A low point in High Noon

Here’s the dialog from the church scene in High Noon that I referenced in my last post. The set-up is that five years prior town marshal Will Kane sent Frank Miller away to prison where he was supposed to be executed. Miller and his gang had lead a reign of terror in Hadleyville and the vicinity marked by lawlessness and violence until Kane and his deputies brought law and order. When Miller was sent away he promised to return and kill Kane. Instead of being executed, certain politicians (for reasons unknown) arranged for Miller to be pardoned. Just minutes after Kane is married to Amy, a Quaker woman, and retires as marshal he receives the telegram that Miller is about to arrive on the noon train and he is told that three of Miller’s notorious gang are already waiting at the train station waiting for him. Kane realizes he must still defend the town and face Miller, but since the town has calmed down in recent years Kane is down to just one deputy, who has quit because Kane wouldn’t recommend him as the new marshal. With Miller expected within the hour, Kane interrupts the town’s church service looking to deputize men to protect their community.

Does this sound familiar to you?

Parson: (reading from scripture) “For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedness shall be…”

Kane enters at the back of the sanctuary. The parson stops reading and remarks that he is surprised to see Kane, noting that he never visited there much before and “didn’t see fit” to have his wedding performed in the church.

Parson: “What could be so important to bring you here now?”

Kane: “I admit I’ve never been much of a church-going man, and I didn’t get married in this church because my wife is a Quaker. But it looks like Frank Miller’s comin’ back on the noon train and I’m looking for special deputies.

A number of men nervously step forward, but are interrupted.

Cooper: Before we go rushing out into something that ain’t gonna be so pleasant, let’s be sure we know what this is all about. What I want to know is this. Ain’t it true that Kane ain’t no longer Marshal? And ain’t it true there’s personal trouble between him and Miller?

General hub-bub as every tries to talk. Kane’s friend, Jonas Henderson, calls for order and clears the church of the children so that the congregation can voice their differences of opinion like adults.

Coy: Yes, we all know who Miller is, but we put him away once. And who saved him from hanging? The politicians up North. I say this is their mess. Let them take care of it.

Sawyer: We’ve been payin’ good money right along for a marshal and deputies. Now the first time there’s any trouble, we’re supposed to take care of it ourselves. Well, what have we been payin’ for all this time? I say we’re not peace officers. This ain’t our job!

Another man: I’ve been sayin’ all along, we ought to have more deputies. If we did, we wouldn’t be facin’ this thing now.

Ezra: I can’t believe I’ve heard some of the things that have been said here. You all ought to be ashamed of yourselves. Sure, we paid this man and he was the best marshal this town ever had. It ain’t his trouble, it’s ours. I tell ya, if we don’t do what’s right, we’re gonna have plenty more trouble. So there ain’t but one thing to do now, and you all know what that is.

Trumbull: This whole thing’s been handled wrong. Here’s those three killers walking the streets bold as brass. Why didn’t you arrest them, Marshal? Why didn’t you put them in jail where they ought to be? Then we’d only have Miller to worry about instead of the four of ‘em.

Kane: I haven’t anything to arrest them for, Mr. Trumbull. They haven’t done anything. There’s no law against them sittin’ on a bench at the depot.

Woman: What’s the matter with you people? Don’t you remember when a decent woman couldn’t walk down the street in broad daylight? Don’t you remember when this wasn’t a fit place to bring up a child? How can you sit here and talk and talk and talk like this?

Parson: The commandments say, ‘Thou shalt not kill,’ but we hire men to go out and do it for us. The right and the wrong seem pretty clear here. But if you’re asking me to tell my people to go out and kill and maybe get themselves killed, I’m sorry. I don’t know what to say. I’m sorry.

Henderson: What this town owes Will Kane here it can never pay with money – and don’t ever forget it. He’s the best marshal we ever had, maybe the best marshal we’ll ever have. So if Miller comes back here today, it’s our problem, not his. It’s our problem because this is our town. We made it with our own hands out of nothing. And we want to keep it decent, keep it growing. We’ve got to think mighty clear here today. And we’ve gotta have the courage to do what we think is right no matter how hard it is. There’s gonna be fighting when Kane and Miller meet and somebody’s gonna get hurt, that’s for sure. Now, people up North are thinking about this town – thinking mighty hard, thinking about sending money down here to put up stores and to build factories. It’ll mean a lot to this town, an awful lot. Well, if they’re gonna read about shooting and killing in the streets, what are they gonna think then? I’ll tell ya. They’re gonna think this is just another wide-open town and everything we worked for will be wiped out. In one day, this town will be set back five years. And I don’t think we can let that happen. Marshal Kane is a mighty brave man, and a good man, and that’s why I hope he’ll leave town now while there’s time. Because if he’s not here when Miller comes, my hunch is there won’t be any trouble, not one bit. Tomorrow, we’ll have a new Marshal and if we can all agree here to offer him our services, I think we can handle anything that comes along. And to me, that makes sense. To me, that’s the only way out of this. Will, I think you’d better go while there’s still time. It’s better for you and it’s better for us.

Dumbstruck, Kane offers a quickly-spoken “Thanks” and leaves empty-handed.

When High Noon was originally released in 1952 it was considered to be a commentary on the McCarthy hearings and the betrayals and “duck and cover” attitudes of many in Hollywood. There certainly seems to be a timeless quality, though, to our tendency to let fear and politics cloud the issue even at the point where something has to be done.

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