Gary Cooper facing the bad guys in High Noon hoped for some of the weaklings to aid him but didn’t waste time planning on finding them.
For those who have a dim memory of the plot:
Newlywed and retired Marshal Will Kane hears that Frank Miller has been pardoned and is coming to kill him. Kane leaves with his new pacifist wife, Amy (Grace Kelly), but turns back, feeling a deep moral obligation to face the threat.
Kane attempts to recruit a posse, but the townspeople, cowardly and apathetic, abandon him one by one. The new lawman, the judge, and friends all refuse to stand with him.
Kane faces Frank Miller and his three gang members (including Lee Van Cleef) alone on the empty main street.
Grace comes back