High Noon is a 1952 American Western film produced by Stanley Kramer from a screenplay by Carl Foreman, directed by Fred Zinnemann, and starring Gary Cooper. The plot, which occurs in real time, centers on a town marshal whose sense of duty is tested when he must decide to either face a gang of killers alone, or leave town with his new wife.

Though mired in controversy at the time of its release due to its political themes, the film was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won four (Actor, Editing, Score and Song) as well as four Golden Globe Awards (Actor, Supporting Actress, Score, and Black and White Cinematography). The award-winning score was written by Ukraine-born composer Dimitri Tiomkin.

High Noon was selected by the Library of Congress as one of the first 25 films for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" in 1989. An iconic film whose story has been partly or completely repeated in later film productions, its ending in particular has inspired numerous later films, including but not just limited to westerns. It is also a film with significant international support, especially during the Cold War when people under the grip of communism were able to watch it and latched on to its symbolism when they organized to overturn their totalitarian rulers, especially in Poland.

Ask yourself the following questions while watching the film:

What compels the Sheriff to stay?
Why does the knowledge of a community-based justice system with a formal policing function foster the abandonment of individual responsibility when it comes to protecting a community? Is this a good or bad thing?
What would you do in this situation if you were the Sheriff? A townsperson?
Given when this film was made, what do you think was its symbolic messaging? How could that symbol change over time and based on the audience?
How would you say this film represents an "American" view of crime, law, and justice?

Watch with an mind to the following course themes:

The existence of diverse narratives about crime, law, and justice developed by different stakeholders.
The dialectic (tension) between individual and community perspectives about crime, law, and justice.
The distinct powers established and modified to address matters of crime, law, and justice given federal, state, local, and tribal authorities (dual federalism).

Think of it also as a lens to what are the limits of a first responder's responsibilities to themselves, their family, and their community and a community's responsibility towards their first responders. Think also of the role and function of police in a fallen world with fallen people (the "sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs" discussed in lecture).

The film can be streamed for free here via the library's Swank digital streaming service. Additionally, it can be viewed for free for Amazon Prime, Paramount+, and Fubo subscribers or rented from various streaming services like Apple, Google, etc.

"It was a Sunday morning in 1989, and Gary Cooper was all over Warsaw. Nearly 10,000 posters, plastered around the city at daybreak, bore the image of the marshal from the 1952 Western High Noon. His photograph was black and white, save for the red Solidarity logo placed on his chest, and he carried a paper ballot in place of a pistol. The poster's inscription was simple: IT'S HIGH NOON, JUNE 4, 1989. That paper sheriff was on a mission: to encourage Poles to vote for Solidarity in that day's parliamentary elections. In the Western, the hero always wins; in the elections, Solidarity secured a landslide victory, and the High Noon poster became an emblem of triumph and new beginning."

-- Isia Jasiewicz, "The Writing on the Wall," Newsweek (August 3, 2009)