Ride the High Country
Ride the High County promotional poster
Directed by	Sam Peckinpah
Produced by	Richard E. Lyons
Written by	N.B. Stone Jr.
Starring	Joel McCrea Randolph Scott Mariette Hartley Ron Starr Edgar Buchanan
Music by	George Bassman
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Released	June 20, 1962 (USA premiere)
Running time	94 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

Ride the High Country is a noted 1962 western film. It stars Joel McCrea, Randolph Scott, Mariette Hartley, Ron Starr and Edgar Buchanan. Image File history File links Ride_the_High_County_Poster. ... Sam Peckinpah David Samuel Peckinpah (February 21, 1925 - December 28, 1984) was an American film director, known as Sam Peckinpah. ... Joel McCrea in Foreign Correspondent Joel Albert McCrea, (November 5, 1905 - October 20, 1990) was an American film actor. ... Randolph Scott (left) with Cary Grant George Randolph Scott (January 23, 1898 – March 2, 1987), generally known as Randolph Scott, was an American film actor whose career spanned the sound era from the late 1920s to the early 1960s. ... Marietta Hartley Marietta Hartley (born June 21, 1940 in Weston, Connecticut) is an American actress, best known for her work in television. ... Edgar Buchanan (born March 20, 1903; died April 4, 1979) was an American actor with a long career in both movies and television, but is probably most familiar as Uncle Joe Carson from the Petticoat Junction and Green Acres television sitcoms of the 1960s. ... George Bassman (February 2, 1914 - June 26, 1997) was an American composer and songwriter. ... For alternate meanings of MGM, see MGM (disambiguation). ... June 20 is the 171st day of the year (172nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 194 days remaining. ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ... Justus D. Barnes, from The Great Train Robbery The Western is one of the classic American literary and film genres. ... Joel McCrea in Foreign Correspondent Joel Albert McCrea, (November 5, 1905 - October 20, 1990) was an American film actor. ... Randolph Scott (left) with Cary Grant George Randolph Scott (January 23, 1898 – March 2, 1987), generally known as Randolph Scott, was an American film actor whose career spanned the sound era from the late 1920s to the early 1960s. ... Marietta Hartley Marietta Hartley (born June 21, 1940 in Weston, Connecticut) is an American actress, best known for her work in television. ... Edgar Buchanan (born March 20, 1903; died April 4, 1979) was an American actor with a long career in both movies and television, but is probably most familiar as Uncle Joe Carson from the Petticoat Junction and Green Acres television sitcoms of the 1960s. ...

It was written by N.B. Stone Jr., Robert Creighton Williams (uncredited) and Sam Peckinpah (uncredited) and directed by Peckinpah, with a score written by George Bassman. The film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. A Region 1 DVD edition was released on January 10, 2006. Sam Peckinpah David Samuel Peckinpah (February 21, 1925 - December 28, 1984) was an American film director, known as Sam Peckinpah. ... George Bassman (February 2, 1914 - June 26, 1997) was an American composer and songwriter. ... The Great Hall interior. ... The National Film Registry is the registry of films selected by the United States National Film Preservation Board for preservation in the Library of Congress. ...

Plot

The film unites aging Western movie stars Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea as ex-lawmen Gil Westrum and Steve Judd, who have been reduced by circumstance to guarding a shipment of gold from a high country mining camp. However, Westrum and his young sidekick Longtree (Ron Starr) are, in fact, planning to steal the gold for themselves. Westrum attempts to subtly recruit Judd to their plan over the course of the ride.

Acquiring a young girl (Hartley) escaping from her domineering father as a traveling companion, the three men reach the mining camp only to discover that the girl's fiancée is a drunken lout who intends to prostitute her to his brothers (played by, among others, Peckinpah regulars Warren Oates and L.Q. Jones). They rescue the girl from the marriage and start off towards town with the girl and the gold. At this point, Judd realizes Westrum's plan and confronts him. Planning to put him on trial when he returns to town, Judd is forced to relent when the jilted groom and his brothers appear in hot pursuit.

The aging men shoot it out with the brothers, killing them all in a heroic, face to face confrontation. Judd, mortally wounded, asks to die alone. Westrum promises him that he will get the gold back to town as Judd would have wanted. The celebrated final image of the film is of the dying Judd looking off towards the high country as he falls slowly out of frame.

Reception

Ride the High Country was not an immediate success in the United States, but it was hailed as an instant classic upon its release in Europe, beating Fellini's classic 8 1/2 for first prize at the Belgium Film Festival and winning the Paris film critics award for best film. Critics were particularly enthusiastic about the film's mix of the conventional and the revisionist in its treatment of the Western. They hailed Peckinpah as a worthy successor to classic Western directors such as John Ford . John Ford (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973) was one of the most accomplished American film directors of the 1930s to 1960s, known particularly as a director of the Westerns, although his tributes to the veterans of World War II and Americana are also equally effective. ...

The film's reputation has only grown in following years, with Peckinpah's admirers citing it as his first great film. They also note that all of the themes of Peckinpah's later films, such as honor and ideals compromised by circumstance, the difficulty of doing right in an unjust world, the destruction of the West and its heroes by industrial modernity, and the importance of loyalty between men are all present in Ride the High Country for the first time.

Trivia

Peckinpah flipped a coin to decide whether Randolph Scott or Joel McCrea would receive top billing. McCrea's role is actually slightly larger than Scott's, but Scott was billed over McCrea. Critics occasionally point out that McCrea's role seems to have been written for Gary Cooper and that John Wayne would've been perfect for Scott's part, but Cooper and Wayne never worked together. Gary Cooper and Eleanor Roosevelt, in 1950 Gary Cooper (May 7, 1901 – May 13, 1961) was a two-time Oscar-winning American film actor of British heritage, whose career spanned from the 1920s up until the year of his death. ... U.S. John Wayne stamp from 2004 John Wayne (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), popularly known as The Duke, was an American film actor whose career began in silent films in the 1920s. ...

In his autobiography In the Arena (1995), Charlton Heston wrote that he was considering remaking the film in the late '80s, presumably with Clint Eastwood as a co-star. Heston was convinced to take the part on Peckinpah's next film, Major Dundee (1965), after viewing Ride the High Country. Charlton Heston on the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C Charlton Heston (born October 4, 1923) is an Academy Award-winning American film actor noted for heroic roles and his long involvement in political issues. ... Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood, Jr. ... Major Dundee was a 1965 Western film written by Harry Julian Fink and directed by Sam Peckinpah. ...