... because although it shows the great chemistry between Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland, real life husband and wife acting team until she was taken from us too soon by cancer, this Western love story is based upon Charles Bronson's character (Graham)being an attempted rapist, and being an actual rapist had his intended victim (Jill Ireland as widow Amanda) not been so (initially) clever.

Graham stays behind at Amanda's ranch after his horse gives out, having had premonitions that his gang will be caught during the bank robbery that was planned. You see, the whole idea of stopping at Amanda's was to find him a fresh horse, and when he finds one after she lies about having one, he just confirms the lie. So the gang rides out to rob the bank and pick Graham up later, and Graham proceeds to chase Amanda through the house attempting to rape her. She counters by saying that she knows he'll win in the end and rather than suffer her clothes being ripped apart and her being physically assaulted beyond the rape she just lays down passively like a corpse.

This is very unappealing to Graham, so he devises a tale of impotence to get Amanda's sympathy, it works, and they have a three hour love affair. But word comes back that Graham's premonitions were right. His gang was caught and will be hanged that afternoon. Amanda, considering Graham to be a gallant character - gosh she has a short memory - encourages him to ride into town and save them. Graham finally gives in and rides out, intending to only nap for awhile and then come back saying he failed.

But the posse finds him and gives chase anyways, and Graham forces a traveling dentist to change clothes and horses with him, causing the dentist to be shot and killed by the posse in Graham's place. Graham is not home free though, because he changed clothes with the wrong dentist - a quack dentist who is wanted by the law himself.

Amanda looks upon the dead man's clothes and faints, believing Graham dead and is at first ostracized for consorting with Graham, but then she first verbally speaks of their great love and is forgiven, then writes what turns out to be a best selling book about their three hour love affair, greatly embellishing Graham's character and appearance. The story even spawns a hit play, and the royalties from all of this make Amanda a rich woman.

Will Graham ever get back to Amanda again and how? And if he does will she even recognize him, since Amanda isn't actually lying because she has come to believe all of this legend herself? Watch and find out.

This is a western just full of clever ironies. It's rather a product of its time - the 1970s - when people would rather believe a pleasant lie than know the unvarnished truth, because they are pretty sure that unvarnished truth is going to be unpleasant.

After spending 3 unforgettable hours with an outlaw called Graham Dorsey, Charles Bronson, whose band commits a bank hold-up thwarted by villagers , a beautiful young widow, Jill Ireland, turns her love story - Romeo and Juliet alike- into a worldwide notorious book with several prints and she builds the mediocre Graham Dorsey into a western hero. As the town celebrates :Welcome to Gladstone City where Buck Bowers gang met their end and the romance of Graham and Amanda began. As the noisy city receives a lot of tourists and visitors and showing : Starbuck Mansion tour twice daily , 3 dummies with a poster captioning : where they were hung. And to see Graham Dorsey's grave: he valued friendship more than life , sleep gently sweet prince.

This is a change of pace character for Bronson in a spoof of western legend . Strange is certainly the word for this comedy action fantasy romance tale . The plot is plain and simple as Bronson has a brief romance with his real wife Jill Ireland who , believing him dead, fictionalizes their lives in a series of succssesful books, when he turns alive, no one, including Jill believes that he is the actual Dorsey and he is gradually driven crazy. No sypnosis could convey the flavour of a movie that almost creates its own genre and even might have done so with other classic Hollywood actors . Bronson gives an acceptable acting as the two-fisted gunslinger , though Charles adventure buffs may well not know what to make of this one . This is one of a number of westerns that Bronson played during the mid, late 60s and early seventies, as the famous Once upon a time the west by Sergio Leone, Red sun by Terence Young , Chato by Michael Winner , Nevada Express by Tom Gries , Valdez by John Sturges and White Buffalo by JL Thompson. And being finely acompanied by Jill Ireland who is nice as the gorgeous and sympathetic widow. Supporting cast is good with brief interpretations from Douglas Fowley, Don Red Barry, Elmer Bernstein himself and Anne Ramsey.

Enjoyable and sensitive musical scoreby the classy maestro Elmer Bernstein. Adequate and appropriate production design by Robert Clatworthy, an expert designer who worked in Psycho, Ship of fools, Touch of evil, Guess who is coming to dinner, The incredible shrinking man, The parent trap, among others. The motion picture was weak but professionally directed by Frank D Gilroy. He was a craftsman who wrote and directed a few films such as The gig, Jinxed, Once in Paris, Desperate characters, The subject was roses , The gallant hours and Fastest gun alive. Rating :acceptable and passable 6/10

Charles Bronson has the good fortune of having his horse step into a chuck hole and it having to be destroyed. Good luck because he was a member of Douglas Fowley's gang on the way to rob a bank. The gang parks him with romantic widow Jill Ireland and they have a romantic idyll of sorts From Noon Till Three.

Ireland, a widow who is well fixed did not have much romance in her life while her much older husband was alive and none after he died. She's full of all kinds of notions of true love and Bronson comes along admirably suited to fulfill those notions. But the romantic idyll they create soon overwhelms them.

Bronson and Ireland as real life husband and wife certainly loved working together. They certainly have a familiarity that translates well on screen. When Bronson is her "guest" for those hours you're never quite sure if he's pitching a line to this obviously love starved widow. After a while you don't care and are rooting for him to hit a home run.

Fowley and the rest meet a sad end, but Bronson and Ireland create their own story. I can't say much more, but From Noon To Three is a great tribute to the John Ford maxim from The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

Print the legend they certainly did.