AllMovie

Man Behind the Gun is a standard-issue Randolph Scott western elevated by good performances and exciting action sequences. Scott plays Callicut, newly arrived in the bustling mid-19th century metropolis of Los Angeles. Outwardly just another soldier of fortune, Callicut is actually an undercover agent for the government, sent to LA to investigate a covert organization that hopes to make Southern California a separate state. When he finds the time, he romances schoolteacher Lora Roberts (Patrice Wymore), whose life he'd previously saved during a stagecoach holdup. Callicut's rival for Lora's attentions is Roy Giles (Philip Carey), a hotheaded Army captain who may be in on the secessionist movement. Once Callicut finds out who's behind the movement, all hell breaks loose. Robert Cabal makes a brief appearance in Man Behind the Gun as a supposedly harmless Latino who turns out to be firebrand desperado Joaquin Murietta.