Art Croft and Gil Carter are two drifters who ride into a town in Bridger's Wells, Nevada in 1885. They enter Darby's Saloon where the atmosphere is subdued due to recent incidents of cattle-rustling. Being unfamiliar faces, Art and Gil are suspected to be rustlers. When it's announced that a rancher named Larry Kinkaid has been murdered, the townspeople immediately form a posse to pursue the killers, who they believe are cattle rustlers. Art and Gil join the posse to avoid raising further suspicion. When the group find three men with Kinkaid's cattle, they become strongly divided over whether to not to lynch the culprits.
Tough! True! Terrifying! SHOCKING! AS THE LASH OF A WHIP ACROSS YOUR FACE! "DARING"! One of the finest pictures ever made! says Damon Runyon FOR TRUTH, FOR THRILLS...IT'S TERRIFYING! IT'LL CHILL YOUR BLOOD WITH TERROR!.. AND MAKE IT BOIL WITH FURY!
Part of the reason Henry Fonda was committed to the film was because he himself had witnessed a lynching at age 14.
In a poll, Clint Eastwood selected this film as his favourite.
A big fan of the novel, Director William A. Wellman had long wanted to make "The Ox-Bow Incident" into a film. When the rights-holders insisted that he cast Mae West in any adaptation, Wellman bought the rights himself, and proceeded to make the film "his" way.
Though nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, the film received no other Academy Award nominations, making it the last such movie ever.
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