High Noon 1952

Bosley Crowther, New York Times: Meaningful in its implications, as well as loaded with interest and suspense, High Noon is a western to challenge Stagecoach for the all-time championship. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: Some of the results ring false, but the memorable theme song and some equally memorable character acting (by Thomas Mitchell and Lon Chaney Jr. more than Lloyd Bridges and Katy Jurado) help things along. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: The Western may be one of the few truly American art forms, and High Noon shows exactly how much potential it can embrace. Read more

TIME Magazine: High Noon combines its points about good citizenship with some excellent picturemaking. Read more

Derek Adams, Time Out: High Noon won a fistful of Oscars, but in these days of pasteboard screen machismo, it's worth seeing simply as the anatomy of what it took to make a man before the myth turned sour. Read more

William Brogdon, Variety: Zinnemann carefully and deliberately makes the most of the mood cast by the threat of impending violence. Read more

Michael Atkinson, Village Voice: More than a half-century later, Foreman was right after all: High Noon is a scorching and sour portrait of American complacence and capacity for collaborationism. Read more