[the_Watchman]

In High Noon, Gary Cooper played the western sheriff who went out to face the bad guys alone. The "bad guys" were HUAC, the House UnAmerican Activities Committee, which was asking too many Hollywood liberals embarrassing questions about their Communist past.

I'm not dreaming this up. PBS has had programs about the era which pointed out the hidden message in the film. Why else would John Wayne have hated it?

[the_Watchman]

BTW: M*A*S*H, including the TV show, deserves a mention. The characters demeaned anti-Communism, promoted the idea that the war would go away if we would just quit fighting, and heavily slandered Gen. Douglas MacArthur.

In reality, none of the cast was worthy to lick his boots!

[mamelukesabre]

Well, if you don't know about the hidden symbolism, it's a pretty good movie.

I can think of one reason why john wayne would have hated it. The whole town was on the side of the bad guys. No one was on the good guys side eccept the town drunk and the immigrant lady of unsavory reputation.

[NYCVirago]

In High Noon, Gary Cooper played the western sheriff who went out to face the bad guys alone. The "bad guys" were HUAC, the House UnAmerican Activities Committee, which was asking too many Hollywood liberals embarrassing questions about their Communist past. I'm not dreaming this up. PBS has had programs about the era which pointed out the hidden message in the film. Why else would John Wayne have hated it?

There's some symmetry to this -- Elia Kazan, who testified and "named names" before HUAC, later made "On the Waterfront", which was about someone who was a so-called "stool pigeon" regarding union corruption, in an effort to explain why he did what he did. When Kazan got a lifetime achievement Oscar a few years ago, some in Hollywood still held a grudge against him and refused to applaud him.