Western Genre: “The High Noon” (1952) and “Unforgiven” (1992) (A Reflection of the Societyof the time)

 The Western is, perhaps, the prime means by which America understands and symbolizes its history to itself. Westerns are set within such period of American history, around 1860-1900, in which America began to construct the nation that it is today and to falsify its identity. Many characters portrayed on film are men who really lived in that time. The Western is one of the oldest genres, since 1904 barely a year has gone by without a Western film being made; there have been musical Westerns, comic Westerns and television Westerns. The western films have always reflected the society of the time. “The High Noon” (1952) and “Unforgiven” (1992) are such movies, which reflect the society of their time.

The High Noon

Will Kane (Gary Cooper), the longtime marshal of Hadleyville, has just married pacifist Quaker Amy Fowler (Grace Kelly) and rotated in his badge. He intends to become a storekeeper somewhere else. Unexpectedly, the town comes to know that Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald) was a criminal whom Kane brought to justice and is due to arrive on the noon train. Miller had been penalized to hang, but was forgiven on an unspecified legal trifle. In court, he had promised to get revenge on Will and anyone else who got in the way. Miller's gang members are his younger brother Jack Colby (Lee Van Cleef), Ben (Sheb Wooley), and Jim Pierce (RobertJ. Wilke), and they wait for him at the station.

Amy and Will leave town, but fearing that the gang will be a danger to the town and its people and also hunt him down, Will turns back; and he reclaims his badge and scours the town for help, even interfering Sunday church services, with little success. His assistant, Harvey Pell (Lloyd Bridges), quits because Will did not recommend him as the new marshal. Harvey decides to stay if Will would support him; however, Will rejects to buy his assistance. Will goes to warn Helen Ramírez (Katy Jurado), first Miller’s lover, the then Will's, and now Harvey's. Helen already know what Miller will do to her if he discovers her and has sold her business. She gets ready to leave town to avoid Miller and also to avoid seeing Kane killed. Amy gives Will an ultimatum if he comes with her on the noon train.

The judge who penalized Miller is leaving and encourages Will to do the alike. The marshal who heralded Will supports him; however, he is too old to help Will. Will tries stimulating help from the locals at a bar and then tries the church. No one at either place responds, and few support him. Some even wish to see Kane's probable death. Many of the townspeople encourage Will to leave in the hope that would resolve the situation. In fact, Will's good friends the Fullers are confused about how to cope with the situation. Mildred Fuller (Eve McVeagh) wants her husband, Sam (Harry Morgan), to talk to Will when he comes to their home, but he makes her claim he is not home as he hides in another room.

Finally, Will faces Miller and his gang all alone. Kane kills Ben Miller and Colby, but gets wounded in the fight. Amy and Helen both board the train, then Amy gets off when she hears the sound of gunfire. Amy prefers her new husband's life over her religious views and beliefs, shooting Pierce from behind. Miller then takes her hostage to force Will come on surface. Nevertheless, Amy abruptly attacks Miller, providing Will a clear shot, and Will shoots Miller. As the townspeople come, Will stares at the crowd, scornfully throws his marshal's star in the dirt, and then leaves town with Amy.

“Unfogiven”

The film is set in 1881 in Big Whiskey, Wyoming, where Little Bill Daggett, former gunfighter and the local sheriff, does not permit guns and criminals in his town. Two cowboys Davey-Boy and Quick Mike. Bunting, deface prostitute Delilah Fitzgerald after she laughs at the small size of Quick Mike's penis. Little Bill allows them to pay compensation to the brothel owner, Skinny Dubois despite punishing the cowboys. The rest of the prostitutes, led by Strawberry Alice, are furious by this leniency and offer a $1,000 reward to one who can kill the cowboys. Miles away in Kansas, the Schofield Kid, an arrogant young man, visits the pig farm of William Munny, looking to recruit him to help kill the cowboys. In his youth, Munny was a thief notorious as a cold-blooded murderer.

Now a regretful widower raising two children, he has left drinking alcohol and killing. Though Munny firstly refuses to support, his farm is failing, putting his children's future in danger. Munny reconsiders a few days later and sets off to catch up with the Kid. Munny recruits Ned Logan, who is another retired gunfighter.

Logan, Munny and the Kid arrive later during a rain storm. They go to the saloon to find the cowboys' location. With a bad temperature after riding in the rain, William Munny is sitting alone in the saloon when Little Bill and his assistants arrive to face him. With no idea of Munny's past, Little Bill beats him and takes him out of the saloon after finding a pistol on him. The Kid and Logan, upstairs getting advances in kind on their expense from the prostitutes, run out from a back window. The three rearrange outside of town, where they nurse Munny to recover.Three days later, they trap a group of cowboys and kill Bunting. Munny and Logan no longer have much stomach for murder. Logan chooses to return home while Munny feels they must finish what they started. Munny and the Kid move to the cowboys' farm, where the Kid traps Quick Mike in an outhouse and kills him. After they run from there, a distraught Kid admits he had never killed anyone before. Munny recommends him to drink more whiskey to numb the pain. The Kid rejects life as a gunfighter and plans to go home.

When Little Sue meets the two men to give them the prostitute's reward, they come to know that Logan was seized by Little Bill's men and tortured to death. He had exposed the names of his two partners before dying, after which his corpse was showed outside the saloon. The Kid moves back to Kansas to give the reward money to Logan's wife and Munny's children. Munny returns to town to avenge on Little Bill. That night, Munny arrives and sees that Logan's body is indeed displayed in a coffin outside the saloon. Inside, Little Bill has gathered a posse to pursue the Kid and Munny. Munny walks in and kills Skinny Dubois, the saloon owner. After some tense dialogue, a gunfight ensues, Bill wounded gets injured and several of his partners die. Just as Bill feebly lifts his pistol and cocks it, Munny turns back and kicks it from his hand, killing him. Munny threatens the townsfolk before eventually leaving Big Whiskey, saying that he will return to exact more vengeance if Logan is not buried appropriately or if any of the prostitutes are abused.

Comparison

No doubt, the study of Westerns enables us to observe and examine the issues about North America’s legends and myths. These movies enable us to look and know how America thinks and feels about itself and its history. The western genera help explore how men and women fit into the community; and to look at those external or on the edge of it. Moreover, the fame of any myth is rooted in its power to reflect and reproduce a society’s values, beliefs and fears in an edible form. Analyzing and studying the “The High Noon” and “Unforgiven” enables us to examine the building of a nation and its identity, patriotism, honor and revenge, male friends and the triumph of good over evil. 

The Western genre was employed to enlighten an uncharacteristic social problem tale about social responsibility, without much of the usual frontier violence, or tribes of marauding Indians, or panoramic landscapes. The film was different from the previous ones. The High Noon reflected the society of the time. In comparison to the previous films, the shallow characters were replaced with the more life-like characters. The High Noon explores themes of duty, integrity and honor among the general citizenry.  Despite standing alone, leading character stands firm. This film could possibly be the representation of the harsh burdens of military power and liberty.         

Unforgiven reflects the last phase known as the contemporary western. In the 1990’s the western was a marginal genre. Nevertheless, from time to time, a few successful western movies like Unforgiven emerged, which proved, that the genre is still popular among the audiences. Costner’s movie can be also seen as a revisionist western, because it depicts the white male officers in an appalling light, in contrast to the Native Americans, who are presented as peaceful naïve peoples. The contemporary western often deals with psychological, gender and social issues as what Unforgiven reflects. 

The production of the movies in the 1950’s was different. The movies were black and white and the sounds were not in advanced form. Therefore, Unforgiven has come to be more advanced comparing to The High Noon. Though High Noon was an epic of the time, the direction was perfct, the Unforgiven was made in the modern lines. The lighting, color and the sound were more advanced giving it a perfect and actual form. The plot of these two movies do not vary much as both are reflecting the society of the time. The camera and camera work are different. With the advancement of technicalities, Unfogiven shows more realistic videography than that of High Noon. In short, the modern technical aspects make Unforgiven better to eyes and ears comparing it to the High Noon.