Watch Ride the High Country For Free

The first must-see film of the year.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This is an overlooked classic Western that helps cement director Sam Peckinpah's career. Down and out, strapped for cash, two former lawmen Steve Judd (Joel McCrea) and Gil Westrum (Randolph Scott) are hired by a bank to deliver a huge amount of gold from a mining camp in the high Sierras down to the bank. More or less swan songs for McCrea and Scott as their long lasting careers wane. To be exact, this is the final effort of Scott. The two old friends wrestle with ethics as one wants to take the proceeds and run, while the other intends to finish the assignment agreed to. The action scenes are full of realism and the two stars turn in memorable performances. The sweeping vistas are terrific.Rounding out the cast: Mariette Hartley, R.G. Armstrong, Ron Starr, James Drury, L.Q. Jones and Warren Oates.

An above average Western featuring two of the genres most recognizable stars, Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott (in his last film). Both men have a history together as outlaws, but McCrea has gone straight and is now in charge of getting the gold from the mines to the bank. To help him, he hires his old friend Scott who, along with a young hothead (Ron Starr), is in town dressed up like "Buffalo Bill" and demonstrating his fancy shooting.Scott believes he can persuade his old partner to split the gold with him before they return, and must act as a buffer between the impatient young ruffian and his old friend. While en route, the three encounter a religious farmer (R. G. Armstrong) and his under socialized daughter (Mariette Hartley), who steals away to join them.The trouble really begins when they get to the remote mining town, encountering an inbred mountain family of hoodlums (which includes Warren Oates) and its judge (Edgar Buchanan).Directed by Sam Peckinpah, and written by N.B. Stone Jr., it was added to the National Film Registry in 1992.

Lots of favorable reviews for this one but I don't fully understand why. Scott and McCrea are their usual wooden selves, the music was low average at best, and the female lead was not exactly riveting. Hard to see why the youngster was along except to put the moves on the girl. The Hammond brothers were classic slimy low-lifes. The plot swerved from the beginning, when the banker was worried because six men had been killed trying to bring gold out, to the end, when the Hammonds provided the only opposition, and they weren't after the gold, but the girl. The movie was supposedly set around 1890-1900, but the only coin shown was a dime first minted in 1916. Nice scenery, though.

An ex-union soldier is hired to transport gold from a mining community through dangerous territory. But what he doesn't realize is that his partner and old friend is plotting to double-cross him.The movie was released on the bottom half of a double bill. William Goldman says he spoke to an MGM executive at the time who says the film had tested strongly but they felt the film "didn't cost enough to be that good". Funny looking back now and thinking that Peckinpah or Joel McCrea could ever find themselves working in a B-movie. But it is apparently true.And stranger still, despite the growing praise over the last several decades, the film allegedly lost money when it debuted. Was this because of the billing, or were people truly not interested?