- Country: USA
- Genres: Western
- Release: 1953-09-19
- Director: Roy Rowland
- Writers: Niven Busch
- Language: English
- Stars: Barbara Stanwyck , Fred MacMurray , Ward Bond , William Ching , John Dierkes , Morris Ankrum , Jack Elam , Charles Halton , Norman Leavitt , Sam Flint
- Runtime: 78 min
- Awards: N/A
- AKA: Banka soyguncuları (Turkey) , Notturno selvaggio (Italy) , Sombras tenebrosas (Mexico) , Sombras tenebrosas (Spain) , The Moonlighter (United Kingdom) , Полуночник , Sombras tenebrosas (Argentina) , De dief van middernacht (Belgium) , Reino de sombras (Venezuela) , Hoţul nocturn (Romania) , The Moonlighter (United States of America) , No Reino das Sombras (Brazil) , O nomos tou Lynch (Greece) , The Moonlighter , Le voleur de minuit (Belgium) , ザ・ムーンライター (Japan) , The Moonlighter (Canada) , Le voleur de minuit (France, French Republic)
- Plot: In the early 1900s, Wes Anderson is arrested for night-time cattle rustling (moonlighting). He had been gone from his home town for five years, leaving his sweetheart, Rela, to wait for him. Wes' brother, Tom, has chosen a different path in life and works as a teller in a bank in Rio Hondo. Tom is in-love with Rela and he pressures her to marry him in Wes' absence. Languishing in a sheriff's jail, Wes is awaiting trial, which promises to be a fair one, at least according to the town sheriff. But an angry lynch mob of local ranchers agitate in front of the jail, swinging a hanging rope and hankering for Wes' blood. When the sheriff leaves his jail for a lunch-break, the mob breaks into the jail, grabs an imprisoned hobo by mistake and hangs him. The lynch-mob believes to have hung Wes but he is safe, in jail. After he escapes from jail, Wes vows revenge on the members of the lynch mob. During the following days, Wes raids the ranches of those who participated in the lynch mob. He burns their ranches and barns, kills their livestock and he gets into gunfights with the ranchers. Wounded during a raid, Wes runs home to his mother's house. There he heals his wounds, re-connects with his mother and brother and also meets with Rela. Wes is still in-love with her but she claims not to be interested anymore. She prefers marrying Wes' brother, Tom, who offers more security than Wes. However, when Tom looses his job at the bank, Wes lures him into a bank-robbing scheme. Angry at his former employer, Tom agrees to join his brother Wes in robbing the bank in Rio Hondo. Tom figures he could use the robbery money to marry Rela. A third man, outlaw Cole Gardner, joins the Anderson brothers in their plan. The robbery has unexpected hitches that sends the robbers into a mountain hideout. Some double-crosses occur and the sheriff's posse trails the robbers. In a last-minute twist, Rela asks the sheriff to deputize her with the rest of the posse and promises to bring the robbers to justice. Will Rela shoot the men she loves or Vice-Versa ?
- IMDB:tt0046095
The Moonlighter Cast · · · ALL
Roy Rowland
Director
Barbara Stanwyck
Rela
Fred MacMurray
Wes Anderson
Ward Bond
Cole Gardner
William Ching
Tom Anderson
John Dierkes
Sheriff Daws
Morris Ankrum
Alexander Prince
Jack Elam
Slim
Charles Halton
Clemmons Usqubaugh
Norman Leavitt
Tidy
Sam Flint
Mr. Mott
Myra Marsh
Mrs. Anderson
William Kerwin
Tony
Tom Keene
Sheriff
Byron Foulger
Mr. Gurley
Myron Healey
Deputy Joe Bayliss
Steve Rowland
Marilla