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Integrity and moral courage
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Sam Peckinpah loved the theme of the ‘end of the West’ (click here for our essay on that) – perhaps because he was often in his youth in the 1930s and 40s on his grandfather’s post-West ranch at Coarsegold in California (which is what he named the camp in Ride the High Country), among nostalgic survivors. He was always fascinated by tales of the old Wild West days.
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One of the best aspects of Ride the High Country is undoubtedly the interplay of McCrea and Scott, the former stoic, flinty, scriptural, lonely, with all the most stirring speeches, the latter happy-go-lucky, with wavering moral purpose, essentially pathetic; he has the quips and good one-liners. Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott were never better.
Of course Peckinpah started making film Westerns (as opposed to TV ones) right at the time that the ‘end of the West’ became a major theme. The Magnificent Seven, which is about nothing else, came out in 1960 and Western after Western in the early 60s repeated this storyline and theme. Westerns that didn’t question themselves (like Scott’s and McCrea’s previous ones) were 1950s old hat, which is why the 50s are the high water mark of the genre. Peckinpah was only in his mid-30s when he started making Western movies but he contributed to and reinforced this theme. Call it revisionist if you want, many people do, though I tend to reserve that term for movies like Soldier Blue or Doc or Little Big Man from the 70s onward which almost mocked the genre or which turned its basic precepts upside down by debunking the heroes of the West or making the Indians the good guys.
That doesn’t mean as John Puccio says that “it’s been downhill ever since”. Far from it. The new school of Western has a huge amount to offer. I don’t think anyone could justifiably argue that The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is“downhill” from Anthony Mann or Delmer Daves or whoever.
Peckinpah used the same actors again and again. As with John Ford, a kind of stock company developed. Among this crew were RG Armstrong, LQ Jones and Warren Oates, all very good indeed, and they all appear here. Sam had got to know them all in TV westerns. RG was in this one, Major Dundee, Cable Hogue and Pat Garrett. LQ was in this one, Dundee, The Wild Bunch, Cable Hogue and Pat Garrett. Oates was in this one, Dundee, The Wild Bunch and of course starred in Alfredo Garcia.
Written by NB Stone, a specialist in TV Westerns, with very large contributions from Peckinpah (McCrea thought as much as 80%) and some from Bob Williams, who had a vast experience of Westerns since the early 40s, the screenplay is tight, professional and workmanlike, with occasional flashes of brilliance. “The only law up there is too drunk to hit the ground with his hat.” Or again, “All I want,” says Judd, quietly, “is to enter my house justified.” It is the credo of the hero and the theme of the film. It was, apparently, a favorite remark of Peckinpah’s father.
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The support acting is outstanding. I would mention in particular RG Armstrong. I have said elsewhere that Armstrong’s greatest role was as Ollinger in Pat Garrett, and again that it was Boyd in From Hell to Texas, but the reality is that each film you see him in, you think that one is his best performance. Here, he is a tormented preacher who, we infer, has killed his wife for infidelity (she is referred to as a harlot on her grave marker) and who represses and strikes the daughter he really loves but cannot show it.
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Edgar Buchanan is also excellent as the sad, broken-down drunk judge. What a fine actor he was. And of course he rather specialized in Western judges, especially disreputable ones. LQ Jones and Warren Oates are two of the five murderous and repulsive white-trash Hammond brothers and they are extremely good. Ron Starr does well as Heck Longtree, the young sidekick of Westrum who learns decency from Judd.
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“Pick that up,” orders Judd as Heck throws down some paper. “These mountains don’t need your trash.” A very modern eco-message for the early 60s.
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Top-notch acting.
Shot in an uncharacteristic 26 days and only $60,000 over budget (which for Peckinpah was really under), the movie is tight, taut and tense.
It was Randolph Scott’s last film and what a way to go out. It should really have been Joel McCrea’s; he did a couple more not very good ones and that was probably a mistake. But two great cowboy heroes of the silver screen found a perfectly splendid film to say goodbye with.
It is amusingly ironic that the pair of penniless drifters should be played by two of the shrewdest investors and richest men in the business!
MGM’s Joe Vogel told Peckinpah he thought it was the worst film he’d ever seen and didn’t want to release it. But it was in the can and MGM needed product. They tried to hide it on a double bill with Victor Mature in The Tartars. Good grief. But despite the moronic MGM execs it was a fabulous film. Newsweek said it was “pure gold”, Variety thought that Scott and McCrea were “better than they have ever been”, Film Quarterly judged it the best motion picture of the year, and the movie won a number of awards at film festivals.
If the film is about integrity and moral courage, it is also essentially about solitude. It is, in fact, a masterpiece.
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10 Responses
You’re so right about Edgar Buchanan Jeff. He’s terrific here as he so often was. The scene where he officiates at the wedding and talks about marriage being hard work gives one the feeling that his character was at one time an upright and respected justice who has succumbed to the depths of the bottle. And then a little later when Scott forces him to give up his license – he’s so soaked you can almost smell the liquor on him! Brilliant performance in a film filled with great performances. This, along with Wild Bunch, are Peckinpah’s masterpieces.
It’s a wonderful film and Edgar, as you say, was great.
I wholeheartedly agree about the wedding sermon. Coming from such a dissipated souse officiating a shotgun wedding in a whorehouse, the last thing you’d expect is the sort of feeling, dignity and eloquance Judge Tolliver bestows on the tawdry proceedings. “A good marriage has a kind of simple glory about it. A good marriage is like a rare animal. It’s hard to find. It’s almost impossible to keep.” Brilliant screenwriting there, and Buchanan sells it like a champ.
This is a masterpiece. I am Peckinpah fan and this is one of his best. Honestly I think this is one of THE great films. Scott and McCrea are priceless. Hartley lovely and touching. The ‘Hammond brothers’ amazing. So much goodness in this and yes Buchanan is unforgettable too.
RTHC is a film that improves on repeated viewings. When I first saw it I thought it merely above average. After my third viewing, I rate it a minor Western masterpiece.
Just rewatched this today and hadn’t realized how many edgy elements Peckinpah managed to, carefully, wedge into the film – Scott’s character cheating the rubes by using birdshot in his six shooter, the implication of incest between Hartley’s Elsa and her father, dialogue about the just short of saying it out loud gang rape at a prior Hammond family wedding in anticipation of Billy’s wedding night, the gallery of grotesques at the gold camp “hotel” (the sign – “Men taken in and done for”!), the confidence to keep all his principles except Hartley offscreen during the wedding sequence. And I guess I’d forgotten how beautiful the movie looks – Sam really did understand how to use widescreen well considering his background in TV – the locations were perfect. Not quite the landmark that The Wild Bunch has become but definitely a much more pleasant viewing experience – I always like a wrung out dishrag by the end The Wild Bunch – the end of Ride the High Country leaves me with a wry, sad smile on my face as Joel McCrea’s Steve slides to the ground, leaving just the mountains on the screen – “I’ll see you soon” says Gil.
Indeed. I agree with all this.
Steve’s death reminds me of Slim Pickens’ in Pat Garrett. Both men preferring space in their final moments as their loved ones–Gil and Katy–grieve in the near distance, with Steve and Slim both gazing at their beloved Western landscapes as the veil of darkness descends. I suppose there were worse ways to go for true men of the West.
One of my favorites of all. Love it. Another view: http://www.mardecortesbaja.com/2010/08/25/high-country-for-old-men/
The opening sequence of this film is quite fascinating. It is always jarring, is it not, to see a cop in a Western, but sure enough, there one is badgering “old timer” Steve to get out of the way as a car comes round the corner. That sort of “duly constituted authority,” as opposed to the more ad hoc lawmanship meted out by the likes of Matt Dillon just feels so terribly out of place, and I’m sure that’s what Peckinpah intended.
Some sort of festival or fair is going on in the town, and it’s complete with Gypsyesque erotic dancers, exotic Oriental music, and a camel racing a horse. The sense is that the traditional, familiar American West is being quickly uprooted and replaced by something quite possibly less desirable. Peckinpah knew, even in 1962…
Aside from the actors Jeff and some of the commenters have praised, I’d like to mention a couple more. I thought Ron Starr was excellent as Heck Longtree, the smug and cocky young hothead who winds up learning a lot about life from Steve and Gil. He comes of age in the course of the adventure, starting out as an adolescent and finishing as a man. Why Starr didn’t go on to become a star is a mystery to me.
Then there’s James Drury as the head of the Hammonds. He’s a handsome chap with a sardonic grin, but there’s also a real undercurrent of threat and menace about him. You get the sense no act of depravity or evil is beneath him. He’s an excellent foil to Longtree, his rival for Elsa’s affections.