Thunder Over the Plains  Thunder Over The Plains is a 1953 western film directed by Andre DeToth and starring Randolph Scott with Lex Barker, Phyllis Kirk, Henry Hull, Elisha Cook, Jr. and Fess Parker. The tag line on the original film poster was “A tornado of adventure from Warner Bros.” "Thunder Over The Plains" was Barker's first film after starring in five "Tarzan" pictures. Set in 1869, after the Civil War, Texas had not yet been readmitted to the Union and carpetbaggers, hiding behind the legal protection of the Union Army of occupation, are levying high taxes through occupying local government positions and using the locals' financial distress to acquire assets at well below normal value. Federal Captain Porter (Randolph Scott), a Texan, has to enforce the letter of the law against the violent opposition of his own people. Porter also needs to contend with a strident fellow officer, Captain Bill Hodges. Porter arrests the rebel leader Ben Westman (Charles McGraw) on what he knows is a false murder charge. In trying to prove Westman's innocence, Porter himself becomes a wanted man.