The story is lean. The run time is only 84 minutes, and the plot is just about the same -- the 84 minutes before the noon train arrives. A lot of clocks everywhere, too, to remind you just how close to noon things are getting...
At the beginning of the story, Kane (Gary Cooper) and Amy (Grace Kelly) get married. It's a Sunday morning, but they just have a small civil ceremony. Their plan is to go to a new town and run a store. That means Kane has resigned being Marshal, but for some reason his replacement won't arrive until Monday.
Then they find out that Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald) is going to be on the noon train, and three of his buddies are already in town waiting for him. The four of them are surely going to kill Kane, because Kane had arrested Miller and Miller had been sentenced to death, only to be pardoned by bureaucrats.
Kane looks for men to help him face Miller and his friends, but no one in town will step up. He seeks help at the saloon, the church, and his seeks out his closet friends. All of them turn him down. Since he refuses to leave town, he will need to face the four men on his own. Even Amy refuses to back him, meaning their marriage lasted about 10 minutes before she seemingly calls it quits. She's going to leave on the noon train without him.
Mrs. Rameriz (Katy Jurado) is a pretty interesting character. She's Mexican, but before Amy, she dated Kane. And before Kane, she dated Miller. She is also addressed as Mrs., which apparently means she was married before that.
Rameriz hasn't talked to Kane in the year that they haven't been together. How is that possible in such a small Western town? And how did Amy only learn of Rameriz and her husband's past together? Had she not been living in this town for the past year? Seems like a problem with the plot, but in any event, Rameriz scolds Amy for not backing her man. Amy is a Quaker because violence has killed her father and brother. Nevertheless, Rameriz's words must stick. Amy does get on the noon train, but she jumps off at the last second and runs back in town.
Absolutely no one backs Kane, which is surprising, because a few from the church seem like they will, but in the end, the only people that are willing to help Kane are a one-eyed drunk and a 14-year-old boy. Others might help, but they don't want to put their necks out first, and not by themselves. If the whole town stood up, they would, but no one will stand up first.
When the four men walk into town looking for Kane, the entire town turns stone cold quiet. A ghost town. Only after the showdown is over do the people come flooding out into the street. They were watching, but no one lifted a finger until they knew it was safe to do so. Those who argued that it was their town and they had to help protect it ended up doing nothing. They just hid and watched.
Amy stands by Kane, however, and once the showdown is over, they immediately get on their open buggy and leave town, just as they had started to do 84 minutes earlier.
The movie feels a little odd, definitely not the typical Western. John Wayne turned down the role of Kane, because the story was "anti-American" in his opinion. Why anti-American? Did he see Kane as weak? I don't know if Kane was weak because he asked for help, or if he was weak because no one was willing to help him. He never presses anyone to help that doesn't want to, and he's not the type of man that makes big speeches. He keeps his feelings to himself for the most part, although we do see him break down and cry in a moment when he thinks he's alone, and he knows that he's probably going to die. Did Wayne find that unseemly, to? Do American men not cry? Do they go to their deaths bravely and heroically?
Well, to me, Kane seems very brave. He faces the issue without trying to run from it. Amy and others plead for him to run, but he won't. He knows the men who want him dead wouldn't just leave him alone. They'd come after him.
What about Mrs. Rameriz? Why does she decide, on the spur of the moment, to leave town? She has a successful business. Does she leave because she fears Miller's return? Or should we read her leaving this town as a statement: This town sucks. A bunch of self-interested cowards live there, and she cannot make herself live in such a place after their true nature is confirmed.
Out of all the characters, Rameriz is the one I wish I knew more about. What attracted her to date Miller. Kane and then Kane's deputy, Pell (Lloyd Bridges)? She likes real men. Men that stand up for themselves. when makes it even more curious that she dated Pell, who she assesses as an immature boy.
There's a lot of story here left implied or unstated, but that's probably part of the film's strength. It gives you just enough, and makes you think about everything it leaves out -- very Hemingwayesque in that regard.
Rating: 5/5 stars
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