Ride the High Country

1962  NR  WESTERN  1h 34min

CAST— Randolph Scott, Joel McCrea, Mariette Hartley, Ron Starr, Edgar Buchanan, R. G. Armstrong, Warren Oates, John Anderson, L. Q. Jones, James Drury

MUSIC— George Bassman  DIRECTOR— Sam Peckinpah

     A fine Western that focuses more on character development than on shoot-‘em-up violence. An aging man of the West (played by Joel McCrea) is offered a job: deliver loads of gold from the mining town all the way back to the bank. Risky business, to be sure. So McCrea hires on an old acquaintance (Randolph Scott) who has acquired a sidekick for himself (Ron Starr). Maybe McCrea should have searched a bit longer for his partners; for you see, Scott and Starr are not on the up-and-up; their plan is to cut and run, hightail it with the gleaming gold. Well not if McCrea has any say in the matter. There’s a subplot about rescuing a girl from her murderous husband, which causes his vile brothers to gang up on McCrea and his rascally men. So there you have the drama, the action; lighten up, it’s a Western and most horse operas have less going for them than this one. AKA Guns in the Afternoon. Deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the United States Library of Congress National Film Registry.

OUR RATING— ** ½