Harry Carey, Hoot Gibson, Henry B. Walthall, Margaret Callahan, Frank M. Thomas, Tom Tyler. In this remake of a silent classic based on a story by director John Ford, an outlaw emerges from a twenty-five year prison term and returns to his former home town, now a bustling and unrecognizable modern city.
After serving twenty-five years in prison, reformed "Wild West" bank robber Dean Payton receives a gubernatorial pardon and is released. Upon leaving prison, Dean returns to his favorite town, which is now a bustling Western city, and looks up Calvin Yates, the sheriff responsible for his capture and later for his pardon. While waiting to see Calvin, who has been demoted to Under Sheriff, Dean meets Sally Mason, whose adopted father, Dr. Charles Mason, is another friend from the "old days." Later, Dean learns that Sally is actually his own daughter who was adopted by Mason after Dean's wife died. Overwhelmed by the hectic, noisy atmosphere of the city, Dean finds a "back room" poker game, which is being observed by Chuck Wilson, a local rancher. When Chuck accuses a cardsharp of dealing "off the bottom" and cheating Dean, a brawl, inflamed by the feisty Dean, ensues. Afterward, Dean takes Chuck to have his black eye treated by Mason and introduces him to Sally in the hope that she will lose her interest in Arthur Billings, the pompous "new style" sheriff. Dean, Sally, Mason and Chuck then go to see The Heart of the Plains , a western movie whose noisy soundtrack and singing cowboy star both amaze and repel Dean. After spending a day at Chuck's ranch with Dean, Sally and her father are called to treat a gunshot patient who is part of a gang of robbers headed by Al Goss. Sure that Sally and Mason will expose the gang to the police, Al shoots Mason, takes Sally hostage and robs a bank. During the subsequent car chase with police, Dean is arrested and the gang escapes with Sally. While the inept Sheriff Billings uses "modern" methods to capture the gangsters, Dean, who has been released from jail by Calvin, relies on his past experiences to track down and outsmart them. Aided by Calvin and Chuck on horseback, Dean eventually overwhelms the gang in the same "back hills" cabin where Calvin had captured him years before, and rescues Sally, who then learns that Dean is her real father. Now the local hero, Calvin announces that he is putting Dean on the sheriff's payroll, while Sally and Chuck seal their love with a kiss.
