Abilene Town

"Abilene Town" (1946) has a hard, clear line between the churchgoing merchants and the raucous saloon crowd. It's called Main Street, and Marshall Dan Mitchell has a tough job keeping the peace between them. Tensions turn deadly when homesteaders flood government land cattlemen have come to see as theirs in this film set in the years after the Civil War.

This film was based on the novel "Trail Town" by Ernest Haycox, which contains key elements in the Western genre, from the saucy saloon dancer and rowdy cattle herders to the stalwart, manly figure of the hero lawman who's willing to stand alone for what he knows is right.