With a contrast in styles, two old cowboys face the declining years of their lives with a resignation that the world of their West also will soon be gone in “Ride the High Country.” A former lawman of integrity Steve (Joel McCrea) hires himself out as a guard on a gold shipment and asks another ex-sheriff Gil (Randolph Scott) to join him. It may be their last job and tests their honesty. Their debates and their differences extend from choosing Heck (Ron Starr), a young hot gun as their deputy, to allowing a young girl Elsa (Mariette Hartley) to ride with them as she looks for the man (James Drury) who jilted her at the altar. With his boorish brothers, he is no prize and the two old lawmen watch her marriage dissipate on the wedding night, requiring her rescue. Their fight with the brothers leads to more double-crosses and tragic death.