Plot Summary
It can drive a person to murder, as you'll already know if you've seen the appropriately titled Zach Efron movie, Gold. Murder in Yellowstone After gold prospector Robert Dunnigan arrives in town with news of gold he has found, a series of murders occur.
Dunnigan becomes the first murder victim. Suspect number one is Cicero, a former slave who has recently ridden into town. The sheriff arrests him for the crime, but it soon becomes clear that he is the wrong man.
So, who killed Dunnigan and the other victims of Yellowstone City? Let's take a closer look at the film.
How does the movie begin?
The film begins with Robert Dunnigan's explosive device being blown up after discovering the location of a gold mine. Cicero, who went to the city of Yellowstone, witnessed this.
After telling his wife Emma that he has struck gold, Robert travels to the nearby town of Yellowstone to inform the townspeople of his discovery and promises them a fortune.
Not long after, Cicero arrives in town, but some of the locals are suspicious of this stranger.
After leaving his horse with Violet, a local stable hand, Cicero goes to a saloon for a drink and begins to bond with the saloon owner, Edgar, over their shared love of Shakespeare.
Life is quiet for a while, but when Robert is murdered on his way home from the local brothel, the Sheriff arrests his number one suspect.
Who does the sheriff arrest for a crime?
Robert's body is found and the Sheriff asks Pastor Thaddeus Murphy to prepare a casket and arrange a funeral. The sheriff later visits Cicero at his boarding house and arrests him for the gold prospector's murder. After that, he warns Cicero: if he does not confess his crime to the whole city, he will be hanged.
After Cicero is locked up, Violet comes to the Sheriff to say that his prisoner couldn't have committed the out-of-town crime because his horse never left the stables.
The sheriff refuses Violet, so Cicero remains in his cell. The hapless stranger is later visited by the priest's wife, Alice, who tells her about her life. We learn that he has no family and chose the name Cicero, inspired by a character in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.
Alice does not have the complete works of Shakespeare to give to Cicero, but she does have a Bible and leaves it with her husband before returning.
Do people believe that Cicero killed the gold prospector?
Isabel, a courtesan in love with Robert, believes that Cicero may have killed her lover. Some of the other ladies in her company think she is guilty too.
But Alice believes in his innocence and tells her husband about her meeting with Cicero.
Violet also believes in his innocence, and when she finds evidence that there was another reason for Robert's death, her beliefs are almost confirmed.
What does Violet find?
The sheriff tells Emma that the man who killed her husband will pay for what he did. But despite her grief, she is more interested in who her husband is sleeping with and asks the Sheriff to name Robert's "favorite."
While Emma is in town, Violet visits a woman's house and finds a letter in her shack. It's a love note written by Emma's apparent boyfriend.
So could Emma's boyfriend kill Robert to get him out of the way? It's a possibility, and Violet turns the note over to Thaddeus, thinking it might be related to the crime.
Later, the pastor comes to Cicero and asks him if he killed Robert. Cicero declares his innocence.
Emma tells them that she wants to leave town and start a new life in a new place.
After this meeting, Thaddeus shows the letter to the sheriff and tells him that Cicero does not appear to be the murderer. However, the Sheriff still doesn't want to release the man in jail, in part because of a mistake he made years ago when he freed another inmate who killed his wife.
Does the killer strike again?
Yes! When Violet slits the killer's throat, she becomes his next victim. Cicero manages to hide after jumping from his horse into a tree, but not before being shot.
When the sheriff and his men go in the wrong direction, Cicero returns to town and back to the safe confines of the church where Thaddeus and Alice tend to him.
After removing a bullet from Cicero's body, Thaddeus suspects that it may be different from the one that killed Robert. To confirm this, he digs up the scout's body and his suspicions are later confirmed.
Meanwhile, Jimmy arrives at a brothel and pays Isabel for sex. Unfortunately, he has more on his mind than carnal lust, because when his back is turned, he kills her. Now it's clear that Jimmy is the real killer!
However, he did not work alone.
What was the motive of the murders?
We learn that Jimmy is in love with Emma and kills Isabelle at her request. Emma probably told him to kill Isabelle because she was sleeping with her husband.
Jimmy reveals that he killed Robert and probably did it at Emma's request so they could have a life together.
As for poor Violet, Jimmy probably killed her because of the evidence he found.
What's going on with Cicero?
The sheriff and his men continue their search and finally find Cicero at the pastor's house.
A shootout ensues when Thaddeus refuses to surrender Cicero and several of the Sheriff's men are killed.
As the battle continues, Cicero is able to escape on horseback, with Alice firing a gun at the men chasing them behind.
They arrive at the supposed safehouse, but are found by Jimmy and another of the Sheriff's men.
Another skirmish ensues, but when Cicero runs out of ammo, it seems likely to end. He manages to take out one of the men, but is still fired upon by Jimmy. But then Thaddeus arrives just in time and shoots Jimmy before he can tie him up.
They go to the Sheriff's office and introduce Jim to him.
Jimmy protests his innocence, but when the Sheriff calls Emma into his office, it is revealed that they have failed to pin the blame on Jimmy.
Emma loses her cool and shoots the Sheriff. When Jimmy runs to his father's aid, Thaddeus shoots Jimmy, fatally wounding him.
Jimmy dies in his father's arms, and presumably his wounded father also dies moments later (we don't see it).
Outside, Thaddeus and Alice chase Emma, who is now on the run. As Emma prepares to shoot Thaddeus, Alice opens fire and kills her.
As the film draws to a close, Thaddeus and Alice vow to rebuild the town and make it better. As they contemplate their plans, Cicero mounts his horse and leaves the city, causing more trouble than he imagined.
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