This early slice of Sam Peckinpah is an elegiac tribute to times past. Stylistically it represents an era of Western cinema that was coming to an end and that Peckinpah was himself about to demolish in a hail of machine gun fire and desperate nihilism. Yet it also lays some of the groundwork for those future successes, including members of his repertory company (such as R.G. Armstrong, L.Q. Jones and Warren Oates).
Established Western stars Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea are a pair of hard-up, has-been gunmen, failing to adapt to a
changing world as they get older. They hook up for one last adventure that will fill their pockets and enrich their souls. There is still hope to be found in Ride The High Country despite the inevitable change that is occurring, as can be seen by the presence of modern, motorised vehicles. Gil Westrum (Scott) is asked by Steve Judd (McCrea) to help transport gold from
across the Sierras Nevada. Whilst Judd is determined to get the gold from A to B, Westrum has other ideas thus setting up the film’s central conflict.
The duo are joined by handsome, inexperienced young buck Heck Longstreet (Ron Starr), who soon wises up, one of the film’s reassuring familiar Western tropes and spunky tomboy Elsa Knudsen (Mariette Hartley). She also provides our introduction to the villains of the piece, led by Elsa’s fiancé Billy Hammond (James Drury). Bar brawls, shoots out and a bizarre mining camp marriage which descends into attempted gang rape liven things up. Our heroes extricate Elsa from her horrific situation with honour intact, hand over the gold in return for a smaller than expected amount of $11,000 and make their way back home.
Westrum tries to tempt Judd into stealing the money they earn from the gold run, but all Judd wants is to regain his self-respect and ‘enter my house justified’, a simple yet profound wish, while Westrum’s embitterment at being left behind, with nothing to show, leads him to betray his partner. Eventually they are forced to reunite when Billy Hammond and his clan come looking for revenge and riches. The partners are reconciled and return reluctantly acceptant of their new status in a new world. What really drives the film though is its emotional core, about these two old men struggling to cope with change. A change Peckinpah has obvious disdain for himself. The negative and destructive impact of modernity was a theme Peckinpah was to famously explore throughout much of his career.
The combined charisma and effortless charm of Scott and McCrea and their melancholy reflection, a reflection on their own careers perhaps, only adds to the poignancy of the film’s themes. They are reliably stalwart and dynamic during the action sequences while Drury, Oates, Jones and co. are suitably repellent. R.G. Armstrong offers up a complex performance as Hartley’s pious, repressive yet loving father. Lucien Ballard’s stunning cinematography captures the Sierras in all its majestic glory. Ride The High Country is an affectionate tribute to the old West, only hinting at the deeper wells of pain, anger and sadness to come.
