The Cimarron Kid

Bill Doolin (Audie Murphy) is released from jail and is going home on the train when it is held up by his boyhood friends, the Dalton Gang. Doolin finds himself accused of helping the crime and winds up an outlaw.

Doolin rides to the Dalton gang hideout. The Daltons want him to join their gang. They are planning to rob 2 banks in Coffeyville at the same time. Doolin agrees to go with them.

Doolin enters one of the banks with two of the gang members. Meanwhile Bob Dalton enters the other bank. However someone enters the bank and runs out to warn the town. The shooting starts and most of the 6 gang members are killed. Only 2, Bill and Bitter Creek, get back to the hideaway.

A manhunt ensues for the remaining gang members.

The gang meet at Pat Roberts’ place. Red Buck wants to go back to Coffeyville and try to rob the banks again. Bill refuses and the rest of the gang members agree with him.

Swanson and Marshall Sutton arrive at Roberts’ house and the marshall searches the barn and knows they’re hiding in there. The marshall and Swanson leave. Bill decides they have to leave there. He talks with Carrie Roberts and she tells him he’s headed to death on a dark road. She tells him she and her dad often go to Boonsville and maybe she’ll see him there.

The gang continues to rob banks. Rose gathers information in Boonsville and passes it to Bitter. Carrie arrives and greets Bill. They are followed by 2 agents. Pat Roberts arrives and covers for them so the agents think they have the wrong man.

The gang is pursued by the law. They go to Stacey’s home and hide there. They fall into a trap and are surrounded by the law. They escape via the entrance to the trains. Bill is shot and will recover. Carrie and Stacey arrive. Carrie and Bill are left alone. She tells him to cross the border and send for her. He refuses.

Dynamite, who survived the earlier fall into the water, returns and advises he knows of a gold shipment they can steal worth $100,000. Bill wants to talk to George Weber who told Dynamite about this. Dynamite brings George to the hideout. They send Rose to Dallas to check out George’s story. She talks with some people who know George. They confirm he works for the railroad.

Bill and Dynamite board the train with the gold onboard. They throw off the gold and Bitter grabs it but is killed by the law.

As the train approaches the next drop off, they drop the gold. Will Dalton approaches it and is killed.

Rose sends a telegram to George at the next train stop advising Bitter Creek was killed. He tries to hide it but Bill reads it and knows they’ve been betrayed by Dynamite and George. Dynamite shoots George, aiming for Bill. Bill wounds Dynamite and forces him to pick up the gold at the next stop. Dynamite is killed and Bill escapes.

Bill returns for Carrie to ask her to cross the border with him. Pat objects as Carrie won’t be safe. Bill and Carrie go to the barn, where the marshall is waiting. Bill is arrested and realizes Pat and Carrie turned him in. Pat tells him to serve his time and Carrie will be there for him. Bill leaves with marshall after he and Carrie embrace. Rose tells her she is lucky because Bill is still alive.

• Audie Murphy as Bill Doolin / the Cimarron Kid
• Beverly Tyler as Carrie Roberts
• James Best as Bitter Creek Dalton
• Yvette Duguay as Rose (as Yvette Dugay)
• John Hudson as Dynamite Dick Dalton
• Hugh O'Brian as Red Buck
• Roy Roberts as Pat Roberts
• David Bauer as Sam Swanson (as David Wolfe)
• Noah Beery Jr. as Bob Dalton
• Leif Erickson as Marshal John Sutton
• John Hubbard as George Weber
• Frank Silvera as Stacey Marshall

The film was based on a story by Louis Stevens. It was assigned to producer Ted Richmond at Universal for Audie Murphy in April 1951.^[3]

It was the first Western from Budd Boetticher, who later became famous for his work in the genre.^[4] “I became a Western director because they thought I looked like one and they thought I rode better than anyone else," said Boetticher later. "And I didn’t know anything about the West.” It was also the director's first film in color and his first under a long term contract with Universal Pictures.^[5]

In the original script, Murphy's character died at the end of the movie, but the studio decided to change it to reflect the actor's rising popularity.^[6]

The railroad scenes were filmed on the Sierra Railroad in Tuolumne County, California.^[7]

• List of American films of 1952

• The Cimarron Kid at IMDb
• The Cimarron Kid at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• The Cimarron Kid at the TCM Movie Database
• The Cimarron Kid at AllMovie