Joe is the head of an itinerant combine crew, working the harvests against rival crew boss Alperson. Joe's buddy Jim joins the crew with startup money. Farmer's niece Fay falls for Joe. He puts her off. To get back she marries Jim whom she prods into high-grading the grain (skimming off some for private sale). The last payment on Joe's machinery is due just as he discover's what his buddy has been doing.
Acting
Robert Preston's desperate eyes—doomed from frame one.
Cinematography
Golden wheat fields that feel claustrophobic, not pastoral.
Director
Tay Garnett
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was Alan Ladd's immediate follow-up to The Blue Dahlia, his last film before Shane cemented his stoic antihero persona.
The 'high-grading' scam was a genuine Depression-era problem in wheat belt farming communities.
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