July 24, 1952: "High Noon" Premieres

Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly

July 24, 1952: High Noon premieres. Despite a lot of trouble, it becomes one of the most beloved films of all time.

Carl Foreman was a screenwriter, and joined the Communist Party in 1938, leaving it in 1942. In 1951, at the height of the Korean War and during the Red Scare, he bought the rights to John W. Cunningham's Western-themed short story "The Tin Star," finding it similar to a screenplay he'd written, and didn't want to get sued.

That same year, he was called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee, but he refused to name names. He was labeled an "uncooperative witness," which meant that, once his current project was done, he would be put on the blacklist. He sold his partnership in the production of High Noon to his partner, Stanley Kramer, and moved to Britain, knowing it would be easier to find work there and in Europe.

Fred Zinneman was appointed the director. John Wayne was offered the lead role, but he refused, his right-wing sensibilities leading him to believe that the story was an allegory against blacklisting. Years later, he told an interviewer, "I will never regret having helped run Foreman out of the country."

Kramer offered the role to Gregory Peck. He turned it down, not for political reasons, but because it was too similar to a recent role he played, The Gunfighter. He would call turning High Noon down the biggest mistake of his career. The role was was offered to Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift and Charlton Heston. They all turned it down. (Yes, Heston turned down the role of a man with a gun. No, it wasn't because of politics.)

Finally, the role of Will Kane was offered to Gary Cooper. Already a Hollywood legend, he had been a "friendly witness" before HUAC, but did not implicate anyone, and became an opponent of blacklisting. For the role of Will's bride, Amy Fowler, they got Grace Kelly, whom Kramer saw in an off-Broadway play.

It didn't seem to make much sense: Cooper was 50, and Kelly was just 21. Also, while it was not generally known to the public, one of the worst-kept secrets in Hollywood was that Cooper slept with most of his female co-stars. Kelly would gain the same bed-on-the-set reputation, although rumors of she and Cooper making sheet music remain unsubstantiated.

High Noon was also the film debut of Lee Van Cleef, although he had no lines, and he became identified with Westerns. Ian McDonald was cast as the villain, Frank Miller; Sheb Wooley, later to have a Number 1 hit with "The Purple People Eater" as Miller's brother and gang member Ben; Thomas Mitchell, best known as Uncle Billy in It's a Wonderful Life, as Mayor Jonas Henderson; Lloyd Bridges as Deputy Marshal Harvey Pell; a pre-M*A*S*H Harry Morgan as Sam Fuller; Lon Chaney Jr. as Kane's predecessor as Marshal, Martin Howe; and Mexican actress Katy Jurado in a key role as Helen Ramírez, who had been Miller's girlfriend, then Kane's, and is now Pell's, and was part of the reason Kane sent Miller to prison.

The story, which moves in real time, begins in 1898, in Hadleyville, New Mexico Territory, with the wedding of Marshal Will Kane to Amy Fowler, a Quaker and therefore a pacifist. For this reason, Will is giving up his role as Marshal, and they have signed a deal to run a store in a nearby town.

However, the town gets word that Miller has been released from prison, and will arrive on the train coming into Hadleyville at 12:00 noon. Miller's gang, made up of his brother Ben, Jack Colby and Jim Pierce, are already waiting for him at the station.

The Kane's plan was to leave town after the ceremony, and Amy is sure that now they have even more reason to do so. But Will knows that if he leaves town now, the town will be defenseless against the Miller Gang. Amy tells Will she is leaving on the noon train, with or without him.

But no one will back Will up. Acting Marshal Pell is angry that Will didn't nominate him as his successor, and says he'll only help if Will will now do so. Will refuses again, and Pell turns in his badge and pistol. Will tries to raise a posse, but some of the men are cowards. Some believe that a gunfight, however it turns out, will damage the town's reputation. Some actually support the Millers. The former Marshal is old, and too arthritic to properly fire a gun. The only ones ready to support Will are a man with one good eye and a 14-year-old kid.

The "gunfight on Main Street at high noon" has become a trope of Westerns on film and TV, but, in this case, the title High Noon refers to the time the train is supposed to arrive. In fact, it arrives one minute late. Frank Miller disembarks, and Amy Kane gets on.

The Miller Gang and Will face each other, four against one. They draw. The gunshots are heard at the station, and Amy jumps off the train, and runs back to town. Will kills Ben and Colby, but is wounded by Frank. Amy chooses her husband over her faith, and takes Pell's gun and kills Pierce. Frank grabs Amy, and uses her as a human shield to draw Will out to where he can shoot him. Amy claws Frank's face, and he pushes her to the ground. This gives Will the chance he needs to kill him.

Amy rushes into Will's arms. Only now do the townspeople rush to Will's side. He responds to their hypocrisy by removing his Marshal's star and throwing it in the dirt. He and Amy climb about their wagon and drive away.

The film was nominated for 7 Academy Awards, winning 4, including Cooper for Best Actor. Since he was working in Europe at the time, he asked Wayne to accept the Oscar on his behalf. Although Wayne's contempt for the film and refusal of its lead role were well known, he said, "I'm glad to see they're giving this to a man who is not only most deserving, but has conducted himself throughout the years in our business in a manner that we can all be proud of."

But later, Wayne told an interviewer that he considered High Noon "the most un-American thing I've ever seen in my whole life," and later teamed with director Howard Hawks to make Rio Bravo in response. Hawks explained, "I didn't think a good town marshal was going to run around town like a chicken with his head cut off asking everyone to help. And who saves him? His Quaker wife. That isn't my idea of a good Western."

In 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a known fan of Westerns, screened High Noon at the White House. President Ronald Reagan, himself a very conservative Republican and a former actor, who appeared in some Westerns, called it his favorite movie of all time. So did later Democratic Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

In 1980, CBS aired High Noon, Part II: The Return of Will Kane. Lee Majors, better known for starring in The Six Million Dollar Man, played Will, with Katherine Cannon as Amy. Will finds the successor appointed to replace him has been corrupt, and, this time, the townspeople support him, and he wins. In 2000, Stanley Kramer's widow, Karen Sharpe Kramer, produced a remake of the original for TBS, with Tom Skerritt as Will and Susana Thompson as Amy.

Near the end of the 1988 film Die Hard, when Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) thinks he's won, holding Holly McClane (Bonnie Bedelia) in much the same way that Frank Miller held Amy Kane, he tells John McClane (Bruce Willis), "Still the cowboy, Mr. McClane? Americans, all alike! Well, this time, John Wayne does not walk off into the sunset with Grace Kelly!" And McClane tells him, "That was Gary Cooper, asshole!" And the Kanes drove off into the sunset, not walking off. But John manages to save Holly and everyone else, anyway.

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July 24, 1952 was a Thursday. There was another notable piece of film history on this day, although no one would know it for decades: Film director Gus Van Sant was born.

These baseball games were played on that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Cleveland Indians, 4-2 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Mike Garcia went the distance, outpitching Tom Morgan. Joe Tipton and Dale Mitchell hit home runs. For the Yankees, Yogi Berra hit a home run, but Mickey Mantle went 0-for-4.

* The New York Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 9-5 at the Polo Grounds. Max Lanier went the distance for the Jints, who knocked Harry Brecheen out of the box in the 2nd inning, despite not having Willie Mays available due to the Korean War. Lanier was backed by home runs from Davey Williams, Sal Yvars, Dusty Rhodes and Bobby Thomson.

* A doubleheader was split at Ebbets Field. The Cincinnati Reds won the opener, 3-2, with Bubba Church outpitching Clem Labine. The Brooklyn Dodgers won the nightcap, 2-1, with Duke Snider hitting a home run in the bottom of the 11th inning, as Ben Wade went the distance. Over the 2 games, Jackie Robinson went 2-for-8 with a home run, a walk and an RBI.

* The Boston Braves beat the Chicago Cubs, 3-1 at Braves Field in Boston.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Washington Senators, 4-2 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. (It became Tiger Stadium in 1961.)

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Boston Red Sox, 3-0 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Lou Kretlow pitched a 2-hit shutout. Ted Williams was serving in the Korean War, and was unavailable for the Red Sox.

* The St. Louis Browns beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 4-3 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.

* And the Philadelphia Phillies were supposed to play the Pittsburgh Pirates at Shibe Park in Philadelphia, but the game was moved back 2 days, for a doubleheader on July 22. The Phillies swept, 14-4 and 8-1.