Ride the High Country

Ride the High Country released in the UK as Guns in the Afternoon is a 1962 American Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring Randolph Scott, Joel McCrea, and Mariette Hartley. The supporting cast includes Edgar Buchanan, James Drury, Warren Oates, and Ron Starr. The films script, though credited solely to veteran TV screenwriter N. B. Stone, Jr., was according to producer Richard E. Lyons almost entirely the work of Stones friend and colleague, William S. Roberts, and Peckinpah himself. a

In the early years of the twentieth century, an aging exlawman, Steve Judd Joel McCrea, is hired to guard a shipment of gold from a high country mining camp to the town of Hornitos, California. Six miners were recently murdered trying to transport their gold on the one trail leading down from the crest of the Sierra Nevada. In his prime, Judd was a tough and respected lawman, but now his threadbare clothes and spectacles serve as reminders that he is long past his prime. Judd enlists the help of his old friend and partner Gil Westrum Randolph Scott to guard the gold shipment. Gil, who makes his living passing himself off as a legendary sharpshooter named The Oregon Kid, enlists the help of his young sidekick, Heck Longtree Ron Starr.Judd, Gil, and Heck ride up into the mountains toward the Coarse Gold mining camp. Judd doesnt know that Gil and Heck are planning to steal the gold for themselvespreferably with Judds help, but without it if necessary. Along the way they stop for the night at the farm of Joshua Knudsen R. G. Armstrong and his daughter Elsa Mariette Hartley. Knudsen is a domineering religious man who warns against those who traffic in gold and trades Bible verses with Judd at the dinner table. That night, Elsa and Heck meet in the moonlight, but Knudsen breaks up their rendezvous. Back at the house, he admonishes and slaps her for her behavior. Unable to tolerate her fathers domination and cruelty, Elsa leaves her home the next morning. She later joins Judd, Gil, and Heck on their ride to Coarse Gold where she intends to marry her fianc. Along the way she and Heck flirt and he tries to force himself on her but is stopped by Judd. ........

Source: Wikipedia