The man from Virginia

The Virginian" is about cattle theft. Cattle have disappeared from the ranches around Medicine Bow and the Virginian suspects that a man called Trampas (Brian Donleavy) is behind it. Why wouldn't he do it? Not only does he wear a black hat, he's dressed in black from head to toe. The Virginian is also a little suspicious of his friend Steve, who seems to be getting a little too friendly with the man in black lately. The plot brings these lines of tension to a final confrontation in which the Virginian must choose between friendship and adherence to the Code of the West and possibly losing Molly's affections.

This is the film in which Trampas calls the Virginian by name and the Virginian draws his gun and says to him, "Smile when you call me that," to which Trampas replies, "With a gun to my belly, I always smile." "The Virginian" has been made into a film at least five times, starting with a silent film version in 1914 by Cecil B. DeMille with Dustin Farnum in the lead role. Based on a classic western novel by Owen Wister, The Virginian was made into a long-running television series in the 1960s ("The Shiloh Ranch People"), which is still on television today.