Main Cast: Helen Boyce, Randolph Scott, Ann Dvorak, Edgar Buchanan, Dick Curtis, Rhonda Fleming, Lloyd Bridges
Release Year: 1946
Country: US
Run Time: 90 minutes
Plot
Dan Mitchell (Randolph Scott) is the town marshal of Abilene, KS, in the turbulent years after the Civil War and the start of the big cattle drives out of Texas. The town is growing faster than a lot of citizens are prepared to deal with it, especially as homesteaders start moving in, fighting for space with the cattlemen. Dan has kept the peace, such as it is, by keeping the saloons, gambling, and guns on one side of Main Street and the shop-owners, farmers, women, and children on the other. He's also been walking a tightrope in his own life, conducting a sometimes turbulent romance with Rita (Ann Dvorak), a saloon singer and co-owner, while also not discouraging the attentions of Sherry Balder (Rhonda Fleming), the "nice girl" daughter of one of the town's leading businessmen, who would love to marry Dan if only he would settle down. A new wave of homesteaders is arriving, and the cattlemen, cowboys, and saloon owners want them driven out and the town kept wide open, fearing the homesteaders' religious beliefs and the arrival of families, which means schools, building, and encroaching "respectability." Trouble breaks out and people are killed, with Dan caught in the middle. Using his guile and a good deal of bravery, and the unwitting help from the cowardly county sheriff (Edgar Buchanan), Dan manages to get the shop owners onto the side of the homesteaders, and plays a dangerous game of divide-and-conquer with the saloon-keepers and cowboys. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
In the years following the Civil War, Kansas is in the middle of a difficult time. Homesteaders are moving into the west, trying to start new lives, and are going head to head against cattlemen who have been settled in that territory for years. In Abilene, one of the biggest cattle towns of the west, the town is on the brink of a confrontation between the cattlemen and the homesteaders.
Marshall Dan Mitchell (Randolph Scott), who is the law in Abilene, has the job of keeping the peace between the two groups. For a long time, the town had been divided, with the cattlemen and cowboys having one end of town to themselves, while townspeople occupied the other end. Mitchell liked it this way, it made things easier for him, and kept problems from arising between the two factions. However, when homesteaders decide to lay stakes in the cowboys end of town, that balance is upset, and leads to a deadly showdown.
The leader of the homesteaders is Henry Dreiser (Lloyd Bridges), a young man with good common sense, and the local sheriff is Bravo Trimble (Edgar Buchanan), a lawman who would rather play cards than be involved in any confrontation. Mitchell not only has the difficult job of juggling the upcoming confrontation, but also his love life.
