Law of the Badlands 1951

In 1890, Captain Captain Bill McVey of the Texas Rangers is dispatched by the United States Secret Service in Washington, D.C. to help dismantle a bold counterfeiting ring operating in the Texas Badlands. He orders Dave Saunders and his quick-witted sidekick Chito Rafferty to go undercover, posing as criminals to infiltrate the operation. Chito bids farewell to his girlfriend, Velvet Velvet, before they head out. On their way, they manage to steal gold stolen from a stagecoach ambush, a small victory that immediately tests their nerve and loyalty.

Arriving in Badland, the pair step into Cash Carlton’s bar, where they intervene as a man named Madigan attempts to rob Carlton. The bar becomes a crossroads when Durkin Durkin and Benson Benson, two members of the same gang responsible for the earlier heist, show up to wrest the gold from the newcomers. Carlton, intrigued by the strangers and their audacious take, offers them a chance to work for him in his counterfeiting operation. Carlton’s engraver, Lafe Simms, who also owns a feed store, grows suspicious of Dave and Chito; Carlton ends up paying them in counterfeit money, further entwining their fates with his criminal enterprise.

When Dave and Chito leave Carlton’s ranch, they notice a man lurking in Carlton’s barn. The intruder escapes after a scuffle that leaves Chito momentarily dazed. In town, they realize the man is Burt Conroy Burt Conroy, a blacksmith who is secretly an undercover Secret Service operative. Conroy apologizes for the surprise attack and briefs the duo on the gang’s counterfeit plot with steady calm. Carlton soon orders a raid on a newspaper office to requisition supplies, but Conroy uses a carrier pigeon to warn Captain McVey. McVey and his Rangers intervene, and a tense gunfight results in the death of two gang members. The gang grows wary, suspecting Dave and Chito might be informants, though Carlton swears there is another undercover figure in town. Dave and Chito warn Conroy that Carlton’s suspicion centers on the speed of the carrier pigeon delivering information. As Conroy rides out, Carlton kills him in a decisive blow that shifts the balance of trust in Badland.

Back at Carlton’s barn, Dave and Chito glimpse Simms hauling blank sheets of paper. They press their way into Simms’ feed store and uncover counterfeit cash hidden inside grain sacks, but Simms returns before the printing plates can be recovered. Chito heads back to the bar, where Velvet recognizes him and unwittingly exposes his true identity, triggering a furious gunfight. Dave and Chito narrowly escape, then return to Simms’ store and set a trap by drawing Carlton and Simms there under the pretense of a fire. Carlton divulges the location of the printing plates as the gang arrives for a final confrontation. A fierce gun battle erupts; Carlton manages to slip away, but Velvet’s allegiance wavers as the danger intensifies.

Velvet’s loyalty and quick thinking prove crucial when she sends a carrier pigeon message to Captain McVey, summoning the Rangers to move in at the crucial moment. The arrival of McVey and his team cuts off Carlton’s last gambit just as Dave and Chito find themselves running low on ammunition. In the aftermath, Velvet, upset that Chito had posed as a crook, storms off, leaving the possibility of romance unsettled for the moment. Yet the last beat hints at a flicker of renewed hope for Chito as he glimpses another potential love interest on the street, suggesting the frontier world of Badland can still offer chances for new beginnings even after a dangerous mission.