High Noon (1952)

Alex & Kelten start off with one of the most well-regarded movies in the Western canon: High Noon (1952), starring Gary Cooper.

We like it! More to the point, we think it's an interesting critique of the archetypal single gunslinging hero defending helpless bystanders. What obligations do those bystanders have to defend their community? What happens when their guardian asks for their help and they say no?

You might think this parable about a hero Cop selflessly defending his town against generic Crime would be beloved by Cold War-era America, but it got its screenwriter run out of the country!