Nicholas Rays western, der har Joan Crawford, hendes mand Sterling Hayden og Mercedes MacCambridge i hovedrollerne, er nok mest kendt for de næsten dyriske slagsmål mellem de to kvinder i filmens historie. Crawford spiller saloonejeren Vienna, der har planer om at bygge en hel by omkring sit værtshus, når jernbanen kommer. Men der er mange, der vil hende til livs, og til sidst kommer en gammel ven, Johnny Guitar, hende til undsætning.
The story of the early days of Deadwood, South Dakota; woven around actual historic events with most of the main characters based on real people. Deadwood starts as a gold mining camp and gradually turns from a lawless wild-west community into an organized wild-west civilized town. The story focuses on the real-life characters Seth Bullock and Al Swearengen.
