Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 12-June-11
Spoiler Rating: Medium

Ride the High Country (1962)

When I say that Joel McCrea shouting "redneck peckerwoods" is my favorite part of Ride the High Country, I don't mean to disparage the picture. Colorful language aside, this early work from director Sam Peckinpah is a fine western with solid themes and classic moments. But McCrea in anger is a sight to see, especially because it emphasizes an upstanding nature which brooks no depravity.

McCrea was pushing 60 when he made Ride the High Country, and his age is key to the story. His character Steve is a career gunslinger who is still virile but doesn't get as much respect as he used to — or as many jobs. He therefore jumps at the chance to transfer gold from a mining camp to a bank even though others have been killed in the attempt. As backup he enlists his pal Gil, who is played by another veteran of westerns, Randolph Scott. The camera revels in these two old bucks sitting their horses like pros while reminiscing about lost times and enumerating their aches and pains. To round out the scenario, Gil brings along a protégé with the neato name of Heck Longtree (Ron Starr), who is rough around the edges and could stand to learn from his elders.

Unbeknownst to Steve (at least admittedly), his partners plan to take the gold and run. Gil hopes to bring Steve into the scheme by pointing out how they have spent their lives dodging bullets (or not) with little to show for it. To further complicate the situation, after the trio spends a night in a man's barn they end up with the man's daughter Elsa (Mariette Hartley). Fleeing the narrowness of her life, she's riding to the mining camp to marry a beau, which sparks jealousy in Heck's heart. The question of the old-timers' loyalty (ego or honor?) is temporarily put aside when they reach the camp and Elsa grasps the form that her marriage will take: a nightmare of being passed between her husband and his louse-ridden brothers, starting with a wedding night at a brothel.

The conflicts come to a head after Steve collects the gold and is ready to start down the mountain. He and his partners can't abandon the bride to her fate, so they take her under their protection. When Gil shows his hand as a thief, Steve's anger flares, letting McCrea really shine. (This is another indication of age. Men so tall and sturdy don't need to raise their voices to be heard, but Steve's potency is somewhat dimmed and he is defending his entire life to another man cut from the same cloth, so the anger is a necessary emphasis.) Never mind that his vocation has left him with no wife, no savings, and nothing to ease aging or death; Steve is a man of his word and that's enough. His behavior teaches Heck what a man should be and ultimately reminds Gil of the same as they turn to meet Elsa's spurned lovers. The full-barreled shootout (Scott's last movie hurrah) memorably ends their tale of taking stock and finding integrity.

Copyright © 2011 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.