POLITICS IN THE SADDLE - Part 3. The Story Behind "High Noon."

High Noon, released in 1952, is considered a Western film classic. President Eisenhower loved to screen the film while he was in office, Bill Clinton has declared it his favorite film, and Ronald Reagan said that it showed a "strong dedication to duty, law,and well being of people with conservative/anti-communist views."
All this would have been a shock to Carl Foreman who wrote the screenplay as an indictment against the so-called "Communist Witch Hunts" or "McCarthyism," named after Wisconsin Senator Joe McCarthy, and hearings on the subject in 1950. As a young man, Foreman had joined the Communist Party, and now knew it was just a matter of time before he would be called before the House on Un-American Activities Committee or HUAC to testify. He also knew that he would beexpected to name other Communists and Communist sympathizers. Indeed, after completion of the script for High Noon, he was called before the committee and pleaded his "Fifth Amendment" rights. Feeling that his "non-testimony" before the HUAC would blacklist him from working in Hollywood, he immediately re-wrote many scenes that would appear in the film to reflect his own beliefs on the committee and his plight.
"I became the Cooper character," Foreman would later say. "I felt that, like the marshal, I had been abandoned by everyone and left alone to fight the battle." Marshal Will Kane would end up leaving Hadleyville and Foreman would leave his country for London.
Like the brave marshal he played in the film, Gary Cooper wanted to defend Foreman for standing up for his rights. John Wayne and Ward Bond, both well known conservatives, warned Cooper that it would be unwise and unhealthy for his career. Cooper backed away from the fight.
The film's young producer, Stanley Kramer, and Columbia Pictures president, Harry Cohen where able to silence any publicity about Foreman's rewritten content and America enjoyed what film-goers viewed as a well-crafted, taunt, little Western with the interesting advantage of being told in real-time, much like the popular television program 24 today.
Even though the screenplay was based on a short story, "The Tin Star," by John W. Cunningham, Foreman was able to write enough of his beliefs into the screenplay to get his point across. Wayne called it the "most un-American thing he had ever seen," and promised, along with Hawks to one day film their version of the same story. Indeed Hawks and Wayne would live up to their word when they made Rio Bravo, a few years later.
High Noon would go on to be nominated for several Oscars including, Best Picture, Best Director, and Carl Foreman for Best Screenplay. It would win, among others, Best Actor for Gary Cooper, and Best Song as sung by legendary Western star, Tex Ritter. Surprisingly, Cooper was out of town and asked none other than John Wayne to accept his Oscar for him, which Wayne graciously did.
Others connected with the film would suffer to varying degrees due to alleged Communist backgrounds. Co-star Lloyd Bridges, although not blacklisted, was "gray listed," meaning that his promising career was not stopped but curtailed, until his successful TV series Sea Hunt gave him a much needed boost. Famed cinematographer Floyd Crosby (father of musician, David Crosby) was likewise gray listed for a time due to the fallout.
Carl Foreman, would go on to a popular screenwriting career with films like: A Hatful of Rain, The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Guns of Navarone, and MacKenna's Gold.
Today, the film that was a screen writer's retaliation against the HUAC has become a Western film classic, recognized as just that by such diverse presidents as Eisenhower, Reagan, and Bill Clinton. President Reagan's saying that it is an indictment against Communism isn't exactly what Carl Foreman had in mind, but it proves that, no matter how it's packaged, a classic Western is something that is inherently about the legend called "the winning of the west." In the end, no matter what, it boils down to good over evil. Something that, all too often, the films of today have forgotten.

POLITICS IN THE SADDLE, PART 2 - THE "HIGH NOON"/"RIO BRAVO" CONNECTION

"High Noon" and "Rio Bravo," one a dark, somber, black & white film from 1952, the other a 1959 action film in color with vivid, bigger than life, characters. On the surface they couldn't be different, but the reality is there might not have been a "Rio Bravo" if not for "High Noon."
The earlier film is a simple tight story that takes place, in real time, during the morning hours leading up to the gunfight at noon. The latter film unfolds at a leisurely pace with more characters at it's core to develop.
In "High Noon" the townspeople - including the marshal's mentor and his deputy - are for the most part cowards. Frank Miller, a crazed outlaw, has been pardoned and is coming to town to exact revenge on Kane for sending him to jail. Although Kane has retired, and is leaving town with his Quaker bride (Grace Kelly), he decides it's his responsibility to defend the town. The townspeople, however, want him to leave, believing that Miller and his gang - who are already waiting at the train station for their boss - might leave them alone if he does. The conclusion finds Will standing up to the Miller Gang on his own, until help comes at the last minute from a surprise supporter.
The final scene of the film shows Cooper taking his badge off, throwing it on the ground, and leaving Hadleyville with his bride. As a side note, to make sure the scene went right (watch it closely), Gary Cooper actually palms the badge he takes off and only acts like he throws it on the ground. The camera then quickly pans down to show a duplicate badge that had already been set in place at Will's feet. This particular scene angered John Wayne, which he incorrectly remembered in an interview as the scene where Gary Cooper stepped on the badge as he walks off.
"Rio Bravo" takes the same basic story and adds the Wayne/Hawks' touch. Instead of waiting for the outlaw to come to town to exact his revenge, Sheriff John T. Chance has jailed Joe Burdette for murder. His brother, powerful rancher Nathan Burdette, swears to get his brother out of jail one way or another; this is the villain coming to town. Unlike "High Noon," where the gang watches the town from the train station, waiting for their leader, Burdette's gang actively quarantine the town - no one in, no one out. Also, unlike Will Kane's quest for help, John T. Chance actually has help from a crew of misfits that bring the right 'color' and a touch of humor to the story. The old codger type "Stumpy" (Walter Brennan), the town drunk "Dude" (Dean Martin), and the young gunslinger "Colorado" (Ricky Nelson). Not only does this mix add some amusing moments, as well as some terrific character study, but it covers all the bases for the different age groups watching the film - it perfectly covered all the demographic areas. Brennan for the older crowd who had enjoyed him in film roles for years, and were then enjoying him in his TV series,"The Real McCoys." Singer Dean Martin, whom had recently broken up with his longtime showbiz partner Jerry Lewis, and recently enjoyed a terrific resurgence in "The Young Lions," with Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift, was there for the pop crowd. Ricky Nelson, who was enjoying a thriving career in rock and roll, as well as his family's long running television show, "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet," was there for the teens. And then, of course, there was the Duke himself. Already a superstar, this film would help establish his film persona for the next decade. To be fair to "High Noon," from the standpoint of characterization, the real time storyline doesn't allow for anyone's character development but that of Will and possibly his bride.
John Wayne and director Howard Hawks hated "High Noon," feeling it showed the American West and it's settlers in a bad and cowardly light. Wayne went so far as to say it was the "most unAmerican thing I have ever seen." They also believed that the earlier film had Communist undertones. Wayne and Hawks vowed to one day set the record straight by making their own film version of such events, which they would do 7 years later with "Rio Bravo."
Was the charge of Communist leanings in one of the great Westerns of all time true? The story behind the story of "High Noon," next time.