Moral Courage at High Noon [Ethically Speaking]

One of my favorite movies is High Noon, starring Gary Cooper as Sheriff Will Kane. The movie starts with Will getting married to his new wife (Grace Kelly) in a small western town in the late 1800s. He retired as a very successful sheriff and was leaving town forever with his new bride, when he found out that a bad guy, Frank Miller, was returning from jail (where Will sent him) on the noon train to meet some of his friends and kill the people who sent him to jail. The movie takes place in “real time:” less than two hours. The clock is regularly shown as Will attempts to get people in the town to help him confront the bad guys. The town people had a lot of respect for Will when he was sheriff, but when he postpones leaving in order to deal with Miller and his gang, Will finds that recruiting volunteers to help him confront the four armed men is impossible. Everyone has various excuses for not helping him, including, “It is not my problem.” Will had doubts about his decision and was very scared. At noon, Will goes to meet Miller and his gang all alone. After he kills the gang as the town watches from safety, he throws his sheriff´s badge on the ground and rides away with his wife.