That Chink at Golden Gulch (1910) Plot Summary Explained

Release, runtime and language

1910 · 15 mins

Directed by

D.W. Griffith

Starring

Mary Pickford, Edward Dillon, Anthony O'Sullivan, William J. Butler, Guy Hedlund, Alfred Paget

In China, Charlie Lee vows never to dishonor his family by cutting his pigtail. After emigrating, he works as a laundryman in a California mining town, where local men torment him until a young woman and her cowboy suitor befriend him. One tormentor, a well‑dressed idler, is secretly a mail‑bandit whose rivalry with the cowboy for the girl’s affection escalates. Suspecting him, Charlie follows the bandit, witnesses a robbery, and captures him by cutting his own pigtail to bind the thief. Though rewarded, Charlie feels ashamed, gives the money to the couple, and quietly leaves Golden Gulch.