Bill McKinney

The movie opens with Mitch Robbins (Billy Crystal), back in Colorado, riding a white stallion to visit deceased trail boss Curly's grave. Mitch thanks Curly for the time they spent together and says that he truly changed his life. Just then, Curly (Jack Palance) rises from his grave and drags down Mitch who screams until he awakens in his New Rochelle home, realizing it was just a nightmare. He soon forgets the bad dream when the phone rings and it is Mitch's yearly call from his mother who retells the story of his birth and wishes him a happy 40th birthday. Unlike his 39th birthday, Mitch's outlook on life has changed drastically in the last year as he welcomes his 40th one with open arms. His wife, Barbara (Patricia Wettig), informs Mitch that after his birthday dinner, she made arrangements for them to have the whole house for themselves and advises her husband to save up all the energy he can because he will need it. Ever since he returned from his cattle drive adventures the previous year, Mitch has made quite a few changes to his life which now makes him much happier. He moved his family out of the city, kept Norman the calf who is now all grown up and has made a lot of progress at work which lead him to get promoted to station manager. Going into work, he meets his best friend Phil Berquist (Daniel Stern), who Mitch has recently employed at the station. Unlike Mitch, Phil's life has not gotten better over the last year. He got washed up in his ugly divorce with his ex-wife Arlene and now suffers from loneliness to the point where he considers trying to get back with Arlene, which Mitch equates to a criminal willingly checking himself back into Alcatraz prison. To help him out of his funk, Mitch invites Phil over for his birthday dinner with his family. On the train ride back home, Mitch swears he sees Curly on the train but it turns out to be a stranger that just looks like him. The nightmare and the vision lead Mitch to wonder aloud if Curly was truly dead when they buried him but Phil believes that Mitch is just seeing things, since they checked Curly and confirmed he was dead before burying him. When they arrive home, Mitch is shocked to find his younger brother Glen (Jon Lovitz) has arrived unexpectedly. Mitch has a strained relationship with his brother because he is mostly immature, irresponsible, keeps borrowing money from everyone without ever returning it, moves from one relative to another without an invitation until he gets thrown out, and has an irritating fixation on the Godfather trilogy. Seeing how Barbara is already irritated by Glen's presence and wanting to be alone with his wife, Mitch arranges for Glen to leave with Phil after dinner. Finally alone with Barbara, Mitch, looking to role play for his wife puts on Curly's hat and feels something poking him. He then finds a piece of paper, with a missing corner, hidden inside the hat that looks like a treasure map supposed to lead to one million dollars worth of gold bullion and dated from 1908. Interrupted by his wife, Mitch hides the map but then sees Curly staring at him from outside his window and screams. The next day, back at work, Mitch tells Phil that he saw Curly again but when he went outside he had disappeared. Phil questions Mitch as to why Curly would travel all the way to New Rochelle and Mitch reveals the map he found in Curly's hat. Interrupted by Glen, Phil takes the map and heads to the library to do some research. Meanwhile, Glen inquires as to why Phil has a job at the station but not him since he asked Mitch for a job a few months ago. Mitch reveals he doesn't trust Glen since he pulled some strings in the past to get him a job and Glen never bothered to show up. Glen is deeply hurt and leaves but Mitch convinces him to come with him and Phil to a Las Vegas business convention they are attending over the upcoming weekend where Glen might make business connections of his own. Mitch then joins Phil at the library where they analyze the map and surmise that it belonged to Lincoln Washburn who robbed a Western Pacific train carrying gold back in 1908. Quick calculations tell them that one million dollars worth of gold back in 1908 would now be worth about 20 million dollars (in 1994). They also find that the trail starts not far away from Las Vegas where they happen to be going in just a few days. Mitch is reluctant to pursue the treasure or even believe it exists until they find a picture of Lincoln Washburn and realize he was obviously Curly's father. Having already invited Glen for the weekend, Mitch decides to let him in on the treasure and offers him to join them. He also lies to his wife about missing out the convention and potentially jeopardizing his career. The three of them rent horses and supplies from store owners to whom Mitch tries to lie about their motives but quickly finds out Phil has already told them everything. Following the awkward encounter, the three of them head out to find the treasure. After being lost for a moment, they find the very first indicator that the map is real when they find a rock formation that looks like a hand pointing the way just like the map says. However, their excitement is short lived when Glen accidentally sets fire to the map and Mitch almost falls off a cliff to retrieve it. Fortunately, Glen only burned a small hole and they are able to continue their journey. Mitch decides to draw a copy of the map in case of another accident and give it to Phil which causes an argument because Glen whines about his brother not trusting him again. Mitch then gives the copy to Glen. The next day, Phil stops for a bathroom break. As he's squatting, he feels a painful sting on his butt. When he turns around, he finds a rattlesnake and believes he was just bitten. Thinking he is about to die, having heard a horror story from the store owners earlier, he pleads with his friends to suck out the poison. After a short argument, Mitch prepares himself mentally and is about to do it when he finds a cactus spine embedded in Phil's butt cheek. Phil gets emotional when he realizes what his best friend was willing to do to save him. The journey resumes and soon they find more road indicators featured on the map letting them know they're on the right path. As they're having a lunch break, they are interrupted by the store owners who show up with guns to steal the map. They surrender the copy of the map and the store owner ties them up. Just as they're poised to kill them however, a familiar face appears and fights them off. Mitch assumes his thoughts that Curly was not dead are correct, but their savior is actually Duke (Jack Palance), Curly's identical twin brother. Duke reveals he was indeed on the train and outside Mitch's house that night. He explains that long ago, their father had plans to find the gold with his sons once he was no longer being monitored, but he died before it could happen and without ever telling his sons about the map. On her death bed, a year ago, their mother gave Curly the map, and he contacted Duke to come find him so that they could seek the gold together, but he then died shortly after. Duke learned from Curly's friend Cookie that Mitch had taken Curly's belongings, and so sought him out to get the map and claim his family's treasure. Duke then asks for the map but Glen tells him the store owners took it from them. Fortunately, Mitch reveals they took a copy of the map that will only lead them to the closest highway, which causes another row with Glen, and gives the real map to Duke. Duke takes the map and sends them away, intending to find the treasure on his own much to their disappointment. In a moment of courage, Mitch chastises Duke for his attitude, reasoning that Curly would not approve. Mitch explains that Curly was a friend and how Curly explained his philosophy about life ('One thing, just one thing'). Surprised that Curly told Mitch about his "one thing" philosophy, Duke realizes Mitch was someone Curly must've liked. Out of respect for Curly's memory, Duke agrees to let Mitch, Phil and Glen join him, provided that Duke gets half and the three of them have to split the other half amongst themselves. On the road, Duke reveals that, while Curly was in love with the land and cattle driving, he was in love with the sea and spent most of his life in the Navy and then working on all kinds of ships and boats, having traveled the world several times . As they're riding, Mitch sees a wild white stallion just like the one he rode in his dream. Feeling he should ride with it, Mitch chases it for a while until he's able to touch it, feeling elated from the experience. Unfortunately, the scared stallion soon returns with a whole mob of wild horses and Mitch and his friends get caught up in a stampede which destroys most of their supplies and equipment. Mitch is able to save Glen's life which draws them closer. However, Duke reveals that the stampede caused him to loose the map. It also destroyed Mitch's cell phone which guarantees Barbara is about to find out Mitch did not go to the business convention. Things seem grim until Glen tells the others that due to his photographic memory, he's able to recall the last part of the map. With no other choice but trusting Glen or heading back to Las Vegas, Mitch decides to give Glen a chance and the group resume their journey. That night, they get caught up in a cold storm. Out of matches and supplies, the men are desperate to keep warm and not freeze to death when Phil suggests they cuddle together to share their body warmth. Mitch invites Duke to join them but he adamantly refuses. Duke then asks Mitch if Curly ever spoke about him to which Mitch has to admit he never did. Duke then asks if Curly died happy which Mitch confirms he died doing what he loved best. Duke then reveals he had not seen Curly for a very long time but is still sad to have lost his brother. He then reveals that he lost his boat two years ago and have been working at a seafood restaurant impersonating a happy pirate which he absolutely hates. The reason he is so passionate about finding the gold is because it would allow him to retire at sea, his one last dream. The next morning, having survived the cold, Duke pulls a prank on Mitch by pretending to have died just like Curly. He then shows Mitch that Glen was right about the last part of the map as he can see the "buffalo's back" and the "frozen people" Glen was recalling from the map. They find a cave and, after a little fright and more shenanigans, they find a chest filled with gold bullion. As they're celebrating their discovery, they find themselves set upon by bandits. A fight ensues and Glen gets shot while trying to save Mitch. However, Duke soon realizes the bullets were blanks with paint pellets. Just then, another familiar face shows up: Clay Stone (Noble Willingham), who was in charge of the cattle drive ranch where Curly worked and where Mitch and his friends went the year before. Clay reveals that the gold is just lead covered in gold paint and the bandits are actually his sons acting their part. He explains that he invested in one of Curly's idea to take tourists out on a western treasure hunt adventure. The tourists were given printed copies of a similar map Curly had in his hat. Stone also reveals that Curly used to come to the same cave often but never found anything, hence why he allowed Stone to copy the map. Duke inquires as to why Curly would tell him they would get rich to which Clay Stone explains that the endeavor promised to be quite lucrative and Curly wanted to give Duke a piece of the action. The four men are quite brokenhearted that their whole journey turned out to be fake and they were dumb enough to believe it, especially Duke. With nothing left to find, Duke thanks Mitch for being Curly's last friend and parts ways with the three men, having decided to keep looking for the gold. Before he leaves, he reveals he never understood Curly's "one thing" philosophy, which Mitch explains. Mitch, Phil and Glen then reflect on their adventure and realize they are quite proud of what they've accomplished even though the treasure was not real. They did it on their own, without luxuries, and they all found true values in themselves as they all tried to save each other's life at one point or another. Mitch tells Glen he is proud of him for the first time in his life which draws the brothers even closer. Mitch returns to Las Vegas, preparing for a night of trying to reconcile with his wife after having explained everything to her. However, he is surprised when Duke shows up in his hotel room. Duke reveals he finally found his "one thing" in life and it is honesty. He reveals he was planning to cheat Mitch, Phil and Glen out of the gold all along but found himself unable to. He then reveals a secret he had purportedly kept from the other three: the map that Curly had, which was also used as a tourist attraction, had a corner missing. Duke then provides the missing corner, revealing that his mom had given the map to Curly but had taken out the last part and sent it to Duke to make sure the brothers would have to reunite if they ever wanted to seek the treasure. The missing piece reveals that, in 1909, Lincoln Washburn had relocated the treasure further away into the mountains where Curly's map stopped. Mitch thinks that Duke is just messing with him, until Duke produces a solid gold bar...the real thing. He then adds: "It's got friends!" Mitch and Duke starts singing "come and get me" as the two celebrate having found the real treasure.

A Vietnam War veteran named John Rambo finds out that an old war buddy died from the effects of Agent Orange and makes his way to Hope, Washington, on foot in the early 1980s. Assuming Rambo is a vagrant, the local sheriff, Will Teasle, takes him to the edge of town and orders him to leave. Rambo is arrested after he turns around and heads back into town. Rambo becomes defiant while being processed at the police station, and Teasle's deputies-led by the cruel chief deputy Art Galt-abuse him, bringing back memories of the torture Rambo suffered in Vietnam. After battling his way out of the sheriff's office, Rambo takes back the knife that was taken from him and runs into the woods. Teasle sets up a search team that includes a helicopter, dogs, and rifles. Galt attempts to use a sniper rifle to kill Rambo from the helicopter while flagrantly disobeying Teasle's orders. The pilot momentarily loses control of the helicopter after Rambo hurls a rock at it. In a gorge below, Galt loses his footing and dies on the rocky rocks. Rambo tries to turn himself in to Teasle, claiming that Galt's death was an accident and that he does not want any more trouble, but he is shot at by the deputies and runs away. Despite learning that Rambo is a Medal of Honor recipient and Green Beret warrior, Teasle keeps looking for him. By employing guerrilla warfare, Rambo defeats every deputy. Rambo corners Teasle, puts a knife to his throat, and threatens him with "a war [Teasle] will not believe" if he does not give up the chase because the deputies are injured and unable to continue. He then withdraws deeper into the forest. Along with Col. Sam Trautman, Rambo's former commanding officer and mentor, the Washington State Patrol and Washington National Guard are sent to help Teasle. Teasle rejects Trautman's advice that Rambo will move on and be able to be arrested anywhere without any problems if he stops. Rambo refuses to surrender when Trautman tries to reach him via radio, accusing Teasle and his deputies of abusing him and saying that they "drew first blood." A National Guard unit encircles Rambo at the entrance to an abandoned mine. Rambo appears to be killed when the guardsmen fire a rocket launcher, destroying the mine entrance, despite Teasle's orders to wait for him. Teasle yells at the guardsman for defying his commands and insists that their commander, Clinton Morgan, unearth Rambo's remains. Rambo, on the other hand, escapes the mine via a ventilation shaft, takes control of a military truck that is loaded with ammunition and an M60 machine gun, and then returns to Hope to exact revenge by causing as much damage as he can. Rambo shoots the sheriff's station, blows up a gas station, destroys a sporting goods store, and cuts off power to most of the town in an attempt to divert the attention of the authorities. Knowing that Teasle is outmatched, Trautman makes another attempt to persuade her to leave Rambo. Perceiving Rambo's outburst as a personal assault, Teasle disobeys Trautman's orders once more and attempts to pursue Rambo on the station's roof. However, Rambo is able to shoot Teasle and cause injuries during a gunfight. Rambo is about to kill Teasle when Trautman shows up and reminds him that he is the last member of his group and threatens to kill him unless he surrenders. Rambo rants about the atrocities of war and his horrific experiences, such as witnessing his friends die in Vietnam, receiving bad treatment upon his return, losing his job, and being forgotten in spite of his sacrifices. Rambo sobs as he describes how a Viet Cong child soldier used a shoeshine box wired with explosives to kill a close friend. Teasle is taken to a waiting ambulance for hospital transport, while Rambo surrenders and is taken into federal custody after being consoled by a visibly distressed Trautman.

The San Fernando Valley adventures of trucker turned prize-fighter Philo Beddoe and his pet orangutan Clyde. Philo Beddoe (Clint Eastwood) is an easy-going trucker and a great fist-fighter. With two friends, Orville (Geoffrey Lewis), who promotes prize-fights for him, and Clyde (Manis the Orangutan), the orangutan he won on a bet, he roams the San Fernando Valley in search of cold beer, country music, and the occasional punch-up. But he is floored by country and western singer Lynn Halsey-Taylor (Sondra Locke), who gives him the slip when she realizes he's getting too serious. Phil, Clyde, and Orville set off in pursuit, pestered by bikers. —David Wark <dwark@automail.com>

A hard but mediocre cop is assigned to escort a prostitute into custody from Las Vegas to Phoenix, so that she can testify in a mob trial. But a lot of people are literally betting that they won't make it into town alive. In Phoenix, Arizona, alcoholic and mediocre Detective Ben Shockley (Clint Eastwood) is assigned by Chief Commissioner Blakelock (William Prince) to bring witness Gus Mally (Sondra Locke) from Las Vegas, Nevada for a minor trial. Shockley travels to Las Vegas and finds that Gus Mally is an aggressive and intelligent prostitute with a college degree and she tells him that the odds are against her showing up in court. Shockley learns that she will actually testify against a powerful mobster, and the mafia is chasing them, trying to kill them both. He calls Blakelock and requests a Police escort from Phoenix to protect them. But soon, he discovers that someone is betraying him in the Police Department. Now, Shockley and Malley hijack a bus and Shockley welds thick steel plates and transforms the cabin in an armored bus trying to reach the Forum. But they will need to drive through a gauntlet of Police Officers armed with heavy weapons.

Coy "Cannonball" Buckman is a race driver-turned parolee, who signs on to compete in the Trans-Continental Road Race, a cross-country journey starting at the Santa Monica Pier and ending at a garage in New York City. This does not sit well with Coy's parole officer girlfriend Linda Maxwell, who is legally responsible for him and he could go back to prison for violating his parole. Fixing up Coy's red Pontiac Trans Am is his loyal pal Zippo Friedman, who decides to enter the race himself in a identical Trans Am and even dressing up like Coy to fool the cops. Coy's rival is Cade Redman, an embittered fellow racer, who is also tasked to take no-talent country singer Perman Waters and his mother Sharma Capri to New York to jump-start Perman's stalled career. Other participants in the race is eccentric European racing champ Wolfe Messer, driving a yellow DeTomaso Pantera, Jim and Maryann Crandell, a surfer couple racing in a silver Corvette owned by her father. Terry McMillan, who sheepishly uses sneak tactics to make it to New York without driving his orange Chevorlet Blazer, Beutell Morris, who uses the race as a ruse to help a rich couple deliver their Lincoln Continental to New York without a single scratch, and Sandy, driving a custom blue van with her two waitress friends, Judy and Ginny. What Coy does not know is that his gambler brother Bennie made a deal with mob boss Lester Marks to make sure Coy wins the race as Bennie is in heavy debt to them. Linda has no choice but to accompany Coy in the race, but eventually decides to leave her in Zippo's company, when Redman starts trying to run him off the road. Not long after, the dirty tricks begin to come into play: Bennie, with the help of his prison escapee friend Sharpe, secretly planted a bomb under Messer's Pantera, which explodes during a police pursuit in the desert and Redman shoots out a tire in Coy's Trans Am. He later beats up Sharpe, posing as a motorcycle cop pretending to stop Coy on a routine traffic stop, and confronts Redman at a roadside grocery store, where they wreck the entire establishment. Redman escapes the melee and shatters the headlights on Coy's car before taking off. That night, Coy notices the broken headlights and winds up totaling his car on a winding mountain road, but not after being loaned a green Ford Mustang by a pair of rural auto mechanics, who are big fans of him. Redman gets word that Coy is still in the race and is forced to call in more reinforcements to stop him. They mistake Zippo as Coy and beat him to a pulp, with Linda defeating most of the men with judo and karate moves. Coy shows up and learns from Linda that Zippo was actually driving the car that night when a young girl died, resulting in Coy's prosecution. Coy tells Linda that he took the fall for it because Zippo would have never survived in prison. Linda wants to ride with Coy again, for fear of her safety, but Coy says the race is almost over and they will be together soon. Other sub-plots include Jim's Corvette suffering from a damaged fan belt and after unsuccessful attempts to repair it, they try to steal one from a supermarket parking lot, only to be chased away by a suspicious cop and Sandy and her friends duping a pair of handsome patrolmen by having sex with them to avoid a speeding ticket. At this point, a half-crazed Redman notices Coy driving into the construction site of an unfinished bridge. He dumps Perman and Sharma out of the car and speeds after him. Coy manages to jump the bridge to the other side, but Redman's brakes give out and pummels down to a fiery death. Meanwhile, Sharpe plans to assassinate Coy using a sniper rifle, not knowing it is actually Zippo driving the car. Sharpe shoots Zippo through the head and loses control of the Trans Am, ejecting Linda in the process, and explodes. Beutell, distracted by the explosion, accidentally knocks down the car Sharpe was laying under, fatally crushing him. Jim and Maryann spot Linda lying on the road and to take her to a nearby hospital, but not after unintentionally causing a multi-car pile-up. At the hospital, the doctor tells them she will be okay and Jim thinks they should forget about the race and go home, but Maryann still wants to push forward, even though they might not win first place. Terry and his girlfriend Louisa are the first ones to arrive at the finish line, but are disqualified when she blabs that they left their celebratory champagne on the plane. The second one to arrive is Coy, who is greeted by Bennie, but the victory is cut short when a TV cameraman tells Coy about the pile-up, the other red Trans Am destroyed in the explosion, and that Linda was taken to the hospital. Coy learns the truth about the plan Bennie had all along, rips up his race ticket, and heads for the hospital, as a disappointed Lester and his bodyguard escort a doomed Bennie to Lester's limo, as Jim and Maryann arrive and end up the official winners of the race. At the hospital, Coy rushes to Linda's room and is relieved to see her alive, but badly injured, and the two lovingly embrace, as Beutell eventually delivers the now-wrecked Lincoln to the couple standing outside a downtown hotel.

Josey Wales, a Missouri farmer, is driven to revenge by the murder of his wife and son by a band of pro-Union Jayhawkers - Senator James H. Lane's Redlegs from Kansas. Wales joins a group of pro-Confederate Missouri Bushwhackers led by William T. Anderson. At the conclusion of the war, Captain Fletcher persuades the guerrillas to surrender, saying they have been granted amnesty. Wales refuses to surrender. As a result, he and one young man are the only survivors when Captain Terrill's Redlegs massacre the surrendering men. Wales intervenes and guns down several Redlegs with a Gatling gun. Senator Lane puts a $5,000 bounty on Wales, who is now on the run from Union militia and bounty hunters. Along the way, despite wishing to be left alone, he accumulates a diverse group of companions. They include an old Cherokee named Lone Watie, a young Navajo woman, and an elderly woman from Kansas and her spinsterish granddaughter whom Wales rescued from Comancheros. In Texas, Wales and his companions are cornered in a ranch house which is fortified to withstand Indian raids. The Redlegs attack but are gunned down by the defenders. Wales, despite being out of ammunition, pursues the fleeing Captain Terrill on horseback. When he catches him, Wales dry fires his pistols through all twenty-four empty chambers before stabbing Terrill with his own cavalry sword. At the bar in Santa Rio, a wounded Wales finds Fletcher with two Texas Rangers. The locals at the bar, who refer to Wales as "Mr. Wilson," tell the Rangers that Wales was killed in a shoot-out in Monterrey, Mexico. The Rangers accept this story and move on. Fletcher pretends he does not recognize Wales, and says that he will go to Mexico and look for Wales himself. Seeing the blood dripping on Wales's boot, Fletcher says that he will give Wales the first move, because he "owes him that." Wales rides off.

John Deakin is being transported, as a prisoner, on a train with supplies and medicine to Fort Humboldt, Nevada, so he can help aid the remote garrison of Fort Humboldt. After a sudden outbreak of diphtheria, the authorities dispatch an express train carrying reinforcement soldiers and medical supplies through the frozen West across the Rocky Mountains to aid the remote garrison of Fort Humboldt. Along with the troops, there are also aboard Governor Richard Fairchild; the outpost commander's daughter, Marica; the squad's captain, Major Claremont; the U.S. Marshal, Pearce, and his mysterious prisoner, John Deakin. Indeed, this was supposed to be a routine operation; however, before long, in this confined but well-guarded place, missing officers and unexplained deaths start to shroud the mission with mystery and suspicion, as an unstoppable unknown killer is picking them off one by one. Who is the murderer in their midst? —Nick Riganas When a military outpost is struck with a severe outbreak of diphtheria, the authorities send a train loaded with medical supplies and replacement soldiers. As the train is on its way however, a passenger is murdered. And then two passengers; then the entire human cargo of several cars. John Deakin, a man under arrest and being transported to custody, does some digging to find out the reason for the carnage. —Alfred Jingle

Four city men on a canoe trip pit their nerve against the churning waters of a wild Georgia river, which soon becomes a fight for survival against nature and the brutality of man.