Ride the High Country

In this brilliant, moving film directed by Sam Peckinpah (The Wild Bunch), 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.

• western