Border River (1954) DVD

At the Texas border during the Civil War, General Eduardo Calleja, the ruler of a Mexican free zone called Zona Libre, watches with his girlfriend, Carmelita Carias, as Confederate Jim Lake (Joel McCrea) struggles to escape policemen by crossing the Rio Grande. Although Jim is shot, Carmelita (Yvonne De Carlo) helps pull him to safety. When the police try to follow, declaring that Zona Libre is not in consent with the Mexican government, Calleja s troops, led by Captain Felipe Vargas, hold them back. Jim is actually Confederate Major Clete Matson and, along with friends, has stolen two million dollars in Union gold from a Colorado bank in order to buy war supplies for the South. The next day, Calleja, who knows Jim s true identity, invites him to his heavily guarded compound and introduces him to Baron Kurt Von Hollden, who handles all of Calleja s imports.

Who can Jim trust with so much money around? Certainly not Calleja but maybe the eye-catching Carmelita? Whatever s going on, Mexico wants the place back.