Featured Audience Ratings

• Bob S

  
  Peckinpah's debut is one kickass western. Highlights include a stunning death scene and a truly moving "The End" final shot. Features some beautiful crane cinematography and some neat editing. Slightly marred by an occasionally intrusive score. Great memorable… More
  Peckinpah's debut is one kickass western. Highlights include a stunning death scene and a truly moving "The End" final shot. Features some beautiful crane cinematography and some neat editing. Slightly marred by an occasionally intrusive score. Great memorable performances all around.

• Chris W

  
  This early effort by "Bloody Sam" is one of many elegiac westerns the lauded director helmed. Hmm, now that I think about it, pretty much every western he did was an elegy...interesting. The setting is the early 1900s: the twilight for the Old West. Joel McCrea is an… More
  This early effort by "Bloody Sam" is one of many elegiac westerns the lauded director helmed. Hmm, now that I think about it, pretty much every western he did was an elegy...interesting. The setting is the early 1900s: the twilight for the Old West. Joel McCrea is an ex-lawman living on the fringes of society. When he gets hired to escort a shipment of gold, he decides to enlist the help of his old pal played by Randolph Scott. Unlike McCrea's character, Scott's doesn't have much remaining integrity, and thus is easily tempted, along with his young saddle mate to convince McCrea's Steve Judd to steal the gold for themselves instead of delivering it as expected. This film come out during a transition period for the western genre. It was after the heyday of the classic era, but a few years before the revisionist epics that started in the late 60s, perhaps best exemplified by Peckinpah's own bloody masterpiece The Wild Bunch. As a result, this film is a bit of a mix between the old period, what with being a send off of sorts, as well as a forerunner for what would soon come, though the violence here, while fairly strong for the time, isn't quite to the level that it would be in the aforementioned The Wild Bunch. The leads are pretty good, and they have a nice rapport with one another. Their costars likewise do pretty decently with the material. The film is rough around the edges, and you can tell it's before Peckinpah hit his stride, but it's still got some great location shooting and decent cinematography. Give this one a watch. It's pretty solid.

• Conner R

  
  I think this is actually a pretty cool movie and I enjoyed it as much as I possibly could. However, I'm not a big fan of Joel McCrea or Randolph Scott. Therefore, the nostalgia factor really didn't hit home to me. Even with that handicap, Sam Peckinpah's debut is pretty… More
  I think this is actually a pretty cool movie and I enjoyed it as much as I possibly could. However, I'm not a big fan of Joel McCrea or Randolph Scott. Therefore, the nostalgia factor really didn't hit home to me. Even with that handicap, Sam Peckinpah's debut is pretty incredible. It's wonderfully shot, moody and fun. I think my favorite shot of the entire movie is the scene where one of the bad guys is shot in the gut and the camera just stays on him while he slowly dies.

• Michael G

  
  Ride the High Country is a great western that had so much potential to turn into just another forgettable western, but under Sam Peckinpah's incredible direction refuses to. Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea play incredibly well off of each other and wind down their careers on an… More
  Ride the High Country is a great western that had so much potential to turn into just another forgettable western, but under Sam Peckinpah's incredible direction refuses to. Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea play incredibly well off of each other and wind down their careers on an incredibly high note. Peckinpah brilliantly straddles the line between a fun buddy western and also manages to get downright disturbing (the wedding and... reception at the whorehouse) while foreshadowing what would become later, darker territory for him. I almost lost my shit when McCrea called the gang redneck peckerwoods during the final showdown and Christ, how I loved this movie...!

• Randy T

  
  There's just something about watching Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea on horseback that makes me want to mosey along down yonder and punch some little doggies.

• Jared H

  
  Pretty entertaining and surprisingly funny. Doesn't stand out as one of the great Westerns that I've seen, but pretty solid. No major complaints here.

• Jonny C

  
  Great western. Old school cowboys Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott, are superb in this lesser known western. The movie is beautifully shot, with some stunning scenery on show, and cast do an excellent job, with an intelligent script. Director Sam Peckinpah later became famous for… More
  Great western. Old school cowboys Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott, are superb in this lesser known western. The movie is beautifully shot, with some stunning scenery on show, and cast do an excellent job, with an intelligent script. Director Sam Peckinpah later became famous for directing The Wild Bunch and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, but I prefer this one.

• MJS M

  
  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… More
  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.

Read all 8 featured audience ratings