Review of Ride the High Country (1962) by Mjs M — 22 Dec 2008

This wasn?t Sam Peckinpah?s first film, but it might as well have been, because even if he hadn?t made another movie it would have still earned him a place in the pantheon. This certainly isn?t the dramatic departure from the traditional western genre as some of his later work, in many ways it may have simply been the last great traditional western in the vein of John Ford.

The film?s success is rooted mainly in the great skills of Joel McCrea, whose character is an incredibly likable and honorable. His speech about wanting to ?enter my house justified,? is one of the great moments in all of cinema, one that resonates long after the movie ends.

Randolph Scott, Ron Starr, and Mariette Hartley are also great. This isn?t an action driven film, and it isn?t graphic like Peckinpah?s later films, but the two scenes of action are expertly filmed and choreographed.

Peckinpah would go on to make bigger grander films, but this may still be their equal, it?s a small scale masterpiece.