These Thousand Hills

An average cowboy aspires to bigger things in life, so he borrows money from his girlfriend to buy a ranch, and then promptly dumps her for a banker's daughter. His aspirations continue to rise and he runs for political office, which prompts him to join a posse led by a bully who is in search of the cowboy's best friend, who has become a rustler. Playing the political game, the cowboy watches in silence as his best friend is lynched. The cowboy finally regains his sense of right and wrong when he is shot protecting his ex-girlfriend from an evil land baron.