When cattleman Clay Morgan kills nester Joel Potter while drunk, Ma Potter is determined to avenge her son’s death. Because Clay’s father, head of the Cattlemen’s Association in Paradise Valley, advocates a non-violent war against the nesters, Clay pleads self-defense, and his father believes him. Marshal Bruce Manning, the fiancée of Clay’s sister Ann, saw Clay place a gun in the dead man’s hand, however, so he arrests him in order to prevent a war between cattlemen and nesters. While Bruce holds Clay in a hideout, Mr. Morgan shoots Bruce in the shoulder, and Clay surrenders to his father. Bruce then escapes on his horse, whom he sends back to the Clays’ ranch to warn Ann. When Ann finds the horse marked with Bruce’s blood, she hides it and rides off, but she is abducted and brought to Ma Potter’s house. There, Bruce arrives for medical attention and scolds Ma for taking the law into her own hands. Ma then calls Morgan, and after she offers Ann in exchange for Clay, Morgan rallies his men to get Ann back by force. Bruce then arrives at the Morgans’ as the men load their guns and tries to stop them, but Clay knocks Bruce out and holds him hostage while the cattlemen depart. Bruce then regains his gun from Clay and convinces him he can expiate his crime by stopping the war. When Clay and Bruce arrive in the middle of the crossfire, however, Morgan shoots his own son, believing he is the enemy. As he lies dying, Clay confesses to murdering an unarmed man and admits that his own death is retribution for his crime. Later, Ma and Morgan, reconciled at their sons’ adjacent graves, finally agree to share the land. More on Wikipedia or Mubi
Watch Ambush Valley (1936)
