ROBOTECH DAY 2024: HIGH NOON (1952)

My return date from checking out High Noon (1952) is March 4th -- ROBOTECH DAY!

On March 4, 1985, the ground-breaking television series Robotech began its 85-episode run in the United States. Since forth, the day has been celebrated as Robotech Day. Being a huge fan of this series, I’ve done different things on Robotech Day. This year, I’m celebrating with this write-up on High Noon (1952) – a classic film western with an interesting tie to the anime series.

If you’re not familiar with Robotech (1985), there’s a fair share of videos on YouTube about it – including one from me. I also wrote a published paper on Robotech that was reviewed by Super Dimensional Analysis. That review may be the fastest read to get yourself up to speed.

(please note: a few spoilers ahead!)

But don’t fret if you don’t know Robotech. This post will mostly concentrate on the greatness of the 1952 Western High Noon and why it infiltrated Robotech lore. To begin, I need to confess that while many classic Westerns are mentioned by title in the Robotech TV Series, High Noon isn’t. But it’s referenced story-wise often. The simple premise of High Noon: A sheriff, on his last day before retirement and shortly after his wedding to his beautiful bride, learns that an old rival and accompanying thugs are riding into town to kill him. When he asks the townspeople for help, no one offers and he must decide to stand his ground or flee.

Shot in a black-and-white starkness that was not seen in recent Westerns of its time, High Noon stood out for its look and message. When it opened in July 1952, film critic Bosley Crowther wrote:

“Every five years or so, somebody – somebody of talent and taste, with a full appreciation of legend and a strong trace of poetry in their soul – scoops up a handful of clichés from the vast lore of Western films and turns them into a thrilling and inspiring work of the genre. Such a rare and exciting achievement is Stanley Kramer’s production, High Noon…overall, it has a stunning comprehension of that thing we call courage in a man and the thorniness of being courageous in a world of bullies and poltroons.”

Here’s a trailer for the film:

High Noon went on to be named one of the Top 10 films of 1952 by The New York Times and was nominated for seven Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director. It won four Oscars including Best Score, Song, Film Editing, and Best Actor (Gary Cooper). Turner Classic Movies’ writer Jeremy Arnold lists it as an “Essential...must-see movie [that] matters”. The behind-the-scenes of the film are also quite dramatic. Screenwriter Carl Foreman was blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee, considered to be a Communist, and forced into exile in London. From there, he went on to write two films we’ve already covered on Digging Star Wars: The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and The Guns of Navarone (1961).

A great reason to watch High Noon, in addition to all the awards and behind-the-scenes drama, is its amazing cast including the film debut of Western badass Lee Van Cleef, a young, serious performance by Lloyd Bridges, the breathtaking beauty of Grace Kelly, and yet another Harry Morgan appearance (who was highlighted in our recent Phil Meets The Movies M*A*S*H post). But let’s revisit that Oscar win for Best Song. 

Van Cleef first appears onscreen, in the film’s very first scene, with the film’s ballad and Oscar-winning song, “Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin’ – sung by Tex Ritter, and written by Dimitri Tiomkin with lyrics by Ned Washington. The song went on to become extremely popular and covered (and reinterpreted) by various artists. Here’s the original: 

And this is where Robotech comes in. Harmony Gold, the company behind Robotech in the 80s, hired two American writers, James Luceno and Brian Daley to write a series of paperbacks summing up the TV series. Luceno and Daley, operating under the singular pen name of Jack McKinney, did more than that. They expanded upon the characters, storyline, and more adding new dimensions to the science of its science fiction, the complexity of the aliens, and the backgrounds and preferences of its characters. They did this so much so that one Facebook group entitled “Robotech Novels Universe” is still exploring this series of 19 books at almost an atomic level and it's a great deal of fun to follow them. 

Luceno and Daley met as writers on Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers (1986) TV series. The Robotech books they wrote were published quickly in 1987. At the time, Daley already had some pretty impressive titles with The Han Solo Adventures (1979) series and Tron novelization (1982). Luceno would go on to write a slew of Star Wars novels including my favorites Labyrinth of Evil (2005) and Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader (2005). However, their bond made while working the sci-fi western left a mark on both of their writing styles.

In the book Robotech: Homecoming (1987), human Robotech Ace Max Sterling is in yet another aerial dogfight with human-looking aliens called Zendtraedi. The crew of the SDF-1, Max's mothership and home base, realizes that one Zendraedi bandit is trying too hard to kill him. That bandit is none other than the best Zendtraedi combat pilot, Miriya – who also just happens to be the most beautiful female Zendtraedi. Of course, at this point, Max doesn’t know anything about Miriya. Against his wishes, Max is ordered to retreat to the SDF-1 and Miriya follows him into the mothership for a one-on-one duel that takes place in the residential section of the interior ship. This scene... 

...was written based on the same scene in the Robotech TV episode 18, “Farewell, Big Brother” (1985). 

In the book, while Max does battle with Miriya, he can’t help but hear High Noon’s trademark song “Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin’” in his head. This, of course, is a foreshadowing of Max and Miriya eventually meeting, falling in love, and getting married. Here’s how "McKinney" wrote about Max and the High Noon tune in the SDF-1 interior combat scene…

Max couldn’t help feeling like one of the good guys in the Westerns he’d loved so much as a kid. … 

The Battloid’s footsteps resounded, the autocannon cradled at its side like the Ringo Kid’s Winchester. Max was a little too busy to whistle, “Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin’,” but he heard it in his head. …On this, our weddin’ day-aay, went the tune in Max’s head.

And so, High Noon (1952) makes its way into Robotech lore –  even though its movie title is never mentioned in the TV series. 'McKinney' does mention High Noon by name in the Force of Arms novel that follows Homecoming some time later. The film is brought up as Max defends himself against knife-wielding Miriya...

He should have been afraid for his life. But all he could think of was the fact that squaring off with Miriya's mecha, he kept hearing Tex Ritter's old song from High Noon, "Do Not Forsake Me, O My Darlin'," echoing through his head. And now he just couldn't help hearing that haunting line...on this, our weddin' day-ayy...

While this may seem forced, it makes perfect sense that the film's noteworthy song is an important part of this human vs. alien confrontation. Music plays an integral part throughout Robotech over the course of three Earthling generations battling three different alien species.  

Having just reread Homecoming, I rewatched Robotech's “Farewell, Big Brother” and High Noon to see what other similarities there could be. And here they are (please note again: a few more minor spoilers ahead!):

Ancient Transportation Brings Death

The weight of the noon train delivering vengeful killer Frank Miller weighs heavy throughout the whole movie and is even more so emphasized when the train whistle finally blows that Miller’s ride has indeed arrived. 

In Robotech’s "Farewell, Big Brother" episode, Rick Hunter receives a model biplane from his close friend/”Big Brother” Roy Fokker. The model’s slip from Rick’s hand and subsequent destruction symbolize Rick’s awareness of Roy’s demise in aerial combat.

“I’m not a hero.”

In High Noon, Kane (Gary Cooper) admits to not being a hero, but that doesn’t change his need to stand his ground and face Miller – for his own sake and the sake of his town in which he is still technically Marshall. Likewise, mild-manner combat pilot Max Sterling does what he’s told but doesn’t back down from a fight with Miriya to protect the SDF-1 interior "town" of Macross City.

New Beauty Not Welcome

In High Noon, it’s established early that Amy Fowler Kane (Grace Kelly) is taking her new husband Will Kane (Cooper) from the violence of his Marshall job. The Kanes hope to set up a shop and live peacefully in the countryside. But, when news of Miller’s arrival comes into town, Marshall Kane stays for the fight and Mrs. Kane plans to leave town. She waits for the train at the local hotel where the front desk clerk makes it awkward for Mrs. Kane – since the clerk despises the Marshall. 

In a much more obvious fashion, Miriya – an enemy alien pilot within the residential section of an Earthling spaceship – is not welcome and is eventually forced off the ship. In a subsequent episode, when Miriya reveals she is the Zendtaedi pilot that confronted Max in the interior SDF-1 shootout, Max says many things to her including the fact that she is "so beautiful."

Comin’ to Kill…in Unanticipated Close Quarters

In High Noon, Miller prearranged to meet three henchmen at the train station to walk into town and kill Marshall Will Kane. Unable to gather up a posse, Kane must fight the four himself using stealth – ducking around corners, luring them into a barn, and leading them back into town. Most of the shooting takes place in very close quarters.

Likewise, in Robotech’s "Farewell, Big Brother", Miriya flies out to do aerial combat in Earth’s atmosphere but then the battle suddenly changes upon Max’s retreat, and the combat area is in SDF-1's Macross City streets. Miriya’s Quadrono Battalion Power Armor and Max Sterling’s Veritech fighter in Battloid Mode are ridiculously big to fight a shootout in the cramped city streets…but it also looks amazingly cool to see them fight in such close quarters. 

And for this Robotech episode, that’s about it. Now, the lyrics of “Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin’” also point to an interesting future for Max and Miriya – but that happens in another episode (also worth watching!).

I hope you’ve enjoyed this trip into the Old West and Robotech. 

Happy Trails, Pardner – and Happy Robotech Day!