Hard to imagine, but I’ve never seen this 1952 classic of the Cold War western genre. Gary Cooper, Grace Kelley, Lloyd Bridges, and Henry Morgan, among others, tell the story of the sheriff (GC) who’s about to leave it all and go off with his new Quaker bride (GK) when he hears the baddest man is coming back to get him. He takes up his badge and gun again. The townsfolk turn yellow on him. Some see this as an anti-McCarthy film. Others see it as a metaphor for how real heroes need to fight against evil no matter what the risk and the cost. It’s an anti-appeasement film to them, and thus anti-communist (given the context) and anti-fascist. The film writer was a Red but GC wasn’t. Apparently John Wayne hated this movie. We liked it but also found the acting more than a little stilted in many places. I loved the scene in the church. A serious “Blazing Saddles” moment. One of the few films of its day to deal with race in a serious way (and to acknowledge Mexicans) and also to deal with gender in a more serious and textured way. Very interesting. It is very high up on the list of AFI inspirational films