Lex Barker is The Man From Bitter Ridge in this modest Universal western. Barker plays Pinkerton man Jeff Carr, who comes to the town of Tomahawk in search of a gang of stage robbers. The consensus of opinion is that sheepman Alec Black (Stephen McNally) is responsible for the holdups, but Carr senses a frame-up. Sure enough, the real villains are in the employ of would-be frontier dictator Ranse Jackman (John Dehner). Carr knows this, the audience knows this; but how to get the goods on Jackman? Mara Cordy costars as female sheep farmer Holly Kenton, the heroine of the piece.

Jack Arnold didn’t make many Westerns, but when he did, the results were terrific (Red Sundown, No Name On The Bullet). The Man From Bitter Ridge (1955) was his first. It’s got one of those great mid-50s Universal-International casts: Lex Barker, Mara Corday, Stephen McNally, John Dehner, Ray Teal and Warren Stevens.