Those who see this movie as just another good versus evil movie are missing the point. This movie is about doing your duty and acting with integrity versus acting out of cowardly self interest. An entire town turns it's back on Will Kain, including his deputy, in his hour of need. Even his new wife is ready to abandon him because she won't try to understand why he feels he must stay to face Frank Miller, who has vowed to kill him. Even the one person who understands him, Helen Ramirez, turns away. The only people ready to stand with him are a drunk and a boy. Gary Cooper acts the part of Will Kain wonderfully. You can feel his quiet desperation and his self doubt, as he realizes that he will have to fight this fight alone against four men. When Kain finally realizes he will be alone, he sits in his office to write his will. What follows is simply one finest montages anywhere in cinema. As the clock ticks toward high noon and the music builds, we see the faces of all the people who have abandoned him. The tension builds and builds until it is broken by the whistle of the noon train. The result of the fight is a foregone conclusion, but that doesn't matter. By the time the gunfight begins the story is essentially over, except when his new wife, an avowed pacifist, kills one of the bad guys rather than see her husband killed. The last scene is perfect, where Kain looks at the crowd gathered after the gunfight, and tosses his marshal's star on the ground in contempt, and rides away silently. High Noon is simply the best Western ever made, including The Searchers and Unforgiven (sorry Clint). 