Guns in the Afternoon
Directed by:
Sam PeckinpahCinematography:
Lucien BallardComposer:
George BassmanCast:
Joel McCrea, Randolph Scott, Mariette Hartley, Ron Starr, James Drury, Edgar Buchanan, R.G. Armstrong, Jenie Jackson, L.Q. Jones, John Anderson, Warren Oates (more)Plots(1)
In this brilliant, moving film directed by Sam Peckinpah, cowboy icons Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea find roles to match their leathery Western personas, playing aging lawmen hired to guard a gold shipment. They don't have much: a horse each, a couple of dollars. And they have everything: their independence. But the frontier is disappearing - and so is space wide open enough for independent men. With luck, the two will find space enough for this ride and one last payday. They will also find adventure, including the dramatic rescue of a mistreated bride (Mariette Hartley), gun-blazing shoot-outs and a life-changing betrayal. Both an exciting Western and a heart-lifting homage to the genre, Ride the High Country is a journey into film greatness. (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment)
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Reviews (2)
A good western always manages to please me, and Sam Peckinpah knew how to make one. He chose characters that were worth it, where the heroes are strong and the villains slimy, but certainly not one-dimensional. The fight for the woman is then made more interesting by the fact that she is not necessarily a beauty, yet they still want to win her over.
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It lacks the dance macabre that would be typical of Peckinpah, but his disillusionment with the Wild West era and somewhat peculiar approach to female characters is already apparent. The film gets off to an unexpectedly slow start, but from the moment it arrives at the gold-mining colony it grabs you and doesn't let go. A minor blemish on the beauty was the hard-to-believe sudden change of Gil Westrum's temper into a man of honour at the very end, but otherwise no complaints.
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Photo © Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
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