Thieves Highway Movie Ending Explained: What Happens To Frank?

I’d never have thought that I’d get to write about the cattle rustling in modern America and a few honest men going after the rustlers. Jesse V. Johnson’s Western crime thriller, “Thieves Highway,” takes us to Oklahoma, where cattle theft is hitting new records, and an honest cow cop, played by Aaron Eckhart, must put an end to it. The film itself isn’t all that much, but few characters and a lovely countryside setting make for a pleasant watch. Personally, I liked the fact that the events of the film take place within a day, while setting up the deep complications of cattle theft and how badly it needs to be stopped at the same time. So here is yours truly once again explaining everything that goes down in this day of a good old cow cop.

Spoilers Ahead

We see an Oklahoma livestock officer rounding up a group of rustlers, but as he tries to round the thieves up, one of them sneaks up on him from behind and beats the life out of him. We see the officer again after months when our protagonist, Frank, pays him a visit. The attack left him crippled, and Frank promises to find and punish the culprits. Other farm owners are severely distraught over this rampant stealing of their livestock too, and Frank and his partner, Dean, find themselves short on resources and the muscle to get some justice. Frank meets an old friend, Sylvia, who just moved back to the town to take care of her father’s farm. There might be some romance brewing here, as Sylvia leaves her number for him. Dean takes Frank to a diner to give him some bad news, as he’s decided to quit his job. The government salary isn’t cutting it anymore, and since his wife and he already have five kids, her being pregnant again only means that he’d have to sell his place and move to a smaller house he can afford. As Dean buys his partner a last cup of coffee, they run into trouble on the highway. Some trucks aggressively overtake them, and Frank realizes that they belong to the rustlers, and they’re loading up livestock in the dark. Frank decides he wants to catch them red-handed, and even though he tries to send Dean back home, he isn’t in any mood to miss a last rodeo with his partner. Frank and Dean manage to catch the rustlers in the act, just as planned, but Dean suddenly realizes that there’s a man missing. As soon as the realization hits, the leader of the gang, Jones, comes out with all guns blazing, killing Dean brutally. Frank manages to run away, and instead of going after him, Jones thinks it’s best if they leave to sell their load, as Dean is practically in the middle of nowhere, and by the time he calls for backup, they’ll be far gone. 

When Frank returns to his jeep, he finds that the rustlers have shot the tires and destroyed the radio. He gets some help from a man named Axel, who drops him at the diner Frank and Dean visited before everything went down. The diner is closed, but Frank finds Peggy, the girl who owns the place. She lets him use the phone, and just as he is about to call for backup, Peggy appears with a shotgun. Peggy makes Frank disarm himself, and makes him call Jones. Yep, she knows Jones and co. Peggy’s boyfriend Kurt answers the call, and he tells Peggy to hold Frank still until they arrive. Peggy makes Frank rip the telephone out of the wall, and puts his own phone into the garbage disposal. Frank has no option but to comply with her, but he soon uses his experience to kick some dirt on her face and knock her out with a powerful punch. By the time the gang comes back to the diner, Frank is outside slashing one of the trucks’ tires, and he hides with the cows. Peggy now joins the group to go to Texas, and the truck Frank is hiding in soon gives up, thanks to the tire slashing. Kurt and Fat Philip stop to fix the flat tire, and Frank sneaks up on them with a gun. Kurt isn’t scared but more mad at Frank for punching his girlfriend, and despite Frank’s warning, he reaches for his gun. Frank shoots him down without a second thought, and Fat Philip is devastated to see his cousin drop dead. He couldn’t care less, and he lets all the cows free in the valley. But getting no response from Kurt and Fat Philip for a while makes their friends suspicious. A hothead cowboy, Harris, and a young guy named Thad are driving another truck, and they decide to come back to check on Kurt and Fat Philip. Harris finds Frank bullying Fat Philip, and he decides to sneak up on Frank with a gun. As Harris holds Frank at gunpoint, Axel shows up again. He’s taken the time to see that Frank wasn’t lying about his partner’s death, and the distraction helps Frank to take him on. The two engage in a fistfight on a nearby pond, and despite Thad shooting at everyone aimlessly, Axel manages to save the day by shooting Harris and neutralizing Thad, who gets shot in his foot and can’t stop crying. 

Seeing Axel proving  himself a competent partner, Frank deputizes him—administering the oath and even granting Axel’s wish by handing him his own badge. He then sends Axel to the diner to contact the state police to ask for backup, as Frank himself lures Jones and Peggy back to the diner. Jones doesn’t want to go back, as he knows even if he sells one-third of the livestock he’s better than risking his life, but Peggy is furious that Frank killed Kurt, and she wants revenge. Fooling Jones into believing that she wants to be with him now, Peggy deceptively seduces him while stealing his gun. Now at gunpoint, Jones has no option but to go back. They find Fat Philip on their way back as well. But when Jones and Peggy return to the diner, and Peggy tries to intimidate Frank with her gun, Axel is already armed, backing up Frank. After some trash talk, Jones throws hot coffee on Frank’s face, and Peggy tries to capitalize on the situation by shooting at Frank. But her aim is terrible, and she kills Thad instead. Axel puts a bullet in Peggy’s shoulder, and Jones now holds Peggy as a hostage/human shield. Seeing the situation, Fat Philip confesses to Frank that it was Jones who crippled the livestock officer, and Jones kills Fat Philip for talking too much. Axel has had enough, as he shoots Jones down, killing Peggy in the process. 

Frank now has to deliver some good old Frontier justice, so he hangs Jones on a tree. Jones tries to plead with Frank, asking him to shoot instead, but Frank has had enough. Before Jones is strangulated to death, Frank shoots the rope, as he doesn’t want Jones’ filthy blood on his hands. The cops arrest Jones, and Frank is finally able to put an end to the crazy cattle theft, as countless families write him letters, thanking him for his service.