Plot

When a notorious tough 'town tamer' is hired by the citizenry to rid of the gunmen driving them off their land, he finds the local saloon madam to be an old friend.

A stranger comes to town looking for his estranged wife. He finds her running the local girls. He also finds a town and sheriff afraid of their own shadow, scared of a landowner they never see who rules through his rowdy sidekicks. The stranger is a town tamer by trade, and he accepts a $500 commission to sort things out.—Jeremy Perkins {J-26}

For $500, the worried townspeople of the once-peaceful town of Sheridan hesitantly enlist the help of the taciturn "town tamer", Clint Tollinger, to clean up their small frontier community. But, his reputation precedes him--and as the murderous henchmen of the corrupt rancher, Dade Holman, terrorise the dusty town without interruption--it seems that Clint has his work cut out for him. More and more, the defenceless townsfolk find themselves under the thumb of the ruthless cattle baron; however, sometimes, the cure is worse than the disease. Is the man with the gun up to the task?—Nick Riganas

Clint Tolliger (Robert Mitchum) arrives in the small town of Sheridan, where he knows his ex-wife Nelly (Jan Sterling) lives. She ran away a few years ago, no longer able to bear a husband who endangered her life on a daily basis. Thanks to his skill with weapons, he specialized in "cleaning up" small towns. In Sheridan, Clint is just checking in on Nelly and their 5-year-old daughter, whom he has hardly ever seen. At the same time, he hopes to reconcile and start a new life together with his wife, who now works as a Saloon Gal in the establishment run by Frenchy Lescaux (Ted De Corsia). But Nelly seems unwilling to resume their former relationship. Clint nevertheless decides to stay in town, having immediately realized that she could use his help. With his reputation as "Town Tamer" following him, the town council led by the blacksmith (Emile Meyer) decides to hire him to put an end to the diktat of the local potentate, the untouchable Dade Holman, who never leaves his house and lets his private army impose its own law. Clint accepts on condition that no one interferes with his work, and he alone decides what methods to use. Young Jeff Castle (John Lupton) is currently holding his own against Holman's henchmen, having just driven them off his future property with a shotgun. His life now hangs by a thread, but he refuses to give in despite the reprimands of his fiancee (Karen Sharpe), the farrier's daughter, who can't stand violence. As for Clint, he wastes no time and, for $500, begins his unscrupulous "housework", backed up by the sheriff (Henry Hull) who, until now, had never dared lift a finger. The notables, for their part, are beginning to be bitten by the idea of having hired a man even more violent than those he has to fight..