Ride the High Country (1962)

Joel McCrea is Steve Judd, a former lawman of repute forced to take odd jobs now that he’s aged. R

andolph Scott is Gil Westrum, his former deputy, who now makes his living running a carnival-stand where passers-by are encouraged to try to outshoot him.

Judd travels into mining country looking for a job guarding a gold shipment. It’s a chance to get some of his dignity backs.

He invites Westrum along, not realizing he’s more interested in the gold they’re transporting than the job.

Along for the ride is Heck Longtree (Ron Starr), Westrum’s still-wet-behind-the-ears partner, a young man attracted to every pretty girl he meets.

And they’re soon joined by pretty Elsa Knudsen (Mariette Hartley), who’s so bored with her life under the thumb of a preacher father that she’s ready to ride off to a mining camp to marry a man she barely knows.

The mining camp doesn’t turn out to be nearly as lucrative as Judd was led to believe. But that doesn’t change Westrum’s mind about the gold.

And if he can’t talk Judd into going along with his plan, he’s ready to steal his retirement stake at he point of a gun.

Joel McCrea as Steve Judd, a former lawman looking to regain his dignity by guarding gold shipments from a remote mining camp in Ride the High Country (1962)

Randolph Scott as Gil Westrum, running a shooting challenge carnival game when he’s reunited with Steve Judd in Ride the High Country (1962)

Review:

Marvelous movie with one of the great endings in Western film history. Scott and McCrea excel, of course, and Hartley turns in a splendid performance as a young woman eager to grow up in what marked her film debut.

Peckinpah gives us wonderful little details — Judd’s frayed shirt sleeves and the way he can’t afford to leave a dime at Westrum’s carnival stand — as well as larger scenes — the wedding procession — that are refreshingly unique.

Scott retired after seeing the film, and it’s a fitting final movie for him. McCrea planned to as well, but wound up making a couple more Westerns that paled in comparison to this one. They were 64 and 56, respectively, when the film was released.

James Drury plays the man Mariette Hartley’s character marries. Warren Oates is one of the brothers determined to help him break her in as the wife of a Hammond boy.

Mariette Hartley as Elsa Knudsen, arriving in a mining camp to marry a man she barely knows in Ride the High Country (1962)

Ron Starr as Heck Longtree, Gil Westrum’s much younger partner, along on the trip to Coarse Gold in Ride the High Country (1962)

Directed by:
Sam Peckinpah

Cast:
Randolph Scott … Gil Westrum
Joel McCrea … Steve Judd
Mariette Hartley … Elsa Knudsen
Ron Starr … Heck Longtree
Edgar Buchanan … Judge Tolliver
R.G. Armstrong … Joshua Knudsen
Jenie Jackson … Kate
James Drury … Billy Hammond
L.Q. Jones … Sylvus Hammond
John Anderson … Elder Hammond
John Davis Chandler … Jimmy Hammon
Warren Oates … Henry Hammond

Runtime: 94 min.

James Drury as Billy Hammond, determined to get back his new wife Elsa in Ride the High Country (1962)

Warren Oates as Henry Hammond, waiting in ambush for Steve Judd with a crow perched on his shoulder in Ride the High Country (1962)

Memorable lines:

Mr. Samson, bank president: “I must say, Mr. Judd, I expected a much younger man.”
Steve Judd: “Well, I used to be. We all used to be.”

Ron Starr, after getting his first look at Elsa: “Think of all that, going to waste up here.”
Gil Westrum: “Like the man said, gold is where you find it.”
Steve Judd: “If it’s not yours, don’t covet it.”

Gil Westrum: “Partner, do you know what’s on the back of a poor man when he dies? Clothes of pride. And they’re not a bit warmer to him when he’s dead than when he was alive. Is that all you want, Steve?”
Steve Judd: “All I want is to enter my house justified.”

John Anderson as Elder Hammond, L.Q. Jones as Sylvus Hammond and John Davis Chandler as Jimmy Hammond, meeting Billy’s bride-to-be in Ride the High Country (1962)

R.G. Armstrong as Joshua Knudsen, Elsa’s ultra-religious, ultra-protective father in Ride the High Country (1962)

Steve Judd: “I’m going to put you behind bars, Gil?”
Gil Westrum: “You’ll pay hell gettin’ it done.”

Elsa Knudson: “My father says there’s only right and wrong, good and evil. Nothin’ in between. It isn’t that simple, is it?”
Steve Judd: “No, it isn’t. It should be. But it isn’t.”

Gil Westrum: “Don’t worry about anything. I’ll take care of it. Just like you would’ve.”
Steve Judd: “Hell, I know that. I always did. You just forgot it for a while. That’s all.”

Joel McCrea as Steve Judd, wondering if young Heck Longtree is up to the job ahead as Gil Westrum (Randolph Scott) looks on in Ride the High Country (1962)

Percy Helton as Luther Samson, one of the bankers looking to hire someone to guard gold shipments to town in Ride the High Country (1962)

Bryon Foulger as Abner Samson, a banker concerned Steve Judd might be too old to guard gold shipments from outlaws in Ride the High Country (1962)

Mariette Hartley as Elsa, decked out in her wedding dress to marry Billy Hammond (James Drury) in Ride the High Country (1962)

Edgar Buchanan as Judge Tolliver and Jenie Jackson as Kate, welcoming Elsa to her bar-room wedding in Ride the High Country (1962)

Kate’s whores and Elsa’s flower girls (from left), Candy (Alice Allyn), Belle (Mina Martinez), Rose (Chris Carter) and Sam in Ride the High Country (1962)

Warren Oates as Henry Hammond, determined to help Billy break in new bride Elsa (Mariette Hartley) in Ride the High Country (1962)

Ron Starr as Heck Longtree, wondering if it’s time to turn the tables on Steve Judd in Ride the High Country (1962)

Randolph Scott as Gil Westrum, knowing he’s about to double cross an old friend in Ride the High Country (1962)

Joel McCrea as Steve Judd, pinned down during a shootout with the Hammond clan in Ride the High Country (1962)