by Richard Oxman

*This is dedicated to my loving shenachie/attorney (creator of “Gerry the Giraffe”)…who has made a commitment to rescue me from my recent ravishment by six patrol cars on Roberts Road, reviving my faith in… God knows what*.

(COURTESY) WARNING: IF YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN “The Story of a Man Who Was Too Proud to Run” (*High Noon*), THE AUTHOR RECOMMENDS THAT YOU DO NOT READ THE FOREMAN QUOTE IN FOOTNOTE ONE UNTIL YOU DO SO.

“In the 5th century B.C., the citizens of Athens, having suffered grievously under a tyrant, managed to depose and banish him. However when he returned some years later, with an army of mercenary, those same citizens not only opened the gates for him, but stood by while he executed members of the League of Government.” — One of two civics lessons delivered by Marshall Will Kane in *High Noon*…”when there’s no time for a lesson in civics.”

Howard Hawks’ John Waynish *Rio Bravo* was a rebuttal to the “un-American” Cooperish *High Noon* by director Fred Zinnemann. 7 years after the release of the 1952 *Mezzogiorno* classic. Timing, as they say, is everything.

Zinnemann gave us a couple of other cinematic heroes *who wouldn’t run* in *From Here to Eternity* and *A Man for All Seasons* in ‘53 and ‘66 respectively. Schmaltzy Charlton Heston attempted the title role of the latter (on ‘88 TV), reprising the Paul Scofield Oscar-winning performance. Sometimes enduring quality is everything.

Zinn’s winning western did without marauding Indians, panoramic landscapes…or the typical over-the-top violence associated with the genre.

Blacklisted screenwriter Carl Foreman featured… civic responsibility. [1]

Many of the people who contributed to this masterpiece –arguably, the best of its kind ever filmed– suffered greatly in their real lives… for doing the right thing on screen. Unlike Hawks and Wayne, who deigned to do the *popular thing* astride the shoulders of conservative cheerleaders.

The time is ripe for *ridders* to consider Cooper’s protagonist…who must deal with his townspeople’s cowardice (representing cooperative witnesses before the HUAC, for one), physical inability, self-interest, expediency, and indecisiveness.

I’d love to know what one and all think of his action at the very end of the film. And how that impacts on what we will/can consider today.

When Gary Leupp concludes a recent CPunch piece with:

> “The present Islamic world may not afford an attractive alternative paradigm to the western one. But neither world is evil incarnate. To grasp that fact and accept that the world isn’t simple is to fatally challenge the Crusader mentality. Let us, including the good Christians among us, smite that murderous mentality.” [2]

we nod in agreement. But exactly how can anyone “smite” the offensive thinking? That *begged question* never rears its ugly head.

Those of us who are actually facing town bullies in the flesh, *on a direct, daily basis*, are not enamored of political science lectures and/or history lessons wonderfully worded. Not when we’re being forced to constantly confront the fact that virtually no one’s *with us*.

Ready to turn us in, is more like it, like it or not. Just like the Reds of the past were…whether they lived in *red states* or blue-to-be ones, bled to death with frightened rationality, frighteningly dispatched.

Entertainers’ names appeared in crude publications such as “Red Channels,” and *undesirable* employees were “sent south.” Today the norm is to keep ‘em up north, but to cripple ‘em nonetheless… albeit with less dubious/blatant demonizing.

None of my *ridders* requires yet another rundown of McCarthy era “errors.” Nor is another praising of *High Noon*, Cooper et. al. in order.

My contribution here is worth the heartbeats only if would-be activists understand what they are really up against with The Brick Wall. The Obstruction constructed by comrades and colleagues alike. A dike that will drown them in their sleep… whilst they dream that they’re too smart to bang their collective heads against it.

People. Pathetic people who pump up the populace… to get the *strangers* out of town. But who take down the few honorable souls who hang around for A Real Confrontation. [3]

And then rally ’round someone not too proud to run for some silly/self-serving office.

A cookie-cutter sheriff, perhaps. Someone who’ll cut out at the first sign of… real risk.

Farrago Footnotes Far From the Madding Crowd*:

[1] The creator of *Home of the Brave*, *Champion* and *The Men*, the last released in ‘50, CF agonized through his victimization at the hands of HUAC. Fresh off of taking the Fifth in front of Joe McCarthy, a frightened (but inspired) Foreman explained:

> “My associates were afraid for themselves — I don’t blame them — and tried to get me off the film, unsuccessfully. They went to Gary Cooper and he refused…. Fred Zinnemann, too, was very staunch and very loyal, and so was our backer, Bruce Church…. There are scenes in the film that are taken from life. The scene in the church is a distillation of meetings I had with partners, associates and lawyers. And there’s the scene with the man who offers to help and comes back with his gun and asks, “Where are the others?” Cooper says, “There are no others.”

*High Noon* Producer Stanley Kramer (he of the *progressive* reputation), Hedda Hopper, Ginger Rogers, Ward Bond and a 1,000-member right-wing group calling itself The Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals were just some of the “colleagues” who joined forces to fracture Foreman’s career. Foreman… who later returned –after untold agony abroad– to fracture all the world with *The Bridge on the River Kwai*.

A very interesting sidenote respecting Gary Cooper is that he managed to win the Oscar for Best Actor in spite of the terrorizing right-wing influences of the time. A less discussed point is that –in the Foreman script– it is “liberal abolitionists” who free the foe who comes after (Cooper’s) Marshall Will Kane.

[2] Though well-written by the Tufts prof, don’t feel compelled to read it…for our purposes here.

[3] www.onedancesummit.org cost me and Sylvie plenty on many counts, but it provided an education in this regard that was invaluable. One of the great challenges of my life thus far has been to share the lessons learned…from the disappoints derived from the so-called progressive community in Santa Cruz, California…and leftists nationwide.

\*Huge difference between *Madding* and “Maddening.”