Elmore Leonard

Beautiful Carmen Colson and her ironworker husband Wayne are placed in the Federal Witness Protection program after witnessing an "incident". Thinking they are at last safe, they are targeted by an experienced hit man and a psychopathic young upstart killer. The ensuing struggle will test Carmen to the limit. When the professional killer Armand 'Blackbird' Degas falls in disgrace with the Mafia, he flees to another city in Canada. He stumbles upon the psychopath Richie Nix, who lives with his girlfriend Donna. Armand teams up with him and moves to his house. Richie summons Armand to participate in a scheme to take money from a wealthy real estate agent, but he commits a mistake and the couple Wayne Colson and Carmen Colson witness their action. They are forced to join the Witness Protection Program by the FBI and they move to another town. But Armand and Ritchie are hunting them down since they are a threat. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Armand Degas (Mickey Rourke), a hit-man known as "Blackbird!," accidentally shoots his younger brother during a job. Years later, he is hired by a Mafia boss to assassinate the man's father-in-law at a hotel, but also kills a witness. Visiting Walpole Island, Blackbird crosses paths with Lionel, a fellow First Nations member, and notices Wayne Colson (Thomas Jane), a recently fired iron-worker. Separated from his wife Carmen (Diane Lane), Wayne collects some belongings from their house in Michigan. Unable to collect his payment for the hotel murder, Blackbird learns the Mafia boss wants him dead for needlessly killing the witness. He meets Richie Nix (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a volatile young criminal, and joins his scheme to extort Carmen's boss, Nelson Davies. Visiting Carmen's office to ask for a job, Wayne is mistaken for Davies by Richie and Blackbird. Richie demands the money at gunpoint, but Wayne fends them off, throwing Richie out a window. As Wayne and Carmen see Blackbird's face before he escapes with Richie, he vows to kill them. Blackbird recognizes Wayne from Walpole Island, where he and Richie press Lionel for Wayne's whereabouts before killing him. Staying at the home of Richie's girlfriend Donna (Rosario Dawson), Blackbird and Richie arrive at the Colsons' house just as Wayne drives off. Richie takes off after him, and Carmen confronts Blackbird with Wayne's shotgun before locking herself inside and calling the police. Richie shoots at Wayne inside a convenience store but he escapes, and Richie kills the clerk. In the morning, the Colsons learn about Blackbird from the FBI and are placed in Witness Protection. Richie tricks Carmen's mother into revealing the Colsons have moved to Missouri. Carmen suspects the FBI is using them as bait to find the killers, but reconnects with Wayne in their new life together. Blackbird coerces the Mafia boss into digging up his brother's body and burning it in a car with another corpse to fake Blackbird and Richie's deaths. DNA from the body is tested against Blackbird's other incarcerated brother, proving they are related. With the FBI convinced the killers are dead, Wayne and Carmen are allowed to return home. Jealous of Donna's advances toward Blackbird, Richie shoots her before they leave to kill the Colsons. After admitting to Wayne that she is not sure their marriage will survive, Carmen returns home alone, finding Richie and Blackbird waiting. Richie torments Carmen, spraying her with buck lure, forcing her to stay in her underwear, and putting a bullet in her mouth which she spits onto the floor. Losing his patience after Richie antagonizes him about Donna, Blackbird shoots Richie dead. Emptying Richie's pistol, he allows Carmen upstairs to get dressed. She finds another of Wayne's shotguns, but Blackbird disarms her. Wayne arrives, and realizes Carmen is being held hostage. He retrieves his shotgun from his truck as Blackbird bursts outside. They exchange fire and Wayne is hit, losing his gun. As Blackbird moves in for the kill-shot, he turns to see Carmen aiming Richie's gun, which he reminds her is empty, but remembers the bullet she spat out earlier. While Blackbird is distracted, Wayne crawls to his shotgun, and he and Carmen shoot Blackbird at the same time. Blackbird falls dead, as Carmen and Wayne embrace. Beautiful Carmen Colson and her ironworker husband Wayne are placed in the Federal Witness Protection program after witnessing an extortion scheme go wrong. Thinking they are at last safe, they are targeted by an experienced intimidating hit man and a psychopathic young upstart killer. The ensuing struggle will test Carmen to the limit. —McCormack

A small-time rancher agrees to hold a captured outlaw who's awaiting a train to go to court in Yuma. A battle of wills ensues as the outlaw tries to psych out the rancher. Rancher Dan Evans heads into Bisbee to clear up issues concerning the sale of his land when he witnesses the closing events of a stagecoach robbery led by famed outlaw Ben Wade. Shortly thereafter, Wade is captured by the law in Bisbee and Evans finds himself one of the escorts who will take Wade to the 3:10 to Yuma train in Contention for the reward of $200. Evans' effort to take Wade to the station is in part an effort to save his land but also part of an inner battle to determine whether he can be more than just a naive rancher in the eyes of his impetuous and gun slinging son William Evans. The transport to Contention is hazardous and filled with ambushes by Indians, pursuits by Wade's vengeful gang and Wade's own conniving and surreptitious demeanor that makes the ride all the more intense.

Chili Palmer (John Travolta) helps Edie Athens (Uma Thurman), the widow of an executed friend, Tommy Athens (James Woods), to resurrect a record company using the talents of young and talented female vocalist and songwriter, Linda Moon (Christina Milian). The plot is complicated by several facts: In a loan-shark subplot from Get Shorty of "who owns who", Chili makes deals and owns all the players as a "producer". The Russian Mafia (headed by Roman Bulkin (Alex Kubik)) are trying to kill Chili because he witnessed the execution of Athens. Athens' record company owes money to a gangster/producer, Sin LaSalle (Cedric the Entertainer). Chili Palmer is an accomplished filmmaker and hates sequels. His friend Tommy Athens is the owner of a record company. Tommy is meeting Chili for a lunch meeting at a cafe. Tommy is in the music business and pitches Chili to produce a film on his life in the music industry. Tommy had picked Linda Moon to play the out-of-town talent who wanted to make it big in the music industry and Tommy is the executive who makes it happen. The movie would be a musical. He tells Chili that Linda Moon hangs out at the Viper club and is expecting to meet Chili there. When Chili goes to the restroom, a Russian assassin drive up to the cafe (where they were having their meeting) and shoots Tommy. Chili comes out of the restroom and has a good look at the assassin who wears a toupee. Marla (Debi Mazar) is the detective assigned to investigate the case. She believes that Chili set up Tommy for the hit. Moon convinces Chili to take on her cause, getting out of contractual obligations to Nick Carr (Harvey Keitel) and Raji (Vince Vaughn). Linda says that Nick and Raji got her when she got off the bus from Texas and promised to make her a huge star. She believed them and signed a bad contract with them, which basically pays nothing. She has 5 more years left on the contract and wants out. Nick has a gay Samoan bodyguard named Elliott (The Rock), an aspiring actor and the butt of Carr and Raji's homophobic jokes. When Chili walks out of the club with Linda, Raji sends Elliot to kill Chili. However, Chili befriends Elliot and tells him that he can help him out with his acting career. Chili uses the opportunity to help his friend's widow, Edie Athens, manage the failing business, which owes $300,000 to the hip hop producer Sin LaSalle. Chili decides to enter the music industry on the talents of a female entertainer, Linda Moon. Chili was looking to get out of the music business and sees Linda as the perfect opportunity. Chili convinces Edie to produce Moon, hoping to resurrect Athens' failing record company through a live performance with Aerosmith and Steven Tyler. Moon being launched at the concert would also bring down the marketing costs on her debut album. Tommy's assistant Tiffany (Kimberly J. Brown) tells Chili that the Russian assassin with the toupee came by Tommy's office at least twice in the last few days, looking for Tommy. Carr and Raji take exception to Chili's intervention, and hire a hit-man, Joe "Loop" Lupino (Robert Pastorelli) to kill Chili. LaSalle threatens Chili and Edie for payment of the $300,000, but they convince him to give them a few days to get the money plus the Vig. LaSalle is the manager for the band Dub MDs, which was produced by Tommy's company. When the Russians attempt to kill Chili, Joe Loop mistakenly kills Ivan Argianiyev (George Fisher), the Russian Mob hit-man. Raji then kills Loop with a bat after Loop "disrespects" him by asking for another $5000 for another hit on Chili, and also calls Raji as Nick's "B***h". Raji is adamant that he will not give up Linda without a fight. After Chili talks Linda into leaving Carr and his girl group, Chili confronts Carr at his house to hand over Linda's contract. Chili says that Carr had her for 2 years and did nothing for her, and Chili already got her a label within 3 days of meeting her. Chili finds out that Roman was the assassin who killed Tommy. He also knows that Roman is being watch by Feds round the clock. Chili confronts Roman inside his shop and tells him to stay away from Edie. Chili says that he also knows that Roman sent Ivan to kill him. Chili then takes Edie to a basketball game with seats next to Steven Tyler. Back in the day, Edie was a groupie with Aerosmith and is afraid that Steven won't remember her. Steven fondly remembers that Edie used to put Lavender water in their clothes. Steven hears Linda's voice recording and agrees to launch her at his concert. Meanwhile, Elliot has been waiting for Chili to call him about the audition. He confronts Chili at home with the same baseball bat that Raji used to kill Loop. Chili calms Elliot down and asks him to make some changes to his monologue routine and prepare for auditions. Elliot is satisfied that Chili will deliver on his promise and leaves the bat at his place. Carr realizes that the Russians are after Chili, when he finds from Elliot that Chili was seen outside the pawnshop owned by the Russian mob boss Roman Bulkin. Carr makes a deal with Roman to kill Chili. Carr tries to trick Chili by handing him a pawn ticket, claiming that Linda's contract was at the pawn shop owned by the Russians. This is actually a set-up by Carr to get Chili killed. When Chili picks the ticket, he tells Nick that Raji killed Loop. Nick insults Raji. Raji call LaSalle and says that Chili is buying Linda's contract from Nick for $300,000. Knowing about this trick, Chili hands the ticket to Edie, who turns it over to the police. Now the cops, instead of Chili, pay the Russians a visit. Believing that Carr tricked him, Bulkin and his men pay a visit to Carr's office while Sin LaSalle and the Dub MDs are there. Insulted by Bulkin's racist remarks, LaSalle kills him. When Carr threatens Chili, Chili sends him to the hands of the police with a pawn ticket. Finally, when Raji and Elliot threaten Chili, Chili again befriends Elliot, who turns on Raji after learning that Chili gotten him an audition for a film and Raji erased the evidence of it on his answering machine. For all his smooth talking and flamboyant wardrobe, Raji finds himself in a firework conflagration which roasts him live on camera. Carr is arrested on murder charges when they find him with the bat used to kill Joe Loop. During all of this confusion, Chili squeezes in a dance with Edie (a nod to his "Twist Contest" scene, also with Thurman, in Pulp Fiction) and Moon gets her debut with Aerosmith. Finally, LaSalle becomes the producer for Moon's debut album video. At the MTV Video Music Awards, Linda wins the awards for best new artist and video of the year. During her acceptance speech, she thanks Edie, Sin and Chili. Edie and Chili leave the award ceremony. As Chili drives off, he passes a billboard revealing that Elliot is the co-star of a new movie with Kidman.

Jack Ryan, a surfer and small-time thief, has a fight with the intimidating Lou Harris, involving a baseball bat. Harris is a foreman on a Hawaii construction site run by duplicitous millionaire Ray Ritchie. When Jack is released from jail, both the police and Ritchie's business partner, Bob Rogers Jr., tell Jack to leave the island. However, Judge Walter Crewes takes a liking to Jack and offers him a place to stay and a job as a handyman at a small resort of beach-front bungalows that he owns. Jack has treacherous encounters with Harris and Rogers Jr., on numerous occasions. Ritchie has all his (substantial) property registered in the name of his wife, Alison. He is also cheating on her with a much younger woman, Nancy Hayes. When Nancy takes an interest in Jack, the Judge warns him that she likes "the criminal type" and cannot be trusted. Jack is falling for Nancy, and they break into houses for fun and profit. Nancy suggests to Jack a scheme to steal $200,000 that Ritchie is keeping for bribes and mob business. She arranges for him to sneak into Ritchie's house to steal the money from his safe. Jack arrives to find Ritchie face down motionless and his friend Frank shot and lifeless (although he does jump up and run off moments after he's hit the ground, only wounded superficially). In a conspiracy with Alison, Nancy has set up Jack to be Ritchie's "killer", with Alison to shoot him dead as an intruder. Alison blundered by overdosing Ritchie with poison, and shot the wrong man, Frank. It is revealed that Judge Crewes tried to make Jack the patsy as he is Alison's lover and has been part of the conspiracy, with the two promising to give Nancy the $200,000 for her part. Jack manages to steal the money from the safe and before Nancy can, narrowly escaping and leaving Alison and Crewes to frame Nancy as Ritchie's killer. Alison and Crewes are seen sailing Ritchie's yacht, disposing of his body in the ocean. Nancy is in disguise, trying to escape the island before she is arrested for Ritchie's disappearance and murder. Jack spots Nancy as he's driving past her in a limousine, stopping to wish her well and refusing to help her after her attempt to frame him. He departs with the money and the beautiful vacationer from bungalow number 9 he met while working at Judge Crewe's resort.

A female flight attendant becomes a key figure in a plot between the police and an arms dealer.

Chilli Palmer (John Travolta) is a loan shark in Miami. When his New York based boss dies of a heart attack, Palmer finds himself working for Ray 'Bones' Barboni (Dennis Farina) an old rival who hates, Palmer. Bones is upset with Palmer for not collecting a loan from dry cleaner Leo Devoe (David Paymer) who was killed in an airliner crash. Bones directs Palmer to get the money from Devoe's widow (Linda Hart). Visiting the widow Palmer realizes that Devoe is not actually dead but got off the plane at the last minute and has used the accident to get out of the loan and, through his wife, collect a $300,000 settlement from the airline. Devoe has taken the money out of the state, but never sent for his wife. Angry, she lets Palmer know that he is in Las Vegas. Palmer travels to Vegas and meets with a casino chief who tells him that Devoe has managed to gamble his winnings up to $500,000 and has moved on to Los Angeles. The casino chief asks Palmer while he is in L.A. if he can visit low budget movie producer Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman) and remind Zimm that he owes the casino $150,000. Palmer traces Zimm to the house of his sometimes girlfriend, sometimes star, Karen Flores (Rene Russo). Late at night when Flores hears the TV playing downstairs, she sends Zimm down to turn it off and he finds Palmer watching Letterman. Palmer delivers his reminder to Zimm about the casino debt and Zimm promises to pay. Palmer is a big film fan and engages Zimm in a conversation about his work eventually pitching him a story which is a fictionalized version of his hunt for Devoe. Flores comes downstairs to find them talking over drinks and, less than happy with both, and throws them out. Action switches to the airport where gangster Bo Catlett (Delroy Lindo) is meeting a representative of a Columbian cartel, Yayo Portillo (Jacob Vargas) to buy a shipment of drugs. Catlett takes the drugs and gives Portillo the key to an airport locker where the $500,000 in cash is stowed. Portillo, suspecting a set up and that the locker is being watched by the Federal agents, does not go to the locker, but shows up at Catlett's mountainside house. Catlett shoots him and his body falls over the balcony down the mountainside. Catlett sends his bodyguard, Bear (James Gandolfini) a sometimes stunt man, to retrieve the key and hide the body. Zimm tells Palmer about a movie he wants to produce, "Mr. Lovejoy," which has what he thinks is an Oscar winning script. He can't produce it, however, because Catlett has already lent Zimm $150,000 to do a film called "Circus Freaks." Zimm can't return the money because he lost it at Vegas in attempt to gamble it up to $500,000, the amount he needs to buy the Lovejoy script from the late writer's wife Doris Saphron (Bette Midler). Palmer tells Zimm to let him handle the next meeting with Catlett and he will get Circus Freaks put off for a few months. Palmer will get the money from Devoe to finance Mr. Lovejoy. Zimm gets nervous in the meeting with Catlett and Catlett's tough subordinate Ronnie Wingate (Jon Gries). Zimm screws it up so that Catlett finds out about the valuable script and wants a piece of the production. He even offers to give Zimm $500,000 for the picture and suggests he send Palmer to get it from a locker at the airport. Palmer goes to the airport and senses a setup. He tests what is going on by seeming to open the locker with the money when actually he opens the locker next to it. He is grabbed by federal agents, but then released when they realize that they have made a mistake. Afterward Bear confronts Palmer in the parking lot to get the key back but is outmatched by Palmer who levels him with a few blows. As Bear recovers Palmer asks him about his stunt work and flatters him by knowing about the movies he's been in. Palmer mentions that he thinks Bear can do a lot better than working for Catlett. The key to making Mr. Lovejoy a success is to get star Martin Weir (Danny DeVito) to sign on. Flores is Weir's ex-wife and still has a good relationship with him. Flores starts to become romantically involved with Palmer and helps him get access to Weir. As it turns out Weir's current girlfriend is Rock star Nicki (Renee Props) an old friend of Palmer's from Miami. Soon Palmer, who is familiar with Weir's work and flatters him, manages to talk him into signing on for the picture. Palmer also interests Weir in playing the fictional version of himself in the story he is developing. Palmer tracks down Devoe and takes $310,000 of the $500,000 leaving him with just his Vegas winnings. Devoe complains, but Palmer tells him if Bones had found him instead Bones would have taken all the money and killed him. Meanwhile Bones has learned of the money Devoe has scammed from the airline. He comes to LA when Zimm foolishly contacts him and tries to get him to invest in his film. A meeting between the two doesn't go well and leaves Zimm in a cast and head brace. At the same meeting Wingate appears and is shot by Bones, who then makes it look like Zimm killed Wingate in self-defense. The fact that Yayo has disappeared along with $500,000 has brought Colombia drug lord Mr. Escobar (Miguel Sandoval) to L.A. with two goons. Though Catlett denies knowing what happened to Yayo or the money, it is clear that Escobar holds Catlett responsible giving him just a couple of days to find both of them or there will be fatal consequences. Desperate, Catlett confronts Palmer to get Devoe's money, kidnapping Flores and taking her to his house until the cash is delivered. Palmer arrives at the house to rescue Flores. Catlett plans to take the money and kill them both, but with Bear's help (Bear has secretly switched sides), Palmer turns the tables on Catlett and sends him flying over the balcony to his death. Something Catlett had planned for Palmer. Bones finally catches up with Palmer and demands Devoe's money. Finding the airport locker key in Palmer's coat, Bones assumes that Palmer has hid the money at the airport. When Bones goes to the airport and opens the locker, we see the federal agents close around him. The scene suddenly switches to an airport set at a movie studio. A voice addresses Bones and when he turns around, we see that the character is now portrayed by Harvey Keitel. Threatening him is Weir playing the fictional version of Palmer. Weir screws up the shot and as the movie company breaks for lunch, we see that Penny Marshall is the director and Bear a technical consultant with Zimm producing and Palmer and Flores as executive producers. There is a long helicopter pull out shot from the studio and the credits roll.

Released from prison, Stick meets up with a friend and joins him on a job delivering a bag. His friend gets killed in the setup. Stick gets away and is ready to forget all and see his daughter, but they won't forget. Ernest 'Stick' Stickley returns from prison, and very soon he gets involved with his old friend in a drug-running deal that goes sour. Hired by a rich investor, he tries to walk the line, but trouble follows him throughout as he tries to collect a debt and make up for lost time with his daughter. Stick also finds a new flame with a financial wiz and gets set to enjoy a new life, but Chucky and Nestor, the two hoods who owe him the debt, have other plans for Stick.

Vince Majestyk is a farmer, an ex-con, a former U. S. Army Ranger instructor, and Vietnam War veteran, who owns and operates a watermelon farm in rural Colorado. He needs to harvest his crop soon in order to keep the farm financially solvent. A small-time hood, Bobby Kopas, attempts to coerce Vince into a protection racket of using unskilled drunks to harvest his watermelon crop. Vince runs him off with Kopas' shotgun and hires experienced Mexican migrant workers, including Nancy Chavez, a crops picker and also a union leader. They also become romantically attracted to each other, in the process. Later, Kopas brings assault charges against Vince, resulting in him being placed under arrest before he can finish the harvest. In jail, Vince meets Lt. McAllen, who knows a lot about Vince's checkered past, as well as annoying fellow inmate Frank Renda, a notorious mafia hit man. When a transport bus is assigned to take Vince, Renda, and a few other inmates for court sentencing, Renda's men try to break him out as the bus passes through town, killing several officers. In the escape attempt, Vince drives off in the bus with Renda still in handcuffs, eventually taking him to his hunting cabin in the nearby foothills. Vince hopes to trade Renda to the police in return for being released to finish harvesting his melons. Renda offers his captor $25,000 for his freedom, but Vince declines. Renda then threatens to kill Vince if he does not release him and Vince pretends to be persuaded to take the money, but contacts both the police and Renda's mafia contacts to come pick them up. Wiley, Renda's girlfriend, arrives, but they manage to turn the tables on Vince, although he is able to escape out of the car and returns to the police station empty-handed, with McAllen ordering a deputy to escort Vince to a jail cell. Renda learns the charges for which he had been imprisoned have been dropped and meets up with his right-hand man, Gene Lundy, who advises him to fly to Mexico for a vacation and enjoy himself, despite Renda's objections as he wants to take care of Vince personally. After returning, Renda and Wiley are met by Lundy, who introduces them to Kopas, whom Renda instantly dislikes because of Kopas' dishonest nature when Renda notices Vince hired the migrants to pick the melons and discovering some of the deputies disguised as road workers as a stakeout job. Renda orders Lundy to pull over and tells Kopas to get out, informing him that does exactly what Lundy tells him, before Renda and the others drive away. That night, Renda and his men arrive at the farm to kill Vince, but discover he is not at home. They instead rough up the hired hands, forcing them to depart, as well as shooting up the picked melons with sub-machine guns. As Vince and Nancy have a drink at a bar, Renda approaches and tells him he plans to kill him. Instead of being intimidated, Vince knocks Renda down, further infuriating him. When Vince and Nancy return to the farm, a horrified Vince looks at the ruined melons and the next day, his friend and hired hand Larry Mendoza, decides to take what is left of the crop into town to have them shipped to another state, as well as Vince's orders to drop Nancy at a bus station for her own safety. After Larry drops off Nancy, he goes to a train yard to drop the melons off, but is confronted by Kopas and Renda's men. They break his legs by slamming their car into him. At the hospital, McAllen informs Vince that his hired hands may have been responsible for Larry's injury and that the city police put a stakeout on Renda's lodge hideout in the mountains, but he has not been there since. Vince bitterly tells McAllen and his deputies to back off, despite McAllen's assurance that Vince will be killed by Renda, if so. When Vince returns home, he is shocked to see that Nancy hitched a ride back. Lundy goes to collect Renda and arrives back at the farm, where Kopas and the men are watching the house. Vince gets away in the back of his pickup truck driven by Nancy and a chase ensues. Luring Renda and his men into the foothills, Vince turns the tables on them and becomes the attacker, killing most of Renda's men during the pursuit. Realizing they are now the hunted, Renda retreats to the lodge where he, Wiley, Lundy and Kopas hole up to figure out another plan. Renda sends Wiley outside to negotiate with Vince, hoping to force him to show himself, but he sends her away with Nancy to find the police. Vince then assaults the cabin, killing Lundy after Renda sacrifices him to save himself. Disgusted at Renda, Kopas decides to leave when he realizes Renda will also kill him, too, to get to Vince. Kopas runs out and is caught by Vince, who decides to spare Kopas' life as long as he tells where Renda is. Vince jumps through the front window and blows Renda away. Kopas tries to escape in his car, but notices Vince stole the keys. The police, as well as Nancy and the now-arrested Wiley, show up at the cabin and take Kopas into custody. McAllen notices Renda's body and wants to take Vince to the station for questioning. Now satisfied, he declines the offer and he and Nancy drive away in the truck.

An ex-bounty hunter reluctantly helps a wealthy landowner and his henchmen track down a Mexican revolutionary leader. Joe Kidd (Clint Eastwood) is a former bounty hunter and all-around tough-guy in the American southwest. When a band of Mexicans find their U.S. land claims denied and all relevant records destroyed in a courthouse fire, they turn to force-of-arms. Luis Chama (John Saxon) is their charismatic leader, spouting revolutionary rhetoric and demanding land reform. A wealthy landowner with interests in the disputed area, Frank Harlan (Robert Duvall), decides to settle things his own way. He hires a band of killers and wants Joe Kidd to help them track Chama. Initially, Kidd wants to avoid any involvement, until Chama makes the mistake of stealing Kidd's horses and terrorizing his friends. —Tad Dibbern <DIBBERN_D@a1.mscf.upenn.edu>

A Mexican-American sheriff (Burt Lancaster) must resort to violence against a powerful rancher (Frank Tanner, played by Jon Cypher) in order to get just compensation for the pregnant Indian widow of a wrongly killed black man. The town constable, Bob Valdez (Burt Lancaster), is forced to kill someone accused by Frank Tanner of being a murderer. Valdez asks Tanner for monetary help for the man's wife, but he is ridiculed and almost killed by Tanner's henchmen. Valdez recovers and summons up his days in the U.S. Cavalry in order to fight them. Valdez wounds one of the henchmen and sends him back to Tanner with the message, "Valdez is coming."