The Plunderers 1960

Unruly cowboys Rondo, Jeb Lucas Tyler, William ‘Mule’ Thompson, and Davy ride into the quiet town of Trail City. They can’t pay for their drinks, so Sheriff McCauley jails them for the night with the understanding that they will leave town in the morning. The next day, the four men refuse to pay for clothes at Ellie Walters’s general store and then convince Kate Miller that they will pay for the rooms they take at her hotel.

Realizing that they are trouble-makers, Kate asks the rancher Sam Christy, an American Civil War hero who has lost the use of one arm and is tired of fighting, for help. She accuses him of cowardice, and they part acrimoniously. Ellie warns Kate that she will lose her chance of marrying Sam.

When the cowboys beat up the saloon keeper and Sheriff McCauley is killed by Jeb, Sam offers to do what he can. The four cowboys go through the town and gather up everyone’s guns, leaving the townsfolk defenseless. They ply the town drunk, Abilene, with whiskey in exchange for information.

Sam goes to his ranch to get his gun, but is ambushed by two of the cowboys and beaten. Ellie finds him at the ranch and tends to him and they kiss. They drive back to town, where Sam gathers the men in the stable to hatch a plan. They decide to separate the cowboys and capture them one by one.

Davy is upset by what is going on and wants the cowboys to leave. He decides to go on his own, but when he goes to the stable to get his horse, he is captured by Sam and the townspeople. Ellie is attacked by Rondo but she fights him off and he is captured by Sam using Davy’s gun. In the stable, Rondo comes at Sam with a knife and Ellie shoots him. Sam then kills Mule in a knife fight and shoots the panicking Jeb. He allows the remorseful Davy to leave town. Ellie and Sam come together.