For today’s horror on the lens, we have a low-budget apocalypse film from 1962. The film follows Deputy Colter (Seamon Glass), a deputy who tries to take charge of the formation of a shelter and who quickly reveals himself to be a mentally unstable fascist. Though this film undoubtedly gets off to a rough start, it soon develops a convincingly ominous and almost dream-like atmosphere.
After watching the film, be sure to check out my review from last year. And, as always, enjoy!
This Is Not A Test opens with Deputy Dan Colter (played by Seamon Glass) out on patrol. Suddenly, an alert comes across the radio. Missiles have been launched. They’re heading for the United States. War is imminent. This is not a test.
Deputy Colter proceeds to set up a road block. Every motorist who approaches is ordered to pull over to the side of the road and not go anywhere. Among those who pull over to the side of the road are a young woman and her grandfather, a truck driver, a couple who have a small dog, and a nervous young man in a suit. Colter explains to them what’s going on. He tells them that they can’t leave. He has his orders. This is not a test. This is a real emergency. And since Colter is the only available man in uniform, that means that he’s in charge. When the young woman expresses some doubts to her grandfather, the old man tells her that they have to do what they’re told.
Colter has a plan for surviving the war. He says that they can all get in the back of the truck driver’s big rig. He estimates that they’ll have to stay there for two weeks or so. Under his orders, everyone starts to unload the truck. Of course, not everyone thinks that the truck is going to provide adequate protection but there aren’t any other options available. A few people get upset when Colter announces that, for reasons of safety, they can’t take any alcohol into the truck. Of course, considering that one of the people at the road block is a psychotic, knife-wielding murderer, the alcohol might be the least of their concerns.
As the group tries to create a shelter, they’re also forced to deal with not only a group of rather mild-mannered looters but also the fact that Colter, himself, doesn’t seem to be particularly stable. Colter is enjoying his authority a bit too much, especially when it comes to judging whether they have room in the truck for the couple’s dog or not. One almost gets the feeling that Colter’s looking forward to being the sole man in charge after the bombs drop….
Over the police radio, reports continue to come in. The missiles are getting closer. This is not a test….
This Is Not A Test is an extremely low-budget film from 1962. It was cast with unknown, largely amateur actors and the whole film has a grainy, almost dream-like feel to it. (It would appear that this night-set film was actually filmed at night, which means that the visuals are often as dark as the film’s storyline.) The film gets off to a rough start, with a lot of clumsy dramatics but, as things progress, the film develops a very convincing atmosphere of impending doom. The film emphasizes the fact that no one has the slightest idea what to do and Deputy Colter soon proves himself to be an aspiring dictator. Though most of the actors give rather stiff performance, Seamon Glass makes the aspiring fascist into a very believable and recognizable character.
The low-budget and the amateurish acting aside, This Is Not A Test deserves a lot of credit for following its dark storyline through to its natural conclusion. There is no exit. There is no escape. This is not a test.
It’s the turn of the 20th century and the Old West is fading into legend. When they were younger, Steve Judd (Joel McCrea) and Gil Westrum (Randolph Scott) were tough and respect lawmen but now, time has passed them by. Judd now provides security for shady mining companies while Gil performs at county fairs under the name The Oregon Kid. When Judd is hired to guard a shipment of gold, he enlists his former partner, Gil, to help. Gil brings along his current protegé, Heck Longtree (Ron Starr).
On their way to the mining camp, they spend the night at the farm of Joshua Knudsen (R.G. Armstrong) and his daughter, Elsa (Mariette Hartley). Elsa is eager to escape her domineering father and flirts with Heck. When they leave the next morning, Elsa accompanies them, planning on meeting her fiancée, Billy Hammond (James Drury), at the mining camp.
When they reach the camp, they meet Bill and his four brothers (John Anderson, L.Q. Jones, John Davis Chandler, and the great Warren Oates). Billy is a drunk who is planning on “sharing” Elsa with his brothers. Gil, Judd, and Heck rescue Elsa and prepare for a final confrontation with the Hammond Brothers. At the same time, Gil and Heck are planning on stealing the gold, with or without Judd’s help.
Ride the High Country was actually Sam Peckinpah’s second film but it’s the first of his films to truly feel like a Sam Peckinpah film. (For his first film, The Deadly Companions, Peckinpah was largely a director-for-hire and had no say over the script or the final edit.) Peckinpah rewrote N.B. Stone’s original script and reportedly based the noble Steve Judd on his own father. All of Peckinpah’s usual themes are present in Ride the High Country, with Judd and, eventually, Gil representing the dying nobility of the old west and the Hammond brothers and the greedy mining companies representing the coming of the “modern” age. Ride The High Country‘s final shoot-out and bittersweet ending even serve as a template for Peckinpah’s later work in The Wild Bunch.
Much like the characters they were playing, Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea were two aging veterans on the verge of retirement. For these two aging stars, who had starred in countless westerns before this one, Ride The High Country would provide both fitting farewell and moving tribute. This would be the last chance that either of them would have to appear in a great movie and both of them obviously relish the opportunity. The best moments in the film are the ones where Judd and Gil just talk with the majestic mountains of California in the background.
Among the supporting cast, Ron Starr and Mariette Hartley are well-cast as the young lovers but are never as compelling as Gil or Judd. Future Peckinpah regulars R.G. Armstrong, L.Q. Jones, and Warren Oates all make early appearances. Seven years after playing brothers in Ride the High Country, L.Q. Jones and Warren Oates would both appear in Peckinpah’s most celebrated film, The Wild Bunch.
The elegiac and beautifully-shot Ride The High Country was Sam Peckinpah’s first great film and it might be his best.
Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea in Ride The High Country
Through the Shattered Lens 