Three cowhands, between jobs, have the dumb chance to pitch nighttime camp at the valley for a cabin packed with guys who just robbed a stagecoach and murdered the shield. A posse forms up along the ridge arrives, and takes for granted that everybody else down is guilty -- fit for shooting to bits or dangling out of the tree, whatever comes first. 50% of Ride in the Whirlwind's 82 minutes is devoted to tapping the absurdist terror of the circumstance. At the rest of the half, the two surviving cowpokes (Jack Nicholson and Cameron Mitchell) seek shelter at a farmhouse where they reluctantly endanger the farmerand accept break fast out of his wife, flirt with his daughter (Millie Perkins), play a few checkers, also aspire to remain undetected till nightfall.