A pre-superstardom Charles Bronson plays a US marshal in
Showdown at Boot Hill
. Tracking down a wanted murderer to a small town, Bronson kills him in a shootout. It develops that the dead man, whose criminal past was unknown to his fellow townsfolk, was a popular and highly respected member of the community. The decedent's friends refuse to identify the body, thereby denying Bronson the opportunity of collecting the reward money. At first angered by this, Bronson is gradually won over to the townspeoples' point of view.