Like John Wayne in The Shootist, Joel McCrea as Steven Judd rides into town a tired and tuckered old man. He's a former lawman who in his youth enjoyed some prestige. There's no Social Security for him, no company pension, he has to keep working and he takes it where he finds it. In this case it's being a guard for some gold from a distant mining camp.
He recruits an old friend Randolph Scott as Gil Westrum who now makes a living as a carnival sideshow act and another younger man from the carnival, Ron Starr.
The three of them set out for the mining camp and accept the hospitality of puritan farmer R.G. Armstrong who has a spirited daughter, Mariette Hartley.
Joel McCrea was probably the biggest out and out movie hero, he never appeared on screen as anything less than an honorable man. Sam Peckinpah originally wanted him for the Gil Westrum part, but McCrea insisted it had to be Judd for him so Peckinpah reversed the casting.
Good thing too because while McCrea is never less than honorable, Randolph Scott's western heroes always had an edge to them. He more easily fit into the Westrum character, the former lawman who is now cynical and contemplating going against the code he lived by.
And that's what Ride the High Country is all about, how you live your life and can you look yourself in the mirror every day and feel justified as McCrea so eloquently put it.
One of the fascinating things I find about Ride the High Country is that there are two morally upright people, McCrea and Armstrong. It's no big trick to stay morally upright as Armstrong has, shut off from the world and its temptations on his farm. McCrea however lives in the world and faces the same temptations every day. Those same temptations that Scott is thinking about giving into.
They return from the gold camp with Hartley who ran away and got married to a family of inbreds named Hammond who seem to think if one of them gets married, the bride is some kind of communal property. Of course the Hammonds chase after her and a pair of our most gallant cowboy heroes come to her rescue.
My personal opinion is that the most gallant screen death ever put on film is by Joel McCrea in this film. In a forgotten backwater of the west where few will see his sacrifice McCrea dies justified as he and Scott kill all of the Hammond brothers. Scott who was going to rob the gold tells McCrea he'll take the gold in. McCrea says he always knew that. And you believe it too because Randolph Scott says so. A cowboy hero gives his word. McCrea will enter heaven justified and you know that Scott will follow him as he said he would.
John Anderson, L.Q. Jones, Warren Oates, James Drury, and John Davis Chandler are the Hammond brothers as scurvy a lot as you'll ever find. Edgar Buchanan plays the alcoholic judge who married Drury and Hartley and Percy Helton is the bank president who hires McCrea and company to bring back the gold. They all fill their roles well.
Randolph Scott made Ride the High Country his last film and resisted all kinds of offers to come back. Joel McCrea should have gone out on this one also, but he made a mistake and came back a few times, including one dreadful film with his son Jody, Cry Blood Apache.
This film should be seen and seen again for the moral lessons it teaches and for the summation of the film lives it embodies for two of our greatest film heroes.
He recruits an old friend Randolph Scott as Gil Westrum who now makes a living as a carnival sideshow act and another younger man from the carnival, Ron Starr.
The three of them set out for the mining camp and accept the hospitality of puritan farmer R.G. Armstrong who has a spirited daughter, Mariette Hartley.
Joel McCrea was probably the biggest out and out movie hero, he never appeared on screen as anything less than an honorable man. Sam Peckinpah originally wanted him for the Gil Westrum part, but McCrea insisted it had to be Judd for him so Peckinpah reversed the casting.
Good thing too because while McCrea is never less than honorable, Randolph Scott's western heroes always had an edge to them. He more easily fit into the Westrum character, the former lawman who is now cynical and contemplating going against the code he lived by.
And that's what Ride the High Country is all about, how you live your life and can you look yourself in the mirror every day and feel justified as McCrea so eloquently put it.
One of the fascinating things I find about Ride the High Country is that there are two morally upright people, McCrea and Armstrong. It's no big trick to stay morally upright as Armstrong has, shut off from the world and its temptations on his farm. McCrea however lives in the world and faces the same temptations every day. Those same temptations that Scott is thinking about giving into.
They return from the gold camp with Hartley who ran away and got married to a family of inbreds named Hammond who seem to think if one of them gets married, the bride is some kind of communal property. Of course the Hammonds chase after her and a pair of our most gallant cowboy heroes come to her rescue.
My personal opinion is that the most gallant screen death ever put on film is by Joel McCrea in this film. In a forgotten backwater of the west where few will see his sacrifice McCrea dies justified as he and Scott kill all of the Hammond brothers. Scott who was going to rob the gold tells McCrea he'll take the gold in. McCrea says he always knew that. And you believe it too because Randolph Scott says so. A cowboy hero gives his word. McCrea will enter heaven justified and you know that Scott will follow him as he said he would.
John Anderson, L.Q. Jones, Warren Oates, James Drury, and John Davis Chandler are the Hammond brothers as scurvy a lot as you'll ever find. Edgar Buchanan plays the alcoholic judge who married Drury and Hartley and Percy Helton is the bank president who hires McCrea and company to bring back the gold. They all fill their roles well.
Randolph Scott made Ride the High Country his last film and resisted all kinds of offers to come back. Joel McCrea should have gone out on this one also, but he made a mistake and came back a few times, including one dreadful film with his son Jody, Cry Blood Apache.
This film should be seen and seen again for the moral lessons it teaches and for the summation of the film lives it embodies for two of our greatest film heroes.