(aka 'Guns in the Afternoon ')
Directed by
Sam Peckinpah
USA 1962
A much-loved revisionist Western, director Peckinpah's second feature film proved to be a bittersweet swan song for the Old West and a classy farewell to the screen for actors Scott and--for some years--McCrea. Set at the turn of the century, the film opens in the town of Hornitos, which is in the midst of a celebration. Down the crowded main street rides Steve Judd (McCrea), an aging former lawman who has seen better days. He mistakenly thinks the cheers of the crowd are for him, but is abruptly reminded of the changing times when a car nearly runs him over. Steve has been hired to escort a gold shipment from the mining town of Coarse Gold back to a bank in Hornitos, but the banker is taken aback by his age. (An especially good scene has Steve reading over his contract in the bathroom so the banker can't see that he needs spectacles.) The old lawman is finally given the job, and he sets out to hire help for the trip. He runs into Gil Westrum (Scott), a fellow former lawman who has survived by dressing up as the dandified "Oregon Kid," selling out his former heroic image. Steve hires Gil and his young sidekick Heck Longtree (Starr), but Gil plans to steal the gold at the first opportunity.
In RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY, director Peckinpah began what was to be an obsession
with men who have lived past their era in history and find it difficult to
adapt to changing times (THE WILD BUNCH;
THE BALLAD OF CABLE HOGUE; and
PAT
GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID all share this theme). His two protagonists, in some
ways mirror images of each other, are wracked with guilt for sometimes failing
to live up to the standards they have set for themselves. What separates them,
though, from the scoundrels they invariably encounter is a personal code of
honor they both try to uphold.
Excerpt from TV Guide located HERE
Posters
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Theatrical Release: June 20th, 1962
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
DVD Review: Warner - Region 1 - NTSC
| DVD Box Cover |
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CLICK to order from:
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Included with Sam
Peckinpah's Legendary Westerns Collection (The Wild Bunch / Pat Garrett
and Billy the Kid / Ride the High Country / The Ballad of Cable Hogue)
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| Distribution | Warner Home Video - Region 1 - NTSC |
| Runtime | 1:54:48 |
| Video | 2.31:1
Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 8.61 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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| Bitrate: |
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| Audio | English (Mono), DUB: French (Mono) |
| Subtitles | English, Spanish, French, None |
| Features |
Release Information:
Edition Details: • Commentary
by Peckinpah documentarians Nick Redman, Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons and
David Weddle |
| Comments: |
Firstly this is an important western - the directors first notable one and a no-brainer addition to the Sam Peckinpah's Legendary Westerns Collection package. The image quality is good but not perfect. A slim black border edges the frame but being progressive and anamorphic the detail is a vast improvement over old VHS and laserdiscs that I have seen in the past. Colors look very good and sharpness is present. The mono audio sounded fine to me. I wasn't over-the-moon about the commentary - it seemed a little lifeless. The featurette features Fern Lea Peter, Peckinpah's younger sister and it is enjoyable and interesting especially for fans of the director. I am very high on this whole Legendary Westerns package and strongly recommend you buy the entire boxset (for savings) as opposed to only this title individually. |
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Recommended Reading for Western Genre Fans (CLICK COVERS or TITLES for more information)
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The Crowded Prairie: American National Identity in
the Hollywood Western (Cinema and Society) by Michael Coyne |
The Invention of the Western Film : A Cultural
History of the Genre's First Half Century (Genres in American Cinema S.) by Scott Simmon |
The Searchers (Bfi Film Classics) by Edward Buscombe |
The Western Genre by John Saunders |
Westerns: Films through History (AFI
Film Readers) by Janet Walker |
The Encyclopedia of Westerns (The Facts on File
Film Reference Library) by Herb Fagen, Tom Selleck |
Gunfighter Nation: The Myth of the Frontier in
Twentieth-Century America by Richard Slotkin |
The Western (Inside Film) by David Lusted |
Red River (Bfi Film Classics) by Suzanne Liandrat-Guigues |
Check out more in "The Library"
| DVD Box Cover |
|
CLICK to order from:
|
|
|
Included with Sam
Peckinpah's Legendary Westerns Collection (The Wild Bunch / Pat Garrett
and Billy the Kid / Ride the High Country / The Ballad of Cable Hogue)
|
| Distribution | Warner Home Video - Region 1 - NTSC |
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