Ride The High Country Sam Peckinpah Movie

Ride the High Country is a classic Western movie that had been first released in the year 1962. In the United States of America, it was officially released in the middle of the month of June, while in Japan; the month of its release was July. The cast includes Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott in the lead, followed by Mariette Hartley. Other actors featured in the cast of the movie include Ron Starr, Jenie Jackson, John Anderson, R.G. Armstrong, James Drury, Warren Oates and Edgar Buchanan. The movie was directed by Sam Peckinpah and produced by Richard E. Lyons.

Like its classic Western contemporaries, Ride the High Country involves a lot of action and adventure, accompanied by plenty of thrills. N.B. Stone Jr. has been granted the official credit for composition of the plot of the movie. However, Robert Creighton Williams and director Sam Peckinpah also contributed substantially to the development of the story. George Bassman has received the credit for having composed the score.

The leading actors Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott are assigned roles having almost the same levels of significance. However, it is arguable that the character of Steve Judd, played by Joel McCrea, is marginally more significant in the plot than the character of Gil Westrum, played by Randolph Scott. Nevertheless, the name of Scott was billed ahead of McCrea in the cast of Ride the High Country.

The element of deception operating in the plot is one of the most significant aspects that make this movie entertaining for all audiences. The character of Judd is seen to hire Gil and Heck to assist his quest. However, it becomes evident that behind his back, the duo is conspiring to steal the gold that Judd is attempting to transport. Ride the High Country also includes a single female protagonist Elsa. This girl, played by Mariette Hartley, joins the trio in an attempt to escape from the clutches of her father.

Alongside these complications, the main plot involves an apparently simple mission. A shipment of gold has to be transported from a mining camp in the high country through a dangerous terrain. The introduction of the brothers of Elsas fiancé complicates matters even further. Eventually, Ride the High Country includes a gunfight that is the trademark of contemporary Western motion pictures.

Ride the High Country received much acclaim even in the closing decade of the twentieth century. The United States Library of Congress decided in 1992 that it should be preserved in the National Film Registry. In the biography of Charlton Heston, the aged actor expresses his desire to produce a remade version of this movie. Although this movie did not achieve popularity immediately following its release in the USA, the huge success in Europe was ample compensation, followed by the Paris Film Critics Award judging it as the Best Film. Ride the High Country