Bordertown 1935

Johnny Ramirez, Paul Muni, a feisty and ambitious Mexican American law graduate, completes his studies at Pacific Night Law School in Los Angeles and steps into the courtroom with high hopes for justice. His first case ends in defeat when he is ill-prepared, defending his client Dale Elwell, Margaret Lindsay, whose truck is destroyed by a careless debutante. The opposing attorney Brook Manville, Gavin Gordon, defends his lover Dale, and Johnny’s temper flares, costing him his license.

Disbarred, he travels to a small town south of the border and takes a job as a bouncer in a seedy casino owned by Charles ‘Charlie’ Roark, Eugene Pallette. Johnny helps transform the dive into the Silver Slipper, a first-class nightclub that attracts an upscale crowd, and Charlie makes him a partner to reward his effort.

Charlie’s lonely, unhappy wife Marie Roark, Bette Davis Marie Roark, makes a pass at Johnny, who resists the advances. In a grim turn of events, Marie locks her drunken husband in the garage and leaves the car running, asphyxiating him.

Dale Elwell and her society friends, including Brook Manville, visit the club, and Johnny finds himself drawn to Dale. A jealous Marie later accuses Johnny of murdering Charlie, but during the trial she collapses on the witness stand, having become insane.

Back in Los Angeles, Johnny returns and proposes to Dale, who contemptuously rejects him, citing stark ethnic and economic differences. She is then struck and killed by a car while trying to escape him.

Ultimately, Johnny decides to sell the Silver Slipper, donate the proceeds to a law school, and settle in Los Angeles among his own people.