Howard Hawks

In the Broken Saloon at El Dorado, two old friends meet up again. Sheriff J.P. Harrah (Robert Mitchum) greets Cole Thornton (John Wayne) with a pointed rifle.They've both been friends since before and during the American Civil War. But J.P has heard his friend now works for Bart Jason (Edward Asner). Thornton admits that Jason has offered him good money, but he doesn't know what he has to do to earn it. J.P explains "Jason showed up here around the end of the Civil War with a pocketful of money and nobody could find out where he got it, but everybody else around here was broke. Having money, he started to grow, but now he needs more water. There's only one place to get it; trouble is, somebody was there ahead of him, about 20 years ahead--his name is Kevin MacDonald (R. G. Armstrong). MacDonald has four boys and a girl. The whole family have worked real hard. Hung together through the rough times; now things were looking up, MacDonald was not ready to sell, so he's holding out and Jason was pushing, and now I'm standing right in the middle." Saloon owner Maudie (Charlene Holt) walks in and throws her arms around Cole. She bursts out laughing when she realizes that her old flame and her current one are friends. Cole gave her a stake some time earlier to help her sort out her money problems when her gambling husband was killed. Thornton goes off to Jason's ranch to tell him that he's not going to work for him. Warned that Thornton has gone to Jason's, MacDonald has left his youngest boy Luke (Johnny Crawford) out on the hills to do a man's job and look out. But whilst keeping watch, he falls asleep and when he wakes up he jumps and shoots down at Thornton. Instinctively, Thornton shoots him down. Thornton rides to him and is upset to see the boy's age. He tries to make him feel comfortable but Luke is in agony. While Cole has his back turned to him, Luke pulls out his gun and kills himself. Thornton takes the body to Luke's father's place and explains what happened. Luke's sister, Joey (Michele Carey), a tomboyish, wildcat in buckskin pants doesn't believe him and tries to kill him. Her brother stops her and her father asks her to get in the house. But, she angrily rides off. Macdonald thanks Cole for returning his boy but Cole feels guilty and rides off. On his way back, Joey ambushes Cole at a creek, dropping him with a rifle bullet. He manages to get back on his horse and escapes to Maudie's place, where Doc Miller (Paul Fix) treats him. The bullet is lodged dangerously close to his spine, but the elderly doctor says he's not equipped to deal with it and to find a better surgeon for the bullet's removal. After a short time,Thornton leaves El Dorado, much to Maudie's disappointment. Several months later, Cole arrives in a town near the Mexican border and has dinner a the local cantina. A young man nicknamed Mississippi (James Caan) enters and confronts one of four men sitting at a dinner table, reminding him if he remembers him or if he remembers the black hat he is wearing? Mississippi's closest friend, mentor and father figure was accused of cheating at cards two year earlier and was killed. He says he caught up with the man's other three companions and he killed them all. He asks the last of the murderers to stand up. Mississippi isn't wearing a gun; instead, he kills the man with a knife. As one of the men tries to shoot him,Cole shoots his hand and steps in. One of the men sitting at the table is Nelse Macleod (Christopher George), a dark thin-faced man with a scar down the left side of his eye and cheek. Along with Cole and J.P., he's one of the most dangerous gunslingers in the territory. Cole discovers that he's the latest gunslinger that Bart Jason has offered good money to work for him. Not only that, but he also tells him that J.P. won't be a threat because he's been an alcoholic for months. Cole and Mississippi get ready to walk out of the cantina, but Cole stops him. He knows Macleod will have some men waiting for them to shoot and he tells him to call the men off. Mississippi, feeling grateful that he's saved his life twice, joins him for a meal. Cole soon finds out that Mississippi cannot shoot at all. He stops off at an old gunsmith friend's and gets him a shotgun to use. Cole and Mississippi arrive in El Dorado and stop off at Maudie's to find out if any strangers have been hanging around. She says no and she tells him the full extent of J.P's alcoholism. Cole goes over to the sheriff's office with Mississippi and finds Bull (Arthur Hunnicutt) on guard outside--who has been trying to keep law and order all on his own for the last few months. Cole goes inside to wake up J.P., who's asleep in the cell. He throws some water over him to wake him up. J.P punches him and and Cole knocks him out with a pan to his head. Mississippi makes some special drink in order to keep him off the booze. With the black-looking mixture in his system, any alcohol J.P drinks afterwards will just make him feel sick. The next afternoon, Bart Jason arrives in town and waits in the saloon for Nelse Macleod to turn up. At the same time, the Macdonald family arrive for their weekly town shopping. Bull goes off to keep an eye on the Macdonald's and tells Colt he'll blow on his trumpet if there's any trouble. Later at night, J.P. gets up, looking for some alcohol. Cole tells him they've got rid of it all. J.P. goes over to the saloon to get a bottle of whiskey and Bart and Macleod start laughing at him. He walks back in shame. Gunshots are heard and Bull blows the trumpet. Cole and Mississippi run out and find one of Macdonald's boys wounded. Cole, J.P., Mississippi and Bull search the town for the gunmen responsible. A woman comes to the window and tells Mississippi that she saw a few men take off down the street towards he church. A gunfight breaks out and two of the men are killed but the man with the limp gets away. They follow him into Jason's saloon. J.P. is angry from the humiliation he had earlier and he wants to prove what he's made of. Everyone denies seeing a man enter but the pianist looks nervous. J.P. tells him to get out of the way and begins firing his rifle at the piano. The gunman comes out from hiding and starts shooting but J.P kills him. The barman goes for a gun but J.P. shoots the top of the bar and a load of wooden splinters go through his hand. J.P. approaches the men who were laughing at him earlier. He hits one man in the stomach with the rifle and whacks Jason over the face. He's ready to shoot him but Cole intervenes. J.P. calms down and arrests him. As they are taking him to jail, Mississippi sees someone pointing a gun at them from the stable and goes to check it out. He grabs the person and sees it's a woman, in fact Joey, who was trying to get a shot at Bart for revenge. He takes her over to the jail to confirm her identity. She asks J.P. if Jason will get what he deserves. He says it's up to the judge. She thanks them for what they've done and leaves. Cole and Mississippi walk around the town on night-watch and some of Jason's men come riding along. Mississippi dives into the street right in front of the horses' hooves. The horses jump over him and he shoots one of the men. J.P. comes running out of the office and takes a bullet in the leg. As Cole tends to his wound inside, he asks Mississippi why he dove under the horses and he tells him that you can't shoot properly while your horse is jumping in the air and an horse won't step on a person. The doctors are in the office removing the bullet from J.P's leg. They tell Cole that it would be a good idea for him to have the bullet removed from his back. Cole tells them if he survives all the trouble with Jason's men, he'll have it taken care of. J.P. is feeling restless and frustrated and trying to control his need to drink. He comes up with the idea to lock themselves away in the office with some food and water until the U.S. marshal arrives to pick Jason up. Bull recommends that he cleans himself up if they're going to be confined together. While J.P. takes a bath, Joey and Maudie bring some things around for them to last them until the marshal's arrival. Cole gets angry with her and tells her that it's best for her to stay away because Jason's men might use her to get Jason back from them. Later at night, a friend of Maudie's arrives with a note from Maudie saying that Macleod's men have been hanging around her place and that she's heard that they've got something planned. Cole and Mississippi go over to to the saloon but a gunman starts shooting at them. They chase him through the saloon, out to the back door. Two men tell them the person went out the back door. Mississippi luckily recognizes the men as Milt and Pedro and remembers the incident from their previous encounter. Cole asks if him anyone's waiting outside for them. Milt says no but Cole tells him to walk out. Milt doesn't want to but Cole shoots him in the arm and tells him to go. Milt says he lied, there's somebody out there. Cole shoots him in the leg. With no choice, Milt runs out of the doors shouting not to shoot but he is gunned down. Cole tells Pedro to go next but as he is trying to force him out the doors, he starts suffering with the numbness down his arm again. He falls to the floor in pain. Pedro goes for his gun but Mississippi kills him but he is knocked out from behind. Mississippi and Maudie go to the office through the back door to tell them what's happened. Macleod has Cole and wants to trade him for Jason. J.P. reluctantly agrees. He frees Jason and he, Cole, Bull and Mississippi flee town and hide out at his place. Bull is suspicious that Macleod let them get out of town too easily. Joey turns up to tell them that her brother Saul has been kidnapped by Jason and he will only be returned if the Macdonald ranch is handed over to him. With Bull's age, Mississippi's poor shooting skills, and Cole and J.P's crippled condition, the odds are stacked against them. Cole realizes he can still use a rifle with one hand, so they hatch a plan. They ride back into town. Cole drives a wagon to the front of the saloon to confront Macleod, who has Jason and a few men at his side; while a few of the other men keep watch over Saul in the saloon. J.P., Mississippi and Bull go through the back door to get behind them. Bull fires an arrow into the back of one of Macleod's men and blows his bugle, which distracts Macleod long enough for Cole to jump from the wagon and gun him down. J.P. and Mississippi handle the rest of the men inside. Jason goes to grab one of Macleod's guns to kill Cole but Joey is hiding in the distance and shoots him first.. Cole thanks her for saving his life. He walks over to Macleod as he lays dying. He says to him "You never gave me a chance at all did you?" Cole replies "No, I didn't. You're too good to give a chance to," leaving Macleod to die with his pride intact. The story ends as Cole has his leg wrapped up from scattershot from Mississippi who accidentally caught him with his shotgun during the gunfight. Mississippi goes off to talk to Joey, Cole goes off to see Maudie, and J.P. and Bull have a drink while J.P. tells him he needs him as his deputy. The story ends with Cole and J.P. both now limping down the street as Cole prepares to leave town and J.P. has gained his self respect back.

Roger Willoughby (Rock Hudson) arrives late to his work because a lady has occupied his parking space. He tries to move her car but he only succeeds in getting a parking fine by a police officer (James Westerfield), who doesn't believe his weird story. Roger is a fishing tools expert and shop assistant who has even written a book about the sport. He teaches Major Phipps (Roscoe Karns) how to use a rodding cane at the department store where he works in, at Abercrombie and Fitch, in the fishing sports department. Roger gives him advice which he has heard from somebody else. Roger's customers, Abigail Page (Paula Prentiss) and Isolde 'Easy' Mueller (Maria Perschy), want Roger to participate on the fishing competition in lake C..... Easy is a public relations officer, and Abigail is an important person of the community. Roger will compete against Major Phipps. However, Rock tries to get out of the idea, as he has not idea about fishing. His boss, William Cadwalader (John McGiver) pushes him to win the competition. Abigail and Easy are both interested in Roger, although they realise fast that he has no idea about fishing. They pay John Screaming Eagle (Norman Alden) not to say anything about Roger being useless with fish. John is also a small conman. He isn't unable to put up even his net. Roger's boss pushes Roger to go, so he can't say no. Both girls watch him doing stupid things, and during a lunch together they laugh about a caterpillar which fell onto his salad, and his eating it subsequently. Abby helps Roger, explaining things for him. For example, she recommends him to use a scooter, but it ends up being driven by a bear. Also, when she tries to teach him how to drive a boat to go to the location of the catch, he ends up almost drowning and inside a safety balloon-like trousers, which he doesn't recommend his boss for selling. Roger can't even swim, but Abigail is attracted to him anyway. The frist time Abigail makes him use a fishing cane, he catches a fish. Roger feels disgusted by the slimmy fish. He loses his catch and pushes her into the water. He catches another fish with his baggy clothes after falling to the river. Roger is made to hold a fish for hours as part of his training. Easy tells them that another champion, Filroy from Chicago, is going to compete, so that he can quit. However, Roger knows that he can't say his boss that, so the girls plot to put one of his arms in plaster so that he will have an excuse not to participate. They put the plaster after he has seen her breasts due to the heavy rain. The girls go to meet Filroy, but he is with a broken arm in a plaster, so they can't have Roger hurt at the same time. So now they need to take the plaster out. Roger waits for the call of his girlfriend. Abigail asks for a pill at night as she is interested in him. No surprise, she tries to entice a kiss from him, but he says he has no time. She takes a pill and falls asleep in Roger's room. Furthermore, nobody tells him that Tex Connors (Charlene Holt) is about to arrive the following morning. When she arrives the day of the contest, she sees Easy trying to get Roger out of a stuck sleeping bag. He says that he was trying to try the new equipment. Tex also sees Abigail going out of Roger's room so she almost splits up with him. To win, Roger reads his own book. The book is useless for him. Screaming Eagle watches him as he fishes a fish without even noticing it. Roger is also lucky the second day, when he catches one falling from a tree: a fish commits suicide when the thread gets tangled on a tree brunch. After that, he decides to kiss Abigail, but she pronounces it of poor quality. The third day, the bear scares him causing him to catch another fish. He wins the competition and promises himself never to fish again. He doesn't want to celebrate his win with his boss. A weeping Abigail tells him to "come out" and tell the truth. Mr Bagley (Regis Toomey) and Mr Skaggs (Forrest Lewis), the organizers, hear his confession. He renounces because a bear helped him. Major Phipps has won and Cadwalader fires Roger. Abigail has left. Easy doesn't want to tell him where she is, but he pays to Screaming Eagle to tell him and take him there. Abigail tells him to go away, but she doesn't really want so. A storm is about to break in. Roger finally splits up with Tex. It starts raining, so he gets into her huge sleeping bag. Major Phipps gives Cadwalader an idea: to annouce that if Roger could win with the right equipment, anybody can. It rains so much that Abigail's sleeping bag floats by with them both deeply sleeping on it. Cadwalader even gives a pay rise to Roger. Roger kisses Abigail. CONCLUSION A sepia-coloured scene: Marcia (Kathie Brown) tells John (unnamed) that he doesn't need to kiss her as the film has already finished.

In Tanganyika in the 1950s, the Momella Game Company captures animals for zoos and circuses using off-road vehicles, lassos, and cages. The company consists of Frenchwoman Brandy De La Court (Michèle Girardon), the unofficial "boss" (her father also died while trying to capture wild animals out in the open); tough Irish-American Sean Mercer (John Wayne), who heads the catching expeditions; retired German race car driver Kurt Müller (Hardy Krüger); Mexican Bullfighter Luis Francisco Garcia Lopez (Valentin De Vargas); Native American sharpshooter Little Wolf (aka "The Indian") (Bruce Cabot); former NYC cab driver "Pockets" (Red Buttons), who has zoo-phobia; and several native staff. While pursuing an aggressive rhinoceros, Kurt and The Indian ride in a small herding car, which they use to force the animal toward a larger catching truck. The rhino gores The Indian in the leg, and the crew makes the five hour journey to Arusha hospital. French marksman Charles "Chips" Maurey (Gérard Blain) arrives, eager to take the Indian's place in the crew, but Kurt, offended (as Kurt blames his own driving for the injury to the Indian), punches him. Chips later turns out to be the only one present with the blood type required to save the Indian's life; he agrees to undergo a transfusion, and Sean offers him a job (after Chris makes Kurt ask him nicely). Back at their compound, the crew finds Italian photographer Anna-Maria "Dallas" D'Alessandro (Elsa Martinelli), who has been corresponding with the Indian. They are surprised to learn that "A.M. D'Alessandro" is a woman, but she shows them a letter saying she has been sent by the Basel zoo, which is Momella's biggest client, so Sean reluctantly lets her accompany the crew as they capture a giraffe. Despite many rookie embarrassments (She insists to stand up in the truck bed, when Sean warned her off rough ground. Dallas spends most of the hunt on her back), Dallas enjoys her first day. She later offers to leave if she is not wanted, but all but Sean vote to have her stay. Pockets has fun with Dallas after he sends their pet leopard into the bathroom where Dallas is taking a bath and then pretends to "rescue" her. But he is caught out when Sean and Kurt intervene and take the pet leopard away. Later Pockets reveals that he is actually very scared of animals. He used to drive a cab in New York and just pretends that he is in rush hour, to be able to do his job. Pockets also explains that Sean almost got married once and the girl broke his heart by running away just before the wedding. He says Sean is afraid of loving a girl again, so if he is mean to Dallas, that means he likes her. Chips arrives at the compound; after a rifle-shooting contest (Chips matches Kurt shot for shot), he and Kurt become friends. The gang visits a local watering hole (a real African hole in the ground from which the Masai tribe extracts its water).. They go on a zebra hunt, a black-buck hunt together. As time goes on, Dallas and Sean begin to develop feelings for one another, though Sean, having previously been jilted by his fiance, resists. Brandy is pursued by three suitors-Kurt (he shares kisses with Brandy, who considers him Uncle Kurt), Chips (who bathes animals with her), and Pockets. The Indian, still shaken by his experience, is released from the hospital, and Sean agrees to not pursue any more rhinos until the end of the season. On a multi-day trip, the crew passes through a village where a rogue female elephant has been killed by a game warden. They find her orphaned calf, and Dallas adopts it despite Sean's protests. Sean says the calf hasn't been weaned yet and is going to die out of hunger in 2-3 days anyways, but Dallas is adamant. Chaos ensues when the rest of the crew helps Dallas gather goats to get milk for the calf (The goats run away when the calf nears them), though they eventually succeed. Dallas feeds the calf with her own hands, as that's the only way to get some food into it. That night, Dallas apologizes to Sean, and finally seduces him into giving her a kiss, though Pockets inadvertently interrupts and ruins the moment. Over the next few days, the gang captures a leopard and a buffalo. Chips saves Kurt from a crocodile. Kurt is thankful to Chips, but they still both pursue Brandy equally. There are some funny moments when Kurt has to get the ostriches back into their pen. Sean does a minor surgery on a fawn. Later, Dallas finds another orphaned elephant calf. The local Waarusha tribe, impressed by how the elephants follow Dallas, arrange a ceremony for her, adopting her into the tribe and naming her "Mama Tembo" ("Mother of Elephants"). Dallas' new title is confirmed when a third elephant calf makes its way to the compound. Dallas teaches Pockets how to dance and helps him get close to Brandy. The crew capture a zebra, an Oryx, a gazelle, a leopard, and a buffalo without incident, but, while pursuing wildebeests, the herding car blows a tire. In the ensuing accident, Kurt's shoulder is dislocated and Chips' leg is badly sprained. The same day, Pockets falls off of a tall fence. He only bruises himself, but Brandy shows the most concern for him out of the three, indicating which suitor she has chosen. Pockets devises a way to catch a huge Vervet monkey troop all at once by using a rocket to cover a whole tree with a fishing net. To the surprise of everyone, including himself, he succeeds, which makes a rhino the only animal left to catch. The crew finds an angry bull rhino, and, although it manages to get loose once, they finally capture it without anyone getting hurt, much to The Indian's relief. The season's work done, Dallas begins to fear Sean will always see her as he saw his treacherous fiance, so she writes a goodbye letter and flees. Sean, with the help of the rest of the crew and the three baby elephants, tracks her to Arusha, and they reconcile. Sean and Dallas are married, and prepare to spend their wedding night in Sean's room; however, the three elephants barge in and destroy the bed.

The town drunk - former deputy sheriff, Dude, (Dean Martin) enters a saloon through the back door. He's dirty, unshaven and broke. A man called Joe Burdette (Claude Akins), the brother of the wealthy, corrupt local rancher Nathan, (John Russell) stands at the bar smiling as he watches how desperate Dude looks for a drink. He tosses a coin into the spittoon and laughs. Dude reluctantly bends down to pick it up but his old friend sheriff John T.Chance (John Wayne) kicks it out of the way. Burdette smiles and Chance starts to approach him. Dude feeling shamed picks up a piece of wood and knocks Chance out with it. Joe still smiles. Dude goes to hit him but Joe's men grab him and beat him. As Joe starts on him, an unarmed customer grabs his arm to stop him and Joe pulls out his gun and shoots him dead. He strolls out of the saloon leaving Chance and Dude half unconscious near the dead body. Joe walks into another of the town's bars and Chance walks in, head bleeding, dazed and pointing his rifle at him to arrest him. He tells him he's under arrest. Because of Joe's connections, there's some men to back him up in this saloon as well. A man stands behind Chance and pulls his gun on him. Dude appears at the salon doors and whips out someone else's gun and shoots the other gunman's hand to protect Chance. Joe goes for his gun and Chance knocks him out with his rifle. Dude helps Chance take him over to jail. The next day, as the funeral of Joe's victim takes place, a wagon train arrives in town led by Pat Wheeler (Ward Bond) and his youthful gunslinging helper, Colorado (Ricky Nelson). Pat and Chance are old friends and Chance tells him about the trouble going on in town. Burdette has his men scattered all over and he only has his reinstated deputy dude and old, crippled Stumpy (Walter Brennan) for support. There's no way he can get Joe out of town to the marshal, - he's going to have to wait a few days for the marshal and his posse to arrive to pick him up. Pat goes off to leave the wagons which are filled with oil and dynamite near Nathan's warehouse, while Chance and Dude join Stumpy inside for a drink of beer. Just as Dude is about to take a drink near the cell, Joe starts to taunt him again about his shaking and trying to dry out. Dude throws the glass bottle at the bars in anger. A package arrives for the hotel owner Carlos (Pedro Gonzalez) and Chance takes it over for him.It's some underwear for his wife Consuela. As Chance and Carlos are talking, a woman appears at the door,"Feathers" (Angie Dickinson). Just arrived in town, she laughs at the sight of the sheriff and Carlos with the underwear.Chance walks out. Later at night, Chance,Dude and Stumpy are sat at the office. Chance and Stumpy see that Dude is restless and suffering with the drying out process.Realising he needs a distraction, Chance tells Stumpy that he and Dude are going to patrol the town. As they wander the street, Carlos comes out of the hotel and tells Chance that Pat has been spreading the word around that the sheriff needs some help. Chance goes inside and interrupts the card game that Pat's having with Colorado, Feathers and a few others. The two of them have a talk at the bar. Chance warns him that anybody who goes around publicly asking for people to help him out could end up dead. Pat offers to help him but Chance tells him no. He'd be no good if he needs Colorado for protection. So Pat offers him Colorado's help. As he goes to get him, Chance inspects a deck of cards that Pat and the others were playing with. Pat brings Colorado over but the young man says he's not interested. He's just going to mind his own business. Pat tells Chance that he's leaving in the morning. Chance gets ready to leave and notices Feathers winning another hand. He follows her up to her room to have a word with her. He tells her that the cards he looked at had three aces missing. He pulls out a wanted bill for a con-man and he's identified her as the man's partner. She admits she is but says she hasn't cheated. She says he's going to have to search her. As Chance starts to feel uncomfortable, Colorado appears and tells him he thinks it's the man with the checkered vest who's been cheating. They approach him downstairs and he tries to go for his gun but Colorado's faster. He whips his gun out and after searching him, he finds the cards. Chance tells Carlos to lock the man in his room all night and to make sure he leaves town in the morning. He tells the others to split his winnings between them and thanks Colorado. Colorado asks him about Feathers but Chance is reluctant to apologise to her. He just tells her he was wrong. He leaves the hotel and asks Dude where Pat is. Pat's walking down the street towards them but he is shot by a man hiding in the stable. Chance and Dude run to him but he's dead. Colorado asks Chance if he can help them pursue the gunman but Chance says no. Chance bursts into the barn but the gunman gets away to the saloon. Dude gets a few shots of and thinks he might have got him. Chance lets Dude go in the front entrance of the saloon while he goes through the back. The customers tell them that no one has entered. Dude looks for a man with muddy boots as the gunman watches from the balcony. None of the men have muddy boots. He even checks the barman's to make sure. The men start laughing at him.One of them tosses a coin into the spitoon. Dude looks shameful and Chance looks doubtful about his mind but Dude notices some blood dripping into a glass of beer on the bar. Dude knows he's there. He turns around, whips out his gun and shoots up at him. The dead body lands in front of the bar. Dude finds a 50 dollar goldpiece on him and know it's the work of Burdette offering money to hitmen. Chance confronts the man who told them no one came in and hits him over the head with his rifle. He tells the barman to collect the mens guns and take them over to the jail. Chance tells Dude that he'll let him go in the front often. Colorado arrives at the office with some of Pat's belongings. He thanks Dude for getting the man who killed him and tells Chance that he's just taken him to the undertaker's. Chance has to keep hold of all of Pat's belongings until he gets a court order, including the wagons, which means Colorado has to stay in the town for a while, broke. Chance goes to the hotel and finds Feathers at the bar. She apologises for acting the way she did. He tells her how he became the sheriff and she tells him what happened to her gambling husband. He cheated people one too many times and was murdered. Chance knows the sheriff who put out the wanted bills for her and tells her that he'll write him a letter to stop anymore been put out which she appreciates. The next morning, Chance wakes up late and wants to know why Carlos has let him sleep in. He says that Feathers told him to leave him and that she kept watch on his room all night sat in a chair in the hallway.Chance confronts her about it and tells her it was a stupid thing to do. He tells her she better get ready for the stagecoach. Dude is on watch making sure that the visitors in the town leave their guns in his possession upon arrival to be collected when they leave. Nathan Burdette rides into town with a bunch of men. He tells them to leave their guns while they visit Joe. They refuse but Dude shoots the raines on one of the men's horse and then they do what he says. They ride up to the office and Chance tells them that he's only letting Nathan see Joe. While he sees him, Chance lets Nathan know how angry he is about what he's been doing and the fact that Pat is dead. He tells him that if he and his men even try to attack the office, Stumpy will blow his brother away before he knows what's happening. After Nathan leaves, Stumpy asks Chance why he let him go. Chance says because whatever they are going to do is planned already and if Nathan's in jail when it happens it will just give him an alibi. Carlos arrives and tells Chance that Feathers never got on the stagecoach to leave. Chance goes over to her room wanting to know why. She says she doesn't want to leave town until all the trouble's over and she knows he's alright. Colorado sits in the saloon watching Nathan and his men drinking at the bar. Nathan walks over to the mariachi band. He whispers to them, leaves them some money and walks out with his men as they start to play a slow Mexican tune. The music plays out across the town all day into the quiet night as Chance and Dude listen to it.Colorado approaches them and tells Chance that Nathan asked them to play the tune. He says it's Nathan's way of sending him a message.It's called The Deguelio, a cutthroat song, a tune the Mexicans played for the Texans when they had them pent up at the Alamo. It's Nathan's way of saying No mercy. As Chance, Dude and Stumpy sit around in the office, Dude asks Chance about how he feels about Feathers. Chance is reluctant to talk about it. Dude brings up the fact that when a woman arrived in town off a stagecoach that he liked, he was the first person to warn him about her and he turned out to be right. Stumpy comes out from the jail and asks Chance to go and get him some coffee. Dude tells him that he's finding Stumpy's gun a little stiff and wants to file the action. Stumpy says no and tells Chance to give him his hold guns. He's been keeping them for a year and bought them off the man who Dude had sold them to when he was at rock bottom. Chance takes Dude over to the hotel to get washed and cleaned up. When he leaves, Feathers tells Chance that she's staying on at the hotel to bartend.Chance hears a gunshot go off over at the jail and runs over. He realises that Stumpy had fired at Dude after failing to recognise him and assuming it was one of Burdette's men trying to get in. Dude isn't hit but he's angry. He fully realises the dirty looking state he must have been in for the last two years. And Stumpy feels ashamed that he nearly killed his good friend. The next morning, whilst on his watch, some of Burdette's men sneak up to him from behind. They dunk his head in the horse trough and knock him out. They tie him up in the barn and one of the men, dressed in identical clothes, takes his place in the street so that Chance won't suspect anything. Chance talks to Colorado at the entrance of the hotel and Colorado goes inside for some matches just as Burdette's men approach. Chance is rolling a cigarette and his rifle is out of arm's reach as them men catch him off guard and pull their guns on him. They tell him they want Joe.Colorado sees what's going on from inside and tells Feathers to throw a plant pot through the window after counting to three. He calmly walks out side,he window smashes, just long enough to distract the men and Colorado tosses Chance his rifle and they gun them down.The fourth man in the distance tries to ride off but Chance shoots him too and goes to check on Dude. He finds him in the barn and unties him. Feeling ashamed and with the shakes becoming worse, Dude tells Chance he's had enough and that he's quitting. Chance tells him he's had enough too and that if he's going to get drunk don't expect to ask for his help again. Dude hits Chance. Chance tells him to wait for him at the office and he'll pay him what he owes him. Chance tells the undertaker to bury the men and it will be paid for by the town. The undertaker says there's no need. He's found enough money on the men to cover the costs. Chance realises that Nathan's price offer to get Joe out is going up. Feathers is sat at the bar with Colorado getting drunk and feeling emotional. Chance tells her that he appreciates what she did and offers Colorado a job as his deputy. Colorado agrees this time. He gives Colorado his badge at the office while Dude watches feeling helpless. Colorado goes to collect his stuff ready o sleep at the jail. Dude sits quiely craving a drink. Stumpy tells him not to but Chance, fed up with his self pitying, tells him to drink the whole bottle. Dude pours himself a glass and the Mexican tune starts to play again. He decides against it. He slowly pours the glass back into the bottle and tells them the shakes have stopped. He asks Chance for another opportunity which Chance is more than willing to give him. At night, Dude,Colorado and Stumpy have a little sing along while they sit around. Stumpy says it's better than been shot at in the street, which gives Chance the idea of shutting themselves away for a few days while they wait for the marshal to arrive. Chance and Dude go to the hotel to ask Carlos for some food and blankets. Carlos goes out back but finds that has Consuela has been taken hostage by some of Burdette's men. Dude takes a bath while Chance keeps guard on the landing talking to Feathers. He tells her he won't be seeing her for a few days. Burdette's men want to keep Chance alive so that they can get Joe out. So they tie a thin piece of rope across the bottom of the stairs,so that he trips over it as he charges down towards the screaming that they force Consuela to do. As Chance trips over it,he knocks himself out as he hits the floor. The men also take Dude and Feathers hostage. They want to trade Chance and Dude for Joe but Chance tells them there's no way Stumpy would do that. They tell Chance that he's going to have to tell Stumpy that they've put up bail for his release.Dude tells him they've no choice.Stumpy's old and alone. It's best to release Joe. Chance walks into the office with the two men behind him pointing guns at his back. One man waits outside.Stumpy is behind the bars with a shotgun ready. Chance calmly tells him that he's going to release Joe. Stumpy tells him the keys are on his desk and when Chance moves to get them, Stumpy blows the two men away. The third man runs in and Colorado wounds him.While Stumpy keeps guard on him,Chance and Colorado run over to the hotel to save Dude. But when they get there, they only find Feathers untying Carlos and Consuela. The men have taken off with Dude out the back door. Chance decides not to go after them in case it reults in Dude been killed.Instead he tells Carlos to get in touch with Nathan to tell him he wants to talk to him. He asks Feathers if she now regrets staying. She shakes her head. Chance, Stumpy and Colorado wait at the office for news from Carlos. When he turns up, he tells them that Nathan wants a deal.Trade Dude for Joe. Chance agrees.Stumpy wants to go but Chance tells him he's too old and slow to get involved in any trouble in wide open spaces. Stumpy reluctantly stays. Chance and Colorado leave and walk through the town to the barn overlooking Nathan's warehouse. Chance and Colorado get ready with their guns. Chance is happy to see Dude still alive and well as they bring him out. Joe starts walking towards Nathan and his men as Dude starts walking towards Chance and Colorado. Just as the two men are about to walk passed each other, Dude lunges for Joe and they start fighting behind a wall, as Chance and Colorado engage in a gunfight between the men hiding in the warehouse. Dude knock Joe out and Colorado tosses him a gun. During the shootout, a few men try and escape across the creek to try and get behind Chance and Colorado to ambush them. Chance and Colorado shoot a couple of them but two manage to get across. But two explosive gunshots are fired out of view and the men drop dead. Chance recognizes the laugh belonging to Stumpy. Chance and Colorado are pleased but Colorado tells Chance that Stumpy is near the wagons that are full of dynamite. Carlos arrives to help Chance with a big shotgun. Chance runs out of the barn to get across to warn Stumpy as the gunfight carries on. From behind a wall and out of range of the dynamite,Stumpy throws a couple of unlit sticks towards the warehouse for Chance and Dude to fire at and blow up. The dynamite gets closer and closer to the warehouse and on the final one that Chance fires at, the whole warehouse nearly blows up. The Burdette brothers and the remaining henchmen tell them they give up and come walking out unarmed. Later at night, the town is peaceful again. The remaining men have taken off and Chance goes over to the hotel to see Feathers. As he passionately embraces her, she throws her tights out of the window into the street. Dude and Stumpy are passing and walk off smiling and laughing.

In 1851, Tom Dunson (John Wayne) and friend Nadine Groot (Walter Brennan), join a wagon train in St. Louis (or near St. Louis), headed for California. After three weeks, they approach north Texas, where the land looks good to Tom. He decides he wants to break away from the wagon train and go find a place to start a ranch of his own. The wagon master tries to order him to stay, then tries talking him out of it, all to no avail. Tom is also pretty handy with his fists and a gun, so there wouldnt be any forcing him. Along with Tom and Nadine on the trip to California is Fen (Colleen Gray), Toms love interest. He and Fen are basically engaged (in love, anyway) and she wants to come with Tom and Nadine to find a ranch. Tom wont hear of it, promising to send for her once hes settled in. She doesn't like the idea of having to wait, but promises to come. Before leaving, Tom gives Fen a bracelet that belonged to his mother. Tom and Nadine take off with their wagon, horse, one bull and two cows, and get maybe 10-15 miles from the wagon train, near the Red River, when they look back and see black smoke. Realizing that the wagon train has most likely been attacked by Indians, they know they cant get back in time to help, and that some of the Indians are likely to come looking for them soon enough anyway, so they set up in a defensive posture and wait. Sure enough, maybe 6-7 Indian braves show up and begin an attack with a fire arrow that hits Tom's and Nadine's wagon (but doesnt do much damage). Both Tom and Nadine are good shots and they kill most of the attackers right away. However, one of their cows was killed by the Indians and then Tom has to fight hand-to-hand. He kills one Indian as they fight and fall into the river. Tom notices the Indian he killed was wearing the bracelet hed given to Fey. Tom then sneaks out to kill the last one or two Indians of the group, who were still out there hiding. The next day, theres a young boy named Matt Garth (Mickey Kuhn) who comes strolling along leading a cow and talking to himself, like hes lost his mind. Tom slaps the kid to snap him out of his trance. The kid then pulls a hand gun and points it at Tom. Tom grabs the gun and takes it away, knocking the kid down. The kid is not crazy, but just play-acting. Tom tells him never to pull a gun on him again. The kid has spunk and tells Tom never to take his gun from him again. Tom turns to Nadine and says, hell do. Tom hands Matt's gun back to him and allows him to come with them. Apparently, the family or group Matt had been with was attacked by Indians too, so he had no one left. The three of them travel deep into Texas, stopping at the Rio Grande, where Tom pronounces himself the new owner of all the land visible north of the river. He also says that 10 years hence, hell have the biggest and best ranch in all of Texas, with plenty of beef to feed and nourish all the people around the area. He tells Garth and Groot that he will brand all the cattle in his future herd with a D double bar (the bars representing the banks of the Red River). Matt wants an M added to the brand, but Dunson says he'll have to earn it. Two Mexican men come riding up and introduce themselves as employees of Don Diego, the man who owns the land they are standing on. At that moment, Don Diego was at his ranch headquarters 400 miles south, in Mexico. Tom tells the two men to ride back and tell Don Diego that all the land north of the Rio Grande now belongs to him and hes taking it. One of the men says that just cant be and he goes for his gun. Tom outdraws him and shoots him dead. He tells the other man to take his friends horse and go back and tell Don Diego what happened. Tom told the guy that he would take care of burying the other man's body. Flash forward nearly 15 years later to find Tom, Nadine and a grown Matt (Montgomery Clift) having a discussion about Matts recent return to the ranch, and the major problem of there being no market in Texas for all of Toms thousands of cattle (thanks to the Civil War basically bankrupting everyone). The decision is that they will need to drive the cattle north instead, to Missouri, to sell them. Tom was going to make Nadine stay behind, as Nadine was getting too old to ride, but the trail cook had just quit, so Nadine got to go, as the cowboys would need a cook. Tom and Nadine had a funny exchange, right after Tom had told Nadine he had to stay behind. Nadine was talking to himself, complaining about the decision, while Tom was trying to talk to Matt. Tom finally turned to Nadine and asked him what he was saying and why didnt he have his new teeth in his mouth, because he couldnt understand his mumbling. Nadine responded that everyone else could understand him just fine and he was keeping his teeth in his pocket until he needed them for eating. Matt was overseeing the branding of the cattle, preparatory to the drive, and having the men turn loose any cows belonging to a rancher named Meeker (Davison Clark), or to Don Diego. Tom rides up and orders that no cattle be turned loose and that they all be branded with the D-Double Bar brand (his). Matt doesnt agree, but tells the men to go ahead and do as Tom says. About that time, Mr. Meeker rides up with some of his men, including a hired gun, and asks Tom for permission to look through the herd to cull out any of his cows. Tom denies permission, telling Meeker that hes branding all of the cows he has, regardless of any other brands they may already have on them. Things get pretty testy and Matt and Mr. Meekers gunfighter, Cherry Valance (John Ireland) exchange words. Matt has become very handy with a gun himself. Tom relents somewhat, in that he decides to offer Meeker $2/head for any of his cows that make it to Missouri and get sold. Meeker agrees. Cherry then decides hed like to work for Tom instead of Meeker and asks to be hired on. Tom hires him at $10/month, the going rate for a trail hand. Matt and Cherry are just itching to have a fight (preferably a gunfight), and Tom realizes its probably inevitable, but he forces them to get along for the time being. They do have an initial challenge contest, where they borrow each others guns and alternately shoot at a tin can, impressing each other with their respective skills. In the bunkhouse, theres a poker game the night before the drive starts. Quo (Chief Yowlachie) is sitting opposite Groot. Groot has a good hand, but when Quo bets one silver dollar, Groot is aghast. Thats equivalent to 3 days pay. He asks Matt to loan him a dollar, but Matt refuses. The rule of the game is that only whats on the table at the time can be used to bet with. So, Quo asks Groot whats in the small bag he has there on the table and Groot tells him it contains his false teeth. Quo says hell accept half interest in the teeth to cover the one dollar bet. Groot isn't happy about it, but he agrees. They show their cards. Quo has the better hand and demands the teeth. Groot wants to know how hes supposed to eat without his teeth and Quo tells him that come grub time, you get em. Dunson comes into the bunkhouse and tells everyone that its now or never as far as their decisions to go on the drive. He tells them that there will be no hard feelings for anyone who wants to stay behind, and promised them that theyd still have jobs on the ranch after the drive is over. He tells them that theyll be doing good to make 10 miles a day on the 1,000 mile drive, 15 miles if they are lucky. Theyll face bad weather, dust, Indians and border gangs (once they get close to Missouri). But, once a cowboy says hell go, hes expected to finish the drive, whatever happens. Dunson makes everyone going sign a piece of paper representing their word to stick it out. The next morning, breakfast was served at 4:30 and, with nearly 10,000 head of cattle grouped together, at 5 a.m., Dunson quietly told Matt to take 'em to Missouri. All the cowboys whooped and hollered as they started out. Quo holds Groot to the results of their bet, only loaning the false teeth back to Groot at mealtimes. Groot is not happy about that. He tells Quo that the teeth help him keep the dust out of his mouth. Quo tells him to keep his mouth shut then, and dust not get in. Groot complains that before the drive is over, hell probably eat enough land to get himself incorporated in the Union as the State of Groot. Quo still says no. Dunson isnt happy about the situation either, complaining that Groot mumbles and needs to have his teeth in to be understood. The men start talking about taking the cattle to Kansas instead of Missouri, as its closer and there are less hazards along the way. However, because no one has personal knowledge of a railway actually being in Abilene, KS (where rumor has it there was one), Dunson says to forget it. Dunson goes through 3-4 horses a day, so hes obviously very involved in the drive. The group is 30 days into the drive with no major issues. One cowboy remarks that he doesnt like that. It makes him nervous. He prefers a balance of things going well and having trouble, not just one or the other. The trouble part does come, and it starts as a result of Bunk Kenneally (Ivan Parry) continuing to get into the supply of sugar (he dips his fingers into the sack whenever he can, which gets him in trouble with Groot). Everyone has been on their best behavior as far as being quiet, because the cattle are on edge. They are tired and there are coyotes milling about. Everyone is worried that the cows will stampede if something spooks them. So, when Bunk clumsily knocks over some of the cook pots as hes getting into the sugar, thats enough noise to start a stampede. One of the cowboys prefers to wear a bowler hat. He gets trapped behind a shrub in the middle of the stampede, so Matt and another fellow ride up and each grab an arm of this fellow and they carry him off to the side of the stampeding cows and let him down. After the cows are stopped and calmed down, it's noticed that one of the wranglers, Dan Latimer (Harry Carey Jr.) is missing. Latimer wore checkered pants and would talk about using the $100 he would be earning on the drive to buy a place to farm/ranch, and a pair of red shoes for his wife. A search begins and they find what's left of Latimer's distinctive checkered pants among a bunch of dead cattle. Dunson tells Matt to make sure the widow gets Dans money and whatever else. Matt replies, like a pair of red shoes? Dunson reads over Latimer's remains the next morning and as he puts the Bible back on the wagon, he goes over and picks up Groots' whip, at the same time calling out to Bunk: Bunk Kennally, you started all this! 400 cows dead and Latimer too. Stealing sugar like a little kid. Well, we whip kids to punish them for things like that. Dunson tells Teeler to strap Bunk to a wagon wheel. Before Teeler can do that, Bunk speaks up and acknowledges that he is remorseful about Latimer and the dead cows, but he tells Dunson he wont stand to be whipped. As he goes for his gun, hed likely have been shot dead by Dunson, but Matt draws first and shoots Bunk in the shoulder, saving his life. Dunson turns to Matt and says, you shot him, you take care of him! Matt provides Bunk with two horses and sends him back home. Cherry observes all this and tells Matt that while hes real fast with a gun, hes got a soft heart, and that will get him hurt some day. Matt says that could be, but not to count on it. 40 days out, with reduced rations (after one wagon was destroyed in the stampede), the men become increasingly restless. Tom reminds them that they all signed on to see it through, like it or not. A cowboy named Sutter (William Self) rides up, his head bandaged and barely able to talk (there was a rope burn around his neck), saying he had been riding with the Garwood herd (2,000 cows) when they were ambushed by about 100 bandits. Hearing that, Naylor, Fernandez and another hand tell Dunson theyve had enough (but not until right after theyd watched Dunson set his gun belt down as he was preparing to go get some water). Dunson tells them they cant go. They reach for their guns as Groot tosses a loaded and cocked rifle to Dunson. Dunson's shots, in combination with those fired by Matt and Cherry, kill the three wranglers. Dunson orders the three buried, announcing that hell read over them in the morning. That prompts one of the cowboys to say: Plantin and readin, plantin and readin. Why, when youve killed a man, why try to read the Lord in as a partner in the job? Matt argues with Dunson over the need to confront and kill the three men. He and Groot both tell Dunson hes wrong to do such things. Groot then patches up a bullet wound on Dunsons lower left leg. That night, Teeler, Kelsey and Laredo are on watch, when they decide to take some ammunition and flour and ride out, headed back home. The next morning, Dunson sends Cherry and Buster to go get the three and bring them back, dead or alive. The herd arrives at the Red River. Matt wants to give everyone a rest and cross the river first thing in the morning. Dunson will have none of that, and orders the crossing to begin immediately. He finds a couple areas of quicksand in the river to be avoided then orders the crossing to start. The process continues into the night. Between 30-40 head are lost during the process. Dunson is limping badly and pulls heavily from a bottle of whiskey once he sits down to rest. Hes exhausted, refusing to sleep until Cherry gets back with the three cowboys who left. He wants to make sure no one else tries to leave. Hes sure once the three are returned and punished, no one else will leave. Cherry does come back, on the 4th day after he left, with two of the cowboys: Laredo and Teeler. Cherry said Kelsey chose not to return, so he had to shoot him. Dunson announces that he is going to hang the two. Matt tells him that he wont be doing that, and he will be the one to stop him. Dunson braces his right hand on a piece of wood to stand up and face Matt, but Matt shoots him in the hand. When Dunson tries to draw his gun, he isn't able to hold onto it and it falls to the ground. Dunson reaches down for it with his left hand and Buster shoots the gun away. Matt announces that hes taking over and will be taking the herd to Abilene. He says that Dunson will be left behind. Groot offers to stay with Dunson, but he tells Groot to go with the others. He then tells Matt that hell come after him and will kill him. Groot is later calculating how long before Dunson gets to another town, rounds up some new men, and catches up to them. For the next 2-3 weeks, everyone on the drive is nervous and jumpy, anticipating his return. One of the steers is found dead, filled with Apache arrows. Matt sends Buster and Cherry ahead 10 miles with rifles to scout and keep watch. Buster comes riding back all excited, with news that theres a wagon train about 18 miles ahead, the Donegal party, headed from New Orleans to Nevada, to set up a saloon for gambling, drinking and partying. He says there are dancing girls with the wagon train. Matt decides that the men need and deserve some distraction and decides to head the herd to the wagon train before continuing on to Abilene. As the herd approaches the wagon train, they hear shooting. The train is under attack by Apaches. Matt gives orders for the men to split into two groups and come at the Indians from the sides, while he and a few others ride down the middle. It takes some time to get all the men rounded up and ready, so Matt and the few others go ahead and ride straight to the wagons, jumping right into the middle of the circled wagons and helping fight the Indians who were circling around, yelping and shooting their arrows. Matt finds himself side by side with a very attractive woman who is firing a rifle (but not very well). Shes Tess Millay (Joanne Dru). He tells her to load and hell shoot. She perceives that hes angry about something and wants to know what. About that time, she takes an arrow to the right shoulder, pinning her to a wagon. Matt cuts the shaft so she is free from the wagon, but he has to finish the Indian fight before helping more. The rest of the men finally come charging down the hill and the men within the circle of wagons come charging out and the Apaches decide to hightail it. Matt returns to pull the arrow from Tesss shoulder, then he decides he needs to suck some poison out of the wound. She slaps him across the face for doing that, then passes out. Theres a big party that night, making use of the food, drinks, cards, and girls that are all available in the camp. Tess asks Groot to tell her all about Matt, because she "needs to know." She also wants to talk to Matt before they get back on the trail the next day. Groot goes and finds Matt (hes out in the evening fog, on watch) and tells Tess where he is. She goes out there and gets up close and starts talking to him. She tells him that he needs to talk to her, that talking about his concerns and fears is the way to deal with them. Matt doesnt need all that much convincing to talk, as she's a very soft and pretty girl that is very close to him. He opens up and they quickly get very comfortable with each other. Shed fallen in love with him immediately. He probably did too, but needed a bit of convincing that it would be ok to fall in love with a saloon girl. As its raining hard and there are worries about the level of the next river to be crossed. Matt decides they need to do it right away, even though its nighttime. Meanwhile, Dunson has gathered 8 new men and is on the chase. Nine days after the herd had left the wagon train, Dunson and his men come across the wagons. Tess immediately announces that shell "take care of Mr. Dunson." She considers shooting Dunson, as he sits in her tent talking to her, but he knows she has a pistol and is prepared to shoot her first if need be. It doesnt come to that. He notices shes wearing his mothers bracelet and asks her how she got it away from Matt. She sarcastically says she stole it, then admits she loves Matt and that he gave it to her. As they talk, Tess tells Dunson that she wanted to go with Matt on the drive, but he said no, it was too dangerous and tough. That reminded Dunson of the day when he turned down his womans request to go along with him. He was nevertheless bound and determined to go find and kill Matt, and tells Tess she cant say or do anything to change his mind. She keeps after him, though, and he acknowledges his disappointment in Matt, saying he was the son he never had and would stand to inherit his ranch if he hadnt betrayed him. Dunson takes a fresh look at Tess and offers her half of everything he owns in exchange for her bearing him a son. She says shell do it, if hell stop pursuing Matt. He says no, so she begs instead to be allowed to go with him. He says ok. Matts understandably stressed about whether they will find a railroad in Abilene, and the fact that Dunson is hot on his trail. Fortunately, they hear a train whistle in the distance and come across a train, about 12 miles from Abilene. The engineer is very thrilled to see the herd, as are the townspeople who come riding out to meet and greet them. They tell Matt to drive the herd right down Main Street so all the people can see (thats nearly impossible not to do anyway, as its a tiny town). Its August 14, 1865 and marks the time the first cattle drive on the Chisholm Trail is completed. In Abilene, Mr. Melville (Harry Carey Sr.) represents the Greenwood Trading Company of Illinois and offers immediately to buy the entire herd. Matt has no experience at selling cows, so hes hesitant to accept the $20/head offer. Mr. Melville then tells him to go out and find the best price he can for a lot of 500 cows and then hed match the price and still buy the whole herd. It ends up being $21/head. Matt signs the contract and receives a check for $50,000, with the balance to be paid once a final tally is arrived at. He makes sure all the cowboys get paid right away. Matt returns to his room at the Hotel Royale and is shocked to find Tess in there, all dressed in black. She apologizes for appearing as if shes in mourning. She tells him Dunson is camped outside town and will be coming to get him in the morning. It's likely that they get to know each other intimately that night. The next morning, everyone has gathered at the front of the hotel, waiting. Buster rushes in through the cows on his horse to announce that Dunson and his 10-12 men were riding in. Dunson, meanwhile, is telling his men to remember where they each stand in all this, which apparently is to hang well back and not interfere. Dunson dismounts on the far side of the railroad tracks and sets out with a very purposeful walk, through the cows and across the tracks. Cherry, realizing that Matt is not likely to draw and shoot it out with Dunson, confronts Dunson before he gets to Matt. They both draw and shoot, wounding each other. Cherry falls, but Dunson continues on. He gets close and tells Matt to draw, but Matt refuses. Dunson draws and empties his gun, shooting all around Matt, knocking his hat off and grazing his right cheek, drawing blood. He then walks up to Matt and wants to know what he has to do to make a man out of him. Dunson grabs and tosses away Matts gun. He reminds Matt that as a boy, he once told him never to try that again, but Matt doesn't react. Dunson then punches Matt in the face 2-3 times, knocking him down. He drags him back up, ready to hit some more, but Matt shocks him by punching him and knocking him down. They brawl until Tess fires a pistol into the air, stopping the action. She chews them out loudly for awhile, then decides maybe they should go ahead and pummel each other, and she turns away so they can continue. They don't start fighting again, however. Instead, they stand looking after Tess. Dunson tells Matt to marry that gal. Matt says, When are you going to stop telling people what to do? Dunson says, After one more thing. After we get back to Texas, Im going to make the brand the double bar D, with an additional name (he scrawls out an M in the dirt). You earned it!

(Because the film has a very complicated plot and features many characters, the events will be told mostly in chronological order to render the plot clearer, rather than strictly adhering to the order we see in the film.) General Sternwood has two daughters: the elder one is Vivian (Lauren Bacall) and the younger one is Carmen, who is a carefree, childish and problematic young woman. General Sternwood has a man named Sean Regan working for him. With the help of Sean, the general has made a man named Joe Brody leave Carmen alone, by giving him 5.000 Dollars. Carmen loves Sean but Sean loves the wife of a man named Eddie Mars, so he refuses Carmens advances. One day, Carmen kills Sean when she is drunk because of her unrequited love. Eddie hides Seans body. He then makes up the story that Sean and his wife have run away together and nobody sees Sean after that day. To support this story, he actually makes his own wife go away and start living in a remote place. Even the general doesnt know Seans whereabouts and wonders why he has left all of a sudden. Eddie then proceeds to blackmail Vivian for Carmens murder. As a way of eliciting money from Vivian, Eddie makes her win big money at his gambling house with cheats, and then he takes all the money from her. Carmens troublesome adventures are not over, though. A man named Arthur Gwynn Geiger blackmails General Sternwood to take the gambling debts of Carmen. The general hires Philip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart) to get rid of Geigers blackmail. Vivian talks to Marlowe, thinking that her father has actually hired him to find Sean Regan. Afraid that Carmen may get into trouble, she tries to take words from Marlowes mouth about his inquiry. But she learns that her father has not actually hired Marlowe about Sean. Marlowe goes to Geigers so-called antique books shop and sees a woman named Agnes, who makes it impossible for him to talk to Geiger. Then Marlowe waits at the bookshop across the street until the evening and follows Geiger and his right arm Carol Lundgren to Geigers house. Before Marlowe gets in the house, however, important things happen. Owen Taylor, driver for the Sternwoods, is in love with Carmen. He goes to Geigers house with her and kills Geiger for her. A secret camera, however, takes Carmens photo just at the moment of the murder. Owen then takes the film from the hidden camera, gets in the car and goes away. Joe Brody, also present that night, follows Owen, takes the film from him to blackmail Carmen, (and most probably) kills Owen and pushes his car in the water. When Marlowe gets in Geigers house, he sees Carmen with the dead body of Gaiger lying on the ground. Marlowe takes Carmen home and tells Vivian to say that Carmen has been home all night if asked by anyone. When he goes back to Geigers house, he sees that his dead body has been taken away. Later, Owens dead body is found in the car in the water. He has been killed before falling into the water. Marlowe learns from Vivian that Owen was interested in Carmen. Vivian then tells Marlowe that somebody is blackmailing her for Carmens photo taken at the night of Geigers murder. The blackmailer, who wants 5.000 Dollars, is actually Agnes. It is Joe Brody that makes her blackmail Vivian. Vivian tells Marlowe that she can take the money from Eddie. When Marlowe meets with Carmen once again at Geigers house, she tells him that it was Joe who took her photo that night. Eddie comes along and tries to scare Marlowe out of his inquiries. Later, Marlowe finds Joe Brody and questions him about Geiger. Agnes and Vivian are also at his house. Carmen comes along with a gun and threatens to kill Joe if he doesnt give her the photo. Carmen takes the photo and she leaves with Vivian. Then the doorbell rings again and somebody kills Joe, then escapes. Marlowe catches the man, who turns out to be Carol (Geigers right arm), who thinks that it was Joe who killed Geiger. Marlowe and Carol then go to Geigers house. Marlowe calls his friend Bernie, who comes and takes Carol away for his murder. Marlowe meets Vivian, who gives him money to close the case, but Marlowe sees behind this and does not want to quit his inquiries. He has to solve the Sean Regan issue. A man named Harry Jones tries to sell Marlowe the name of the place where Sean can be found. The money is to be given to Agnes, who has seduced Harry before. Later, one of Eddies men, Canino, kills Harry, because the information he has given to Marlowe will reveal Eddies secret about Sean. Marlowe meets with Agnes. She tells him that she and Joe have seen Eddies wife and Canino together and followed them. She gives Marlowe the address for 200 Dollars. Marlowe goes to that address and is knocked unconscious by two men. When he wakes up, he is tied and Eddies wife is there. Marlowe learns the truth about Sean Regan: He did not run away with Eddies wife, he was already dead and it is only Eddies wife who is hiding away. The wife tries to defend Eddie, saying that it wasnt him who killed Sean. Marlowe tells her that Eddie is a blackmailer and she goes away. Vivian unties Marlowe and he kills Canino. Marlowe calls Eddie to meet with him at his house. Eddie comes with a lot of men but he enters the house alone. Marlowe confronts him with a gun and makes him confess his bad deeds. He drives him out of the house and Eddies men outside, thinking that the one getting out of the house is Marlowe, shoot Eddie. The men leave, thinking they have done their duty. Marlowe calls Bernie again and tells him that it was Eddie who killed Sean Regan. By saying this, he actually saves Carmen from arrestment. But he tells Vivian that she should take Carmen away from here and should try to reform her. Vivian understand that this means a separation between herself and Marlowe, who are by now very much interested in each other. The film ends vaguely about the future of the two lovers.

PART ONE OF TWO: Newspaper reporter Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell) visits her former workplace, the busy office of New York City's Morning Post. She's there to tell her former boss, editor Walter Burns (Cary Grant) -- who's also her former husband -- that he needs to stop sending her letters and telegrams, and that she won't be coming back to work because she's getting married again. While she's in Walter's office, City Editor Duffy (Frank Orth) comes in to tell Walter that the governor hasn't signed the expected reprieve for a murderer, so the man will be executed in the morning. This will apparently make the paper look bad, so Walter tells Duffy to call the governor and push for the reprieve, offering in exchange the Morning Post's endorsement when the governor makes his expected run for the senate. Then Walter gets a call about the reporter who's supposed to be covering the murderer -- he's unavailable -- so Walter tries to convince Hildy to write one last story. She's having none of it. Her wedding is tomorrow, which comes as a shock to Walter, who claims he wants to remarry Hildy himself. Walter spends the rest of the movie, which all takes place all in one day, trying to lure Hildy back into the life they shared. It's not immediately clear why Hildy would be interested; though they have an obvious connection and Walter does seem fond of her, he omits the courtesies most men paid to women in 1940: he doesn't light Hildy's cigarette, take off his hat in her presence, or hold the door for her. He insinuates himself into her lunch date with her fiancé, Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy), where he learns that Hildy and Bruce plan to live in Albany with Bruce's mother, and that the three of them are taking the 4 o'clock train to Albany. Hildy, Bruce, and Walter discuss the murder case over lunch. The policeman who was murdered was "colored," which makes the case politically tricky for the sheriff and the mayor. Apparently they need the colored vote to win the upcoming election, and they don't think they'll get it if they don't execute the murderer. Walter gets Hildy excited about how to present the story to sway public opinion. Bruce says they can take the 6 o'clock train if she wants to do one last interview. Hildy backs off, but Walter goes to work on Bruce: "You argue with her! Otherwise you're going on a honeymoon with blood on your hands. How can you have any happiness after that?" Walter proposes a deal: he'll buy a life insurance policy from Bruce (Hildy bids him up from $25,000 to $100,000) if Hildy writes a story on Earl Williams, the murderer. Hildy and Bruce accept. Bruce and Walter go back to Walter's office, where Bruce will have a doctor examine Walter to make sure he qualifies for the policy, while Hildy heads for the criminal courts building where Williams is being held. First, she makes Bruce hand over the cash he's carrying -- $500, "all we have in the world" -- because she's afraid Walter will somehow swindle him out of it or lure him into a craps game or something. The press room at the criminal courts building, where much of the movie takes place, is full of reporters -- Murphy (Porter Hall), Roy V. Bensinger (Ernest Truex), Endicott (Cliff Edwards), McCue (Roscoe Karns), Wilson (Frank Jenks), and Sanders (Regis Toomey). Some of the newsmen are playing poker while others work the phones. A couple are calling in updates to the Earl Williams story. One concerns the "alienist" -- a psychiatrist or psychologist -- who's due to see Williams that afternoon (The law requires that an alienist interview Williams and declare him of sound mind before he can be executed). There's a full range of political opinion represented in the room and not much love lost among them, but when Hildy walks in, it's clear she's well liked -- all the reporters are delighted to see her. When she tells them she's moving to Albany and getting married, they all laugh at the idea of Hildy singing lullabies. In Walter's office, the doctor pronounces him fit and when Bruce asks who should be the beneficiary of the policy, Walter names Hildy. Bruce isn't too happy about that -- "I feel I should take care of her" -- but Walter says this is a debt of honor for him, because he was such a bad husband and because he wants to make sure she's provided for in her old age. Duffy comes in with a certified check for $2500 to pay for the policy and Walter puts Bruce on the phone to Hildy, who advises him to put the check in the lining of his hat (she's afraid Walter will swipe it back). As Bruce is leaving, Walter points him out to Louie Peluso (Abner Biberman), an ostensibly reformed criminal who's been hanging around the office. Walter and Louie seem to have some kind of understanding. Back at the courts building, Hildy scores an interview with the condemned man. The warden, Cooley (Pat West), tells her the sheriff says no more interviews, but she bribes Cooley to let her in ($20) and promises she won't be long. Earl Williams (John Qualen) tells Hildy he couldn't plead insanity because he's "just as sane as anybody else" -- but he didn't mean to shoot the two black policeman he was convicted of killing. Hildy asks him about the enthusiasts in the park who make speeches on soapboxes; Williams spent time in the park before the killing because he'd lost his job. He remembers a man who talked about production for use: the idea that nothing should be manufactured that isn't useful, and that every object should be used for its intended purpose. And what's a gun for? "Why, to shoot, of course!" Hildy convinces Williams that he was thinking about production for use when he fired the gun that killed the policeman. As she leaves, she asks about the roses in Williams' cell; he says they're from Mollie Malloy, whose picture is on the wall. He describes her as beautiful and "a wonderful person," but it's not clear what their relationship is. In the press room, the reporters wonder if Walter will really let Hildy go. "Remember what he did to Roger Fenton when he wanted to go to Hollywood? Had him thrown in jail for arson!" "Forgery," says someone else. They're bantering that Hildy's marriage won't last more than six months when Mollie Malloy (Helen Mack) walks in. She's angry about how they've been writing about her ("I never said I loved Earl Williams and was willing to marry him on the gallows!"), but they're dismissive and tell her to leave them alone. Hildy comes in during this exchange. Mollie explains that she only met Williams once, the day before the shooting. He was walking around in the rain without a hat or coat, obviously distraught. He told her he'd been fired so she took him to her room to dry off and get warm. The reporters make cruel wisecracks (when she asks about a banging noise outside -- the executioners are testing the gallows -- someone says "they're fixing up a pain in the neck for your boyfriend!") and when she shames them, they try to throw her out. Hildy takes Mollie under her wing and they go out together. Once they're gone, the men seem much more dejected about Williams' situation than they were letting on -- maybe they even feel a little sorry about how they treated Mollie. When Hildy comes back, she takes a call from Bruce and rushes out, running into Sheriff Hartwell (Gene Lockhart) as she leaves. The reporters, who don't let their finer feelings interfere with business, ask the sheriff to hang Williams at 5:00am in the morning instead of 7:00am so they can get the story into their city edition (He refuses). They also accuse him of reprieving Williams twice so the hanging will occur conveniently just before the election in which Hartwell is running on a law-and-order platform. At the jail, Hildy learns that Bruce was arrested for stealing a watch. His accuser, of course, is Walter's friend Louie, who's known to the police as "the biggest crook in town." After Hildy bails him out, Bruce discovers in the taxi that his wallet is missing (though he still has Walter's check, having followed Hildy's advice to put it in his hat). The reporters in the press room are relishing Hildy's unfinished draft of her Williams interview ("anybody who can write like that ain't gonna give it up permanent to sew socks for a guy in the insurance business") when she comes back, having left Bruce waiting in the cab. She calls Walter in a fury to tell him she's tearing up the story she wrote and getting on the train with his check; she won't give him the story because she knows he sent Louie to get Bruce arrested. PART TWO OF TWO The sheriff joins Dr. Eggelhoffer (Edwin Maxwell), the alienist, in his final interview with Earl Williams. In the press room, Hildy is making a flowery farewell speech when she's interrupted by the sound of gunfire outside. All the reporters run to the window and hear from the cops below that Earl Williams has escaped. They scramble for the phones. Hildy can't resist calling the news in to Walter and running after the rest of the press corps to get the story. She spots Warden Cooley in the chaotic jail-yard, chases him down (in high heels!), and tackles him to the ground. In the press room, one reporter calls his office to report that Williams shot his way out of his interview with Eggelhoffer and the sheriff and escaped through a skylight; another reports that a tear bomb went off in the hands of the sheriff's bomb squad, and several deputies (all relatives of the sheriff, who seems to have a nepotism problem) have been hospitalized. The sheriff comes in in time to hear this and huffs indignantly but ineffectually ("after all I've done for you!"). Another newsman reports that a cleaning lady was shot in the leg by a deputy. They hear more shots outside. Someone speculates that the sheriff let Williams escape so Williams could vote for him; Hartwell leaves in disgust. Upon hearing further shots, all the reporters leave the press room just as Hildy comes in; she grabs a phone and calls Walter. She tells him with evident delight and in a whisper that she's got an exclusive on how Williams got the gun and escaped. She says she had to give Cooley $450 of Bruce's money to get the story. Walter, smirking, swears he'll reimburse her. On his mother's grave. She points out that his mother's still alive, but gives him the story anyway: Dr. Eggelhoffer decided, as part of his examination, to re-enact the crime. This required a gun, which the sheriff supplied without thinking to remove the bullets first. Williams shot Egglehoffer "in the classified ad" and ran off (Eggelhoffer wasn't badly hurt). Hildy demands her $450 again and mentions that Bruce is waiting for her in a cab. Walter turns to Evangeline (Marion Martin), who's chatting with Louie, and sends her to meet Bruce; it's not clear what he expects her to do. Then he asks Louie to take $450 in counterfeit money to Hildy. Soon Hildy takes another call from Bruce, who's been arrested again -- for "mashing" Evangeline. Hildy can't bail him out until the money comes from Walter, who isn't answering the phone. The mayor (Clarence Kolb) walks in asking for the sheriff; the reporters try to pry a statement out of him. They throw around rumors about a Red (communist) uprising. Someone says the governor is calling out the militia and quotes the governor blaming the mayor and the sheriff for Williams' escape. The sheriff says they've located Williams and the rifle squad's about to recapture him; the reporters run off to see the fun. The mayor tells the sheriff he's pulling him off the ticket for the upcoming election. He scolds the sheriff for falsely accusing Williams of being a communist sympathizer and says they'll lose 200,000 votes if Williams doesn't hang. A man in a bowler hat comes in looking for Sheriff Hartwell; he's a messenger from the governor delivering a reprieve for Williams. He's interrupted by a call for the sheriff saying the rifle squad has Williams surrounded. The mayor tries to bribe the messenger, Joe Pettibone (Billy Gilbert), offering him a cushy job in the city sealer's office if he'll say he wasn't able to deliver the reprieve. Pettibone doesn't think his wife will like it, but the mayor offers further inducements while shooing Pettibone out the door. Then the mayor tells the sheriff to order the rifle squad to shoot to kill -- and offers a $500 reward for killing Williams. Louie comes into the press room, where Hildy dresses him down for what he did to Bruce. He gives her the counterfeit $450 and, when she insists, Bruce's wallet. She picks up the phone after locking the door behind him but is interrupted by Earl Williams, who climbs in through the window with a revolver. She reminds him that she's a friend. He's very agitated and shoots at the window shade when it startles him by rolling itself up. Hildy takes his gun away and has a busy few minutes calming Earl and juggling Bruce and Walter on the phone while someone knocks at the press room door. Bruce is apparently demanding that she come out; she tells him she's caught the murderer and can't leave. She tells Walter she needs him there. It's Mollie at the door. She and Earl have a brief reunion but there's another knock on the (still locked) door -- the reporters want back in. Hildy hides Williams in a roll-top desk and plants Mollie in the chair in front of the desk, pretending to feel faint. When she lets them in, the reporters speculate that Williams could still be in the building. Hildy tries to get them to do a floor-by-floor search. They accuse her of trying to get rid of them (which she is); she retorts that they're too lazy to go after the story. They're interrupted by the entrance of a well-dressed woman looking for Hildy, or more precisely, for Bruce's $450. She's Mrs. Baldwin (Alma Kruger), Bruce's mother, and she wants to know which of the reporters is the murderer Hildy told Bruce she caught. Hildy's conciliatory at first, but she realizes that if the reporters find Earl, he's toast. She denies telling Bruce that she caught the murderer, which leaves Mrs. Baldwin gasping with indignation. The reporters gang up on Hildy, but suddenly Mollie says she's the only one who knows where Earl is. Mollie is nearly hysterical and berates the reporters when they ask her to talk because they wouldn't listen to her before. Saying she'll give them a story, she jumps out the window just as Walter comes in with Louie. The reporters lean out the window, looking down at Mollie and the people trying to help her (someone thinks she moved, so she might not be dead). Hildy quietly tells Walter that Earl's in the desk. Walter peeks in. Earl wants out, but Walter tells him to stay put. Unfortunately Mrs. Baldwin is still in the room and wants to know what's in the desk. Hildy presents Walter to Mrs. Baldwin. Walter -- rude, as usual -- immediately tells Louie to take her away, which he does, introducing himself politely before lifting her right off the ground and walking off with her. Hildy, angry and tearful, wants to go after them, but Walter convinces her this is too good a story to walk out on. He says they can change the outcome of the election if they spin the story right, and she's caught up in it again. Walter decides they'll have to move the roll-top desk Earl is hiding in to the Morning Post office. Hildy starts typing another draft while Walter calls Duffy and tells him about the story -- "Earl Williams captured by the Morning Post, exclusive! Tear out the whole front page! Never mind the European war, we've got something a whole lot bigger than that!" He asks Duffy to send over some wrestlers they know to help with the desk. As he talks, Bruce tiptoes into the room. Hildy talks to him absent-mindedly as she types. He takes his counterfeit money, his check, and his wallet -- which he's surprised to find in her possession -- tries to convince her to come with him, and repeats several times that he's leaving on the 9 o'clock train. During this conversation, Walter's still talking to Duffy about the stories they have to cut or move to make way for Hildy's exclusive, with occasional rude asides to Bruce. Bruce leaves, saying bitterly to Hildy (who's not listening) that she never loved him, and Walter locks the door behind him. Earl opens the desk but closes it in a hurry when Walter says "get back in there, you Mock Turtle!" Hildy's still writing for all she's worth. She asks Walter where Bruce went and Walter lies that Bruce will be back. Soon a reporter knocks on the door: Roy Bensinger of the Tribune. He's a problem because Williams is hiding in his desk. Walter throws up a smokescreen of flattery, offers Bensinger a job at the Morning Post, and gives him an assignment. Then he calls Duffy and tells him to keep Bensinger busy for a few hours, then toss him down the stairs. Hildy realizes that Bruce isn't coming back because (she finally remembers) he's taking the 9 o'clock train. Walter says dismissively that it's already too late to catch him and measures the desk with his hands, deciding that it's too big to fit through the window. Louie comes back, very beaten up. He reports that the cab he and Mrs. Baldwin were riding in ran into a carload of cops driving on the wrong side of the street. Louie didn't wait around to see how the old lady was; Hildy fears she's dead and feels responsible. She starts calling hospitals while Walter takes a call from Butch the wrestler, who's having trouble getting away from his girlfriend. Walter sends Louie out to find some other muscle to move the desk. Hildy tries to leave to find Mrs. Baldwin but she's swept back into the press room by the returning press corps and the sheriff. They crowd around Hildy, insisting she tell them where Williams is. In the scuffle, the revolver falls off the table and the sheriff recognizes it. Walter claims to have given Hildy the gun to protect herself from Williams, but the sheriff says this is the gun Williams used to escape and the sheriff knows because it's his gun. The reporters are delighted because the sheriff has foolishly confirmed the story about how Williams got hold of a gun. The sheriff gives Hildy three minutes to tell him where Williams is. He threatens to arrest both Hildy and Walter and fine the Morning Post $10,000. Walter, unimpressed, calls him names. Then Hartwell says he'll impound the Post's property, so Walter dares him to move the roll-top desk out of the building. Hartwell's instructing his goons to do it when two policemen come in with a disheveled Mrs. Baldwin, who accuses Walter of having her kidnapped. This is music to the sheriff's ears, but Walter denies it and accuses Mrs. Baldwin of being drunk and going joy-riding. She retorts that Walter had her kidnapped because she knows they're hiding the murderer in the press room. Walter emphasizes his denial by pounding on the roll-top desk, to which Earl unfortunately responds by pounding back. The sheriff and deputies pull their guns on the desk. Mrs. Baldwin runs from the room, straight the arms of her son. Hildy tells the sheriff that shooting the desk is murder, so he has his deputies raise the roll top. Williams says "go ahead, shoot me!" and can barely stand when they pull him out. Reporters all over the room are calling in the story as it happens. Walter gets Duffy on the line and says "the Morning Post turned Williams over to the sheriff!" as the cops handcuff him to Hildy. Suddenly the other reporters decide they need to talk to Mrs. Baldwin and rush out, leaving Hildy, Walter, the sheriff, and one cop in the room when the mayor walks in. He congratulates the sheriff on catching Hildy and Walter obstructing justice and tells them they'll get 10 years apiece. As the mayor and the sheriff gloat, the governor's messenger, Mr. Pettibone, comes back. His wife seems to have explained to him that the city sealer job is a bribe, and he rejects it, with explicit details, in the presence of Walter and Hildy who understand all the implications. The mayor tries to deny it, but gets nowhere. Bowing to the inevitable, the mayor professes to be delighted that it won't be necessary to execute Williams and has the sheriff release Walter and Hildy from the handcuffs. The two sides trade threats: from the Morning Post team, an exposé followed by a recall of the mayor, and "a thumping big libel suit" from the mayor. Hildy maliciously speculates that the mayor and the sheriff will get 10 years apiece. The mayor and the sheriff depart with Pettibone and Walter gets back on the phone with Duffy. Hildy reminisces about a long-ago case where she and Walter stole a dead woman's stomach to prove she'd been poisoned, then had to hide out for a week in a hotel (which appears to be how they got together). He tries to send her off to Albany after Bruce, and seems to mean it this time, but she isn't sure she wants to go -- and she really wants to finish the story. The phone rings as she walks out the door and she comes back find that it's Bruce calling, once again, from the police station -- he's been arrested for trying the pass the counterfeit money she gave him. Hildy hangs up and breaks down sobbing. Walter tries to comfort her; he's worried because she's never cried before. She finally chokes out "I thought you were really sending me away with Bruce. I didn't know you had him locked up. I thought you didn't love me!" Within moments they're planning to get married again and take a two-week honeymoon in Niagara Falls -- which quickly becomes a working trip to Albany, because Duffy reports there's a strike there. As they leave the press room, Walter wonders if Bruce can put them up in Albany. He tells Hildy she should carry the suitcase she's clutching in her arms by the handle but true to form, doesn't offer to carry it for her.

An ambitious and near insanely violent gangster climbs the ladder of success in the mob, but his weaknesses prove to be his downfall.