''Ride the High Country'' (released internationally as ''Guns in the Afternoon'') is a 1962 American
CinemaScope
CinemaScope is an anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its creation in 1953 by ...
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
film directed by
Sam Peckinpah
David Samuel Peckinpah (; February 21, 1925 – December 28, 1984) was an American film director and screenwriter. His 1969 Western epic ''The Wild Bunch'' received an Academy Award nomination and was ranked No. 80 on the American Film Institute ...
and starring
Randolph Scott
George Randolph Scott (January 23, 1898 – March 2, 1987) was an American film actor whose career spanned the years from 1928 to 1962. As a leading man for all but the first three years of his cinematic career, Scott appeared in a variety of ...
,
Joel McCrea
Joel Albert McCrea (November 5, 1905 – October 20, 1990) was an American actor whose career spanned a wide variety of genres over almost five decades, including comedy, drama, romance, thrillers, adventures, and Westerns, for which he beca ...
, and
Mariette Hartley
Mary Loretta Hartley (born June 21, 1940) is an American film and television actress. She is best known for work with Bill Bixby on '' The Incredible Hulk'' (1978) and ''Goodnight, Beantown'' (1983–1984), an original ''Star Trek'' episode (1 ...
. The supporting cast includes
Edgar Buchanan
William Edgar Buchanan II (March 20, 1903 – April 4, 1979) was an American actor with a long career in both film and television. He is most familiar today as Uncle Joe Carson from the ''Petticoat Junction'', ''Green Acres'', and ''The ...
,
James Drury
James Child Drury Jr. (April 18, 1934 – April 6, 2020) was an American actor. He is best known for having played the title role in the 90-minute weekly Western television series '' The Virginian'', which was broadcast on NBC from 1962 to ...
,
Warren Oates
Warren Mercer Oates (July 5, 1928 – April 3, 1982) was an American actor best known for his performances in several films directed by Sam Peckinpah, including ''The Wild Bunch'' (1969) and ''Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia'' (1974). A ...
, and Ron Starr. The film's script, though credited solely to veteran TV screenwriter N. B. Stone Jr., was – according to producer Richard E. Lyons – almost entirely the work of Stone's friend and colleague,
William S. Roberts, and Peckinpah himself.
In 1992, ''Ride the High Country'' was selected for preservation in the
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception i ...
by the United States
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant
The film featured Scott's final screen performance.
Plot
In the early years of the 20th century, an aging ex-lawman, Steve Judd, is hired by a bank to transport gold from a high country mining camp to the town of
Hornitos, California
Hornitos (Spanish for "Little ovens") is a census-designated place in Mariposa County, California, United States. It is located on Burns Creek by road south of Coulterville, at an elevation of . The population was 38 at the 2020 census, down fro ...
. Six miners were recently murdered trying to transport their gold on the one trail leading down from the crest of the
Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...
. In his prime, Judd was a tough and respected lawman, but now his threadbare clothes and spectacles serve as reminders that he is long past his prime. Judd enlists the help of his old friend and partner Gil Westrum to guard the gold transfer. Gil, who had been making his living passing himself off as a legendary sharpshooter named The Oregon Kid, enlists the help of his young sidekick, Heck Longtree.
Judd, Gil and Heck hit the trail on horseback toward Coarsegold, a mining camp located in the Sierra foothills, north of the town of Fresno. Judd doesn't realize that Gil and Heck are planning to steal the gold for themselves — preferably with Judd's help, but without it if necessary. Along the way they stop for the night at the farm of Joshua Knudsen and his daughter Elsa. Knudsen is a domineering religious man who warns against those who "traffic in gold" and trades Bible verses with Judd at the dinner table. That night, Elsa and Heck secretly meet in the moonlight for conversation, but the elder Knudsen catches them and pulls her away. Back at the house, he admonishes and slaps her; even though her father had only met Heck that evening, "I can see that the boy is no good"- just as all her other boyfriends were no good. Elsa replies "I promised the next time you hit me you'd be sorry for it!"
The next morning, after the three men had left on the trail to the mining camp, she catches up to them and asks whether she can keep them company on the way. She announces that she is also going to Coarsegold, to marry a miner named Billy Hammond. He had previously proposed to her when he was in town, although she had not accepted his proposal back then. Along the way, Elsa and Heck flirt, and at one time he tries to force himself on her. Heck is stopped by Judd, and then punched by both Judd and Gil. He later apologizes to Elsa.
When they reach the mining camp, the two older men set up a tent to weigh and accept gold dust in individual bags for which they give receipts of deposit, with safe transport guaranteed by the bank.
Having brought her mother's wedding dress with her, Elsa and Billy are married in the camp's brothelthe only substantial building thereby a real retired judge who happens to be at the camp. The madam and prostitutes serve as "maid of honor" and "flower girls". Then Billy forces Elsa to a room in the brothel for their wedding night even though she emphatically states "No, Billy, not here!"; he strikes her when she refuses to obey him. By now intoxicated and passed out, he fails to prevent his disreputable brothers Elder, Sylvus, Jimmy, and Henry from entering the room and attempting to rape her.
Outside, hearing her screams, Judd and Heck rescue Elsa from the brothel and the Hammonds and let her stay in their tent that night.
The next day, the miners of the camp organize a "miner's trial" (without any need for a judge) to force the outsiders to return Elsa to her "legal" husband; because they are outnumbered, former lawman Judd agrees to the miner's demands as "that's the law in places like this". However, Gill wakes up the drunken judge and demands to see his license (which in fact is duly issued in Sacramento), and then keeps it. He forces the judge at gunpoint to agree that when asked if the judge has a license to marry, he must say no (because Gill has it).
This ruse works and the three men are allowed to leave the camp with the gold and Elsa.
Along the way, Judd talks to Gil about right and wrong and how that's "something you just know". After all the lost years working in disreputable places, he tells Gil that he's now grateful to have gained back some of his self-respect and intends on keeping it "with the help of you and that boy back there". When Gil asks if that's all he wants, Judd replies, "All I want is to enter my House justified."
Realizing Judd will never go along with his plan to steal the gold, Gil plans to take the gold without his help. During the night as Gil and Heck prepare to leave with the gold, Judd confronts them at gunpoint. Heck, after previously expressing a change of mind to Gil, gives up his gun immediately. Angered by his old friend's Gil's betrayal, Judd puts his gun away, then slaps Gil and challenges him to draw. Instead, Gil throws down his guns and accepts that Judd will turn him in when they return to town.
Judd is forced to change his plans when the Hammond brothers appear in hot pursuit of Elsa. They found out about the ruse and learned that the judge's license could be verified in Sacramento, proving the marriage legal.
In the ensuing gunfight, two of the brothers, Jimmy and Sylvus, are killed, and Billy, Elder and Henry give up and escape.
During the night, Gil leaves camp and heads back to the site of the gunfight, where he takes a horse and gun from one of the dead brothers. Then he follows Judd, Heck, and Elsa down the only trail. Meanwhile, Heck has shown himself to be trustworthy, and even though he will most likely go to prison, Elsa tells him she'll be there when he gets out. When they reach Elsa's farm, the Hammond brothers are waiting, having already killed her father. A gunfight breaks out and soon both Judd and Heck are wounded. Gil comes riding in to help his old friend, and together the pair insult and challenge the brothers to a face-to-face shootout in the open. When the dust settles, the three brothers are dead, but Judd is mortally wounded. He tells his old friend, "I don't want them to see this. I'll go it alone." When Gil pledges to take care of everything just like he would have, Judd says, "Hell, I know that. I always did. You just forgot it for a while, that's all." Judd casts a look back towards the high country and then dies.
Cast
*
Randolph Scott
George Randolph Scott (January 23, 1898 – March 2, 1987) was an American film actor whose career spanned the years from 1928 to 1962. As a leading man for all but the first three years of his cinematic career, Scott appeared in a variety of ...
as Gil Westrum
*
Joel McCrea
Joel Albert McCrea (November 5, 1905 – October 20, 1990) was an American actor whose career spanned a wide variety of genres over almost five decades, including comedy, drama, romance, thrillers, adventures, and Westerns, for which he beca ...
as Steve Judd
*
Mariette Hartley
Mary Loretta Hartley (born June 21, 1940) is an American film and television actress. She is best known for work with Bill Bixby on '' The Incredible Hulk'' (1978) and ''Goodnight, Beantown'' (1983–1984), an original ''Star Trek'' episode (1 ...
as Elsa Knudsen
* Ron Starr as Heck Longtree
*
Edgar Buchanan
William Edgar Buchanan II (March 20, 1903 – April 4, 1979) was an American actor with a long career in both film and television. He is most familiar today as Uncle Joe Carson from the ''Petticoat Junction'', ''Green Acres'', and ''The ...
as Judge Tolliver
*
R. G. Armstrong
Robert Golden Armstrong Jr. (April 7, 1917 – July 27, 2012) was an American character actor and playwright. A veteran performer who appeared in dozens of Westerns during his 40-year career, he may be best remembered for his work with director ...
as Joshua Knudsen
* Jenie Jackson as Kate
*
James Drury
James Child Drury Jr. (April 18, 1934 – April 6, 2020) was an American actor. He is best known for having played the title role in the 90-minute weekly Western television series '' The Virginian'', which was broadcast on NBC from 1962 to ...
as Billy Hammond
*
L. Q. Jones as Sylvus Hammond
*
John Anderson John Anderson may refer to:
Business
*John Anderson (Scottish businessman) (1747–1820), Scottish merchant and founder of Fermoy, Ireland
* John Byers Anderson (1817–1897), American educator, military officer and railroad executive, mentor of ...
as Elder Hammond
*
John Davis Chandler
John Davis Chandler (January 28, 1935 – February 16, 2010) was an American actor.
Life
Chandler was born in Hinton, West Virginia. He died at age 75 in Toluca Lake, California from cancer.
Career
In two films in 1961, he portrayed the gangs ...
as Jimmy Hammond
*
Warren Oates
Warren Mercer Oates (July 5, 1928 – April 3, 1982) was an American actor best known for his performances in several films directed by Sam Peckinpah, including ''The Wild Bunch'' (1969) and ''Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia'' (1974). A ...
as Henry Hammond
*
Byron Foulger
Byron Kay Foulger (August 27, 1898 – April 4, 1970) was an American character actor who over a 50-year career performed in hundreds of stage, film, and television productions.
Early years
Born in Ogden, Utah, Byron was the second of four ...
as Abner Sampson (uncredited)
* Frank Hagney as Miner (uncredited)
*
Percy Helton
Percy Alfred Helton (January 31, 1894 – September 11, 1971) was an American stage, film, and television actor. He was one of the most familiar faces and voices in Hollywood of the 1950s.
Career
A Manhattan native, Helton began acting ...
as Luther Sampson (uncredited)
* Don Kennedy as Policeman on Street (uncredited)
* Jack Kenny as Miner (uncredited)
* Michael T. Mikler as Hank (uncredited)
* Carmen Phillips as Saloon girl (uncredited)
[Articles - TCM.com](_blank)
/ref>
Production
Peckinpah flipped a coin in the presence of a producer to see which leading man got top billing
Billing is a performing arts term used in referring to the order and other aspects of how credits are presented for plays, films, television, or other creative works. Information given in billing usually consists of the companies, actors, direct ...
, Scott or McCrea. Scott won the toss. However, in the opening credits, both stars' names are shown in the same shot, so both Scott and McCrea received equal top billing.
Filming locations
* 20th Century Fox Movie Ranch, Malibu Creek State Park, 1925 Las Virgenes Road, Calabasas, California
* Bronson Canyon
Bronson Canyon, or Bronson Caves, is a section of Griffith Park in Los Angeles that has become known as a filming location for many films and television series, especially Westerns and science fiction, from the early days of motion pictures to th ...
, Griffith Park, 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California
* Inyo National Forest
Inyo National Forest is a United States National Forest covering parts of the eastern Sierra Nevada of California and the White Mountains of California and Nevada. The forest hosts several superlatives, including Mount Whitney, the highest poi ...
, 351 Pacu Lane, Bishop, California
* Mammoth Lakes, California
Mammoth Lakes is a town in Mono County, California, and is the county's only incorporated community. It is located immediately to the east of Mammoth Mountain, at an elevation of . As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 7,191, r ...
* Merrimac, California
Merrimac (formerly, Merrimack, Pea Vine, and Peavine) was an unincorporated community in Butte County, California located along Oroville-Quincy Road about south of the Plumas County line at an elevation of 3999 feet (1219 m). Nearby is Rogers C ...
Reception
The film was released on the bottom half of a double bill. William Goldman
William Goldman (August 12, 1931 – November 16, 2018) was an American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He first came to prominence in the 1950s as a novelist before turning to screenwriting. He won Academy Awards for his screenplays '' ...
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".
According to MGM records, the film lost $160,000.[.]
Seen in a double bill with '' The Tartars'', Bosley Crowther
Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...
greatly preferred ''Ride the High Country'', calling it a "perfectly dandy little Western" and "the most disarming little horse opera in months." According to Crowther:
The two young people are quite good, especially Miss Hartley, a newcomer with real promise. R. G. Armstrong and Edgar Buchanan also contribute telling bits. We know little about the director and scenarist, but Mr. Peckinpah and Mr. Stone certainly have what it takes. And so, if anybody ever doubted it, do a couple of leathery, graying hombres named McCrea and Scott.
''Ride the High Country'' was hailed as a success upon its release in Europe, winning first prize at the Cannes Film Festival. The film's reputation has only grown in following years, with Peckinpah's admirers citing it as his first great film. They also note that all of the themes of Peckinpah's later films, such as honor and ideals compromised by circumstance, the difficulty of doing right in an unjust world, the destruction of the West and its heroes by industrial modernity, and the importance of loyalty between men are all present in ''Ride the High Country''. In 1964 the film won the prestigious Grand Prix
Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour
Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to:
Arts and entertainment ...
of the Belgian Film Critics Association
The Belgian Film Critics Association (french: Union de la critique de cinéma, UCC) is an organization of film critics from publications based in Brussels, Belgium.
History
The Belgian Film Critics Association was founded in the early 1950s in Br ...
.
In his autobiography ''In the Arena'' (1995), Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston (born John Charles Carter; October 4, 1923April 5, 2008) was an American actor and political activist.
As a Hollywood star, he appeared in almost 100 films over the course of 60 years. He played Moses in the epic film ''The Ten C ...
wrote that he was considering remaking the film in the late 1980s, presumably with Clint Eastwood
Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...
as a co-star, but after viewing ''Ride the High Country'' Heston proposed Harry Julian Fink
Harry Julian Fink (July 7, 1923 – August 8, 2001) was an American television and film writer known for ''Have Gun – Will Travel'' and as one of the writers who created Harry Callahan (character), Dirty Harry.
Fink wrote for various tele ...
's script of ''Major Dundee
''Major Dundee'' is a 1965 American Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring Charlton Heston, Richard Harris, Jim Hutton, and James Coburn. Written by Harry Julian Fink, the film is about a Union cavalry officer who leads a contentiou ...
'' (1965) to Peckinpah.
The original casting was for McCrea to play the Gil Westrum part and Randolph Scott to play Steve Judd. After reading the script the two men agreed that a switch of roles was in order.
The film is recognized by American Film Institute
The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees.
Leade ...
in these lists:
* 2008: AFI's 10 Top 10
''AFI's 10 Top 10'' honors the ten greatest American films in ten classic film genres. Presented by the American Film Institute (AFI), the lists were unveiled on a television special broadcast by CBS on June 17, 2008. In the special, various acto ...
:
** Nominated Western Film
Notes
.
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Hein, David. "Going Home Justified." ''The Living Church'', July 27, 2014, pp. 16–17.
* Hein, David. "''Ride the High Country'': An Elegy on Leadership." ''The Statesman'', March 24, 2014
Republished in ''The Imaginative Conservative
''The Imaginative Conservative'' (''TIC'') is an online traditionalist conservative journal published in the United States, founded in 2010.
History
The co-founders of ''TIC'' were Bradley J. Birzer, the holder of the Russell Amos Kirk chair in ...
''
*
*
*
External links
*''Ride the High Country'' essa
by Stephen Prince on National Film Registry
The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception i ...
*
*
*
Ride the High Countries: The Essentials
at Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasti ...
*
* ''Ride the High Country'' essay by Daniel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010 , pages 578-58
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ride The High Country
1962 films
1962 Western (genre) films
American Western (genre) films
1960s English-language films
Films about old age
Films directed by Sam Peckinpah
Films set in California
Films set in the 1900s
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
United States National Film Registry films
Revisionist Western (genre) films
Films with screenplays by William Roberts (screenwriter)
1960s American films