This documentary traces the history of the B-Western from it's silent movie origins to its demise in the early 1950s. The film contains a large number of scenes from early silents and seldom seen films, as well as old photographs of the stars and one-sheet advertisements for lost films.

Molly Taylor owns the town of Stillwell but is unaware the taxes are due as Gomer has stolen her notice. Bob Martin arrives at the same time as Molly and eventually realizes Gomer is up to something. When Gomer's henchman slips and reveals there is a letter, Bob finds it and heads for the tax collector with Gomer's men in pursuit.

Twin brothers Bob and Don Ramsay are on opposite sides of the law. Bob is the Sheriff and Don is the famous outlaw the Black Bandit. When the Black Bandit strikes, he is seen and his look-alike brother Bob arrested. Refusing to implicate his brother, Bob escapes and heads after Don.

Chip of the Flying U was Johnny Mack Brown's first western entry for 1940. Brown essays the title role of Chip Bennett, foreman of the Flying U ranch. Before the second reel has tumbled over the spools, Chip finds himself falsely accused of robbery and murder. The actual miscreants are in the employ of a band of foreign gunrunners, who speak in heavily Teutonic accents. Rest assured that Chip makes short work of these bush-league Storm Troopers before the sun sets in the West. Musical interludes are provided by a group calling themselves the Texas Rangers, even though they actually hailed from Kansas City.

A rodeo rider finds himself accused of the murder of a U.S. marshal.

In a remake of Dawn Trail, Bob Mason is wounded chasing the killers of his father. During his recovery, his nurse is Alice whom his friend Ben plans to marry. He eventually learns the killer was Alice's brother Rudd. But Rudd convinces Ben that Bob is taking Alice away from him. So Ben removes the bullets from Bob's gun just before Bob goes off to face Rudd.

Bob Carson and sidekick Grizzly take a job driving a stage for a line that is being repeatedly robbed. The culprits place a large box on the stage in which Runt can hide and steal the gold without the driver or guard knowing it. When Bob realizes what is happening, he replaces Runt in the box in hope of catching the outlaws.

West of Carson City remains one of the best of Johnny Mack Brown's Universal westerns. The story takes place in a gold-rush community where the locals are taken to the cleaners by duplicitious Eastern gamblers. When it becomes obvious that the local constabulary has been "bought off" by the crooks, two-fisted cattleman Jim Bannister (Brown) swings into action. The film's highlight is an outsized fistic brawl between the hero and secondary villain Breed, played by loose-limbed comic stuntman Frank Mitchell.

Sheriff Bob Bartlett is called away from the rodeo to apprehend cattle rustlers.

Kirby and Evans are pulling off an irrigation project swindle and newspaper editor Scott realizes it and sends for Lee. Lee agrees with Scott and forms a vigilante group to fight the Sheriff and his deputies brought in by Kirby. But a dying Uncle Dan sets the Sheriff straight and this brings the two sides together for the big shootout.