What Is Bill Clinton’s Favorite Film, Alex.
This entry was posted on 11/28/2006 11:05 PM and is filed under Music,Film,Comedy,Theme Week.
11/29/06: Tex Ritter: “High Noon” (1952)The funniest Leftist drama of all time will rate its own entry at a later date. The inanity of
High Noon, however, is summed up in its famous theme. We were young RightWingTrash when we first saw the film, but we still knew enough to be baffled. It seemed plainly weird that a classic western featured a desperate sheriff who spent the whole movie begging the local townspeople to save him from incoming bad guys.
Even weirder, Gary Cooper’s character had already resigned as the town’s sheriff. The locals had every reason to tell the guy to just go away. It wasn’t until later that we learned
High Noon is only respected as some moronic parable of the McCarthy hearings. All we knew was that the
MAD magazine parody we later found was pretty much redundant. Then we saw
the true classic that
High Noon’s idiocy inspired from the great Howard Hawks, and that restored the balance of our cinematic world.
Anyway, Tex Ritter had a big hit with
High Noon’s Oscar-winning theme—which seems to be popularly referred to as “Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling.” That’s also the first line, and it perfectly captures the manipulative nature of
High Noon’s hero.
The lyrics consist entirely of Gary Cooper’s character pleading with his new bride to please help him go up against some crazed killers. Seriously, here’s how it ends:
Do not forsake me, oh my darling
You make that promise as a bride
Do not forsake me, oh my darling
Although you’re grievin’,
Don’t think of leavin’
Not while I need you by my sideGrace Kelly was right to ditch the creep. We claim no manly high ground here at RightWingTrash, but whatever happened to sending the women and children away at the first sign of trouble? And how did this song avoid ending up as an evergreen on Dr. Demento’s radio show?
Make it your own: The fanatics at the Bear Family label put together
a compilation of 25 different artists performing “High Noon,” and it’s an inspired idea. This is one western anthem that’s best represented by performers such as Skitch Henderson, Ray Conniff, Henry Mancini, and Ferrante & Teicher. There’s a German and Danish version, but surprisingly nothing from France.
