The Tin Star

Plot

Bounty hunter Morgan Hickman (Henry Fonda) arrives in a small town with the body of an outlaw, seeking the bounty. Whilst the general townsfolk openly abhors Hickman, young sheriff Ben Owens (Anthony Perkins) admires the man for taking everything in his stride and knowing how to handle dangerous situations.

Hickman tells Owens that he was once a sheriff himself, but Dr McCord doubts this. Nevertheless, Owens persuades Hickman to teach him the ways of a lawman, forcing Hickman to face his past and his lost virtues.

Hickman lives on the edge of the town with Nona Mayfield, herself an outcast due to her half-caste son, Kip, who is half Indian. Treatment of Indians acts as a sub-plot including scenes such as the gunning down of an Indian by a white man, under the philosophy of nobody cares.

Things come to a head when Dr McCord is returning home during the night having delivered a baby son to a remote homesteader. He is waylaid by Ed McGaffey (Lee Van Cleef) asking him to treat a gun wound on his brother. This he does, but then McGaffey decides to kill him as he knows too much, despite the pleas of his now recovering brother.

Dr. McCord's horse and trap re-enter the town on McCord Day: where the whole town has come out to celebrate the doctor's 75th birthday. To a resounding chorus of "For He's A Jolly Good Fellow" the town realize he is dead. A posse is then assembled to catch McGaffey. However, the posse split from the sheriff because they see him as too soft. Young Kip rides out after the posse and Hickman and the sheriff team up to track him down.

In finding Kip they accidentally stumble upon Gaffney and his brother hiding in a mountain cave. After a gunfight in which the sheriff receives a bullet graze on the forehead they successfully capture the brothers and lock them in the town jail. However the posse are baying for blood and want to lynch the pair. The sheriff stands against the crowd to defend the pair for a legal trial. The ringleader (the man who earlier shot the Indian) has a duel with the sheriff and everything Hickman has taught him pays off, and he kills the ringleader and which point the lynch mob disperses.

Hickman then happily leaves town (with Nona Mayfield).

Cast