A quiet cowboy (Buck Jones) on a white horse saves a gal (Dorothy Fay) from cattle rustlers.
A quiet cowboy (Buck Jones) on a white horse saves a gal (Dorothy Fay) from cattle rustlers.
Virgil Cole (Ed Harris) and his longtime friend and partner Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen) travel the 1880s Southwest, bringing justice to lawless towns desperate enough to hire them. In the mining town of Appaloosa, malevolent rancher Randall Bragg and his cronies ride roughshod over the frightened citizens. As Cole and Hitch work to end Bragg's reign of terror, an unconventional widow (Renee Zellweger) arrives, complicating the job and threatening their bond.
Sheriff Chadbourne (Samuel Herrick) transports convict Ben Trask (Lloyd Bridges) to El Paso in a covered wagon. The wagon also carries sea captain Theodore Bess (Lee J. Cobb) and married couple Laura (Marie Windsor) and Jerry Niblett (Dean Train). The group comes upon a wounded Native American, banished by his tribe, who offers to lead them to gold. But then the tribe attacks the wagon, killing Jerry and wounding Chadbourne. Ben is freed to help, but the group's troubles have only begun.
Major Matt Stewart (Randolph Scott) leads a troop of Confederate soldiers on a raid, targeting a wagon that is transporting Union gold. All the Union soldiers are killed except for one, who informs Stewart that the war had already ended a month ago. Stewart leads the troop into hiding, knowing they could face murder charges. After capturing a coach driven by nurse Molly Hull (Donna Reed), the soldiers try to evade a group of bandits chasing them to steal the gold.
A gang of gold-hunting outlaws, headed by the ruthless Left Eye Watkins (Bobby Brown), takes over the peaceful town of Flatridge, tearing the sleepy outpost to shreds as they search for riches. They murder a can-can girl, who is the sister of Rachel (Monica Calhoun), the onetime leader of a notorious all-girl gang. Rachel then rounds up her four old associates, and they seek revenge for her sister. Using teamwork and a sassy attitude, Rachel's gang goes up against Watkins' tough crew.
A tungsten miner (Bill Boyd) loves his father's rival's daughter (Helen Twelvetrees) and fights off her other suitor (Clark Gable).
A civic-minded physician from a small town in the West helps uproot crooked town officials.
A cattleman's son stops his men from busting up a herd of sheep when he sees that they're owned by a pretty young woman.
John Mason (John Wayne) suffers a cruel homecoming when he witnesses his father's murder as he rides into town. Incensed, he chases after the killers, but he suffers a gunshot wound that cuts his pursuit short. Alice Gordon (Marion Burns) sees to his injury, and Mason is taken by her kindness and beauty. But things turn sour when her beau, Ben (Reed Howes), becomes jealous. After Mason discovers the men who killed his father, his plan for a duel is sabotaged by Ben, who has been manipulated.