This film has one of the great final scenes...
Randy Scott telling Joel McCrea (I'm paraphrasing) "Don't worry, I'll get the money back," and McCrea saying "Hell, I knew that..." McCrea telling Randy "I think...I'll go this one alone..." then turning to face the high country for the last time...
Call me sentimental, but it chokes me up every time.
I think McCrea said, "Hell, I knew that...I was just waitin' for YOU to know it!"
Superb Western! And a brilliant cap on the careers of Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott (easily Scott's best picture).
The part that always gets to me is just before this (and this too), when McCrea goes to help the kid, Scott is still only watching. But when McCrea gets hit, Scott doesn't even pause, he draws his gun and charges.
This is a classy movie.
It was really "I knew that. You just forgot. That's all. Well, so long, partner."
shareWhy don't you get the phrasing right for crying out loud!
Scott says to McCrea "Don't worry about anything - I'll take care of it just like you would have" And McCrea responds "Hell I know that - you just forgot it for a while is all".
I have to agree - I get misted up each time I see this scene. One of the best Westerns ever made, and by far Scott's best film!
shareJust saw the movie for the first time and the final scene is indeed very good. Man I can't get that haunting theme song out of my mind either- it didn't seem like much at first but it really grew on me. I think I saw McCrea in Foreign Correspondent but other than that I had never seen him in anything else, nor Randolph Scott either. What a great pairing of two old lions of Hollywood near the end of their film careers. The recent DVD release is a fantastic print too.
shareI think I saw McCrea in Foreign Correspondent but other than that I had never seen him in anything else, nor Randolph Scott either.I hope you'll make the effort to see some more of their work, particularly the westerns. The culmination of two great careers in the genre add to the mystique of their characters in "Ride the High Country". I've listed a few recommendations.
Thanks for the list! It's in my Netflix queue. I now remember I saw Scott in the Errol Flynn "Virginia City."
I got a kick when Scott's name was mentioned in 'Blazing Saddles' and the townspeople shouted out in unison "Randolph Scott!" and bowed in respect.
Another excellant Joel McCrea film is 'The Palm Beach Story'.
rdb.
I've seen almost all the films misspaddylee recommended and I'd have to say I enjoyed The More the Merrier better than Sullivan's Travels or the Palm Beach Story. Jean Arthur was a doll. Not that Veronica Lake was chicken feed mind you, but TMTM I just enjoyed more. Sturges' films seemed a bit too inconsistent if that's the right word.
shareTry two comedies McCrea did with Miriam Hopkins in the '30s: The Richest Girl in the World and Woman Chases Man.
Randolph Scott's penultimate film, Comanche Station, is on par with Ride the High Country. It's about a man on quest to find his wife, who was abducted by the Indians. He instead finds another woman, but it doesn't develop into a romance. It's one of the few movies I know about that deals with man/woman relationship in terms of developing respect for each other. The ending shot of Scott riding the high country, continuing his search, is stirring, and has been stolen by tons of subsequent film makers.
Speaking of great films by McCrae..... Sullivan's Travels, although a light hearted comedy was a very underrated film..... See it for sure....
Please turtletommy check out Scott in THE TALL T and COMMANCHE STATION. Two of the best westerns ever. You wont be sorry!
shareOh yeah in the 3 years since my 2009 posts I've watched both many times- I own the Boetticher/Scott box set (Ride Lonesome another good one in that set) and 7 Men from Now as well. In 1999 I spent some time wandering around the Alabama Hills and other locales east of the Sierra crest seen in all those Scott westerns (and of course featured in many other films over the years).
shareYou gotta see "The Most Dangerous Game" (1932) with Joel McCrea and Fay Wray on the run through the jungle escaping the mad scientist -- like a cross between "King Kong" and "Island of Lost Souls" (the original story it was based on).
share"Shane!... Come back, Shane!... Mom needs you, I know she does!... Goodbye Shane!"
shareThe thing I love about this scene is the very end of the last shot. A lesser director would have panned upwards at the end, but not Peckinpah. It's bleak and honest and without a touch of sentimentality. Want to believe that Steve Judd met a good end and is going off to a better place? You'll just have to supply that ending yourself, without help or confirmation or justification from what's on the screen. It's devastating... in a good way, of course ;-)
Not to take anything away from Joel McCrea's performance, of course. Sometimes it seems like he doesn't care too much about acting and then he comes up with something like this. Underplaying this scene really, really worked.
I think the actual line that Joel McCrea speaks after the Randolph Scott's character says, "Don't worry, I'll take care of everything, just like you would," is, "Hell, I know that. It's just you forgot it for a while." Makes me tear up every time. Then the Scott character realizes that McCrea wants his final moment alone, rises up, tips his hat and says, "Being seein' you partner." It is then that McCrea turns, the camera pulls back slightly, and we see the mountains of his beloved West from his point of view as he sinks out of the frame. He has, "entered his house justified." Truly one of the great final scenes in any film, and gets to me the same way the scene in "Lonesome Dove" though not the final scene, in which Robert Duvall's character, Gus, dies, when he opens his eyes the last time and says, "By God, Woodrow, it's been quite a party."
shareActually, I think the exact line was "Hell, I know that. I always did. You just forgot it for a while, that's all."
shareI agree. The final scene between Gil and Steve is quite touching. And that closing shot is simply beautiful.
"We're all part Shatner/And part James Dean/Part Warren Oates/And Steven McQueen"
PeterD-5 was right on. Here's the dialog from the final scene.
McCrea "How'd we figure? A thousand dollars a shot?"
Scott "Yeah."
McCrea "Those boys sure made me a lot of money. They put 'em all in one spot."
Scott reacts to the finality of this, and looks down.
McCrea "I don't want them to see this. I'll go it alone."
Scott waves the other two back.
Scott "Don't worry about anything. I'll take care of it. Just like you would've."
McCrea "Hell, I know that. I always did. You just forgot it for a while, that's all. So long, partner."
Scott stands up.
Scott "I'll see you later."
Scott joins the other two and they walk off. McCrea looks back at the mountains, then slowly falls to his side then forward, dying.
THE END
This is one of the greatest Western endings ever filmed. Another that is very good but not as good as this one is The Fastest Gun Alive with Glenn Ford. And of course, 3:10 To Yuma with Ford and Heflin is very good as well. My vote goes to Ride The High Country.
Think I found out where that final great scene was shot at: the old 20th Century Fox ranch in what is now Malibu Creek State Park in Agoura, CA, 25 miles from L.A. They filmed lots of stuff there including M*A*S*H TV series and Planet of the Apes movie. The distinctive peak in the background of the dying McCrea is one of the Goat Buttes peaks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Malibu_creek1.jpg
http://employees.oxy.edu/jerry//century.htm
I suspect that his look to the mountains is also a reference to Psalms 121:1
shareThis is one of the great final scenes of any movie I have ever seen. Joel McCrea's character Steve dies in just the place he described earlier. The ranch in the mountains that he wanted to retire to. So, at least in his final moments, he has everything he wanted. That brief span of time in which he dies is a microcosm of a life. Even someone who had that ranch is in the same place when he dies as Steve. And I agree about the haunting, poignant theme which makes me misty every time I see the movie.
shareScott and McCrea were Western legends. It's great to see them together. Yes the ending is very moving.
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