[1][2] The film is directed by Frenchman Henri Verneuil, and stars Anthony Quinn, Anjanette Comer and Charles Bronson.

It is a rare instance of a French Western actually being shot in Mexico, instead of substituting Spain or some similar European location.

In 1746, on the lawless northern frontier of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, womanizing Mestizo outlaw and Spanish Royal Army deserter Leon Alastray (Anthony Quinn) is wounded and pursued into a church by a posse of soldiers.

The Bishop sides with the army, and when the priest still refuses to hand Alastray over he is reassigned as pastor of a remote village, San Sebastian.

They see Teclo and Yaqui Chief Golden Lance (Jaime Fernández) together, and realize the alliance of these two means terrible things for the village.

Alastray goes to the provincial capital and, by blackmailing a former lover who is now the Governor's wife, obtains muskets, gunpowder, and a cannon, which he takes back to the village.

During the night, Alastray and a few villagers set charges in a mountainside overlooking the gathering place, to explode rocks down onto the attackers.

Alastray flees on horseback in the opposite direction and tells Kinita, who is leaving with him, that he now believes in the Christian God.