In 1959, when Howard Hawks made RIO BRAVO, the big screen Hollywood western seemed to be on its death bed. The predominant theme of western films was the death of the old west, and one such film, HIGH NOON, had been acclaimed for the darkness and hopelessness of its message. Hawks decided to make his response to HIGH NOON using a lot of humor and a high-powered cast. John Wayne plays a Texas Sheriff who, confronted with an existential challenge, meets it with a high spirit and a motley team of defenders. Dean Martin stars as his deputy, a haunted, lost man, who is forced to confront his alcoholism. Angie Dickinson plays a stranded woman of shaky morals, who challenges John Wayne’s conception of what a woman can be — and do. One of the true western classics and an entertaining ride from beginning to end.

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