Tall in the Saddle

Tall in the Saddle is a 1944 American Western film directed by Edwin L. Marin and starring John Wayne and Ella Raines. Written by Paul Fix and Michael Hogan, based on the serialized novel of the same name by Gordon Ray Young, the film is about a tough quiet cowboy who arrives at an Arizona town and discovers that the rancher who hired him has been murdered and that the kindhearted young woman who just inherited the ranch is being manipulated by her overbearing aunt and a scheming lawyer who are planning to steal her inheritance. As the cowboy investigates the rancher's murder, he meets the fiery horsewoman who owns a neighboring ranch and who challenges him at first, but eventually falls in love with him. With powerful forces opposed to his presence in the town, the cowboy survives attempts on his life as he gets closer to solving the murder with the help of two beautiful women.