Clark Gable rarely ventured out West, but on the evidence of this impressive picture he should have done so more often. Few directors understood the man of action better than Raoul Walsh, who draws bristling performances from both Gable and Robert Ryan in a tough trail-driving tale. Jane Russell is also on top form, giving as good as she gets as the boys bid for her affections. Walsh stages the action sequences with typical bravado and handles the more intimate moments with great finesse. Superbly photographed by Leo Tover, this is one of the genre's most unjustly overlooked films.

Two brothers discharged from the Confederate Army join a businessman for a cattle drive from Texas to Montana where they run into raiding Jayhawkers, angry Sioux, rough terrain and bad weather.