Search - Ride the High Country

This Sam Peckinpah-directed feature outing was intended as the cinematic swan song for both Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea; while McCrea would unexpectedly emerge from retirement, this 1961 western serves as an excellent valedictory for both men. The time is the early 1900s, when the Old West was slowly and stubbornly giving way to the new. McCrea plays Steve Judd, an ex-lawman living on the fringes of poverty but maintaining his dignity and honesty. Hired to escort a gold shipment from the wide-open mining town of Coarse Gold, he engages his old pal Gil Westrum (Scott) to help him. But Gil hasn't Steve's integrity, and he and his young saddle pal Heck Longtree (Ronald Starr) hope to talk Steve into helping them steal the gold. En route to Coarse Gold, the three riders spend the night at the farm of a religious fanatic (R.G. Armstrong), whose daughter Elsa (Mariette Hartley in her film debut), chafing at her father's loud piety, is planning to elope with her boyfriend Billy (James Drury). The next day, Elsa insists on joining up with the group so she can marry Billy at Coarse Gold, leading to numerous complications and, of course, a final shoot-out that allows Steve and Gil to reconcile their differences and pave the way for the film's elegiac finale. Released at the tail end of the western genre, and virtually thrown away by MGM, Ride the High Country feels like an elegy for the western itself -- and Peckinpah himself would go on to revise western conventions with such later efforts as The Wild Bunch (1969) and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Joel McCrea - Steve Judd
Randolph Scott - Gil Westrum
Mariette Hartley - Elsa Knudsen
Ron Starr - Heck Longtree
James Drury - Billy Hammond

These movies have the touch and feel of Ride the High Country...
7	Shane (NR)
16	The Flight of the Phoenix (NR)
9	3:10 to Yuma (NR)
3	The 400 Blows [Special Edition]
1	Broken Lance (NR)
10	The Cincinnati Kid (NR)
2	The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (NR)
2	Topkapi (NR)
2	Tunes of Glory
10	Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (NR)
9	The Sons of Katie Elder (PG)
7	Treasure of the Sierra Madre [Special Edition] (NR)
3	The Children's Hour (NR)
1	Dead End (NR)
4	Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth (NR)
These movies have the subject or theme of Ride the High Country...
33	The Magnificent Seven (R)
S	Radco: Singing Cowboys (NR)
9	The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (NR)
2	The Great American Western, Vol. 25
1	Hopalong Cassidy, Vol. 7
1	Western Gunfighters (NR)
1	Western Classics, Vol. 3: Rollin' Plains/The Mystery of the Hooded Horsemen/Arizona Days (NR)
33	Silverado [Widescreen] (PG-13)
3	Utah
1	Cowboy Legends 50 Movie Pack
1	Riders of the Rockies (NR)
1	Ride in the Whirlwind (NR)
3	The Plainsman (NR)
S	Hopalong Cassidy, Vol. 2
S	The Rare Breed (NR)
1	Roy Rogers: Collector's Edition
S	Melody Ranch (NR)
S	Lawless Range
S	Hopalong Cassidy, Vol. 5
These movies share cast/crew with Ride the High Country...
16	The Wild Bunch (R)
4	Major Dundee [The Extended Version] (PG-13)
2	Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid [Special Edition] (R)
1	The Ballad of Cable Hogue (R)
2	Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (R)
5	Lone Wolf McQuade (PG)
6	Foreign Correspondent (NR)
1	Rage at Dawn [Widescreen] (NR)
1	Abilene Town (NR)
S	The Desperadoes (NR)
1	China 9, Liberty 37 (R)
S	Cimarron (NR)
8	Straw Dogs (NR)
S	Budd Boetticher Box Set [Widescreen]
2	There Was a Crooked Man (R)
1	When the Daltons Rode (NR)
These movies cover the same subjects as Ride the High Country...
23	Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (PG)
9	The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (NR)
These movies are similar to Ride the High Country...
20	For a Few Dollars More (R)
14	Misfits (NR)
2	Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid [Special Edition] (R)
13	Rio Bravo (NR)
5	The Shootist (PG)
19	True Grit (G)
16	The Wild Bunch (R)
2	North to Alaska (NR)