Plot
In the Old West, lawyer Jeff Toland arrives in Ivestown to establish his practice upon learning the railroad will pass through the town. He discovers Ivestown is geographically and economically divided from East Ivestown. Jeff meets Les Harper, Dr. Denton, and Harper's niece, Ellen Ives. Harper and his brother-in-law, Henry Ives (Ellen's father), tell Toland their "vigilante committee" enforces justice and neither he nor his law practice is welcome. Toland refuses to leave town. His office is ransacked and a threatening note is left. Henry Ives has a change of heart and believes electing a sheriff and setting up a proper government is necessary, since the railroad will result in town growth.
Meanwhile, Harper wants to buy up all the land on Main Street in anticipation of the railroad coming. However, Toland learns the railroad is coming through East Ivestown after a railroad surveying report concludes the land there is better suited. A drunk Dr. Denton leaks the report to Harper. Toland blames himself for the leak. Harper and his henchmen head to East Ivestown to intimidate landowners into deeding their property to him for prices well below market value. Toland interrupts Harper as he attempts to strong arm East Ivestown store owner, Lafe Barton. In the skirmish, Lafe's son is wounded by gunfire. Toland is unaware Harper was the assailant.
Toland tells Henry Ives about the re-routing of the railroad and the attack in East Ivestown. Ives tells Harper he will call a meeting to disband the vigilante committee. Ives is ambushed and murdered en route to the meeting. Toland discovers his body in the road. At the meeting, Harper says East Ivestown rightfully belongs to Ivestown and they must re-take it in light of the railroad coming through there. After Toland reports Henry Ives' death, Harper implicates Toland. Dr. Denton is shot and wounded as he rides to warn Toland about the vigilantes coming for him, and their plans to take over East Ivestown. Denton admits to Toland he leaked the survey report.
Toland rides to East Ivestown ahead of the vigilantes to warn the town. The townspeople agree to separate from Ivestown and hurriedly appoint Toland as sheriff. Harper and his gang appear under the ruse of arresting Toland for Ives' murder. Toland, however, arrests Harper after proving Harper was there, earlier, when he attacked Lafe Barton. Harper's gang start a fire as a distraction so they can free Harper. Toland pursues Harper back to Ivestown and a gunfight ensues at the saloon. Harper feigns surrender and shoots Toland. Toland returns fire killing Harper. The East Ivestown men arrive as the fight ends. Later, Toland, recovering from his wound, receives a letter of appreciation from the governor. He and Ellen are now romantically involved, leading Dr. Denton to ponder becoming a lawyer, too.
Henry Plummer (1832–1864) was a prospector, lawman, and outlaw in the American West in the 1850s and 1860s, who was known to have killed several men. He was elected sheriff of Bannack, Montana, in 1863 and served until 1864, during which period he was accused of being the leader of a "road agent" gang of outlaws known as the "Innocents," who preyed on shipments from Virginia City, Montana to other areas. In response some leaders in Virginia City formed the Vigilance Committee of Alder Gulch and began to take action against Plummer's gang, gaining confessions from a couple of men they arrested in early January 1864. On January 10, 1864, Plummer and two associates were arrested in Bannack by a company of the Vigilantes and summarily hanged. Plummer was given a posthumous trial in 1993 which led to a mistrial. The jury was split 6–6.
Human Desire is a 1954 American film noir drama starring Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame and Broderick Crawford directed by Fritz Lang. It is loosely based on Émile Zola's 1890 novel La Bête humaine. The story had been filmed twice before: La Bête humaine (1938), directed by Jean Renoir, and Die Bestie im Menschen, starring Ilka Grüning (1920).
The Desert Trail is a 1935 American Monogram Western film starring John Wayne and directed by Lewis D. Collins. The movie also features Eddy Chandler, Mary Kornman, and Paul Fix.
Riders of Destiny is a 1933 pre-Code Western musical film starring 26-year-old John Wayne as Singin' Sandy Saunders, the screen's second singing cowboy. It was the first of a series of sixteen Lone Star Westerns made for Monogram Pictures between 1933 and 1935, by Wayne and director Robert N. Bradbury, and the first pairing of Wayne with George "Gabby" Hayes.
Thomas James Smith, also known as Tom "Bear River" Smith, was a lawman in the American Old West and briefly marshal of cattle town Abilene, Kansas. He was killed and nearly decapitated in the line of duty.
Juan Flores was a 19th-century Californio bandit who, with Pancho Daniel, led an outlaw gang known as "las Manillas" and later as the Flores Daniel Gang, throughout Southern California during 1856-1857. Although regarded by historians as a thief and outlaw, Flores was considered among Mexican-Americans as a folk hero akin to Jesse James and who was thought of as a defender against vigilante movements in the years following the American settlement of California and its incorporation into the United States. However, the activities of Flores and other insurrectos such as Salomon Pico and Joaquín Murrieta against American and foreign-born settlers not only created long-lasting suspicion and hostility towards Mexican-Americans but also divided the traditional Spanish class structures of the Californios and the poorer peasants as well.
Fuzzy Settles Down is a 1944 American Western film directed by Sam Newfield.
Rio Rattler is a 1935 American Western film directed by Bernard B. Ray.
The history of vigilante justice and the Montana Vigilantes began in 1863 in what was at the time a remote part of eastern Idaho Territory. Vigilante activities continued, although somewhat sporadically, through the Montana Territorial period until the territory became the state of Montana on November 8, 1889. Vigilantism arose because territorial law enforcement and the courts had very little power in the remote mining camps during the territorial period.
Billy the Kid Wanted is a 1941 American Western film directed by Sam Newfield. This film is the seventh in the "Billy the Kid" film series produced by PRC from 1940 to 1946, and the first starring Buster Crabbe as Billy the Kid, replacing Bob Steele. The film also features Sam Newfield's son Joel.
Pirates of the Prairie is a 1942 American western film directed by Howard Bretherton and starring Tim Holt, Cliff Edwards and Nell O'Day. Produced by RKO Pictures, it was inspired by the Banditti of the Prairie. The plotline is strikingly similar to the 1940 film Legion of the Lawless. Doris Schroeder is credited with the screenplay for both films.
Bullet Code is a 1940 American Western film directed by David Howard and starring George O'Brien, Virginia Vale and Slim Whitaker. The screenplay was written by Doris Schroeder from a story by Bennett Cohen.
The Cedar Creek Furnace is a former blast furnace site near Russellville in Franklin County, Alabama. It was the first iron ore furnace in Alabama, preceding an industry that would come to dominate the state's economy in the late 19th and early 20th century.
Orphan of the Pecos is a 1937 American Western film produced and directed by Sam Katzman and starring Tom Tyler, Jeanne Martel, Howard Bryant, and Forrest Taylor. Written by Basil Dickey, the film is about a cowboy who is falsely accused of murdering a rancher whose body he discovers. Before the sheriff arrives, he escapes and tries to find evidence to clear his name and help the rancher's daughter save her ranch. The film was released in the United States on December 30, 1937 by Victor Pictures.
The Marshal of Mesa City is a 1939 American Western film directed by David Howard from a screenplay by Jack Lait Jr..
Old Overland Trail is a 1953 American Western film directed by William Witney and written by Milton Raison. The film stars Rex Allen, Slim Pickens, Roy Barcroft, Virginia Hall, Gil Herman and Wade Crosby. The film was released on February 25, 1953, by Republic Pictures.
Prairie Thunder is a 1937 American Western film directed by B. Reeves Eason and written by Ed Earl Repp. The film stars Dick Foran, Janet Shaw, Frank Orth, Wilfred Lucas, Albert J. Smith and Yakima Canutt. The film was released by Warner Bros. on September 11, 1937. It was the last of 12 B-westerns Foran made for Warners as a singing cowboy from 1935 to 1937.
The Wytheville Raid or Toland's Raid was an attack by an undersized Union brigade on a Confederate town during the American Civil War. Union Colonel John Toland led a brigade of over 800 men against a Confederate force of about 130 soldiers and 120 civilians. The location of Wytheville, the county seat of Wythe County in southwestern Virginia, had strategic importance because of a nearby lead mine and the railroad that served it. This mine supplied lead for about one third of the Confederate Army's munitions, while the Virginia & Tennessee Railroad transported Confederate troops and supplies; plus telegraph wires along the railroad line were vital for communications. In addition to logistics of moving the lead to bullet manufacturing facilities, this rail line also connected an important salt works of an adjacent county with the wider Confederacy.
Breed of the West is a 1930 American Western film directed by Alan James, starring Hal Taliaferro, Virginia Brown Faire, and Buzz Barton.
Gunslingers is a 1950 American western film written by Adele Buffington and directed by Wallace W. Fox. It stars Whip Wilson, Andy Clyde, and Reno Browne.
