Badman's Country

Noted sheriff Pat Garrett has resigned to marry and move to California, hoping to protect his future bride, Lorna Farrell, from outlaws who seek revenge against him. While heading to Abilene, Kansas with his future brother-in-law Roy, Pat is ambushed. In the gunfight, Pat takes a shot at the outlaw, but when Roy is wounded, Pat rushes him to Abilene where Roy and Lorna's father, Dr. Farrell, tends to his son's wounds. Meanwhile, the injured outlaw reports to his gang leader, The Sundance Kid, that Pat is heading to Abilene. Having contacted Butch Cassidy to assist in an Abilene robbery, Sundance is concerned that Pat could sabotage the job. Back in Abilene, Dr. Farrell reminds Pat that his life with Lorna will be clouded by violence from outlaws, but Lorna assures Pat that she will follow him wherever he goes. After learning that Sundance and four of his gunslingers are waiting in the saloon to speak with Pat, Marshal McAfee begs Pat to prevent a shootout by leaving town. Duty bound to stop the outlaws, Pat orders McAfee to stand up to the gunslingers. Pat then walks into the saloon, inciting a gunfight. Meanwhile, outside the saloon, a gunslinger shoots McAfee; however, Buffalo Bill Cody, who is in Abilene to be treated by Farrell, holds the outlaw at gunpoint. When a sharpshooter takes aim at Cody, the wounded McAfee fires and kills the outlaw, saving Cody's life. When Sundance and his henchman prepare to flee the saloon, Pat holds them at gunpoint, disarms and arrests the men. Later, Pat confides in Cody that this most recent violence has given him second thoughts about marrying Lorna. After the jailed Sundance refuses to answer questions, Mayor Coleman asks Pat to take over as marshal. Pat declines, however, and sends for Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson to take the criminals to the proper authorities. Later at Lorna's house, Pat tells her that he must go to California alone to arrange a safe life for them there. On the trail, Wyatt and Bat spot Cassidy and over a dozen outlaws preparing to ride into Abilene and race to get there before the outlaws. Soon after, Sundance abducts Pat, who is on his way to California, and orders him whipped until Pat tells them the location of Sundance and his men. While Pat is being whipped, Cassidy tells him that Sundance has important information regarding a job worth over a half of a million dollars. Meanwhile, Wyatt and Bat arrive at the Abilene jail where they inform McAfee that outlaws surround the town. Learning that Pat has already left, Wyatt and Bat track him to the Cassidy hideout. After knocking out the men on watch, Wyatt and Bat set the outlaws' horses free. Assuming that their horses have been scared off by mountain lions, Cassidy and his men set out to round up their horses, and in their absence, Wyatt and Bat free Pat. Deciding they must intercept information about the arrival of the money, Cassidy and his men take over the relay wire office outside Abilene, killing the operator. They soon learn from the records that Pat sent for Wyatt and Bat to take Sundance and his men to trial. Back in Abilene, after Coleman refuses to encourage the townsmen to arm themselves against Cassidy, Pat forces the mayor to tell him about the money Cassidy mentioned. The mayor explains that cattlemen are driving their herds to Abilene to sell them, and that the buyers are shipping large sums of money on the train rather than carry it with them. Deciding to wire Kansas City to stop the money shipment, Pat, Wyatt and Bat go to the main wire office, where the operator admits that the relay office operator's transmissions have been suspiciously worded. Pat deduces that Cassidy has taken over the station and decides to send him false information to lure him into a trap in Abilene. When the mayor refuses the plan, fearing the consequences, Wyatt deputizes Pat so that he has the authority to draw the outlaws into Abilene. Soon after Cassidy and his gang intercept a wire reporting that the shipment has already arrived at the bank, they decide to raid it. Meanwhile, the town council, led by Coleman, meet and, fearing the outlaws, vote to throw Pat out of town to protect themselves. Noting that Abilene, like so many Western towns, is isolated from the federal marshals and the Army, Pat admonishes the crowd for handing Abilene to the outlaws on a "silver platter." After the townsmen adjourn without promising to help, Coleman orders McAfee to set Sundance and his men free, granting them amnesty in exchange for staying out of town. However, once freed, the criminals wrestle for their guns and leave well-armed. As Sundance and his men ride out of town, Pat, Bat, Wyatt and Bill stop them and a gunfight ensues. One by one the outlaws are killed by the townsmen, who offer their help to Pat and blame Coleman for leading them like cowardly sheep. The next day, when Cassidy and over twenty men ride into town to rob the bank, they are surrounded by gunfire coming from every storefront. As the battle continues, other men torch bales of hay at either end of town, and as Cassidy's remaining men try to escape, they are easily surrounded. Cassidy jumps over the fire, but Pat chases after him, pulling the outlaw from his horse and winning the ensuing fistfight. Days later, as they watch the recently married Lorna and Pat ride off without announcing their destination, Dr. Farrell tells Cody that Lorna's last words were "the three of them would be very happy." Cody then explains that the three of them includes Pat, Lorna and Pat's duty to uphold the law.