The Man Called Noon is a good Western. What really makes the movie is Stephen Boyd as Rimes. A very dangerous outlaw who becomes a friend to Noon ( Richard Crenna). Boyd steals every scene he is in. Another standout is Patty Shepard as Peg Cullane. You rarely find women as evil as she is in a Western ( Barbara Stanwyck in The Violent Men comes to mind). There is also a scene towards the end with her dressed all in black on a horse, that reminded me of Stanwyck at the beginning of The Furies. Spoilers Ahead: The other scene of hers that was something was when she said to Stephen Boyd and Richard Crenna who was further away: "Doesn't anyone have the guts to shoot a woman?" Good girl Fan Davidge ( Rosanna Schiaffino), takes her up on the challenge and wins. What was interesting was a gun fight between two women in a Western. I cannot think of another Western where you see that. The biggest weakness was Crenna as Jonas Mandarin/ Noon. He simply did not work as the lead who lost his memory ( he eventually regained it ( remembering his murdered wife and child as well as a fortune in gold he hid away)). As you can probably figure out, in the end Boyd gets some of the gold, Crenna keeps the rest, has the Noon persona buried and becomes Mandarin again and ends up Rosanna Schiaffino ( lucky guy, going away in a carriage with her). 7/10 stars. Mostly for Boyd and Shepard.
Review of The Man Called Noon
