Ride the High Country (1962)
Western icons Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott as former lawmen assigned to transport an assignment of gold from a mountainous mining camp to the Californian town of Hornitos.
On their way they meet up with a young cowboy and a naive young woman who wishes to marry one of the miners.
Ride the High Country might just be Sam Peckinpah's best film, i'd certainly say it 's his best western. His use of Scott and McCrea feels like a last hurrah for both the actors and the genre. Indeed it was Randolph Scott's final film role as he retired soon after at the age of 64. As for the genre itself, well of course it would continue and is still arguably going strong although with a much slower output to this day, but Peckinpah's film certainly does feel like final love letter as the two western heroes take one last ride with some witty and at times sad sparring dialogue between the two.
As well as it's occasional feeling of melancholia the film also has a slightly disturbing edge to it when we get to the mining camp. It's clear that when young Mariette Hartley marries her beau she's going to become a ride for himself and his four brothers at their pleasure and whilst there is no on screen rape it's certainly implied it will happen and almost immediately following her wedding.
Luckily none of this occurs, how could it when you have Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea on your side and the final descent down the mountain with it's lush green scenery (a long way from John Ford's Monument Valley landscapes) is a western fans dream as Scott and McCrea make one final stand against the inbred miners in a set piece that would influence film makers especially Spaghetti western ones for years to come.
Ride the High Country is an excellent western and highly recommended.