Noon train on time?

- Yes, sir. That is, I think so, sir.

Don't know reason why

it shouldn't be...Mr Pierce.

How're you,

Mr Miller...Mr Pierce...Mr Colby?

Do you, Will Kane, take Amy

to be your lawful wedded wife

to have and to hold from this day forward

until death do you part?

I do.

Do you Amy take Will

to be your lawful wedded husband

to have and to hold from this day forward

until death do you part?

- I do.

- The ring, please.

Then by the authority invested in me

by the laws of this territory,

I pronounce you man and wife.

I can't speak for the rest of you,

but I claim an ancient privilege.

Moving mighty fast for a Sunday.

- Will'

- All those people...

Amy, people ought to be alone

when they get married.

I know.

I'm gonna try, Amy. I'll do my best.

I will too.

Honeymoon is officially over.

Come on, everybody.

- Don't look so shocked.

- No privacy on his wedding day.

Well, one more ceremony,

and Will's a free man, more or less.

Marshal, turn in your badge.

I hate to do this

without your new marshal being here.

Fuller, Haland I are the entire board

of selectmen in this community.

We're also your very good friends.

With the fine job you've done I feel free

to say, and the judge will bail me out,

this town will be safe 'til tomorrow.

You win. But don't marry a Quaker,

she'll have you running a store.

- I can't picture you doing that, Will

- I can.

So can I, and a good thing, too.

Thank you.

You didn't talk that way

when you wore a star.

All right, it's coming off.

But I gotta to be paid first.

- Let me down!

- Not until you kiss me.

Will, let me down, you fool!

-

- You should have been a lawyer.

- I was meant to be a storekeeper.

Marshal, a telegram for you.

It's terrible, it's shocking.

- They've pardoned Frank Miller.

- I don't believe it.

We could go too.

- Nice of them to let you know.

- That ain't all.

Ben Miller is down the depot

with Pierce and Colby.

- He asked about the noon train.

- The noon train?

Well.. You get out of this town.

Get out of this town this very minute.

- What is it?

- Never mind that now.

- What is it, Mr Howe?

- Just get out, and everything will be fine.

- We'll take care of everything.

- I ought to stay.

Are you crazy?

Think of Amy.

Goodbye, Amy.

Don't worry, everything will be allright

Hm... That's funny.

- What?

- Oh, you can't see now.

Kane and his new wife

just took off in a big hurry.

- What's so funny?

- I mean, a big hurry.

Hey, you don't suppose

Kane's scared of those three gunnies?

I never saw him whip a horse that way.

- Sam?

- Come in, Helen.

Ben Miller is in town.

He has two of the old bunch with him.

I guess I'll take a look around.

- Why are you stopping?

- It's no good. I've got go back, Amy.

- Why?

- This is crazy. I haven't got any guns.

- Then let's go on. Hurry.

- No.

That's what I've been thinking.

They're making me run.

I've never run from anybody before.

- I don't understand any ofthis.

- I don't have time to tell you.

- Then don't go back, Will

- I've got to. That's the whole thing.

Kane's back!

- Don't believe it.

- Just seen him!

- How many coffins have we got?

- Two.

We'll need at least two more,

no matter how you figure it.

You better get busy, Fred.

Please, Will, if you'd just tell me

what this is all about.

I sent a man up five years ago for murder.

He was supposed to hang.

But up north, they commuted it to life

and now he's free.

I don't know how.

It looks like he's coming back.

- I still don't understand.

- He's a...

He was always wild and kind of crazy.

He'll probably make trouble.

But that's no concern of yours.

Not any more.

I'm the one who sent him up.

But that was part of your job.

They've got a new marshal

He won't be here until tomorrow.

Seems to me I've got to stay.

- I'm the same man with or without this.

- That isn't so.

He'll come looking for me.

Three of his old bunch are waiting for him.

- That's why we ought to go.

- They'll just come after us.

Four of them...

And we'd be all alone in the prairie.

- We've got an hour.

- What's an hour?

We'd never be able to keep that store, Amy.

We'd have to run again

as long as we live.

No, you wouldn't.

Not, if they didn't know where to find us.

- I'm begging you, please, let's go.

- I can't.

Don't try to be a hero.

You don't have to be a hero, not for me.

I'm not not trying to be a hero.

If you think I like this, you're crazy.

Look, Amy. This is my town.

I've got friends here.

I'll swear in deputies, and with a posse

behind me, maybe there won't be trouble.

- You know there'll be trouble.

- Then, it's better to have it here.

I'm sorry, honey.

I know how you feel about it.

- Do you?

- Of course I do. It's against your religion.

- Sure I know how you feel

- But you're doing it just the same.

Oh, Will..

We were married just a few minutes ago.

We've got our whole lives ahead of us.

Doesn't that mean anything?

You know I've only got an hour,

and I've got lots to do.

Stay at the hotel until it's over.

No, I won't be here when it's over.

You're asking me to wait an hour to find out

if I'll be a wife or a widow.

- It's too long to wait. I won't do it.

- Amy...

If you won't go with me now,

I'll be on that train when it leaves here.

I've got to stay.

- Glad you got hero, Percy.

- Are you?

Have you forgotten

that I passed sentence on Frank Miller?

You shouldn't have come back, Will

I figured I had to. I figured I had to stay.

- You figured wrong.

- I can deputise a posse, 10-12 guns.

- My intuition tells me otherwise.

Rate this script:1.5 / 2 votes

Carl Foreman

Carl Foreman, CBE (July 23, 1914 – June 26, 1984) was an American screenwriter and film producer who wrote the award-winning films The Bridge on the River Kwai and High Noon among others. He was one of the screenwriters that were blacklisted in Hollywood in the 1950s because of their suspected Communist sympathy or membership in the Communist Party. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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    "High Noon" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 Oct. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/high_noon_9954>.

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