10 Westerns You Need To Watch After Playing Red Dead Redemption 2
4. High Noon
Widely considered to be one of the earliest revisionist westerns, 1952's High Noon was one of the most subversive films of its era. A clear allegory for the ongoing Hollywood Blacklist led by the House Un-American Activities Committee, the film's story of a lawman abandoned by his entire town to face a dangerous gang of outlaws alone draws parallels with the grip of desperate fear and paranoia that America was under.
With the imminent arrival of a gang led by Frank Miller (no, not that Frank Miller), an outlaw bent on retribution against Sheriff Will Kane for having sent him to jail, the action takes place in near real-time. It all points towards the titular High Noon train, which Miller is travelling into town on. Kane fruitlessly attempts to assemble a posse to combat the gang - he is repeatedly met with hostility and non-cooperation, with the townsfolk attempting to gain political favour from their help or simply resentful of Kane that he once prevented them from getting rich from Miller's previous illegal activities.
When High Noon comes, it is Kane, and Kane alone, facing a force of evil having been abandoned by the world he once knew.
John Wayne (deservedly absent from this list) famously called High Noon "...the most Un-American thing I've ever seen in my whole life". That sounds like as good an incentive to watch as any, really.