Fighting Man of the Plains (1949)

A straight-forward Randolph Scott B-movie, but in my opinion one of the better ones (which means it's excellent). This mines the fertile ground of people trying to reform and escape from their past following the civil war. Here, Randolph Scott plays a former accomplice of Quantrill, who ends up being pursued for a (mistaken) murder he committed during the war. He kills—then take the identity of—the detective that's captured him, then finds himself somewhat cajoled into accepting a job as town Marshall.

There's some very effective tension based on the question of whether Scott's identity will be revealed. There's an effective love triangle/square with Scott, his saloon owner friend (Victor Jory), the saloon girl (Jane Nigh) and possibly also the daughter of the man Scott killed (Joan Taylor). Mostly, though, the film is carried by Scott's performance: his remorse over the mistaken killing during the during the civil war is obvious, as his decency and desire to quietly atone for his past. The performance demonstrates a much greater range of acting than the easy-going charm that characterises many of Scott's performances from similar films around this time.