This film has a shambles of a plot but is still exciting stuff because of the ego battle between Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson. Brando plays a hired bounty hunter, pitting his wits against horse-thief Nicholson amid the conflict between Montana ranchers and rustlers, and both actors twitch their way through an upstaging duel that is as mesmerising as it is brazenly arrogant. Director Arthur Penn seems to stand back, bemused, from this clash of the titans, though his view of pioneer days is still so fascinatingly uncluttered and fresh that you can almost smell the raw wood of log cabins. It's a case of never mind the quality, feel the vanity.

When vigilante land baron David Braxton hangs one of the best friends of cattle rustler Tom Logan, Logan's gang decides to get even by purchasing a small farm next to Braxton's ranch. From there the rustlers begin stealing horses, using the farm as a front for their operation. Determined to stop the thefts at any cost, Braxton retains the services of eccentric sharpshooter Robert E. Lee Clayton, who begins ruthlessly taking down Logan's gang.