High Noon quotes

View Quote Kane: It's no good. I've got to go back, Amy.
Amy: Why?
Kane: This is crazy. I haven't even got any guns.
Amy: Then let's go on. Hurry.
Kane: No, that's what I've been thinkin'. They're making me run. I've never run from anybody before.
Amy: I don't understand any of this.
Kane: Well, I haven't got time to tell ya.
Amy: Then don't go back, Will.
Kane: I've got to. That's the whole thing.

View Quote Kane: I sent a man up five years ago for murder. He was supposed to hang. But up North, they commuted it to life and now he's free. I don't know how. Anyway, it looks like he's coming back.
Amy: I still don't understand.
Kane: He was always wild and kind of crazy. He'll probably make trouble.
Amy: But that's no concern of yours, not anymore.
Kane: I'm the one who sent him up.
Amy: Well, that was part of your job. That's finished now. They've got a new marshal.
Kane: He won't be here until tomorrow. Seems to me I've got to stay. Anyway, I'm the same man with or without this. [He pins his badge on his vest]
Amy: Oh, that isn't so.
Kane: I expect he'll come lookin' for me. Three of his old bunch are waiting at the depot.
Amy: That's exactly why we ought to go.
Kane: They'll just come after us, four of 'em, and we'd be all alone on the prairie.
Amy: We've got an hour.
Kane: What's an hour?...What's a hundred miles? We'd never be able to keep that store, Amy. They'd come after us and we'd have to run again, as long as we live.
Amy: No we wouldn't, not if they didn't know where to find us. Oh Will! Will, I'm begging you, please let's go.
Kane: I can't.
Amy: Don't try to be a hero. You don't have to be a hero, not for me.
Kane: I'm not trying to be a hero. If you think I like this, you're crazy.

View Quote [to Harvey] You're a good looking boy, you have big broad shoulders, but he is a man. It takes more than big broad shoulders to make a man, Harvey, and you have a long way to go. You know something? I don't think you will ever make it.

View Quote There's no time for a lesson in civics, my boy. 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 after some years, with an army of mercenaries, those same citizens not only opened the gates to him, but stood by while he executed members of the Legal Government.

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 Kane: Listen, the judge has left town, Harvey's quit, and I'm havin' trouble gettin' deputies.
Howe: It figures. It's all happened too sudden. People gotta talk themselves into law and order before they do anything about it. Maybe because down deep they don't care. They just don't care.
Kane: What should I do?
Howe: Get out, Will, get out...You know how I feel about you, but I ain't goin' with ya. Seems like a man with busted knuckles didn't need arthritis too, don't it? Naw, I couldn't do nothin' for ya. You'd be worried about me. You'd get yourself killed worryin' about me. It's too one-sided like it is...It's all for nothin', Will, it's all for nothin'.

View Quote Kane will be a dead man in half an hour and nobody's gonna do anything about it. And when he dies, this town dies too. I can feel it. I am all alone in the world. I have to make a living. So I'm going someplace else. That's all.

View Quote Helen: What are you looking at? You think I have changed? Well, what do you want? Do you want me to help you? Do you want me to ask Frank to let you go? Do you want me to beg for you? Well, I would not do it. I would not lift a finger for you.
Kane: I came to tell ya he was comin'. I should have figured you'd know about it.
Helen: I know about it.
Kane: I think you ought to get out of town. I might not be able to, well...anything can happen.
Helen: I'm not afraid of him.
Kane: I know you're not, but you, you know how he is.
Helen: I know how he is. Maybe he doesn't know.
Kane: He's probably got letters.
Helen: Probably. Nothing in life is free. I'm getting out. I'm packing.
Kane: That's good.
Helen: Un año sin verte. ("One year without seeing you.")
Kane: Si, lo s?. ("Yes, I know it.")
Kane: Goodbye, Helen.
Helen: Kane, if you're smart, you will get out too.
Kane: I can't.
Helen: I know.

View Quote A similar thing happened about eight years ago in a town called Indian Falls. I escaped death only through the intercession of a lady of somewhat dubious reputation - and uh, the cost of a very handsome ring which once belonged to my mother. Unfortunately, I have no more rings.

View Quote Herb: Time's gettin' pretty short.
Kane: It sure is.
Herb: When are the other boys gonna get here? We gotta make plans.
Kane: The other boys? There aren't any other boys, Herb. It's just you and me.
Herb: [nervously smiles and chuckles] You're jokin'.
Kane: No, I couldn't get anybody.
Herb: I don't believe it. This town ain't that low.
Kane: I couldn't get anybody.
Herb: Then it's just you and me.
Kane: I guess so.
Herb: You and me against Miller and all the rest of them?
Kane: That's right. Do you want out, Herb?
Herb: Well, it isn't that I want out, no. You see. Look, I'll tell ya the truth. I didn't figure on anything like this, Will.
Kane: Neither did I.
Herb: I volunteered. You know I did. You didn't have to come to me. I was ready. Sure, I'm ready now - but this is different, Will. This ain't like what you said it was gonna be. This is just plain committing suicide and for what? Why me? I'm no lawman. I just live here. I got nothin' personal against nobody. I got no stake in this.
Kane: I guess not.
Herb: There's a limit how much you can ask a man. I got a wife and kids. What about my kids?
Kane: Go on home to your kids, Herb.

View Quote Kane: Look Amy, this is my town. I've got friends here. I'll swear in a bunch of special deputies and with a posse behind me, maybe there won't even be any trouble.
Amy: You know there'll be trouble.
Kane: Then, it's better to have it here. I'm sorry, honey, I know how you feel about it.
Amy: Do you?
Kane: Of course I do. I know it's against your religion and all. Sure I know how you feel.
Amy: But you're doing it just the same. Oh Will, we were married just a few minutes ago. We've got our whole lives ahead of us. Doesn't that mean anything to you?
Kane: You know I've only got an hour and I've got lots to do. Stay at the hotel until it's over.
Amy: No, I won't be here when it's over. You're asking me to wait an hour to find out if I'm going to be a wife or a widow. I say it's too long to wait. I won't do it...I mean it. If you won't go with me now, I'll be on that train when it leaves here.
Kane: I've got to stay.

View Quote [to Kane] Have you forgotten that I'm the man who passed sentence on Frank Miller?

View Quote Kane: You're a judge!
Mettrick: I've been a judge many times in many towns. I hope to live to be a judge again.

View Quote Mettrick: This is just a dirty little village in the middle of nowhere. Nothing that happens here is really important. Now get out.
Kane: There isn't time.

View Quote Jonas Henderson: Get out of this town this very minute...Don't stop 'til you get to Clarksburg.
Kane: I think I ought to stay.