Amazon.com essential video: Next to The Wild Bunch, this may be director Sam Peckinpah's best movie--all the more extraordinary because it was shot almost a decade before his big breakthrough. Peckinpah cannily cast two aging stars of cowboy films--Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott--in their only film together, playing a pair of over-the-hill cowboys who take a job guarding a gold shipment on its journey down from a mining camp. A reflective tale about two men past their prime, looking back on the paths their lives have taken and the choices they've made, it features a stirring finale and terrific performances by McCrea and Scott. It also features, in her first movie role, a very young Mariette Hartley. Look quickly and you'll see Warren Oates, James Drury, and L.Q. Jones. --Marshall Fine
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Ride The High Country
In many ways RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY is a tribute to two great western stars-McCrea and Scott. It is a story of two aging, former lawmen who are good friends.
Both of them are just doing what they can to get by day by day, to survive a changing world. What they have left is their memories, their sense of pride, and their integrity.
Their integrity is tested throughout the film. Sometimes, integrity is tested when the temptation of gold is tossed into the stew pot of life. Lying under the stars on an old saddle, covered by a worn blanket and suffering aching joints, the memory ... Read More
Rating: - A Natural Western
How can you go wrong with a Sam Peckinpah film,the man was a genius who visioned cinema as a piece of art as you vision in,Ride The High Country,a natural classic western acted out in a natural way with a superb surrounding cast,Randolph Scott,Joel McCrea,film debut from Mariette Hartley and Peckinpah regular,Warren Oates. The vision of Peckinpah is revealed with a rooster scene towards the end similar to the scorpion scene shown in the beginning of,The Wild Bunch,also both films contain explosive endings,Ride The High Country,1962,is a true piece of cinema art,and a credit to the genre,this Warner ... Read More
Rating: - 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 ... Read More
Rating: - 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 ... Read More
Rating: - 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 ... Read More
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