Watch Fighting Man of the Plains For Free

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

I am a huge fan of Randolph Scott's westerns, so it's sad that I felt so incredibly unimpressed by this film. Most of it is because I had a strong sense of having seen all this before...which I had. If you've seen as many Scott films as I have, you'll notice that this is at least the fourth film in which his character was somehow associated with Quantrill's Raiders--a group of thugs who violated every known rule for how to conduct campaigns during the Civil War. Killing civilians and terrorism were their trademarks and it wasn't surprising that several of this Confederate raiding party went on to careers as famous western criminals. Doing one or two films related to this group is just fine--but come on Randy, enough is enough!! What also felt recycled was his 'bad man turned good' storyline--it's very familiar indeed! The film begins showing the atrocities committed by the Quantrill gang and one of it's 'nicer' members (Scott--as Jim Dancer). Following the war, Dancer was an outlaw and continued to do bad things...though not nearly as bad as the James Brothers and a few of the other Quantrill thugs. He was bad...but only a wee bit bad!! Anyway, he is captured by a private detective and is being brought back to pay for his crimes. However, on the way, the detective drowns--with Scott handcuffed to him. Now here is the dumb part--when a group of settlers pass, they find Scott and the dead guy and automatically believe Scott's story that HE is the detective and that the dead detective is Jim Dancer!! He has no proof and it sure looked suspicious to everyone EXCEPT the folks who rescued him from the handcuffs!!! Later, Scott enters a crappy lawless town and manages to have himself appointed Sheriff! At first, he seems to be only doing it for the money but oddly he later takes the job seriously and conscientiously! Can Dancer turn his life around and live his life for good? Will someone recognize him for the dirty dog that he was? Will anyone remember that he's already made several other films JUST LIKE THIS ONE? Overall, a competent but far from rousing western that is full of silly plot holes and familiar themes. It's easy to skip this one unless you are a die-hard 'Scottophile'!

In Fighting Man of the Plains Randolph Scott is a former member of Quantrill's Raiders who kills Barry Kelley's brother during the Civil War and Kelley is hot to get him. He privately hires the Pleasanton (Pinkerton) Detective Agency to track him down. Pleasanton man James Millican does succeed in capturing Scott after several years.But a funny thing happens on the way back. Millican gets himself killed and Scott takes his identity. As a Pleasanton Man with law enforcement experience and being fast on the draw in any event, he's a natural to bring some law and order to the new trail town of Lanyerd, Kansas. Of course Randy gets himself hip deep in the various political factions and even runs across his old enemy, Barry Kelley.It's a rather complex situation, but the writers did come up with an interesting resolution of the plot for Randy. It does involve Scott having good friends in low places.Fighting Man of the Plains was the first film where Dale Robertson got noticed and Dale plays real life Quantrill veteran Jesse James. You could tell that Dale was going to have a substantial career.Best performance in the film however without a doubt is that of Bill Williams of young on the prod gunfighter in Kelley's employ. He proves a bit too much for Kelley to handle.Victor Jory appeared in many post war Randolph Scott films usually as a bad guy. It was unusual to see him as Scott's friend in this film. I also enjoyed Rhys Williams as the moneygrubbing justice of the peace.Fighting Man of the Plains is one of Randolph Scott's better post World War II westerns. Don't miss it if broadcast again.

Scott is arrested by James Millican, a detective for the Pleasonton Agency. The two have nothing personal against each other. When the detective is accidentally killed, someone has to cut off his hand to free Scott from the handcuffs. Scott takes the detective's place and, a bit later, is made sheriff of Lanyard, Kansas. He makes friends. He makes enemies. There are unscrupulous businessmen. Scott cleans the whole place up and gets the girl.By this point in his career Scott had decided, wisely, to turn out nothing but Westerns. He looked and acted the part well. According to Bob Osborne's commentary on TV, Scott enjoyed working out of doors, sitting back and reading the Wall Street Journal while the stunt men did the rough work. Scott was a keen investor and retired a wealthy man to the golf country of North Carolina without ever looking back at Hollywood. He bowed out after Sam Pekinpaugh's "Ride the High Country," a good note to leave on. He managed his career -- his life -- pretty well, all in all.Most of his Westerns were, if not exactly identical, cut from the same mold so the comparison of one to any of the others must depend on fine judgments about details. Is the film in glorious color? This one is not. Is the location interesting and evocative? Not this one, which looks like the San Fernando Valley used to look before the last inch of it was paved over. Better than usual support? No. Is Scott given any help from the script? An oddity of character? A quirk? An occasional wry turn of phrase? Not here. The result is a typical and not unrewarding Randolph Scott Western that doesn't distinguish itself from the many others he made in these years.Nice to see Victor Jory as something other than an open sleaze bag.

I was just 6 years old when I saw "Fighting Man of the Plains"...my parents took me and my sisters to a drive-in movie in Indianapolis, Indiana. We used to go to the drive-in about once a month, because it was the best way for a young family to get a night out. What I remember most about the film is that rather early-on Randolph Scott is under arrest, and he and the lawman are taking a small raft-like ferry across some water, when a horse rears-up and its hoof smashes the lawman in the face. The movie was in color, and the close-up of the bloody face was mesmerizing. Randolph Scott then assumed the lawman's identity and went on to bring law and order to a lawless Kansas town. I grew-up to become a successful television news anchor/reporter and video producer...but I would love to see "Fighting Man of the Plains" again. It was a seminal moment in my childhood, and forever marked Randolph Scott...and westerns...as some of my favorite movie fare.