In this WW II film meant to discourage the purchase of black market beef, the Range Busters are called on to fight cattle rustlers. This time they're up against a gang that strikes fast by hauling the beef away in trucks.
Photographed by famed cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs just before embarking on EASY RIDER (1969), Mark of the Gun is a classic western tale of outlaws and the women they love.
The drought-plagued ranchers of Sundown have to market their cattle at a loss in order to meet mortgage payments held by banker Cylus Cuttler. Then, Sheriff Tex Rockett is forced to quarantine all the cattle on the local ranches because of a hoof-and-mouth disease outbreak. Steve Davis herds his cattle to the railhead anyway, and Tex is forced to arrest him. Urged on by the banker's son, Nick Cuttler, the angry ranchers storm the jail, but Steve's sister Bee persuades them to await the trial. Steve, with Nick's help, breaks jail and is told he must kill Tex to aid the ranchers. Meanwhile, government man Bret Stockton and Tex see Nick and his men treating cattle in an unusual way. Tex finally proves that the Cuttlers have been treating the cattle with acid to give a false impression of the hoof-and-mouth disease.
Marshal Tim Donovan has been sent to investigate a series of holdups. Posing as a card sharp he soon believes he knows who is tipping off the outlaws. So he sets up a fake shipment knowing that if the stage is robbed the contact person will be identiifed. But the day the stage is due the Sheriff arrests the gang Tim was expecting to do the robbery.
Rodeo champ Gene Autry inherits half interest in both a ranch and a mine that provides steady employment for the surrounding rancheros. Unfortunately, the other half goes to Easterner Barbara Erwin (Carol Hughes), who is only interested in monetary remuneration. To convince Gene to buy her share, Barbara enters into an unholy alliance with unscrupulous attorneys Arnold (Ivan Miller) and Fry (Sam Flint), who, without their client's consent, hire a gang of thugs headed by Tommick (John Merton). When a ranchero (Elias Gamboa) is mortally wounded in the ensuing gun battle, Barbara sees the error of her way and switches sides.
Texas Ranger Johnny, poses as a hired gunman called The Dog Town Kid in order to infiltrate the outlaw gang, to uncover a plot by a crooked lawman, Sheriff Bradley, and a large landholder, Jim Morgan against the smaller ranches and the homesteaders.
Riding the plains with Little Beaver and Buckskin Blodgett, Red Ryder encounters bandits trying to hold up the stagecoach carrying Libby Brooks, owner of the Devil's Hole newspaper
Merwin hires Barton to fight Welsh, but when Barton arrives in town, Welsh mistakes him for the hired killer Single-Shot Smith. Figuring he can help Merwin by being part of Welsh's gang he hires on as Single-Shot. But soon the real Single-Shot appears.
To fight a poisonous weed, ranchers are burning their land. Gene is the Inspector brought in and he recommends spraying. The spraying goes well until the Larabee ranch is reached. When Larrabee refuses to allow the equipment on his land, Gene has it sprayed by airplane. Cattle must stay off recently sprayed land and when a Larrabee man shoots down the plane, the crash sends the cattle stampeding toward the newly sprayed land.
Before changing his name to Richard Powers, cowboy hero Tom Keene spent the waning days of his stardom at Monogram, churning out westerns like Riding the Sunset Trail. When ingenue Betty Dawson (Betty Miles) and her kid sister Sugar (Sugar Dawn) are cheated out of their cattle ranch, Tom Sterling (Keene) and his sidekick Mendoza (Frank Yaconelli) vow to get the ranch back for the girls. This requires Sterling to cross six-guns with Pecos Dean (Gene Alcase), a former friend who'd turned bad.
There is a range war between the ranchers led by Tilden and the outlaw gang of Link Carson. Wanted outlaw Dude Ramsey arrives and joins up with Tilden. First he saves the ranchers from Carson's trap and then exposes Pearson as Carson's informant and killer of Steve Warner.
Lightning Bill Carson and sidekick Magpie are after Burrows, the man that killed a friend of theirs. Burrows is after the Arden ranch and his gang are rustling their cattle. Bill is robbing Burrows while posing as the mysterious Phantom and it's not long before the two collide.
Rancher "Utah" Neyes crosses the border into Canada to meet his partner, only to find that the latter has been murdered by a gang led by "Nails" Nelson. "Utah", with the aid of RCMP Jack Craig and fur-trapper Ivy Jenkins, manages to clear his own name of suspicion and also break up Nelson's fur-stealing and smuggling racket.
After Slug Raton takes Brady's horse, hat, and gun, the Sheriff arrests Grady thinking he is the outlaw. Slug's men chase them to Ricard's ranch which they burn. After Grady saves the Ricard's from their burning house, Betty Lou saves Grady from hanging at the hands of the masked vigilantes. Grady recognizes the voice of Raton among the vigilantes and now knows who to go after.
The big bad cats are the villains/Indians, and the little mice are the settlers going west in their little covered wagons, and the Indians are on a rampage about it. Things look dark indeed for the settlers when the likes of Buffalo Bill, General Custer and Daniel Boone are unable to defeat the attacking cats but...wait...up in the sky...here comes the singing, flying mouse...Mighty Mouse. Not recommended for Revisionists.
Two guys come to Nashville and try to make it on the country music scene. Their vision is to play at the Grand IL' Opry. Rejection after rejection pushes them to the verge of quitting and moving back to wherever they came from.
The Shadow and his outlaw gang have control of Durango Valley. Keene Cordner arrives, and with the help of Tanner becomes a second Shadow in his attempt to round up the gang.
Perrin plays a boxer whose manager takes him out to a ranch for training, but Perrin soon discovers the ranch foreman is responsible for a $100,000 jewel heist.