High Noon quotes

View Quote Bartender: [to Kane] You must be crazy coming in here to raise a posse. Frank's got friends in this room. You ought to know that.

View Quote Bartender: I'll give ya odds. Kane's dead five minutes after Frank gets off the train...That's all Frank'll need because I... [Kane punches him]

View Quote Cooper: Before we go rushing out into something that ain't gonna be so pleasant, let's be sure we know what this is all about. What I want to know is this. Ain't it true that Kane ain't no longer Marshal? And ain't it true there's personal trouble between him and Miller?

View Quote Harvey: That's funny...Kane and his new wife just took off in a big hurry...Hey, you don't suppose Kane's scared of those three gunnies...I never saw him whip a horse that way.

View Quote Herb Baker: [to Kane] The way you cleaned this town up, you made it fit for women and kids to live in. Miller and nobody else will ever drag it down again.

View Quote Hotel clerk: [to Amy] You're leaving on the noon train...but your husband ain't?...It's mighty interesting. Now, me, I wouldn't leave this town at noon for all the tea in China. No sir, it's going to be quite a sight to see.

View Quote Matt Howe: It's a great life. You risk your skin catchin' killers and the juries turn 'em loose so they can come back and shoot at ya again. If you're honest, you're poor your whole life, and in the end you wind up dyin' all alone on some dirty street. For what? For nothin'. For a tin star.

View Quote Sam Fuller: [to his wife, after hiding from Kane] Well, whaddya want? Do you want me to get killed? Do you want to be a widow, is that what you want?

View Quote Amy: That man downstairs, the clerk, he said things about you and Will. I've been trying to understand why he wouldn't go with me, and now all I can think of is that it's got to be because of you...Let him go, he still has a chance. Let him go.
Helen: He isn't staying for me. I haven't spoken to him for a year - until today. I am leaving on the same train you are...What kind of woman are you? How can you leave him like this? Does the sound of guns frighten you that much?
Amy: I've heard guns. My father and my brother were killed by guns. They were on the right side but that didn't help them any when the shooting started. My brother was nineteen. I watched him die. That's when I became a Quaker. I don't care who's right or who's wrong. There's got to be some better way for people to live. Will knows how I feel about it.
Helen: I hate this town. I always hated it - to be a Mexican woman in a town like this.
Amy: I understand.
Helen: You do? That's good. I don't understand you. No matter what you say. If Kane was my man, I'd never leave him like this. I'd get a gun. I'd fight.
Amy: Why don't you?
Helen: He is not my man. He's yours.

View Quote Amy: Who is Miss Ramirez?
Hotel clerk: Mrs. Ramirez used to be a friend of your husband's a while back. Before that, she was a friend of Frank Miller's.
Amy: You don't like my husband, do you?
Hotel clerk: One thing - this place was always busy when Frank Miller was around. I'm not the only one. There's plenty people around here think he's got a come-uppance coming. You asked me, ma'am, so I'm telling you.

View Quote Barber: How many coffins we got?
Fred: Two.
Barber: We're gonna need at least two more, no matter how you figure. You'd better get busy, Fred.

View Quote Coy: Yes, we all know who Miller is, but we put him away once. And who saved him from hanging? The politicians up North. I say this is their mess. Let them take care of it.
Sawyer: We've been payin' good money right along for a marshal and deputies. Now the first time there's any trouble, we're supposed to take care of it ourselves. Well, what have we been payin' for all this time? I say we're not peace officers. This ain't our job!
Townsman: I've been sayin' right along, we ought to have more deputies. If we did, we wouldn't be facin' this thing now.
Ezra: I can't believe I've heard some of the things that have been said here. You all ought to be ashamed of yourselves. Sure, we paid this man and he was the best marshal this town ever had. It ain't his trouble, it's ours. I tell ya, if we don't do what's right, we're gonna have plenty more trouble. So there ain't but one thing to do now, and you all know what that is.
Trumbull: This whole thing's been handled wrong. Here's those three killers walking the streets bold as brass. Why didn't you arrest 'em, Marshal? Why didn't you put 'em in jail where they ought to be? Then we'd only have Miller to worry about instead of the four of 'em.
Kane: I haven't anything to arrest them for, Mr. Trumbull. They haven't done anything. There's no law against them sittin' on a bench at the depot.
Townswoman: What's the matter with you people? Don't you remember when a decent woman couldn't walk down the street in broad daylight? Don't you remember when this wasn't a fit place to bring up a child? How can you sit here and talk and talk and talk like this?
Dr. Mahin: When times getting short, the commandments say, 'Thou shalt not kill,' but we hire men to go out and do it for us. The right and the wrong seem pretty clear here. But if you're asking me to tell my people to go out and kill and maybe get themselves killed, I'm sorry. I don't know what to say. I'm sorry.
Mayor Henderson: What this town owes Will Kane here it can never pay with money - and don't ever forget it. He's the best marshal we ever had, maybe the best marshal we'll ever have. So if Miller comes back here today, it's our problem, not his. It's our problem because this is our town. We made it with our own hands out of nothing. And if we want to keep it decent, keep it growing, we've got to think mighty clear here today. And we've gotta have the courage to do what we think is right no matter how hard it is. There's gonna be fighting when Kane and Miller meet and somebody's gonna get hurt, that's for sure. Now, people up North are thinking about this town - thinking mighty hard, thinking about sending money down here to put up stores and to build factories. It'll mean a lot to this town, an awful lot. But if they're gonna read about shooting and killing in the streets, what are they gonna think then? I'll tell ya. They're gonna think this is just another wide-open town and everything we worked for will be wiped out. In one day, this town will be set back five years. And I don't think we can let that happen. He [Kane] didn't have to come back here today. But for his sake and the sake of this town, I wish he hadn't. Because if he's not here when Miller comes, my hunch is there won't be any trouble, not one bit. Tomorrow, we'll have a new Marshal and if we can all agree here to offer him our services, I think we can handle anything that comes along. And to me, that makes sense. To me, that's the only way out of this. Will, I think you'd better go while there's still time. It's better for you and it's better for us.
Kane: Thanks. [walks out]

View Quote Harvey: If you'd gone with a new Marshal not due here 'til tomorrow, I'd be in charge around here, right?...If I'm good enough to hold down a job when there's trouble, how come the city fathers didn't trust me with it permanently?
Kane: I don't know.
Harvey: Don't ya?
Kane: No.
Harvey: That's funny. I figured you carried a lot of weight.
Kane: Maybe they didn't ask me. Maybe they figured you were too young.
Harvey: Do you think I'm too young too?
Kane: You sure act like it sometimes. Come on.
Harvey: It's very simple, Will. All you've got to do is tell the old boys when they come that I'm the new marshal. And tomorrow, they can tell the other fella they're sorry but the job's filled.
Kane: You really mean it, don't ya?
Harvey: Sure.
Kane: Well, I can't do it.
'Harvey: Why not?
Kane: If you don't know, it's no use me tellin' ya.
Harvey: You mean you won't do it.
Kane: Have it your way.
Harvey: All right. The truth is, you probably talked against me from the start. You've been sore about me and Helen Ramirez right along, ain't ya?
Kane: You and Helen Ramirez? It so happens I didn't know, and it doesn't mean anything to me one way or the other. You ought to know that.
Harvey: Yeah, you've been washed up for more than a year. You go out and get yourself married, only you can't stand anybody takin' your place there, can ya, especially me?

View Quote Harvey: Why should he have gone for it? He needs me. He'll need me plenty when Frank Miller gets here...He should've had me made Marshal to begin with. He's just sore is all, sore about you and me.
[Helen kicks him out for talking about their relationship]
Harvey: Who did the walking out anyway, you or him?...You're gonna talk different when Frank Miller gets here. You might want somebody around you then when you try to explain to him about Kane.
Helen: I can take care of myself.
Harvey: Sure, only from what I've heard you might not be so pretty when he gets through with ya. I won't be back.
Helen: Good.

View Quote Harvey: Ya scared?
Kane: I guess so.
Harvey: Sure, it stands to reason. [Harvey saddles a horse]
Kane: Seems like all everybody and his brother wants is to get me out of town.
Harvey: Nobody wants to see you get killed. [Kane turns to leave] Hold it, where are you going?
Kane: I don't know. Back to the office, I guess.
Harvey: Oh no. You're gettin' on that horse and you're gettin' out. [He grabs Kane] What's the matter with you? You were ready to do it yourself. You said so.
Kane: Look, Harv. I thought about it because I was tired. You think about a lot of things when you're tired. But I can't do it.
Harvey: Why?
Kane: I don't know.
Harvey: Get on that horse, Will!
Kane: Why is it so important to you? You don't care if I live or die.
Harvey: Come on.
Kane: Don't shove me, Harv, I'm tired of being shoved.