1960s Western starring Kirk Douglas as an outlaw on the run. Jack Burns (Douglas) is a man who very much lives by his own rules. His code of loyalty is so strong that he purposefully lands himself in jail in order to help his friend Bondi (Gena Rowlands) escape. To his surprise Bondi doesn't want to leave the prison so Jack breaks out on his own and takes to the road. He is pursued relentlessly by Sheriff Morey Johnson (Walter Matthau), who though he sympathises with Jack's desire to live on his own terms, believes in the modern code that no man is above the law...