Broderick Crawford

A former Texas sheriff, living in Mexico, goes to Arizona to investigate the murky circumstances under which his brother, a peaceful newspaperman, was killed. Wanted north of the border, Jess Carlin resides safely in Mexico. Then he hears his brother was killed in a gunfight with another man. Knowning his brother never carried a gun he heads north to find his brother's killer. After battling bounty hunters he arrives in Rimrock, a town controlled by Luke Starr. Starr is the man he wants but he unable to find any evidence until he is given an item found by his brother's body. —Maurice VanAuken <mvanauken@a1access.net>

Intolerant of the weaknesses of others, especially those closest to him, an ego-driven aspiring physician comes to grips with his own imperfections. Intern Lucas Marsh is intent upon becoming not just a successful doctor but a first-class one. He courts and marries the warm-hearted Kristina, not out of love but because she is highly knowledgeable in the skills of the operating room, and because she has frugally put aside her savings through the years. He shrewdly knows that she will be a supportive wife in every way. She helps make him the success he wants to be and cheerfully moves with him to the small town in which he starts his practice. But as much as he tries to be a good husband to undemanding Kristina, Marsh easily falls into the arms of a local siren, and the patience of long-sorrowing Kristina wears thin. Reasoning that he no longer needs her, she asks for a divorce. A calamity now brings Marsh to his senses: Dr. Runkleman, Marsh's gruff and wise employer, is stricken with a heart attack and requires emergency surgery, and Marsh is forced to operate. —alfiehitchie

After a disgruntled rancher and his sons rob at gun-point a rival rancher, the town forms a posse to go after the culprits but the ensuing events are muddled by unclear facts, false testimony, old scores, secrets, murder and stolen money. When the anxiously awaited posse returns with neither prisoners nor the stolen money, we learn in flashback what happened. Having been cheated by Sampson Drune, a rancher, his brother and his son have robbed him and fled. A posse led by Drune took off after them and although unwanted, the town's drunken Sheriff joins them. The Sheriff's influence on Jed, the adopted son of Drune, was the key to Jed later revealing who actually killed Drune, the robbers, and what happened to the money. —Maurice VanAuken <mvanauken@a1access.net> Complicated by flash-backs and flash-forwards, a posse of basically honest citizens track down a trio of outlaws responsible for robbing a wealthy New Mexico cattle baron, and decide to keep the recovered money for themselves. Honest Sheriff John Frazier (Broderick Crawford), an alcoholic, joins the posse and is mortally wounded during the foray and is unaware the cash has not been returned. He is expected to die at any moment and, as far as the greedy men in his posse are concerned, the sooner the better. —Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

While in Washington to lobby for favorable legislation, a garbage tycoon hires a reporter to teach his ex-showgirl mistress proper etiquette to better fit in with high society, but she ends up learning more than he bargained for. Uncouth, loud-mouth junkyard tycoon Harry Brock descends upon Washington D.C. to buy himself a congressman or two, bringing with him his mistress, ex-showgirl Billie Dawn. Brock hires newspaperman Paul Verrall to see if he can soften her rough edges and make her more presentable in capital society. But Harry gets more than he bargained for as Billie absorbs Verall's lessons in U.S. history and not only comes to the realization that Harry is nothing but a two-bit, corrupt crook, but in the process also falls in love with her handsome tutor. —Paul Penna <tterrace@wco.com> Nouveau riche New Yorker Harry Brock, who made his money as a junk dealer, is uncouth and brash, he believing that money should be able to get him whatever he wants. What he wants is more power and money, which is the reason he has come to Washington DC, specifically to bribe a congressman or two, only the latest of his illegal activities. Among Harry's entourage is his fiancée of seven years, Billie Dawn, a former showgirl and an uneducated seemingly stereotypical dumb blonde. Beyond throwing money at her or playing gin rummy with her, Harry largely ignores Billie, or when he does spend time with her treats her badly, despite he being in his brand of love with her. As Harry is embarrassed by Billie's uncultured ways in dealing with the political elite of Washington - in the process he being clueless or unconcerned as to his own crudeness - he decides to hire Paul Verrall, a local freelance reporter writing a story on him, to teach Billie how to be cultured. Paul gladly accepts the job in his enjoyment of showing all that Washington DC has to offer in its history and politics, but not for Harry, who he does not like much. Paul finds that Billie is an eager student regardless of she seeing herself as being dumb and uneducatable. But Billie is able to see the world differently through the new eyes that Paul gives to her, she now not only learning about the world in general, but questioning her relationship with Harry, especially the legal papers Harry's lawyer Jim Devery is always getting her to sign. In the process, Paul also comes to some realizations about his feelings toward Billie and Harry. —Huggo Brassy blonde moll Billie Dawn hits Washington, D.C., with her unscrupulous millionaire sugar daddy, Harry Brock, and his sleazy lawyer, Jim Devery, who has been pressuring Harry to marry Billie by pointing out that a wife cannot be forced to testify against her husband. In an effort to make Billie more socially acceptable, Harry hires journalist Paul Verrall to smarten her up -- and sparks soon fly between the pair. —Jwelch5742

The rise and fall of a grass-roots rural politician who eventually becomes mired in the sort of political corruption he vehemently railed against on his way to the governor's mansion. Jack Burden is a newspaper reporter who first hears of Willie Stark when his editor sends him to Kanoma County to cover the man. What's special about this nobody running for county treasurer? He's supposedly an honest man. Burden discovers this to be true when he sees Stark delivering a speech and having his son pass out handbills, while the local politicians do their best to intimidate him. Willie Stark is honest and brave. He's also a know-nothing hick whose schoolteacher wife has given him what little education he has. Stark loses the race for treasurer, but later makes his way through law school to become an idealistic attorney who fights for what is good. Someone in the governor's employ remembers Stark when the governor needs a patsy to run against him and split the vote of his rival. The fat cats underestimate Stark, but Jack Burden, Stark's biggest supporter, overestimates the man's idealism. To get where he wants to go, Willie Stark is willing to crack a few eggs--including his tough-talking assistant Sadie Burke, Jack's poised and elegant fiancée Anne Stanton, and even Jack Burden himself. —J. Spurlin The story of Willie Stark, an unassuming, unsophisticated idealistic farmer who becomes Governor of his state, and Jack Burden, reporter and Stark ally. Stark fights his way up from lowly beginnings, initially failing at politics but then succeeding. However, once in office, his ideals slip, his standards fall, and power leads to corruption. Burden should be his conscience, but he finds himself going along for the ride. —grantss The evolution of Willie Stark from self-professed uneducated country bumpkin to politician. Initially he runs for a county treasury seat believing that the political machine is corrupt and needs an honest man like himself to bring back integrity in his outward goal of getting the truth to the people. He poses no real threat to the establishment, but the establishment does whatever it can to quash Willie's political voice, especially through intimidation--until it believes it can use him to their advantage. In turn, Willie discovers an opportunity to use the machine to his advantage instead in espousing a populist agenda. Getting a taste of power may give Willie a different view of politics than his initial outward view. Also presented are a number of people around Willie who get out of him what they need for their own lives, as he only keeps around people who can serve his interests: Lucy Stark, his former-schoolteacher wife, has acted more as a mother to him than a wife; reporter Jack Burden, who grew up in privilege in an isolated enclave of the state called Burden's Landing, is trying to find his place in life without the connections of his childhood and believed he found that in writing articles on Willie for his newspaper; Jack's childhood friend and current girlfriend Anne Stanton, the daughter of a former respected governor, who wants her husband, be he Jack or anyone else, to be a Somebody; and Sadie Burke, who has always surrounded herself with whoever can pay her the most for her brains, might see Willie as more than just a paycheck. —Huggo "All The King's Men" is the story of the rise of politician Willie Stark from a rural county seat to the spotlight. Along the way, he loses his initial innocence, and becomes just as corrupt as those he previously assaulted for this very characteristic. Also included is the romance between one of his "right-hand women" and the up-and-coming journalist who brings Stark to prominence. —Neal Scoones <verty@ritz.mordor.com>

A woman falls for the victim of an intended blackmail plot. George McAllister, the black sheep of a wealthy family who has squandered his share of the family inheritance, and lives in constant jealousy, hatred and resentment of his half-brother Barry, who has been supporting him. George gets his girl friend, Carlotta Duval, a job as Barry's nurse with the plan of eventually marrying him. She does, but instead of going ahead with the original plan or getting rid of Barry, inheriting his money and marrying George, she finds that she is really in love with Barry. —Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>