The Hi-Lo Country

The Hi-Lo Country is a Western drama set in New Mexico after the Second World War. Pete Calder and Big Boy Matson return from the war to the town of Hi-Lo, where the older ranching way of life is giving way to large-scale cattle operations. The two friends take work that lets them hold on to some independence rather than sign on with the region's biggest rancher. Their bond is strained when both become involved with the same woman, Mona, and the situation puts their long friendship under pressure.

Stephen Frears directed the film, the ninth of the twenty-three features listed in his filmography, between Mary Reilly and High Fidelity. Walon Green wrote the screenplay, and Martin Scorsese, Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner produced. Billy Crudup plays Pete and Woody Harrelson plays Big Boy, with Patricia Arquette as Mona, Penélope Cruz as Josepha O'Neil, Cole Hauser as Little Boy Matson and John Diehl as Les Birk among a credited cast of twenty. The film runs 114 minutes and was released at the end of December 1998.

Audience reaction has been moderate. On IMDb it holds a rating of 6.1 from roughly 4,800 votes, and on TMDB a rating of 6 from about a hundred votes. A critics' rating of 5.6 from thirty-five reviews places it slightly below the audience scores.