Ride the High Country (1962)

On of the 5 Best Westerns (Color) ever made...

This is an essential film among the westerns. It deserves the reputation it has, among western film lovers, Peckinpah fans, Randolph Scott admirers, and cult film enthusiasts (it is considered a cult film because, while virtually ignored upon initial release, it's reputation has grown in stature immensely over the years). It is one of those rare films that gets even better the more you see it. If you have never seen it, I am envious.

On a note about the package itself, it is a beautiful print (the original cinematography was stunning, and is well preserved on this DVD). Also, I found the comments of the film critics to be very interesting as well.

All in all, this is a DVD that should be in any serious film library. October 6, 2008

A Very Good Western

A home-run Western. I think it was Peckinpah's first. In my opinion, it gains and does not lose from the absence of the excess violence that becomes his signature in later works. The shoot-out at the end serves the story. It does not become the story.

But it is also a very good movie outside its genre. And, it is the telling of the story by its actors that truly makes this one memorable.

The supporting roles are particularly well done. Yet, it is McCrea and Scott who turn in the performances of a lifetime; theirs and the aging Westerners they portray. It is the story of both passings and equaly memorable as to the value to be found in both. August 25, 2008

The Civil Bunch

The Shut Mouth Society
The Shopkeeper

If you appreciate westerns of the old school, you'll enjoy Ride the High Country.

Under Peckinpah's direction, Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea take a standard script and turn it into a memorable film. The story, similar to The Ballad of Cable Hogue is about the passing of an era. The movie's theme is honor and betrayals as two aging ex-lawmen accept a job to protect a gold shipment and perhaps have a final fling pretending it's the good `ol days.

This is the first Peckinpah Western and he displays a love of the genre that reached fulfillment with The Wild Bunch.
March 17, 2008

Ride the High Country

This is a great Western and one that I did not fully appreciate when I was a lot younger. January 6, 2008

Nuanced B Western - Peckinpah's best in my view

I'm not a big fan of Peckinpah, but this is by far his best film in my view. I read a review of this film somewhere else (IMBD maybe?) that stated that this was the last of the B grade Westerns. If so, this is certainly one of the best. It's ironic that one of the last films of this genre actually defines it. There is so much to love about this film. First, and most importantly, the story line is surprisingly complex for a film of this genre. This is no simple good guys versus bad guys type Western, the roles are more morally ambiguous and subtle. Second, this was the last performance for one of the actors (Scott) and the last decent performance by the other (McCrea) who largely defined the genre. Scott of course is an icon of the B Western, and McCrea had a solid career as well making this type of film. The plot is relatively straight forward. Two old friends decide to work together one last time. Their job is to ride up to a mining town, collect gold from the miners, and return it safely to the bank. One of the two decides it might be more profitable to take off with the gold themselves. Along the way they pickup a young Mariette Hartley who wants to escape from her overprotective Bible-quoting father. Things get interesting when Hartley marries a brute in the mining town and the groom and his family decide that she can't change her mind. Definitely recommended. November 18, 2007

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