in demand for future westerns in the 1950s like Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and Last Train from Gun Hill. Reception The film earned an estimated $3.4 million at the North American box office in 1952. Upon its release, critics and audiences expecting chases, fights, spectacular scenery, and other common Western film elements were dismayed to find them largely replaced by emotional and moralistic dialogue until the climactic final scenes. Some critics scoffed at the unorthodox rescue of the hero by the heroine. David Bishop argued that had Quaker Amy not helped her husband by shooting a man in the back, such inaction would have pulled pacifism "toward apollonian decadence". Alfred Hitchcock thought Kelly's performance was "rather mousy" and lacking in animation; only in later films, he said, did she show her true star quality. High Noon has been cited as a favorite by several U.S. presidents. Dwight Eisenhower screened the film at the White House, and Bill Clinton hosted a record 17 White House screenings of it. "It's no accident that politicians see themselves as Gary Cooper in High Noon," Clinton said. "Not just politicians, but anyone who's forced to go against the popular will. Any time you're alone and you feel you're not getting the support you need, Cooper's Will Kane becomes the perfect metaphor." Ronald Reagan cited High Noon as his favorite film, due to the protagonist's strong commitment to duty and the law. By contrast, John Wayne told an interviewer that he considered High Noon "the most un-American thing I've ever seen in my whole life," and later teamed with director Howard Hawks to make Rio Bravo in response. "I made Rio Bravo because I didn't like High Noon," Hawks explained. "Neither did Duke [Wayne]. I didn't think a good town marshal was going to run around town like a chicken with his head cut off asking everyone to help. And who saves him? His Quaker wife. That isn't my idea of a good Western." Zinnemann responded, "I admire Hawks very much. I only wish he'd leave my films alone!" In a 1973 interview, Zinnemann added, "I'm rather surprised at Hawks' and Wayne's thinking. Sheriffs are people and no two people are alike. The story of High Noon takes place in the Old West but it is really a story about a man's conflict of conscience. In this sense it is a cousin to A Man