We the People: Compromising One’s Values

In the classic film High Noon, Marshal Will Kane faces a gut-wrenching choice between staying and confronting the bad guys who are coming after him or running. The story, however, goes beyond one man’s struggle with his conscience. It has meaning at the macro, societal level.

Although there are a plethora of roles in the film, only a half dozen or so are significant. They include Amy, Will’s new bride; Helen, his longtime female friend; and Harvey, his deputy. Most of the rest can pretty much be lumped into two groups: the bad guys and the townspeople. That’s what elevates the story from the personal to a complex sociological study.

Even though it’s a movie, High Noon is a modern-day morality play, which Merriam-Webster defines as “an allegorical play popular especially in the 15th and 16th centuries in which the characters personify abstract qualities or concepts” (e.g., virtues, vices, or death).

A Few Good Men is another. In it, Tom Cruise’s character, Lt. Daniel “Danny” Kaffee, is foil to Jack Nicholson’s morally bankrupt Col. Nathan Jessup. In the end, Kaffee is triumphant, but it doesn’t look promising initially since he’s a shallow, non-serious individual. It is Demi Moore’s Lt. Cdr. JoAnne Galloway who helps guide Kaffee from his flippant, utilitarian sensibility to a place of moral clarity.

High Noon was made in 1952 and A Few Good Men forty years later. Yet both are timely by helping us grasp our current conundrum. I understand John Wayne called High Noon un-American. The reason, I’ve concluded, is because of how it rips the veneer from a dark side of Americana: The willingness to compromise, betray, or abandon one’s moral and ethical principles in the name of power, convenience, and economic surety. Or out of fear.

Although both are well-told tales, I consider High Noon superior. One reason is how its black-and-white format drives home the moral overtone of the story. With movies in color being almost a given today, we usually don’t give much thought to it. Still, color is a powerful motif in A Few Good Men. It’s despicably displayed when Jessup rips into Kaffee by calling his white uniform “faggoty.”

Another differentiation is the settings. Because of our romantic fascination with  the Old West, the black-and-white format of High Noon carries us back to our past. We can picture ourselves in the scenes. That’s not widely true for A Few Good Men. It’s set primarily in Guantanamo, Cuba and in a courtroom, with nothing romantic or inviting about either.

The third distinction is High Noon’s theme song. While it focuses on Kane’s struggle to choose between fleeing with his new bride or staying put and risking death, the lyrics cut right to the heart of the human moral dilemma: Stand strong and do right or compromise one’s principles in the name of short term gain and/or safety, then lie a coward eternally in one’s grave.

Stories like these more than force us to reflect on our values. They force us to consider whether we’re truly living up to and in accordance with them.

Throughout life, everyone comes up short when it comes to their ethical behavior. That’s part of the human experience. Those with a strong moral compass atone for their lapses, then work to be and do better. Those without one often try cloaking themselves behind a veneer of moral righteousness. The problem for such characters is that it doesn’t work because their cloak is merely a see-through nightie.

When Ben Franklin stated, “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety,” he was indirectly getting at the futility of compromising one’s values. In the end, it not only leads to ruination of one’s character, it also can be costly to one’s fortunes and wellbeing.

It’s interesting to consider what ultimately prompts the moral reckoning within Danny. Is it JoAnne relentlessly challenging him? Or perhaps Jessup trying to belittle him by attacking his manhood? Or do events strike a raw nerve within him, something he tried to repress in his shadow? We can debate that, but in the end it doesn’t matter.

What does is the transforming and strengthening of his moral fiber. Through it all, Kaffee discovers something deep inside that had lain dormant. By growing a spine, his early flippancy and mushiness morphs into moral resoluteness. He’s no longer flippant Danny, but instead Lt. Daniel Kaffee, an officer worthy of respect.

Even though High Noon is a black-and-white film, color is a motif in it as well. The hue of the bad guys’ moral characters and the nobility of Kane’s are vividly portrayed, thus starkly contrasted. But the moral fiber of the townspeople isn’t so clear. In fact, it’s quite murky.