finally got around to watching a classic Western. High Noon. 1952 with Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Katy Jurado. Lots of others. I'm a sucker for a blonde fem fatale but i have to say Katy Jurado playing a Mexican lady is absolutely beautiful.

 But i digress. I expected an old shoot em up melodrama. I would sleep through the romantic drama and grab my popcorn for the gunfights. Well i was wrong. The first few minutes camera work is awesome. No dialogue and Tex Ritter singing the title song in the background. 

Our hero is an aging town Marshall who just married a new bride. They dressed Grace Kelly down so she looked like a good girl but not the bombshell she was. Anyway as the wedding is taking place three minions of a really bad guy come to town waiting for the noon train. That's when the bad guy that the marshall put away for murder will arrive.

Seems those dang bleeding hearts were already at work since they had let the murderer walk after serving around 5-7 years. The town folks are telling the marshall to run and start life with his new bride. But of course he won't run. He starts to run but a true son of the code of the West means he's got to turn around and face the varmints.

Which he does. But that's not the point. The point was all of the betrayals he suffered. From his bitter deputy to his best friend. Nobody would stand with him. But the script also showed the gray areas between not wanting to get killed in a gun battle and wanting to be brave and loyal. Just like today it's not always so cut and dried.

It caused me to think about the times when i looked for a friend and they weren't there. It also made me think of the times I wasn't there for others. It also made me think of our current situation. Wars and congress wanting to fund more war while wanting to curtail Social Security. 

But a very liberal (or were they conservative?) it's hard to know with war since Republicans and Democrats seem to love it equally.

But anyway. This person seemed to think that i wouldn't have wanted to fight Germany in WW2. But honestly? I think that's cowardly to accuse people of not fighting Nazi's just because they don't want to fund more modern bombs blowing people up.

So if you're my friend and the bad guys call you out. Then my little scrawny old butt will stand with you. But if you're a politician wanting to send a few more trillion bucks for more bombs to drop on poor people. Then go to Hades. 

Oh and by the way. The movie High Noon? Totally worth the 🍿 and viewing.

Peace!