This is a western starring Spencer Tracy as the patriarch rancher Matt Devereaux who has four sons. The three sons from Spencer's first marriage are Ben (Richard Widmark), Mike (Hugh O'Brian) and Denny (Earl Holliman). When his first wife dies, Matt marries Katy Jurado, a Native American. They have a twenty five year marriage including Matt's youngest son, Joe (Robert Wagner).
The three older sons are a disappointment to Matt, and the eldest, Ben, hates his father and youngest brother. Matt rules his ranch with a iron fist, and he uses a whip with authority. Many cattle on the ranch have died because the creek water was poisoned by a copper mine. As a result, Matt rides out to the mine with all four of his sons, and together they destroy the mining equipment, injuring some of the miners in the process.
The law comes down hard on Matt for this, and somebody will have to serve jail time. Joe knows that his father would die in prison, so he serves the three year prison term. Ben refuses to go on principle, and Mike and Denny are just plain sniveling weaklings. Joe is released, and there are still problems on the home front. Ben is angry and defiant saying he worked sixteen hours a day since he was ten years old, and Matt suffers a stroke after a nasty fight with him. As a result of his incapacity, Matt signs over a piece of the ranch to each of his sons, and you know that share and share alike is just going to cause more trouble among this incongruent group.
Did I mention there is oil on the land? Who will sell out, and how will this all work out? Watch and find out. Spencer is excellent as Matt Devereaux, and his scenes with Richard Widmark are especially well done. Their arguments as father and eldest son are convincing.
This was the first film Spencer did after leaving MGM and the film is available free to AMAZON PRIME members. I'm bumping this from a 7 to a 6 because for those famililar with Fox classic films you'll probably recognize the plot as a loose western remake of a well known 40s Fox noir. That tended to reduce the suspense for me quite a bit.
