Elmo Williams, the veteran Hollywood film editor who gained fame for his work on , serves as director of the medium-budget western . Lloyd Bridges plays the title character, a convicted murderer named Ben Trask. While being escorted to prison, Trask talks his captors into prospecting for gold. A rich vein has been found in Indian territory, attracting gold-hunters like flies to honey. Despite warnings from the local tribe, the prospectors refuse to leave. Even when a compromise is reached with the Indians, at least one of the gold-seekers oversteps his bounds. A climactic Indian attack is thus a foregone conclusion, and since none of the white characters is particularly sympathetic, the viewer is hard put not to root for the Indians.