The film was released by United Artists on October 12, , becoming both a critical and commercial success and has been appraised as one of the greatest films of the Western genre. In , the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". A gang of bandits led by Calvera periodically raids a poor Mexican village for food and supplies.
After the latest raid, during which Calvera kills a villager, the village leaders decide to fight back. They send three villagers carrying their few objects of value to try and barter for weapons. In a town just inside the United States, the villagers find Chris , a veteran Cajun gunslinger , and approach him.
Chris advises that they instead hire gunfighters to defend the village, as "men are cheaper than guns. Despite the meager pay, Chris finds five willing gunmen. They include Vin Tanner, a gunfighter gone broke from gambling ; Chris' friend Harry Luck, who assumes Chris is hiding a much bigger reward for the work; the Irish Mexican Bernardo O'Reilly, who has fallen on hard times; Britt, an expert in both knife and gun who joins purely for the challenge involved; and the dapper, on-the-run gunman Lee, plagued by nightmares of fallen enemies and so haunted that he has lost his nerve for battle.
On their way to the village, they are trailed by the hotheaded Chico, an aspiring gunfighter whose previous attempts to join Chris had been spurned. Impressed by his persistence, Chris allows him into the group. Arriving at the village, they work with the villagers to build fortifications and train them in combat.
They note the lack of young women in the village until Chico stumbles upon Petra and discovers the women were hidden in fear that the gunmen would rape them. The gunmen begin to bond with the villagers, and Petra pursues Chico.
