Law of the Lash

Fred C. Dobbs and Bob Curtin, both down on their luck in Tampico, Mexico in 1925, meet up with a grizzled prospector named Howard and decide to join with him in search of gold in the wilds of central Mexico. Through enormous difficulties, they eventually succeed in finding gold, but bandits, the elements, and most especially greed threaten to turn their success into disaster.

Gallant Cisco "kidnaps" murder suspect Ellen from the authorities, then sets about to prove her innocence, all with the cooperation of a sympathetic sheriff.

A group of people traveling on a stagecoach find their journey complicated by the threat of Geronimo, and learn something about each other in the process.

Fuzzy's niece is killed in a stagecoach hold-up. Billy and Fuzzy quickly learn that the culprit, who not only killed all the passengers but also absconded with $40,000, may be holed up in lawless Pecos City.

Questions arise when Senator Stoddard (James Stewart) attends the funeral of a local man named Tom Doniphon (John Wayne) in a small Western town. Flashing back, we learn Doniphon saved Stoddard, then a lawyer, when he was roughed up by a crew of outlaws terrorizing the town, led by Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin). As the territory's safety hung in the balance, Doniphon and Stoddard, two of the only people standing up to him, proved to be very important, but different, foes to Valance.

Crooked ranch foreman Thatcher sends his two henchmen, Parnell and Clint, out to murder his boss, wealthy Peter Arnold who has just arrived to retire on his ranch, bringing in tow his daughter, tomboy Jessie, who despises western life and can't wait to run off back to San Francisco. Stagecoach line owner Dave Collins and his sidekick Chito show up just in time to deter the attackers. Collins isn't done yet, though, as a gold shipment sent on one of his stages is stolen by Parnell and Clint, one of whom is recognized by Jessie, attempting to escape back to the west coast. Collins has his hands full trying to retrieve the stolen gold, and dealing with Jessie, who's fallen head-over-heels in love with him.

Raton Pass is a curious western based on the rules of Community Property. Dennis Morgan and Patricia Neal portray a recently married husband and wife, each of whom owns half of a huge cattle ranch. Neal is a tad more ambitious than her husband, and with the help of a little legal chicanery she tries to obtain Morgan's half of the spread. He balks, so she hires a few gunslingers to press the issue. In a 1951 western, the greedy party usually came to a sorry end; Raton Pass adheres strictly to tradition.

Vignettes weaving together the stories of six individuals in the old West at the end of the Civil War. Following the tales of a sharp-shooting songster, a wannabe bank robber, two weary traveling performers, a lone gold prospector, a woman traveling the West to an uncertain future, and a motley crew of strangers undertaking a carriage ride.

An Arizona frontiersman steals an Indian agent's girlfriend, followed by trouble.

A group of outlaws posing as Southern sympathizers and led secretly by freight-line owner Jim Maroon are raiding stagecoaches, and this is a threat to the Union communications. Grif Holbrook, a trouble-shooter for the Butterfield Stage Line, and Union man Barney Broderick team up to try and put a stop to the activity, when they aren't fighting over the charms of Kate Crocker.

The conflict between a railroader and a stage line owner is being aggravated by bad guys who are sabotaging both sides. Roy and Gabby mediate the conflict and expose the bad guys.