MovieChat Forums > Ride the High Country (1962) Discussion > The way people age

The way people age

posted 17 years ago by dustinthewind25
17 replies | jump to latest

I think Joel McCrea is so wonderful in this. But wow - he just looks older than 57. I realize Cary Grant was an anomaly, but he was 55 when he made North By Northwest, and 59 when he did Charade, and still looked so good. Just interesting the way people age. But both Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott lived to a ripe old age though, McCrea just shy of 85 and Scott 89. And Cary did pretty well too, living to be 82. Also fascinating how the movie portrays them as two old men "at the end of the trail" - and in real life, Scott lived for another quarter of a century after RTHC and McCrea another 28 years. Sorry, just me babbling, but one cool thing - I wrote a letter to Joel McCrea when I was a kid, and he wrote back and sent me his autograph.

[–] bloodfart-1 17 years ago

Great observation and good little story about Mr. McCrea, Dustin. I totally agree on all counts. That is what made me click on your post originally.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] cowboydesperado-1 16 years ago

McCrea was also a rancher and spent a lot of time outdoors...

'We all dream of being a child again - even the worst of us. Perhaps the worst most of all...'

[–] turtletommy 15 years ago

IMO compared to his younger self when he was supposedly one of the most desirable men in Hollywood and had no shortage of women beating a path to his door (especially before his marriage) McCrea had lost a lot of his looks by the time this picture was made. That's life, but he was still ruggedly handsome & fit-looking. He aged more like most people- and Randolph Scott in comparison was the fountain of youth- he had amazingly good genes and maybe lifestyle to show as little aging as he did when you compare him in say the 1942 The Spoilers with John Wayne and Marlene Dietrich and how he appeared in this. Then compare McCrea in the early 40s Preston Sturges comedies to this film.

Well it's always in the eye of the beholder as they say....

[–] theverylastboyscout 16 years ago

I agree to the first post with one small exception.

"Also fascinating how the movie portrays them as two old men "at the end of the trail""

In that area during the late 19th/early 20th century a man in his fifties was nothing less than an old man.
Portraying that two great actors as old men, was abolutely right.

Ride the high country is the rare example of movie in which absolutely everything is done absolutely right.
Not a single discordant note in this swan song.

[–] vinidici 16 years ago

Hi, hummer-w. I couldn't find the word "dicodrant" in the dictionary, but I share your pleasure in RTHC, a great send-off for mssrs McCrea and Scott at the end of their film careers.

[–] theverylastboyscout 16 years ago

ok, it was meant to be "discordant"

That´s what happens when I try to create a metaphor
My typing sucks, doesn´t it?

[–] vinidici 16 years ago

LOL! TBH, I though you meant to write "decadent," though I was at a loss as to where "decadent" fit in with your context!

Also, the dictionary I consulted is a thirty year old, abridged, volume. for all I knew, maybe "dicodrant" WAS a word...

[–] theverylastboyscout 16 years ago

"decadent" would have made no sense at all.
But on the other hand, there are many people who might say, most of the stuff I say and write makes no sense at all.

So maybe, you´ve judged me right.
(You don´t happen to be my ex-wife, do you?
No, she never even paid any attention to anything I´ve said or written.)

In fact, I´ve spent some time thinking about it and I decided "dicodrant" IS a word from now on.
It means "trying hard to sound smarter than you are, altough it´s obvious, nobody will be fooled"
Like in "According to New York Times, the latest state of the union speech was the most dicodrant one since the beginning of this legislative period"
Or "SOLARIS was nothing less than a dicodrant waste of time and money"

[–] vinidici 16 years ago

Well, if we've coined a new word, you've just defined most of my posts at IMDb LOL!

[–] theverylastboyscout 16 years ago

"Life has it´s little bonuses"

[–] Jes' Sayin' (5976) 2 years ago

"Ride the high country is the rare example of movie in which absolutely everything is done absolutely right."

Really? Even the fight in the Chinese restaurant?

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] jarnoldfan 14 years ago

As an aside to aging Western actors: James Drury lives in Houston, and makes frequent appearances at area gun shows. Last year I purchased an autographed lobby card of "FORBIDDEN PLANET" from him ( he is one of the crewmen killed by the Id monster in the battle scene ). Next time I see him, I will get a RTHC photo signed as well.

[–] TexasGreek 13 years ago

To the original poster, everything you wrote about I was thinking exactly as I am watching the tail end of the movie at this very moment.

[–] franzkabuki 12 years ago

McCrea was always something of an annoying yokel when younger, but here he looks and acts just about okay.

"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

[–] mdonln 9 years ago

dustinthewind25 says > Just interesting the way people age.

It is interesting. Like so many other things about us, aging is something all humans do yet we each do it so differently. If you line up a lot of people, all the same calendar age, they will probably look very different one from the other even though they've lived the same number of years.

A lot goes into how we look, of course, including our genes, how we live our lives, what we eat, where we live, etc. Many people seem to think they have the secrets but none of us do. How we live, what we eat, where we live all have a different impact on us probably because of our genes. We may never know.

I adored the young Joel McCrea. He was always so adorable and sexy. I wouldn't expect the same thing from the mature Joel McCrea and he didn't try to be that. I respect that in him. He liked Westerns and went that route but I could also see him playing very distinguished older men in non-Westerns too. That wasn't his preference.

I guess my point is we have to appreciate the different facets of life. If we're lucky we get to go through all the different phases of life with our physical and mental health intact. Since we can't control it, how we look as we age probably should be the least of our concern.

Woman, man! That's the way it should be Tarzan. [Tarzan and his mate]