Arizona Territorial Prison inmate Paris Pitman, Jr. is a schemer, a charmer and quite popular among his fellow convicts – especially with $500,000 in stolen loot hidden away and a plan to escape and recover it. New warden Woodward Lopeman has other ideas about Pitman. Each man will have the tables turned on him.

Academy Award® winner* Joseph L. Mankiewicz cleverly lassos a twisting, turning Wild West tale of brawls, chases, shootouts and wry wit, courtesy of a script by David Newman and Robert Benton (Bonnie and Clyde). Kirk Douglas as Pitman and Henry Fonda as Lopeman headline a sterling cast, with Hume Cronyn, Burgess Meredith, Warren Oates and Lee Grant among the solid support. Boisterous yet blistering, lighthearted yet lacerating, There Was a Crooked Man... is, throughout all its moods, devilishly entertaining.