In the turn-of-the century Texas town of Cottownwood Springs, marshal Frank Patch is an old-style lawman in a town determined to become modern. When he kills drunken Luke Mills in self-defense, the town leaders decide it’s time for a change. That ask for Patch’s resignation, but he refuses on the basis that the town on hiring him had promised him the job for as long as he wanted it. Afraid for the town’s future and even more afraid of the fact that Marshal Patch knows all the town’s dark secrets, the city fathers decide that old-style violence is the only way to rid themselves of the unwanted lawman.
Rated PG | Length 94 minutes
Richard Widmark | Lena Horne | Carroll O'Connor | David Opatoshu | Kent Smith | Jacqueline Scott | Morgan Woodward | Larry Gates | Dub Taylor | John Saxon | Darleen Carr | Michael McGreevey | Royal Dano | Jimmy Lydon | Kathleen Freeman | Harry Carey, Jr. | Amy Thomson | Mercer Harris | James O’Hara | Walter Sande | Victor French | Robert Sorrells | Charles Kuenstle | Sara Taft