Stryker (Wayne), a hard-nosed Marine sergeant prepares a company of recruits for combat in World War II's Pacific Theater. The new unit's training is soon put to the test in a full-scale battle against the Japanese on Iwo Jima. The famous flag-raising on Mt. Suribachi is depicted near the film's conclusion.

Hondo Lane is a despatch rider for the cavalry who encounters Angie Lowe, a woman living alone with her young son in the midst of hostile Apache territory. She presumes she is safe because the Apaches, under their chief Vittorio, have always left them alone. Later Hondo has a run-in with Angie's good-for-nothing husband and is forced to kill him. Vittorio captures Hondo and to save his life, Angie tells the Apache chief that he is her husband. In...

Cattle baron George Washington McLintock fights with his estranged wife who wants nothing from him except a divorce. His daughter and the local political land-grabbers are fighting with McLintock as well. Along with taming the West, McLintock finally "tames" everyone who has been fighting with him.

A successful cattle rancher battles with corrupt government officials and their stooges in New Mexico's Lincoln County War.