Is this the only time Randolph Scott played a villain?

I believe it is. Does anyone know different? One can argue that he plays a villain in RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY, but despite his moral lapse in that film, he's still one of the heroes and he and McCrea are allied in the final shootout with the antagonists--the Hammond clan--so I don't think it counts.

I would rather have seen Scott's character be a little more ambiguous, like maybe there was some loophole that made the mining claims illegal and maybe Scott was working for what HE believed was the law rather than just being a greedy bastard. It would have been a more believable drama, in that case.

Plus, he had Samuel S. Hinds and Charles Halton as his partners, neither of them formidable enough to make effective villains, especially when they've got Wayne, Dietrich, Harry Carey, Russell Simpson, and Richard Barthelmess arrayed against them. (This film is the only time I've seen Halton using a gun.) It's not clear to me how Scott and Hinds thought they'd get away with their scheme.