Branded is a 1950 American Technicolor Western film starring Alan Ladd, Mona Freeman, Charles Bickford, and Robert Keith.

Choya (Alan Ladd), a gunfighter on the run, is tracked down by cowboys Leffingwell (Robert Keith) and "Tattoo" (John Berkes) in the mountains.

Choya rides to Lavery's Bar M ranch and asks foreman Ransome (Tom Tully) for a job, but does not get it.

Choya pretends it is a coincidence, but tells a story about a childhood memory that convinces Mr. and Mrs. Lavery that he is "Richard, Jr." Leffingwell turns up and is hired at the ranch.

Choya likes her so he double-crosses Leffingwell and has the cattle money deposited in the Laverys' account in an El Paso bank.

He also learns that Leffingwell is the one who kidnapped the kid, only to have a Mexican bandit named Rubriz (Joseph Calleia) snatch the boy away.

Choya and Tonio are trapped just on the Texas side of the Rio Grande but are rescued just in time by Lavery and Ransome.

"[4] The Los Angeles Times called it a "swinging, lilting Western... written with incredibly quiet savagery.

In this, the Montana Kid is lured into Mexico by bandit Mateo Rubriz and Friar Pacaul, who decide to steal an emerald from the governor which had been looted from a church.