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.
Richard Widmark
as Marshal Frank Patch
Lena Horne
as Claire Quintana
Carroll O'Connor
as Lester Locke
David Opatoshu
as Edward Rosenbloom
Kent Smith
as Andrew Oxley
Jacqueline Scott
as Laurie Mills
Morgan Woodward
as Ivan Stanek
Larry Gates
as Mayor Chester Sayre
Dub Taylor
as Doc Adams
John Saxon
as Lou Trinidad
Darleen Carr
as Hilda Jorgenson
Michael McGreevey
as Dan Joslin
