A bit of High Noon in this....

Except in this case, there's not even a hint that he gets to ride away the beautiful woman. If anything, she comes off as unworthy of him. She fell for, and remained loyal to the "bad boy" who, like most bad boys, didn't treat her well, as bad boys are wont to do -- and who also proved to be part of Ray Donlan's corrupt ring of dirty cops. Freddie is the honest guy with moral courage, who does the right thing, even when it costs him.

At the end of the movie, you see Sheriff Heflin back on the job, doing his duty for the town that elected him. I've always liked to think that his victory, which was something he could be proud of, bolstered his self-respect, and sense of self-worth, and that that made him realize that it was way past time to stop pining for a woman who, while she might have liked him, would never love him the way he had always loved her. That he would be able to move on from a relationship that obviously had no future, and whose object wasn't honestly good enough for him anyway.