Please join us for the next Psychiatry Movie Night at UTSW north campus NC8.212. Doors open at 6PM, showtime is at 6:30. One of our residents, Dr. Amit Pradhan will be leading the post-movie discussion. Residents, fellows, students, faculty, and significant others (and offspring) are all welcome!

The Western as a genre represents independence of thought and spirit. It also represents resourcefulness, tenacity and heroism. So, when my advisor Dr Wolff recommended film and television as a medium for familiarizing myself with American culture, I looked up the AFI lists to get a sense of what represents the classics of Hollywood and decided to watch High Noon.

High Noon was ranked # 33 in the 1998 AFI's 100 best American movies list. Reviled by some(John Wayne called it "un-American" and in the erstwhile Soviet Union it was attacked as "the glorification of the individual"), favorite of a few US Presidents, almost an anti-Western it is in essence the story of the conflict which arises when a man's idea of what is right is at odds with what society finds pragmatic at a particular time. There is the added dimension of the desperation and loneliness of the central figure. His intrinsic moral code and love for autonomy serve to distance him from the very society he needs and protects. What makes him stay and what makes us agonize over his predicament as the hands of the clock advance relentlessly to noon? Will he ever get to a place where he belongs? Can he belong?

Gary Cooper has given a remarkable performance and Grace Kelly looks exquisite. Katy Jurado as the strong willed Helen Ramirez is impressive. Down deep are we disturbed because Will, Amy, Helen, the townspeople and even Miller are different aspects of one person - the same person who looks back at us from the mirror in the morning? The violence in the movie and the actual gunfight are unusually brief but the tension in the movie shot in real time is ever present. Another feature is the stark cinematography inspired by old civil war photographs - the railroad stretching into the horizon with a cloudless sky emphasize the inescapable nature of Kane's destiny. Tex Ritter's forlorn ballad "Do not forsake me oh my darling" captures the mood of the events.

This grim movie raises many questions of ethics,oedipal conflict,maturity,personal responsibility,failing communities and much more.I look forward to a lively discussion.....

References:

1.Showdown at High Noon:Witch-hunts,critics and the end of the Western-Jeremy Byman Scarecrow Press 2004

2.High Noon :Collectors Edition DVD

We won't be providing food, but feel free to bring your own and eat it there or order out.

schedule of upcoming movie nights