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| The Man Called Noon | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Peter Collinson |
| Starring | Richard Crenna |
| Music by | Luis Bacalov |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | National General Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 98 min. |
| Country | Spain |
| Language | English |
The Man Called Noon is a 1973 film directed by Peter Collinson. It stars Richard Crenna and Stephen Boyd. [1] It is based on a 1970 Louis L'Amour novel of the same name.
Ben Janish arrives in the town of Kiowa Flats and tries to assassinate a man in his hotel room, while observed by the enigmatic Rimes. The bullet grazes the man's head and he falls out of his hotel window, but escapes and hides on a freight train. The train leaves town, but Rimes is also there, but our hero has completely lost his memory due to the head trauma he sustained. Rimes takes the injured man, who decides on the name Jonas, under his wing.
The pair leave the train, and walk to a deserted town. Rimes reveals that he is an outlaw, and uses a mirror to signal for help - which arrives in the form of Fan Davidge, who picks them up and takes them to her ranch - the Rafter D. A gang of outlaws, led by Janish, are using the ranch as a hideout against her will, and she could not contact the outside world for help. Jonas is aware that Janish is the man who tried to kill him, but seems unconcerned that he might return to the ranch at any time.
Fan's foreman Henneker warns Jonas against his burgeoning romantic interest in Fan, and gives him a document - Henneker thinks he knows who Jonas really is, and the paper shows he has been hired to perform a task. He joins the other outlaws in the bunkhouse, and shows his fist fighting credentials by beating two of them.
In the morning, he bonds with a stray horse at the ranch and asks Fan if he can take it for a ride. Rimes joins him in his exploration, and Jonas reveals that the paper he had been given was from Cullane, an attorney in El Paso, and is addressed to Ruble Noon, whom Rimes identifies as a gunman. Jonas wonders if he might himself be Noon, but Rimes finds the idea ridiculous. The horse seems to know Jonas well and leads them to a valley containing a luxurious cabin, where Rimes discovers muzzle loading rifles and old lead bullets. The cabin seems familiar to Jonas, but is apparently owned by a man with initials JM.
The two men find a manually operated lift that leads to an escape route from the valley, and continue to investigate, arriving at a farm where Jonas is recognised and welcomed. They get new horses and ride to a station to catch a train to El Paso, but the brakeman warns them to leave the train early 'in the usual place', and also knows Jonas. The two men are eventually attacked by gunmen but shoot them dead.
At Santa Fe, Jonas breaks into Cullane's office and searches for information that might shed light on his identity, while Rimes sends and receives a telegram before going for a drink with his friend Kissling. Jonas is interrupted by the arrival of Cullane's sister Peg, whose brother was killed by Ruble Noon. She suggests that Jonas might want to see his body in case it helps him remember. En route to the vigil, Peg introduces Jonas to Judge Niland, but when they arrive, she draws a gun, accusing him of being Noon, and it is clear that Rimes has betrayed him.
Jonas/Noon, whose alias has now developed into Jonas Mandarin, escapes from Peg and her henchmen and takes refuge with the judge, who also knows his true identity. The judge says that Peg is working with Janish, and that they are looking for gold that Fan Davidge's father arranged to be hidden somewhere in the vicinity of the Rafter D. It was Fan's father who hired Noon to remove Janish and his gang from the ranch, and it had been Janish that had killed Cullane, and had then tried to murder Noon. Noon goes to pick up his horse and is held at gunpoint by Peg's henchman Christobal, but he disables him, shoots him dead, and rides out of town.
Noon arrives at the back door of the cabin, where he is observed by Janish. Rimes is waiting for him in the cabin with Fan, and explains that he had previously helped him escape from the funeral parlour because he wants to keep Noon alive to claim a reward. One of Janish's henchmen rides up in the lift, but is shot dead by Noon and Rimes, wrecking the lift. This means their escape route has been destroyed. Noon decides to check out the surrounding country, but is spotted and attacked by the judge, who manipulated Noon into returning to the valley and wants the gold for himself.
The judge wounds Noon, who falls, hits his head, and fully regains his memory, including the place he hid the Davidge gold. He escapes to the cabin, and shows that the bullets found by Rimes are in fact made of solid gold. Noon's original name was Jonas Mandarin, the boss of an arms company who lived in the cabin with his wife and daughter, but, after his family was murdered by bandits, he took the identity of Ruble Noon, a one man revenge squad trying to kill as many outlaws as possible.
The judge tries to get the three occupants of the cabin to surrender and murders Henneker when they refuse. Janish accesses the cliffs above the house, and sets the roof on fire, also dropping sticks of dynamite in the hope of driving the defenders out. While Rimes and Fan hold off the gang, Noon/Mandarin climbs up the inside of the chimney, kills Janish and dislodges a boulder, which rolls down into the valley. The judge is so busy shooting his own henchmen for cowardice that he fails to notice the boulder and is crushed to death. Peg and Fan duel, and Fan shoots Peg dead.
They erect a grave for Ruble Noon, as his mission is complete and his identity no longer required. Mandarin and Fan then ride off into the sunset. Rimes, who cannot collect the reward for Noon, has got hold of a portion of the gold, so is also satisfied.
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