RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY (1962) (Blu-ray Review)

 

RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY (1962) 

Label: Warner Archive Collection
Duration: 94 minutes
Region Code: All Regions
Rating: Unrated: 
Audio: English DTS HD-Master Audio 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1) 
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Cast: Randolph Scott, Joel McCrea, Mariette Hartley, Ronald Starr, Edgar Buchanan, James Drury, Warren Oates. L.Q. Jones, R.G. Armstrong

In Sam Peckinpah's Ride The High Country (1962) we have aging lawman Steve Judd (Joel McCrea, Foreign Correspondent) at the turn of the 20th century, man on horses are giving way to the horseless carriage, and the remnants of old west are evaporating fast. Judd is in the process of signing on for work with a bank, hired onto guard a shipment of gold from the Coarse Gold mining camp in the Sierra Nevada's back to the bank in Hornitos, California. The job is dangerous, numerous men have died doing it, but the bankers don't think too much of the legendary lawman, who has seen better days, in fact he has to hide the fact that he needs reading glasses when reviewing the contract with the bankers, excusing himself to the bathroom to read it in private, it's sort of funny, and there's a lot of humor mixed into this movie. 

Finally offered the job Judd hires on an old gunslinger pal named Gil Westrum (Randolph Scott, Seven Men from Now) who has been working in a carnival sideshow attraction as “The Oregon Kid,”. The two past-their-prime gunslinger have both seen better days. Gil brings along his younger, hot-headed, sidekick Heck Longtree (Ron Starr) - love that name - on the job, and the three men set in the direction of Coarse Gold. But, unbeknownst to Judd the two men plan to double-cross him, and make off with the quarter million dollars in gold for themselves, unless they can convince the stoic, but well-worn, former lawman to swindle the bankers, too. 


They trio stop off along the way at a ranch run by uber-religious Joshua Knudsen (R.G. Armstrong, The Car) who lives with his attractive and rambunctious teenage daughter Elsa Knudsen (Mariette Hartley, The Return of Count Yorga), who is stifled by the strict upbringing by her father. She ends up running off with the trio of hired gunslingers, joining them on their trip to Coarse Gold, where she hopes to rekindle a romance with a young man named Billy Hammond (James Drury, TVs The Virginian) who once proposed to her, which doesn't turn out well for anyone. 

Peckinpah has always done well with stories about men who a bit out of time, a bit past their prime, and drawn into dangerous situations, and that was even true on this, his second film. McCrea and Scott are fantastic, veterans of countless Westerns, men of grit and presence, whose very appearance lends credibility to the film, but I have to admit, I have never been a huge fan of the American westerns. As a kid I hated them, it wasn't until I caught the wild Italian pasta-westerns of Sergio Leone (The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly) and Sergio Corbucci (Django) that I came around to tales from the old west, mostly because I loved the lurid and violent ways and the keen cinematography, but to this day I don't much care for the John Ford (The Searchers) westerns of the films of John Wayne (True Grit), but I have come around to the movies of Sam Peckinpah, beginning with The Wild Bunch years ago, so it was a treat to dig into this revisionist western, even if it lacked the visceral punch of Peckinpah's later films. 

Back to the film, the gold shipment begins to take a backseat to the story about two aged lawmen, their codes of honor, and the betrayal, that's the real meat of the story. There's an impromptu marriage in Coarse Gold between her and her Billy Hammond, with a wonderfully demented exchange of vows overseen by drunk Judge Tolliver (Edgar Buchanan) who offers the most downer of warnings to the newlyweds. It turns out that Billy has an assortment of brothers,  they're a lecherous bunch, among them character actors Warren Oates (Race with the Devil)and L.Q. Jones (The Brotherhood of Satan), a slimy clan who at one point seem to threaten to gang-rape the poor girl!

The sex and violence is toned way down, particularly considering what would come from Peckinpah in later years, but the movie thrives on the honorable grit of McCrae and Scott, the latter of whom is not so honorable, but the finale buttons things up nicely, with Scott getting his wish to "enter my House justified.", both men facing the threat of death with old west dignity. 

Audio/Video: Sam Peckinpah's Ride the High Country (1962) arrives on Blu-ray from the venerable Warner archive, benefitting from a new 2K scan from a recent interpositive and the results are very nice. Colors are vibrant, the big blue sky and green tree lines look great. Grain is nicely resolved, fine detail is abundant, and the Lucien Ballard (The Wild Bunch) CinemaScope lensing looks phenomenal. While this is not the most colorful western, every once in awhile we do get some nice splashes of color, particularly during a visit to a local whorehouse. The one mark against it, the opening title credit sequence is window boxed for some odd reason, but I don't think that it's a deal breaker as the remainder of the film looks wonderful, but it is unfortunate.  

The English DTS HD-Master Audio 2.0 Mono track sounds good, crisp, clean and while not overly dynamic, the movie is over fifty years old, it does the job and his free of any distortion, and the George Bassman score sounds great, even in mono. Optional English subtitles are included. 

Warner Archive bring over all the extras from ther 2006 DVD, beginning with the audio commentary with Peckinpah documentarians Nick Redman, Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons and David Weddle. Nick Redman of Twilight Tie moderates, and this is a char filled to the brim with Peckinpah, if you're a fan of the director this is a mandatory listen There's also a 22-min interview with Peckinpah's younger sister, Fern Lea Peter, who recounts what it was like in the Peckinpah household when they were young, a few of her older siblings youthful behaviour and speaking a bit about his entry into the Marines, film school, and what drove her and Sam apart at one point in their adult lives. There's also a 3-min trailer for the movie included, which pales in comparison to the new 2K transfer, it makes for a nice comparison. 

Special Features:
- Commentary by Peckinpah documentarians Nick Redman, Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons and David Weddle
- Documentary: A Justified Life: Sam Peckinpah and the Hogue Country (22 min)(SD)
- Original Theatrical Trailer (3 min)(HD) 

Ride the High Country (1962) is a classic American western, it lacks the visceral punch of later Peckinpah films but is a solid character-driven slice of Americana, featuring two legendary actors giving wonderful performances as a pair of gunslingers past their prime, fighting to hang onto their honor, sometimes straying along the way. This Blu-ray from Warner Archive looks phenomenal, definitely worth the upgrade! 3/5 

THE RETURN OF COUNT YORGA (1971)

THE RETURN OF COUNT YORGA (1971) 

Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Duration: 97 Minutes
Rating: R
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 1.0 Mono 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 
Director: Bob Kelljan
Cast: Edward Walsh, Mariette Hartley, Robert Quarry, Roger Perry, Yvonne Wilder

Synopsis: When the overlord of the damned rises again to prowl the shadows, who will stand against The Return Of Count Yorga? Robert Quarry is back as one of the most dapper vampires to ever set up shop in California in this thrilling sequel that really raises the stakes. Revived by the well-known supernatural properties of the Santa Ana winds, our undead leading man takes to the streets with an unquenchable thirst. In search of new blood, Yorga moves next door to an orphanage. But when he crosses paths with a beautiful young woman, the Count's thoughts turn to love. Has the ruler of the night finally found the girl with whom he can share eternity?

Count Yorga (Robert Quarry) returns after his demise in the first film, resurrected by the supernatural forces of the Santa Ana winds of Northern California. This time Count Yorga taking up residence in a very fine manor conveniently located right next to an orphanage for children, which promises a steady flow of fresh blood for some time for himself and his vampire-brides. 

Yorga and his brides are introduced during a great intro scene of a young boy named Tommy finds himself in a most unfortunate place, a forgotten cemetery after dark. As we all know nothing good can happen after dark at a cemetery, Yorga's vampire brides rise up from their graves and Tommy becomes a victim to Yorga, becoming one of his evil minions. Later that evening Yorga attends a Halloween masquerade ball at the orphanage where he meets Tommy's older sister Cynthia Nelson (Mariette Hartley, TV's Law and Order: SVU), and the vampre become instantly infatuated with the young woman, hoping to make her one of his undead vampire-brides. 

Something that separated Robert Quarry from the Hammer-Cushing movies was that he played the undead Count as a suave and dapper gentleman, a well spoken and elegant man out of time draped in his cape and vintage clothing in a contemporary setting, at the masquerade ball it is assumed he is in costume. The way that Quarry goes from smooth to baring his fangs for some pumped up frightful moments can be a lot of fun, but they are few and far between. His sinister brides comes across as more zombie than blood-sucking vamps, but the sight of them appearing in a group does provide some old school fun, just prepare yourself for a bit of a slow-burn, it can be slow going but the movie is punctuiated by some fun moments of fright and humor. 

A lot of the humor comes by way of a pair of inept police detectives played by Craig T. Nelson (Poltergesit) and Rudy De Luca (Transylvania 6-5000), who are vampire-scoffers but who soon enough find themselves on the run from the horde of vampire-brides at Yorga's manor, fighting off not just the blood-sucking brides but Yorg's disfigured  henchman Brudda (Edward Walsh). Of course, every vampire movie needs a Van Helsing type character, and here we have one by way of the elderly Professor Rightstat (George Macready). 

Count Yorga was one of the first vampire franchises to place a vampire in a contemporary setting that I can remmeber, followed by Blacula with William Marshall a few years later, it's old hat these days but  at the time it was something pretty original. The Northern California coastal location makes for a great setting for the movie, a contemporary movie but with a hint of the Gothic originas in the architecture of the orphanage and Yorga's manor, it creates a nice atmosphere of creepiness.

The movie is a little campy in hindsight but very straight-faced, a slow-burn punctuated with some fun moments, including numerous scenes of blood-draining and the horde of vampire brides descending upon a home i a way that echoes the Manson murders. There's also a fun scene of a priest being humorously lured to his death by Yorga into a pit of quicksand. I grew up with the Yorga movies on TV so I have a lot of nostalgia for them, I'd been keen to know what a younger audience makes of it, if they can appreciate it the series for retro-charms and loads atmosphere, or if it comes across as cheesy and slow. 

Audio/Video: The Return of Count Yorga arrives on Blu-ray from Scream Factory with a very nice 1080P HD widescreen presentation, in the original widescreen aspect ratio with a pleasing amount of clarity. The vintage colors are strong and robust with solid blacks and shadow detail. This is a nice upgrade from the MGM Midnight Movies release from a few years back , a much crisper presentation than I would have imagined. The English DTS-HD MA Mono audio is nicely balanced with the dialogue, Bill Marx score, and special effects coming through clean and crisp, with optional English subtitles for those like myself who often watch movies in a house full of noisey kids. 

Onto the extras we have a brand new Audio Commentary With Film Historian Steve Haberman And Actor Rudy De Luca with Haberman taking the lead with a wealth of information about the production of the franchise, the cast and crew, and American International Pictures. The remainder of the extras include a trailer, a TV spot, some radio spots and a gallery of posters and promotional images used to advertise the movie. There's also a cool vintage sleeve of reversible artwork, always a nice bonus

Special Features
- Audio Commentary With Film Historian Steve Haberman And Actor Rudy De Luca
- Theatrical Trailer (2 Mins) 
- TV Spot (1 Mins) 
- Radio Spots (2 Mins) HD 
- Photo Gallery (3 Mins) 

I love the Yorga movies, I think the movie might be a little slow for a modern youth audience but for us old timers who can enjoy a proper slow-burn with a decent payoff there's a lot to love here, and Scream Factory have done a fine job bringing it to Blu-ray, that while not loaded with bonus features does offer an excellent A/V presentation. For those who might have hoped for a double feature with Count Yorga, Vampire (1970) on Blu-ray, while we didn't get it, the original movie is now on Blu-ray from Twilight Time as stand alone release. 3/5