STACK #137 Mar 2016

EXTRAS

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Major Dundee (1965) Directed by Sam Peckinpah The Background Part 1:

I n the summer of 1962, a low-budget western was given a general release as the lower half of a double-bill that featured the turgid Italian-made costume drama The Tartars . To the average moviegoer, the western appeared to be just another standard cowboy movie that at the time were still regularly rolled out by most of the Hollywood studios in support of their A-feature films. Indeed close examination of the cast, which included old- time cowboy actors, Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea, would appear to confirm its B-movie status. However, word quickly spread through critical reviews and amongst cinemagoers that rather than being just another “oater”, this movie was more a minor classic western. The film’s popularity grew to such an extent that many US theatre managers took it upon themselves to reverse the billing on their marquees to advertise Ride the High Country as the main feature of the double-bill. The story centred on two former

Many US theatre managers took it upon themselves to reverse the billing on their marquees to advertise Ride the High Country as the main feature of the double-bill.

back when the frontier was untamed and they believed in justice, loyalty and honour. But the West they shared has practically vanished and they now have very different ideas on how to deal with the change and their own obsolescence. Although both arthritic, saddle-sore and bullet-scarred, Judd still remains loyal to his code of honour. Westrum on the other hand has become more cynical, and unbeknownst to his partner, plans to steal the gold as payback for the long years of dutifully putting his life on the line for ungrateful people who now care nothing for past service. Westrum’s view on his lot is reflected early on in the film when he says to his partner, “Steve, do you know what’s on the back of a poor

lawmen, marginalised by old age and circumstance, who undertake one last ride as hired guns. Their contract is to bring in a shipment of gold from a mining camp in the High Sierras – described to them as “a sinkhole of depravity”– and deliver it to a small town bank. On the journey they meet various characters including a young runaway girl, who is intent on marrying one of the notorious Hammond clan who are pan-handling in the gold fields. The two main protagonists, Gil Westrum and Steve Judd (played by Scott and McCrea) reminisce about the old days

Westrum (Randolph Scott) and Judd (Joel McCrea) walk toward the Hammond gang for the final showdown in Ride the High Country

The notorious Hammond clan in Ride the High Country

MARCH 2016

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