The sons of Katie Elder - John (Wayne), Tom (Dean Martin), Bud (Michael Anderson, Jr.) and Matt (Earl Holliman) - reunite at their hometown for their mother's funeral. All four of them share some regret with each other as none of them have done her exactly proud, although until her death she had held her hopes high for her offspring.
However, the townspeople are mostly not on friendly terms with John, the eldest of the four and a professional gunslinger, and Morgan Hastings, the owner of the local gunsmith and also of the old Elder ranch after their father's death, begins to display an increasingly hostile attitude towards the brothers. This only serves to pique their curiosity, and after asking questions about their father's demise they begin to suspect foul play. But as soon as it becomes clear that Hastings is a villain, he frames the Elders for murder and, not content with seeing them going to prison, arranges an ambush in which Matt is killed and Bud seriously injured. Enraged and confronted with the truth, John takes it upon himself to avenge his family by going after Hastings.
Directed by Henry Hathaway and filmed in 1965 shortly after Wayne's cancer surgery that removed a lung and two ribs, the actor insisted on doing his own stunts and nearly contracted pneumonia after being dragged into a river.
