Randolph Scott's performance in Ride the High Country might be his best performance. In fact it was his last performance. His personality in the film adds humor and interest in an otherwise placid depiction of life in the West. I couldn't help thinking during the film that it was a film from my grandfather's era. I'm sure he would have remembered Randolph Scott as the representative of Westerns in his era. Ride the High Country is an interesting film. It was made prior to the revolution in Cinema that happened with the dawning of the New Hollywood. And it shows. There is little gratuitous violence and no sex. The most scandalous thing that happens in the film is when Mariette Hartley shows her naked back to the camera while changing into a pink dress. Altogether the film shows the evolution of the Western from this film to the Sergio Leone epics onto recent films like Unforgiven and Hostiles. The film is only for those with a keen interest in Westerns. If you don't have a keen interest in Westerns the film will be boring and placid.
The film revolves around two plot lines. It's difficult to say which is more important; the marriage of Elsa or the attempted robbery by Gill and Heck. In any event they come clashing together in an ending that leaves nothing open. The marriage is broken and the gold deposits are taken. What will happen to the gold? Will it get stolen by Heck and Gill? Or will they give it to the bank? That question is left open. Otherwise the story is built around the job of transporting the gold from Coarse Gold back to Hornitos. Along the way the plot twists with Mariette Hartley's quest to find love and leave her boring life on the farm which is controlled by her stern father. The film progresses neatly from situation to situation with the stakes rising to a boiling point in the last twenty minutes.
The film is interesting to watch. The role of stolid cowboy with unbending ethics is well done by Joel McCrea. He symbolizes so many values that conservatives hold dear. The dedication to the good fight, his unbending morals, and his care for women as exemplified in his care for Mariette Hartley's character. Randolph Scott turns in a good performance as well. He is a con man from the start. It is only in the last segment of the film that he is redeemed and returned to respectability. In the early parts of the film he is mostly comic relief. His unforgettable quip to Heck during the fight scene makes a nice sound bite for the trailer. Yet the film is clearly for two older actors. They take up most of the screen time and provide the driving force of the plot. There is a lack of psychology in the actors which causes them to come of as rather light. Ethan from The Searchers is a much more complex character. The only sense of the past we get is from Joel McCrea's character's frayed cufflinks. I would have liked to see more complications in the actors psyches. There is little more to their motivations than economic necessity.
The film is rather straight forward. There are no big effects scenes. The best use of montage comes from the scene where Mariette Hartley makes her way into the bar to get married. It becomes almost surreal the blending of laughing faces as she stands before the judge to get married. The whole scene of her marriage and the ensuing chaos is well shot and well cut. It creates a sense of anxiety in the viewer and raises questions that push the story in a direction that wasn't easy to predict. It also portrays the Hammond boys as scumbags who have no nobility.
The film doesn't take chances. It doesn't delve into extreme close ups like a Leone film. In fact it might use deep focus a little too much. Some of the shots are so far up that the characters become almost obscure. The gun fight scenes seem like an episode of Bonanza. Too much like TV, not enough like film. It's realism is commendable, but it's no where near a film like The Searchers. It just doesn't grab you emotionally enough. It is too light in it's treatment of death and the struggle to survive.
The film's theme seems to be a morality play. If you follow the Bible than your life will be secure. Mariette Hartley's character shows that. She craves for a life outside of the farm and her scripture quoting father. In her choice to run away she brings death and carnage to the good people in the film fighting for her right to choose. Her father is killed by the Hammond boys. And Judd is killed in the fire fight all so she can first run away from the farm, and then second, run away from her marriage to Billy Hammond. The resounding message is to not go against scripture. To stay on the farm and bad things will not happen. The Lord's way, the way of the Bible, is the way you should choose. Choosing otherwise will only bring on evil and ignominious death.
If you are to see this film, I would suggest that you have a deep interest in Westerns. Otherwise the film might be a bore. I watched this film as part of a study of Westerns. I have seen several Westerns and this film is good, but not great. Compared to Seven Men From Now, another film that starred Randolph Scott they are not that much different. Neither film takes many chances. They are both rather straight forward in terms of techniques and story. This film is from a different era. By contemporary standards it would be a TV show, rather than a feature film.
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