Ride the High Country (1962)

This is an important western because the subplot of a young woman's life in the remote west is addressed. At this time many women were looked upon as chattel. Here a young woman escapes farm life with an overbearing religious father who beats her, to flee into marriage with a redneck miner who beats her and plans to share her with his brothers and father. The lead character played by veteran Joel McCrea is trying to earn an honorable living because there is no pension or social security benefits for him to rely on. Randolph Scott is trying to score some easy dough to last during his retirement. A fine movie about morality, honor, and duty.

Multiple themes unfold in this narrative. Age versus youth; innocence versus depravity; greed versus poverty; puritanism versus immorality; crime versus integrity. It is packed with incident, but seems slow. Lasts only 90 minutes but seems much longer. The acting by Scott and McCrea was OK, but not remarkable. The roles were undemanding. Mariette Hartley was excellent, and she had a very appealing and attractive presence. Ron Starr receives a lot of criticism on this site, but seemed to be doing nothing wrong. He wears a disgruntled expression, but that's part of his role. Although there are several fist-fights, as well as shoot-outs, raging drunkenness, and the girl's unlamented father is shot (off-screen), it still doesn't give the impression of a specially violent movie, at least not in comparison with some of Peckinpah's later efforts.The wedding scene was demented. The face-off with the bad guys, anticipating the ending of The Wild Bunch, at the end of the story strikes me as totally improbable and utterly unrealistic, rather like the wacky race with the camel in the opening minutes. Do camels really run faster than horses ? Much of the rest of the film seemed real. This may be due to the photography and the calm scenery. A strange mixture.

An ex-union soldier is hired to transport gold from a mining community through dangerous territory. But what he doesn't realize is that his partner and old friend is plotting to double-cross him.The movie was released on the bottom half of a double bill. William Goldman says he spoke to an MGM executive at the time who says the film had tested strongly but they felt the film "didn't cost enough to be that good". Funny looking back now and thinking that Peckinpah or Joel McCrea could ever find themselves working in a B-movie. But it is apparently true.And stranger still, despite the growing praise over the last several decades, the film allegedly lost money when it debuted. Was this because of the billing, or were people truly not interested?

Ride The High Country is an early film by Sam Pechinpah. Starring two old school western stars from the 30's, 40's and 50's Randolf Scott and Joel Mc Rea, who have never worked together, but have excellent chemistry here. Even though Ride The High Country was made fairly cheap, the film looks awesome. Plus performances are solid and Sam's tight direction and attention to detail bring this production well above average. There is great dialogue, shootouts and fistfights to be had. Rounding out this production is a great support cast of Pechinpah regulars that would work with Sam in the future, that includes Warren Oates, RG Armstrong and LQ Jones. Much of Sam's personal philosophy and moral code is played out here in the great open American frontier. While The Wild Bunch is Sam's masterpiece, Ride The High Country shows his unique vision and talents early on, plus Ride The High Country is solid and a great and highly enjoyable western in its own right.