The Marauders (1955)

In 1875, in Arizona Territory, rancher John Rutherford plans to forcibly evict all squatters from his lands. The rancher welcomes his son Roy who has just returned home from England. He also hires a group of mercenaries to assist him in evicting squatters from his property. These hired goons and cutthroats are paid 500 dollars each. Their foreman is Hook who owes his nickname to the hook that replaced his missing right hand. Rutherford has also brought along his bookkeeper, Mr. Avery, to pay the men. During the Civil War, Mr. Avery avoided the draft, due to his bad health but he proudly wears a Confederate officer's uniform. On Rutherford's lands there is one remaining unfriendly squatter, Corey Everett, who stubbornly refuses to leave. His shack is at the deep end of a boxed canyon. Corey Everett has transformed his shack into a reinforced fortress. He dug a water well near his shack and this can help him outlast any siege, since there is no other source of water for 200 miles around. Nevertheless, rancher Rutherford, his son and the hired team of mercenaries are determined to oust Corey Everett from the property. Everett thinks he's entitled to live there since the canyon was deserted when he arrived and since he's been farming a small plot of land nearby for many years. Rutherford sends a scout to get water from Everett's water well and to assess the situation. The scout arrives at Everett's well but an irate armed Everett exits the shack and tells the scout to get water and leave. The scout leaves the area observing that at every window of the shack there is a rifle pointing at him. The scout returns to Rutherford's camp where he reports his findings. Meanwhile, a family of passers-by, Louis and Hannah Ferber and their son Albie, riding a wagon, arrive in the canyon and head for the water well. A suspicious Everett allows them to draw water from the well. While the strangers talk to Everett about his plight, Rutherford's men start an attack. Panicked, Everett and the Ferbers run for cover inside the shack. The Ferbers notice the rifles set at the windows in firing position but no one else available to man them. They realize that it was a ruse employed by Everett to make any unwanted visitor believe that inside the shack there are many armed men. Because his secret is now revealed to his guests, Everett refuses to allow them to leave, believing they will betray his secret ruse to Rutherford's men. Despite assurances from the Ferbers that they will not reveal Everett's ruse to Rutherford's men, Everett refuses to let them go. Besides, they all are under attack by Rutherford's men who slowly are approaching the shack while unleashing a hail of bullets at the defenders. The Ferbers agree to temporarily help Everett fight off Rutherford's men hoping to leave the area later-on during the night. During the ensuing battle, Rutherford and his son are mortally wounded, while many mercenaries are killed by dynamite explosions from hidden booby-traps previously buried in the sand by Everett. Rutherford orders a retreat to the camp to regroup and assess the loses. In the camp he decides to quit, arguing that a small piece of land lost to one solitary squatter isn't worth the loss of lives. However, his usually calm bookkeeper, Mr. Avery, insists to continue the forced-eviction campaign. A dying Rutherford refuses to listen to Avery, reminding Avery that it's Rutherford's property and Rutherford is still in charge. Avery aggravates Rutherford by placing himself in-charge of the campaign and arguing that Rutherford is not fit to command anymore. He also observes that Rutherford will die soon and he will be unable to order his hired men to quit and go home. Enraged by Avery's words, Rutherford exits his tent to give his last orders to his men to disperse but he dies before he has a chance to do so. Avery declares himself in-charge of the campaign and tells the men to call him General and obey his orders. When the foreman, Hook, mocks Avery's orders, Avery shoots one of the men dead. Afraid of a mad Avery, the men reluctantly agree to call him General and obey his orders. Avery makes Hook his second-in-command and promises a rich gold reward to him and to the men if they obey. Now, with a more dangerous man in-charge of the eviction campaign, the squatter Everett and his guests, the Ferbers, are in serious trouble.