The Duke is John Elder, a man with a reputation with a gun, he's back in town for his mothers funeral where all the Elder brother's eventually meet to find out the status of Katie Elders estate she may have left behind for her sons. A good plot, lots of gunplay, John Wayne is at his usual best, Dean Martin is good as Tom Elder, though I've seen him in better roles as the drunk character, Dude, in Rio Bravo. To tell you how tough the Duke really was, Wayne always insisted on doing his own stunts, as in this movie after recently undergoing lung cancer surgery (the removal of half of one lung.) - the toughness of John Wayne. The Duke once said, "courage is being scared but saddling up anyway". "Son's of Katie Elder", the remastered transfer on this Paramount dvd is excellent.