'High Noon' works on many levels; the second-to-none screenplay, the subtle direction, the clock, Gary Cooper's Oscar-winning performance... It's about a small town sheriff who must basically stand alone to defend the people from a wild gang of outlaws, who have just been let out of jail and will arrive on the noon train. Although he does not have to, and the town does not deserve saving, Cooper decides that he will do the job that he was hired to do. A classic amongst Westerns, it strips the genre down to its basic elements, clean stylish and economical, definitive as a genre example of western iconography for film studies students, and written and made in the 50s - Frank Miller = McCarthy? Congratulations: Your vote has been cast