High Noon, Part II: The Return of Will Kane (1980)

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Excellent but underrated film

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

It's always been Hollywood's ongoing, unforgivable sin to make an unwanted sequel to a well-established classic. At some point the decision was made to try and make another story to High Noon; it seems almost like an impossible mission to completely mess this up - decent actors, gorgeous location, respectable if not a fantastic script... and... well, as I sit here and watch this film I regret to say this movie simply does not hold a candle. It does not hold a candle as most "forced" sequels do to ingenious films preceding them.All I can see in this movie is an aged Pernell Roberts who left 'Bonanza' for all the right reasons but his taste in scripts probably lead to such a stagnant career. Lee Majors doesn't quite impress and neither does Carradine; it would take until Kill Bill with Quentin Tarrantino to finally put the spotlight on him. Most of the acting falls flat and the story doesn't quite make up it's mind as to whether it should be about one person or several of them. In a two-hour time slot, that's not a good sign: if your characters still aren't quite relatable or memorable for a large chunk of my viewing time, why should I be watching this? This is a movie that tries so hard but it shouldn't have to. Maybe it is a good film compared to what most folks disagree with, myself among them, but I can't quite see what makes this particularly good. It feels more like an extended modern remake of Bonanza, the same show Roberts was trying to avoid. A pity. This movie shouldn't have low scores, but it does. Why? Someone decided to call it 'High Noon II'....had marketing not attached it to something better, maybe, just maybe, we'd all like this a little bit better than we do now.

I enjoyed the movie very much. I thought Lee Majors captured the essence of Will Kane better than Gary Cooper. David Carradine was great as a likable, not so bad, not so good, down on his luck guy, who wasn't real particular about the letter of the law. Bonanza's "Adam" was a particularly unlikable bad guy as the law officer who conducted himself and the duties of his office to satisfy his own personal greed and needs. The theme of a wrong, for which the good guy seeks recompense, was good and evident throughout the movie, as it evolved into a theme of "standing up to evil." Lee Majors was great as Will Kane, just trying to do right and finally not being able to walk away from evil, knowing he had what it takes to fight it.

I saw the original "High Noon" more then 100 times. In fact I re-scheduled my first marriage so as to fit it in. I consider "High Noon" (1952) to be the best movie I every watched. As for "High Noon, Part II, The Return of Will Kane" I firmly believe that it was a true waste of valuable film and a gross waste of money in making it. "Plan 9 from Outer Space," often talked about as being the worst movie ever made, was, in my mind, a far better movie, although I think its director, Ed Wood, would have brought considerable talent to the making of "High Noon Part II."Bottom line...compared to, "High Noon Part II," "Plan 9" was a monumental screen success and money well spent by the Baptist community in producing it.

This movie (?) is a disaster, and that's a compliment. It falls from just being very bad to being the worst due to its attempt to play on the greatness of its earlier namesake."Thou shalt have no false gods before me", says God to Moses in "The Ten Commandments". A similar comparison and warning apply here. If you loved "High Noon", you will certainly hate "High Noon, Part II". It is a disgrace to the memory of Gary Cooper.