Ride the High Country (1962)

Editor's Note Two grizzled cowhands reminisce about their lively pasts as they travel across dangerous country with a gold shipment they were hired to protect. This is often considered to be Peckinpah's finest film, and is typical of post-classical westerns in terms of its elegiac tone. AKA: "Guns in the Afternoon."

	Randolph Scott
	Edgar Buchanan
	Joel McCrea
	Mariette Hartley
	Sam Peckinpah - Director

Western tale about two over-the-hill buddies who have been on both sides of the law during their eventful lives. Now they're guarding a cargo of gold--which one of the men intends to steal. But along the way, the men reminisce about their exciting past, compete with each other for the affections of a comely lass, and confront a band of merciless outlaws out to get the gold for themselves.

"The line, 'I want to enter my house justified' in [the film] is my father's. We talked about that just before he died, just before the film was released. He never saw it. ---- SAM PECKINPAH

Entertainment Weekly
"A rich critique of loyalty and betrayal." 01/20/2006 p.54

Ultimate DVD
4 stars out of 5 -- "It's a story of the Old West, and tips its hat at this very cleverly by using two of the major stars of the old Westerns from the '30s onwards." 07/01/2006 p.112