Arthur Kennedy and Mel Ferrer play rivals for her attention in this tale of frontier revenge.

Wyoming ranch hand Vern Haskell is enraged when his fiancée Beth Forbes is raped and murdered during a store robbery.

Vern learns that after Altar quit working for saloon owner Baldy Gunder, she bet her last $20 on his rigged game of chance, a wheel of fortune variant of chuck-a-luck.

After they break out, Frenchy takes Vern to his home, the Chuck-a-Luck, a horse ranch near the Mexican border owned by Altar.

The outlaws flee while Frenchy and Vern ride off together, although the closing ballad suggests they both died that very same day, most likely dueling each other, thus ending this tale of "death, murder and revenge".

When Rancho Notorious was released, Bosley Crowther of The New York Times was critical of the film: "In the department of western action, the show has its interesting points, including a couple of fist-and-gun fights that have been racily staged by Fritz Lang.

Anyone who will settle for stick-ups and slug fests and pistol duels, all in Technicolor, may find enough in this picture to satiate his lust.

The characters play the corny plot [original story by Silvia Richards] straight; directing keeps the pace lively and interesting, and the outdoor shots, abetted by the constant splash of color, are eye-arresting.