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| Director: |
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Sam Peckinpah |
| Year: |
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1962 |
| Language: |
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English |
| Time: |
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93 minutes |
At the turn of the last century, in the autumn of the year, an aging
ex-marshal (Joel McCrea) hopes to make enough money to retire on by taking a job transporting
a gold shipment down from the high Sierras. But everything goes awry after he hires a less
principled former sidekick (Randolph Scott) to help him.
This was Peckinpah's first major film after nearly a decade doing television
dramas (most notably Gunsmoke), and it is a transitional work in many respects. Some of the
dialogue and scene-blocking is in the style of an earlier era, and seems badly dated now. But
much else about the film was forward-looking and remains fresh today. And Peckinpah's
decision to give the leading roles to two old cowboy-movie stars who were themselves in
fact over the hill gives the film an ironic richness.
Not rated. Some scenes of violence, relatively tame by today's
standards.
Links
Learn more about The Last Western theme.
Information about
the director
Useful reviews and other information about Ride the
High Country can be found at:
www.imdb.com/title/tt0056412/
www.culturevulture.net/Movies2/RidetheHighCountry.htm
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