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As an extremely devoted cinephile, I've always been addicted to films, but somehow I've never seemed to be a huge fan of the western film, except for High Noon, which I
always loved, and still do. If you have never seen it,
you can't honestly call yourself a true cinephile. It is
a film that has become one of the greatest films of all
time. It was kind of unusual for a western to have really
dark allegorical themes of loneliness and isolation, but
this film pulls it off big time. I would be ashamed for
you if you still didn't know the plotline of the film,
but I'll bring you up to speed. It concerns Will Kane,
a newly-appointed sheriff, portrayed by an iconic Gary
Cooper, who is also recently married to Amy (the ridiculously
beautiful Grace Kelly), whose honorable existence comes
crashing down when hearing the news of the releasing of
Frank Miller, whom Will brought to justice before.
 Will, being a man with a conscience, decides to confront Frank
and his cronies, but he is suddenly left alone when all of the citizens,
including Amy, decide not to stand by his side. At this point, you
are absolutely terrified of the consequences of what may, or may
not happen.
One of the most famous shots in film history unfolds as the camera
moves away from Cooper, as he stands alone in the deserted town,
waiting for Frank. As he waits for Frank, you can hear the clock
ticking, and you can see close-ups of all the main characters as
they wait as well. As the audience, you're absolutely on the edge
of your seat, and as the clock ticks, your face and palms start
to sweat, waiting for the outcome.
 Just the idea that you're left all alone to defend yourself,
and knowing you're risking your life, and everything you've worked
so hard for, is kind of disturbing. The anticipation of what follows
is one of the reasons why the film is so timeless, and it has easily
one of the most truly frightening showdowns in the history of film.
Gary Cooper, who was one of Hollywood's greatest actors at the time,
was considered too old to play the part, but can you see anyone
else as Will Kane better than Cooper, I can't.
As very different from your normal western, it didn't take the
typical approach that all films in the genre should contain chases,
violent action scenes, and picture postcard scenery, but instead
it described the story with emotional and moralistic details that
still make it a standout of the genre.
 It received eight Academy Award nominations in total, including
Best Picture. It only won four statuettes, including the Best Actor
award for Cooper, best film editing, best music score, and Tex Ritter's
gorgeously haunting "Do Not Forsake, Oh My Darlin" as
best song. It is still on every critic's top ten best films of all-time
lists, as well as #27 on the 10th anniversary list of the AFI's
100 greatest films ever made, a definite improvement considering
it was #33 on the original list. Recently, it was voted the second
best western, behind The Searchers, on AFI's 10 Top 10 list. It
was also voted on the other AFI lists, such as the 100 Years, 100
Thrills list, the 100 Years, 100 Cheers list, and the character
of Will Kane was voted among the top 50 screen heroes on the 100
Years... 100 Heroes & Villains list. It also spawned some very
inferior remakes and sequels.
 Presentation
The difference between the new DVD release from Lionsgate,
and the previous DVD releases, is that the picture and audio quality
is vastly improved with more darker, sharper, and more representatively
better contrastive balance, while containing the original and enhanced
Dolby digital audio. The result is really superior.
Extras
Disc 1:
- Audio commentary with Maria Cooper-Janis (daughter
of Gary Cooper), Jonathan Foreman (son of Carl Foreman), Tim Zinnemann
(son of Fred Zinnemann) and John Ritter (son of Tex Ritter)
 Disc 2:
Most of these features that accompany this new release
comes straight from the original anniversary edition: "The
Making of High Noon" featurette, Behind High Noon featurette
and the Radio Broadcast with Tex Ritter.
A welcome addition to bonus features is the new 50-minute documentary
Inside High Noon- a wonderful new look at the process of making
the film, with tidbits from everyone involved in the original production.
Rounding out the bonus material are two new Tex Ritter featurettes:
the 6-minute "Tex Ritter: A Visit to Carthage, Texas",
as Ritter goes to visit his museum, and his full-length performance
of the Oscar-winning song "Do Not Forsake, Oh My Darlin" on
the Jimmy Dean show, which runs about 3 minutes.
Final Thought
Liongate's new DVD edition does justice to this overwhelmingly
iconic masterpiece, with fantastic performances, especially by
Cooper, Kelly and Katy Jurado. It proves that these kinds of films
are not made any more. It makes me wish that I was born in '50s,
as a kid watching and enjoying the film, while playing 'cowboys
and indians' in the background.
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