The only thing I could find about this movie that I liked was the performance of Lee Majors. He carried the part very well, but the entire movie had a lot of disappointing acts. They shot at each other and missed too many times. Marshal Ward was suppose to be such a good shot to make such misses at still targets. He had hit Harlan Tyler on a running horse at about 400 yards and before that he had killed another running rider early in the picture. He then missed Will Kane and Ben Irons sitting still at a closer distance, several times. The in-town action was much better than the outdoor scenes. The early scene with Will Kane sitting at a table without a gun talking tough to Irons and Tyler was too unbelievable, I'm sure they would have noticed he wasn't wearing a gun long before he got up out of the chair. However, at the end of the movie Will is wearing his gun in a vest holster. So confusing. Irons later admitted that he had never killed anyone, so why was he willing to kill Will Kane? Movies need to be more realistic especially westerns. This director, Jerry Jameson would be well advised to watch Lonesome Dove before he directs anymore Western movies.
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jamesob-325 August 2008
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rooster_davis27 January 2008I hated this movie when I watched it, and after watching it again now I know why I hate it so much.
High Noon, Part II: The Return of Will Kane had virtually nothing to do with the original High Noon. It cashed in in the original to give us a title character and that was about all. Near the beginning we get a gratuitous slaughter of a pen full of horses as the bounty hunter tries to catch a guy he knows could not have committed the crime he's charged with. Since the guy is in with the horses, just shoot the horses to find the guy, right? I wasn't angry with the guy who shot the horses, I was angry that the writer and producer thought that disgusting and unnecessary scene would be worth including in the movie. I don't care that they of course didn't REALLY shoot the horses, it was still gratuitously sick. It didn't make me hate the bad guy (which he earned on his own), it made me hate the movie. And, it never got any better afterward.
Lee Majors as Will Kane was horrible. Talk about a stiff, cardboard, unsympathetic portrayal. Pernell Roberts came across as the biggest jerk on the planet. Sure, you're not supposed to like the 'bad guy' but in this case it went beyond 'dislike' to 'I despise this movie because the bad guy is so annoying.' (Actually, Richard Jaeckel, Skip Homeier and Richard Boone played numerous bad guys who I still enjoyed watching even though I wanted them to 'get theirs'.) I don't know how Majors or Roberts has ever been a success in acting; neither of them can play a character I care one iota about.
I think though that I could tolerate Majors and Roberts and the storyline a lot better if there wasn't this tenuous attempt to connect this story with High Noon. It could have stood on its own as a story and in my opinion would have been much better had it been a story in its own right than with the attempted High Noon tie-in. Lee Majors compared to Gary Cooper is like Tom Selleck compared to Clark Gable. This movie's biggest annoyance is that they tried to cash in on the name of a classic Western, for no good reason. Now, if we saw a much older Will Kane having to face the sons of the men he had to kill, that would be a relevant story to make a Part II; this however is ruined by trying to make the connection. I'm changing my '1' rating to a '4', but really this was a very misguided effort. -
This film essentially begins one year after its predecessor left off with "Will Kane" (Lee Majors) and his wife "Amy Kane" (Katherine Cannon) riding a wagon back into the town of Hadleyville to purchase some horses for his ranch. Once there he meets a former convict he once knew named "Ben Irons" (David Carradine) who asks to purchase the horses he had just bought. Although a tense moment erupts when one of Ben's colleagues named "Harlan Tyler" (Tracey Walter) doesn't like Will's refusal, the situation is diminished once he realizes who he is dealing with. Unfortunately, things quickly get out of hand when the new town marshal "J. D. Ward" (Pernell Roberts) is shown a wanted poster with Ben Iron's name on it. Yet, even though Will assures Marshal Ward that Ben was in prison during this time and couldn't have possibly committed the crime, the marshal insists on tracking him down and killing him. Knowing this, Will soon realizes that he has no other option than to somehow bring Ben back into town to testify in his own behalf. Ironically, this pleases the marshal who sees an opportunity to add to his fame and fortune by killing both Ben and Will at the same time. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that-as is often the case-this sequel failed to live up to the same standard as its lofty predecessor with Lee Majors' portrayal of Will Kane being clearly inferior to that of Gary Cooper's performance 28 years earlier. Likewise, Katherine Cannon didn't have nearly the same on-screen presence as Grace Kelly either. But then, very few actresses could have anyway. Be that as it may, even though this film didn't quite rise to the same level as its predecessor, it still had enough solid acting, decent action and a fair amount of suspense to keep things interesting and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.
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moviecat-66 September 1999This movie (?) is a disaster, and that's a compliment. It falls from just being very bad to being the worst due to its attempt to play on the greatness of its earlier namesake.
"Thou shalt have no false gods before me", says God to Moses in "The Ten Commandments". A similar comparison and warning apply here. If you loved "High Noon", you will certainly hate "High Noon, Part II". It is a disgrace to the memory of Gary Cooper. -
I searched the several dictionaries I have available to me at my office and came up with at least 40 adjectives that would have "added and reinforced" my one line statement above. But I felt adding, "and that's a gross understatement" would give you a clear and brief picture of my thoughts on this 1980 TV disaster...!
I apologize if I have offended any of you who felt the TV rendition was even worse then what I indicated above...! -
classicsoncall17 November 2008Right out of the gate, this movie had an almost impossible hurdle to overcome by invoking the name of "High Noon", so it shouldn't come as any surprise that the result was somewhat disappointing. Had the film makers gone for an entirely different premise, you might have had a reasonably interesting Western. However comparisons with the original were virtually assured by touting the 'Return of Will Kane, and when you throw that challenge at the viewer, you've got to expect to take your lumps.
Back in 1952, when Gary Cooper threw his marshal's badge into the dirt in Hadleyville, he was a fifty one year old actor, so I wasn't expecting to see Lee Majors show up a full decade younger. At least Katherine Cannon's portrayal of Mrs. Kane didn't give way to the same reverse aging process as her husband. I really have to wonder why the casting gurus went with this strategy, as it bothered me pretty much throughout the picture.
About the only scene that captured my imagination was that saloon showdown when Will Kane first met Ben Irons (David Carradine), and he winds up bluffing the villain and his sidekick Emmett (Charles Benton) into backing down. The picture could have used some more creativity like that, but wound up being a pretty standard Western the rest of the way. Pernell Roberts' turn as sheriff J.D. Ward was fairly successful, having his bases covered as an all around bad guy. I did a quick sit up and take notice when he ordered his black deputy (J.A. Preston) to "Fetch your people" to form a posse, thereby adding racist to the list of his other endearing qualities. The idea that Kane would take up with outlaw Irons to protect him from Marshal Ward was generally handled OK, although more than once I wondered why Irons wouldn't have tried to make his own getaway.
Of course everything that happened in the story prefaced the final showdown between Kane and Ward, with the point of Ward's mastery of long range sharp shooting about to be tested. The serving of the warrant gimmick was one of the more effective endings to a final gun battle that I've seen, so you can score another plus for the picture there. But once again, without the clock, without the train tracks and with no mounting tension to speak of, this poor man's version of "High Noon" simply failed to satisfy. And if I didn't hear it with my own ears, I wouldn't have believed that the final score would go spaghetti. -
utgard1428 September 2015Will Kane and wife Amy return to the town of Hadleyville one year after the events of High Noon. Yes, Will returns to a town that turned its back on him and left him to fend for himself against killers after everything he had done for the townsfolk. Why? Because he's going to buy some horses. A stupid contrivance that completely disregards the point of the first movie's story. Anyway, the town has since gotten itself a new marshal and he's not a nice guy. Will, of course, butts heads with him and decides to stick around town for awhile.
A made-for-TV sequel to one of the greatest westerns of all time? This doesn't have disaster written all over it at all! I watched this with the same contempt as most people who saw the beloved original, but I did try to separate comparisons and view it as its own entity. That's pretty much the only way it can be enjoyed on any level. If you even think of Gary Cooper while watching this, you'll likely turn it off in disgust. As a sequel to a great film, it's a hot pile of garbage. As a story all its own with characters who just happen to share the names of those from the other film, it's a barely watchable, completely pedestrian affair, lacking any originality or complexity. It's like a pilot for a generic TV western from the '50s or '60s. It's directed by the guy who did Starflight: The Plane That Couldn't Land, another made-for-TV gem starring Lee Majors. The script is by Elmore Leonard, although I would never have guessed it. As far as the cast goes, Majors is wooden as ever, David Carradine hams it up as a superfluous character wanted for murder, and Pernell Roberts sleepwalks through his role as the villain. Katherine Cannon gets the unfortunate task of being in the Grace Kelly role. Talk about never being able to live up to a high standard.
It's not a good movie. Yes, I'm taking it on its own terms and not comparing it to High Noon and, yes, I'm judging it on the level of a made-for-TV effort. It's STILL not a good movie. It takes some lame plot any viewer of old TV westerns has seen before and slaps the name of a classic film on it to try and get people to watch it. I have no idea if they were successful at that in 1980 but I hope not. Since we didn't get High Noon 3: Will Kane Strikes Back, I'll assume the public back then responded with the appropriate amount of scorn this deserves. -
john_aalsmeer15 February 2011Pernell Roberts left Bonanza because, as a serious actor, there was not enough opportunity for him to show his acting skills. He made this movie? Why oh why?! My wife is a fan of Lee Majors, so we watched this movie! Why oh why?! Everyone knows High Noon was a truly great movie, so they made a 'sequel'. Why oh why?! If you watch this movie before reading the reviews, you too will say 'Why oh why?!' This movie truly deserves the accolade of 'awful'. The story line is extraordinarily weak - an excuse for a final, face-to-face showdown between an ex-hero (Lee Majors) who doesn't like to use a gun and a nasty piece of work (pseudo-lawman Pernell Roberts) who is an expert with a rifle from long distance (note the scene where he pulls his rifle quickly to his eye and shoots a 'baddy' from super long distance without barely a moment to take aim, using a rifle without a sight???) but, according to Kane (Majors), only likes to face up to his victims from a distance. I suffered the pathetic story line hoping for a dramatic ending - it wasn't dramatic, but at least it was an ending! Yes, I watched it all the way through - why oh why?!
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slavojzizek8 June 2005HIGH NOON PT. 2 (BRING ON THE DISAPPOINTMENT) There really isn't an adequate way to describe how terrible this movie was. I believe in a fair system of evaluating movies: that they have certain goals in mind and try their very hardest to achieve them. The single goal of this movie was to point out events that happened in the plot line of the original High Noon through stale and unbelievable situations, as much as possible, as to conceal its completely lack of meaningful dialog or purpose in general. As a standalone movie, it failed to have any semblance of an interesting plot. As a sequel, it completely rejected the motivations of the characters in the original movie, reducing the cinematic experience to, "suffer through the terrible dialog for 5 minutes until a gunfight occurs". If only a few words or a single phrase could convey how completely vacuous this movie is, then this review would definitely be paragraphs shorter and most likely contain a few expletives.
Will Kane (the fake one, Lee Majors) comes back to Hadleyville with his not-as-hot-as-Grace-Kelley bride Amy Kane (Katherine Cannon) with the intent of setting up a small cattle farm, with some horses here, and some cows and bulls there. Lacking any explained or implied purpose or intent, three villains decide to come to town in a fashion that is strangely plagiarized (and far better executed) by the original High Noon. Ben Irons (David Carradine), the main outlaw, is hunted down by the new Marshal of the town (Michael Pataki) and his posse, setting in motion a not-so-epic struggle that could have easily been resolved by never making this film in the first place. In a strange twist of foundational beliefs, Kane decides to wield a gun whenever possible and shoot people to the tunes of the awfully compiled soundtrack. Jerry Jameson, the director, should have taken a second of his time to realize that he should have opted out of butchering the sequel to such a great movie and quit his dead-end job at the prestigious USA Film studios, if not only to spare his future audiences from torture that could possibly be used to extract valuable information from the inmates at Guantanamo bay. "Tell us the truth or you will be forced to watch this movie!" Usually movies rely on nuanced cinematography and great acting to create an interesting story that an audience would actually surrender some of their valuable time to watch. Apparently USA Studios went ahead and skipped this chapter in the book entitled "how not to make a bomb of a movie". The only way High Noon Pt. 2 could produce drama was by putting some poorly written, 80's syn th music on top of the action. You know, the kind of music that makes you want to vomit and throw away that old Casio you have been storing in your closet for decades. Apparently mentioning important events in the previous High Noon was not enough to make this movie interesting, and dramatic "DUN DUN DUNS" and "SHREEK SHREEKS" needed to be added to jar the audience into submission. "Oh no, please don't do this to me," I kept screaming as the fake Kane plunged into dialog about "how he needed to get back at the new marshal." My efforts to somehow use my shrieking voice to alter the soundtrack on the magnetic VHS tape were in vain, and I nearly suffered a few mortal wounds. Fortunately, I was able to return the movie to the Hollywood video drop-off box two hours after viewing it, saying my last "thank you" to the legacy of High Noon sell-out movies that need to be quickly forgotten. If you want more heartaches, try the 80's remake of the original High Noon. I swear, the purple pill isn't going to save you this time.
Most of this review has contained ambiguous bad-mouthing that does not confront the terrible reality of the movie itself. I'll fix that in the flick of a wand! Remember the original High Noon, where Will Kane was a reluctant hero who did the right thing and fought Miller to the death? Say goodbye. Kane takes part in a series of events that run contrary to his "no violence unless absolutely necessary" beliefs, shifting the movie from an allegory about political persecution into a poorly executed Western that completely relies on gunfighting to entertain the audience. Kane fights the new Marshal a number of times, shooting back and forth, never getting hit, utilizing almost every bankrupt Western movie convention known to humanity. Instead of leaving you with the message that you need to stand up for yourself when outside pressures become overwhelming, this film lets you know that violence is always the answer, even when it comes to deciding whether someone is innocent or not. Why ask questions if you can just shoot people? High Noon pt. 2 failed to live up to its own standards, and was so incredibly bad and unwatchable that it descended beyond the point of being "so bad that its actually funny" to become "two hours of pain that will not be easily forgotten". The specifics of the plot are not even worthy of discussion, because at best they were completely ripped from the original film, or taken straight from the journal of a screenwriter who has the same ability to tell stories as a veteran who can't get over a war. "One day, back in 'Nam" becomes "One day, back in High Noon the original". Please, do not see this film. If you happen to start a class action lawsuit against USA Studios for releasing it, please notify me so I can sign up my name along with as many fake names as I can possibly think of. -
I just can't believe all the nasty comments about this movie. Everybody seems to think this movie actually has to measure up to the classic with Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. Well, it doesn't. It doesn't even claim to. IT'S A TV MOVIE FOLKS!! Indeed for a TV movie it does a good job. It has a great cast. The acting is actually very good. Pernell Roberts, in an extreme departure from his Bonanza role, steals the show. His Marshall Ward is the the quintessential villain that you love to hate. Nasty and cool at the same time. In a slightly smaller role, J.A. Preston does a great job of portraying the conflicted black man who assists Ward in tracking down the good guys. The always reliable David Carradine is quite likable as the one-time outlaw who makes you root for him.
Much criticism is directed toward Lee Majors' acting in the other comments. "Stiff?" "One dimensional?" Has Majors ever been accused of being a Shakespearean actor? He is Lee Majors. The guy who plays quiet strong characters and relies on his looks for likability. Within that limited range, he is very good. I can see why he was picked to portray the same strong and quiet Will Kane that Gary Cooper portrayed in the original.
I have only two little problems with this picture. First, the original happens at high noon, thus the title. This one establishes neither the climax nor any major part of the plot as occurring in midday. Having failed to do so and still retaining the High Noon title it does open itself up to the unfair criticism of being a rip off of the original. My other issue with this movie is with the ward-robe folks who dressed Majors in almost the same outfit as he wore as Heath Barkley in The Big Valley. That, in my opinion, makes it a bit more difficult for us to accept him as Will Kane. The characters make frequent verbal references to the original High Noon story, so there is a deliberate effort here to make us remember it. Therefore, dressing Majors in a darker outfit reminiscent of Cooper's Will Kane would have served far more effectively to help us make the necessary emotional connection to the original.
If you want to watch a deep drama with a lot of character development you will be disappointed. In fact characters mostly start the same and are the same at the end of the story. What little character development there is happens with Preston's Alonzo. Also, the aforementioned references to the original seem to be merely a buildup to re-examining, albeit too briefly, the courage (or lack thereof) of the town folks who left Kane alone in his predicament in the first story. Here, was an opportunity lost when the filmmakers shortchanged us By not expanding enough on that particular point.
If you want to watch the simple story of an incident in a western genre that's done well you will not feel robbed of two hours of your life. All in all, this is an entertaining western which I would not mind, if ever on DVD, purchasing and placing right next to my cherished copy of the original. -
I saw the original "High Noon" more then 100 times. In fact I re-scheduled my first marriage so as to fit it in. I consider "High Noon" (1952) to be the best movie I every watched. As for "High Noon, Part II, The Return of Will Kane" I firmly believe that it was a true waste of valuable film and a gross waste of money in making it. "Plan 9 from Outer Space," often talked about as being the worst movie ever made, was, in my mind, a far better movie, although I think its director, Ed Wood, would have brought considerable talent to the making of "High Noon Part II."
Bottom line...compared to, "High Noon Part II," "Plan 9" was a monumental screen success and money well spent by the Baptist community in producing it. -
RALL13 March 1999If I had to pay to see this alleged movie, I would have contacted a Lawyer for my money back. Any resemblance to the real Will Kane is purely a coincidence. Low Noon!, should be the title!
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This made-for-TV sequel was available at one of my local video rental shops way back when I was a teenage, but I never rented it in part due to the bad reputation that it had. Just recently I was reminded about its existence again, and doing some subsequent research, I saw that the legendary Elmore Leonard write the teleplay, and he certainly wrote some good western stories in his career. Unfortunately, this particular oater doesn't stand up to his other efforts. While there are many criticisms I could list about this movie (such as the weird sight of Lee Majors trying to act in a Gary Cooper style), the main problem with the movie is that it not only does its story plod along at an extremely slow pace, there is usually no significant energy generated in any particular scene. The movie really suffers in comparison to the original in this regard, made worse by the fact that the story this time around doesn't feel like a story that needs to be told.
However... if you look at the movie without comparing it to the original, and seeing what it basically is - a 1980 made-for-TV western - it does come across somewhat better. And unlike other made-for-TV movies of the time, it does have the novelty of David Carradine and a few instances of somewhat more colorful dialogue than usual. Though even with this viewpoint, there isn't enough to make this a must-see. Even as a viewing when entertainment options are extremely limited is also questionable. -
BandSAboutMovies18 April 2021You know, it takes some balls to make a sequel to High Noon.
But hey - Elmore Leonard is a heck of a writer and Jerry Jameson made The Bat People and Airport '77, so he's OK in my book. And if you're going to replace Gary Cooper, I guess Lee Majors will do for a TV movie.
Will Kane is now a private citizen and goes back to Hadleyville a year after he threw away at the end of High Noon. Now, the law is J. D. Ward (Pernell Roberts), who allows his deputies to outright terrorize everyone in town and even shoots the horses that Kane came to town to purchase. And now, Ward is hunting down Ben Irons (David Carradine), despite him being an innocent man.
Kane tries to help the wrongly accused man, but can't save him. Ward attempts to have our hero arrested for aiding a fugitive, but the townspeople turn on him and the local authorities. They reinstate Kane as marshal and he ends up gunning down Ward for resisting arrest.
This film also has some great character actors going for it, like Michael Pataki, M. Emmet Walsh and Tracey Walter AKA Bob the Goon. It was shot at Old Tucson Studio, which was also where The Bells of St. Mary's, Winchester '73, Rio Bravo, C. C. & Company, Death Wish, Three Amigos, Tombstone and many more movies were made. -
Gary Cooper indeed. It's a Western Filmed in Tucson on the Old Tucson Movie Set. It's got its own sense of style to it that works. There's a plot that can be followed, although its somewhat predictable. But it was worth the watch. Believe Me, I've seen My share of stinkers & this one doesn't smell that bad. So for You to bash it makes no sense to Me. Why not let people decide for themselves? There's several classic Actors in this Movie. And Henry just so You'll know, Gary Cooper doesn't make Movies anymore because He's Dead! IMDb Says that My Review has to be longer, & that I'm not supposed to pad this. But the problem is they don't appreciate brevity. I said all I needed or wanted to say already! You can't force people to write more than what they wanted or needed to say. That's just not right!
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dillardstan8 November 2006I enjoyed the movie very much. I thought Lee Majors captured the essence of Will Kane better than Gary Cooper. David Carradine was great as a likable, not so bad, not so good, down on his luck guy, who wasn't real particular about the letter of the law. Bonanza's "Adam" was a particularly unlikable bad guy as the law officer who conducted himself and the duties of his office to satisfy his own personal greed and needs. The theme of a wrong, for which the good guy seeks recompense, was good and evident throughout the movie, as it evolved into a theme of "standing up to evil." Lee Majors was great as Will Kane, just trying to do right and finally not being able to walk away from evil, knowing he had what it takes to fight it.