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
Lena Horne
Carroll O'Connor
David Opatoshu
Kent Smith
Jacqueline Scott
Morgan Woodward
Larry Gates
Dub Taylor
John Saxon
Darleen Carr
Michael McGreevey
Royal Dano
Jimmy Lydon
Kathleen Freeman
Harry Carey, Jr.
Amy Thomson
Mercer Harris
James O'Hara
Walter Sande
Victor French
Robert Sorrells
Charles Kuenstle
Sara Taft