Q:Build a movie plot around this: Where do Wade and his men stop at in Bisbee, Arizona? Holland
A:
A stagecoach makes its way across the scorched desert as we hear Frankie Laine sing the theme song that will be repeated in many guises throughout the film (even whistled by the villain). It's the Arizona Territory of the 1880s. The stagecoach is going from Contention City to Bisbee and is only a few miles from its destination. A group of men on horseback herd cattle to block the path of the stage. After it stops and the dust clears, we see that the men are a band of thieves, some with their guns drawn. The owner of the stage line, Mr. Butterfield (Robert Emhardt), is on board, and the target of the robbery is a gold shipment atop the stage. Small-time rancher Dan Evans (Van Heflin) and his two young sons, Mark (Jerry Hartleben) and Mathew (Barry Curtis), are on horseback looking for their errant cattle. Dan hears the cattle over the ridge, and they ride over to where they can see the robbery in progress. Dan waits for the dust to settle, but the robbers spot him, and their leader, Ben Wade (Glenn Ford), tells him to stay where he is--he'll get his cattle back in five minutes.As one of the robbers passes down the gold, the driver, Bill Moons (Boyd Stockman), draws his own gun and grabs the man as a shield. The gang leader draws and fires off two shots--one that kills his own man to clear the line of sight and one that kills Bill Moons. Mark asks his father if he isn't going to do something, but Dan sees there's nothing he can do without getting himself shot. He recognizes the robbers as Ben Wade and his gang. Wade has words with Mr. Butterfield and instructs him to return the driver's body to Contention City where he lived. "Where a man lives, that's where he should be buried." Wade then confiscates Dan's horses so he won't ride to the marshal. He says he'll turn them loose just this side of Bisbee. Taking the six horses from the stagecoach as well, Wade and his men depart. Dan and his boys go on foot to bring the cattle home, and Dan agrees to return with a horse for the stranded stage.At home, Dan's devoted...