The Movie: I am reviewing the original 1998 DVD release of this film. There has since been a special edition put out by Artisan, which I have not seen.

High Noon was a revolutionary film in a number of ways, though it is most known as being the first film in the western genre to get away from the simplistic, melodramatic, romanticized view of the west, with its gritty, more realistic views. Up until that point, westerns always had a squeaky clean and noble hero going after an evil and heartless villain, but High Noon was bold enough to portray the hero as an aging man, not without his imperfections in character. And unlike the beautiful panoramic shots of vast desert and blue skies of other westerns, High Noon's portrayal of the landscape is bleak and stark.

Another neat and highly publicized thing about it is that the story is told almost in real time... that is to say that for the most part, the story takes place in the same amount of time it takes to watch it.

A true classic, High Noon is emotionally engaging, really bringing the audience into feeling the desperation and hopelessness faced by Gary Cooper's character, all the way up to its incredibly suspenseful and intense climax. Even if you're not typically a fan of westerns, I can't see how you wouldn't like High Noon.

The DVD: For an older (for DVD) release of an old film, this is actually a pretty nice DVD release. You get a nice, THX certified transfer, which is extremely clean (perhaps a little too clean, as it is almost devoid of grain), with excellent shadow detail and great contrast. This is, of course, a black and white film, made before the era of widescreen movies, so obviously I won't be discussing any of those aspects.

The audio is also remarkably clean for a film of this age, I was actually quite impressed with just how great it sounded, even in its original monaural sound mix.

Special features include a trailer, and a recent "making of" piece hosted by Leonard Maltin, which proved to be just barely interesting enough for me to watch the whole thing.

Overall not a bad release at all, and I'm sure the newer version(s) are even better!