Carroll O'Connor

Bob Rueland (David Duchovny) and his wife Elizabeth (Joely Richardson) are deeply in love. She is a dedicated animal psychologist specializing in great apes, who has for 16 years worked with a gorilla at the Chicago zoo. Bob is a builder, and he is very committed to a project to build a wonderful new gorilla enclosure at the zoo, to his wife's design. Grace Briggs (Minnie Driver) is an orphan who has been brought up by her devoted grandfather Marty O'Reilly (Carroll O'Connor) who is proprietor of an Italian restaurant, the chef being Marty's dear friend Angelo Pardipillo (Robert Loggia). Grace's great friend is Megan Dayton (Bonnie Hunt), married to the chauvinistic but clumsily chivalrous Joe (James Belushi). Grace has a weak heart, caused by incurable disease, and needs a transplant. One night, after a gala with guest in evening dress, Elizabeth is fatally injured and dies in the hospital. She's a donor and her heart is transplanted into Grace. Bob is devastated and so is Elizabeth's dog Mel, which pines for her in their apartment hallway for months. During this time Grace gradually recovers from surgery with her new heart, and after much thought writes a letter to the donor family of her heart, for forwarding by the donor/transplant agency as the arrangement is anonymous. Grace creates a garden full of varied flowers, in Marty's back yard in the city; and she paints pictures, of the city scene around her but also of scenes of an Italian city, though she has never been abroad. She gets around the city on her bicycle, and often visits Megan. They go with Megan's children to the zoo, and --- mysteriously, because he doesn't do it for anybody else --- the gorilla comes over and gives Grace a "high-five" with his hand on the divider through which visitors look at him. Grace even passes close to Bob in the crowd around the existing gorilla enclosure, and he seems to experience some frisson as though he can feel Elizabeth's heart still beating but now inside Grace. At last, after a year or so, one of Bob's best friends Charlie Johnson (David Alan Grier) persuades him to come out on a foursome date. Charlie is a veterinary expert at the zoo, involved with the care of the gorilla. On top of all his other projects (on which he is always the man in charge of the whole operation), Bob has been working intensively on the new gorilla enclosure and has been seeing a lot of Charlie, who also knew Elizabeth very well but has grown increasingly concerned about Bob's state of mind since her death. The place they pick for the four-way date, about which Bob is still doubtful, is O'Reilly's Italian restaurant. Bob turns up late and is dismayed by the fussy, bossy personality of the woman who is his blind date; however he is rather taken with Grace, who comes to take their order. He even asks her whether they have met somewhere. Bob finally contrives a mobile phone call and claims he must rush back to work on one of his projects which has hit a crisis needing him on site immediately although it's late. Grace gives him a dinner to take away, and he escapes to eat it on his own. He leaves his mobile phone on the counter and only realizes the next day that he has mislaid it. He goes back the next night after hours, and is greeted by Mary, Angelo and their two elderly friends, one of whom is the apple in the eye of O'Reilly's other waitress, the amply proportioned Sophie (Marianne Muellerleile). These four repeatedly debate the relative merits of Sammy Davis, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, and play cards. Grace has gone to bed and is unaware that Bob has arrived in the now closed restaurant. She goes downstairs in her dressing gown and shower cap, and is horrified to find Bob there seeing her en dishabille. However Bob is undisturbed and, as he helps her cover the flowers in her precious garden against an expected gale, asks her out the next evening. The couple are in love but Grace gets increasingly obsessed with the idea that he must not find out she has had heart surgery. Then, on first being invited back to his apartment, she discovers her own letter "to the donor family" on his desk, and realizes this is the man whose dead wife's heart is now inside her. She goes to pieces, takes the letter, and leaves. Bob goes to see her and she shows him the letter. This time, it is Bob who leaves abruptly. All this time, Grace has had an airline ticket to Italy which Marty got for her. The next time Bob calls, she says she is going away, to Italy, to paint. Bob presents her with a new bright red bicycle, and she takes it to Italy with her. But, sitting in her room or with her easel on a rooftop with her artist's easel in front of her, she thinks only of Bob and can't get anything done. An avuncular Italian waiter comes and offers her refreshment. WHen she declines he offers to listen to her story. Meanwhile Bob is distracted, can't concentrate on his work, and the next thing we see he is on an Italian street. That morning, Grace encounters a trio of nuns who admire her beautiful red bicycle. She offers one a ride on it. Off the nun pedals into the crowd. The scene shifts to Bob, a little way off in the same town, who finds himself looking at random at cyclists as they speed past him. Then a nun comes by, and he thinks he recognizes the bike so he runs after her. We go back to Grace and the other two nuns; when the third returns on the bike, she is riding on the from and a man is behind her pedaling. It is Bob. Grace is so moved that he flew all the way to Italy to find her. (They have only been separated a few days.) Back in the USA the gorilla enclosure has a grand opening. Then at O'Reilly's there is a wedding: it is Sophie and Wally getting hitched.

Lee Marvin plays Walker, a man who loses his share of $93,000 when he's double-crossed on a heist. His old pal Mal Reese (John Vernon) filled him with bullet holes and left him to rot, presuming he was dead or would die soon anyway. Reese needed all the money to pay back his debts to the Organization. Walker's wife also came along for the ride, but she didn't know what was going to happen. The job took place at the dark and dreary old prison, Alcatraz, where money pick-ups are made. After being shot up, Walker apparently made it out alive. During this sequence, and throughout the film, there are flashbacks to provide the backstory. They help convey Walker's thoughts and feelings, even if it seems like he doesn't have them anymore. He is portrayed as austere, terse, and slightly aloof. Now all Walker wants to do is get his money back. At the inception of this storyline we see Walker stomping down a corridor, his footsteps loud, repetitive, pounding. Walker is fiercely determined, a man on a mission. Walker does a lot of walking throughout the movie, going from one place to another until he finds justice. That's the only thing on his mind. Shots of his wife getting out of bed, going out, and coming back home play while the pounding of his footsteps overshadow it. Since his wife is the person closest to him, and because she had an affair with Reese, Walker goes straight for her first. As the sound of footsteps come to a halt, we see Walker uninhibitedly barge in his wife's front door with a gun in hand, knock her down, and head right for the bedroom-blasting away several rounds at the bed. Reese wasn't there as he'd hoped. Now it's up to Walker to hunt down Reese through his connections. Reese is a top man in the syndicate this time around, so getting to him is not easy. Walker enlists the help of his wife's sister (Angie Dickinson). Since Reese wouldn't give him the cash, Walker disposes of him and move to the next guy in line. The bill gets passed down. Walker simply holds the whole Organization accountable. He won't relent until his gets the money. It all comes down to Walker going back to the place that haunts his memory: Alcatraz. That's where his money will be dropped. Once again, an act of treachery is in the works. Walker is set up to be hit by a sniper. He observes the drop-off point from overhead, waits it out, and makes the men believe he didn't show up. At the last moment, all you see is Walker dissipate into the darkness like a ghost. The ending doesn't fill in the blanks. Will he retrieve the money? Has this all been a dream from the beginning when he was left to die? The answers are left up to the viewer.

In the early 1800s, Prince Keoki Kanakoa of the Hawaiian island of Maui scolds the Yale Divinity School that they have not sent missionaries to his home but others in New England have come to take their land and bring their diseases. A new minister. Reverend Abner Hale, volunteers, along with others. But school leader Dr. Reverend Thorn informs him they will not send him until he is married, knowing the temptations of being around the native women would be too much. Dr. Thorn instructs Hale to come to his sister's house in Walpole, New Hampshire. He has persuaded Abigail and her husband Charles that their daughter, Jerusha, would do better to marry Hale than pine endlessly over her sailor that is the object of her affection, Captain Rafer Hoxworth. Captain Hoxworth is a whaler who returned to the see but seems to have abandoned her. Abner and Jerusha marry and, along with the other volunteers and Prince Keoki, sail for Lahaina, Maui. Abner and Keoki travel well but the rest are endlessly plagued with seasickness. Once in Lahaina, the native women wear no covering above the waist and swim out to greet the ship. The sailors on the ship are quite open of their sexual contact with the native women. This scandalizes the missionaries only to be topped when they learn that incest is practiced by the natives, including the queen. Keoki's father, Kelolo, is both the husband and biological brother of Keoki's mother Malama Kanakoa, the Ali'i Nui or the ruler whom the people consider god-like. Incest is believed to maintain a pure royal bloodline, and Keoki is expected to marry his sister, Noelani, who will one day become the Ali'i Nui. But, Keoki wants to be ordained as a Christian minister and learns from Abner Hale he must refuse it. Hale is infuriated at the altar to Hawaiian idols and has to be physically restrained from destroying them. The Hales labor to construct a church while residing in a grass hut. After saving a baby with a facial birthmark, Jerusha aids the locals and works to put an end to the custom of drowning babies who are malformed or unsightly. Micah, a son, is Jerusha's first child, born after a challenging labor. A little Hawaiian girl named Iliki, who was assigned to the Hales as a servant, is baptized by Abner as his first conversion. Malama consents to study Christianity, but she doesn't want to become a Christian as it would mean having to send Kelolo away. Malama sets a curfew for sailors and prohibits them from mingling with island girls at the Hales' request. Leading the protesting seamen is Captain Hoxworth, who has paused his whaling expedition. When Hoxworth learns that Jerusha is living in Lahaina and is wed to Reverend Hale, whom he hates for motivating Malama to enforce the restrictions, he is devastated. After helping to save the church from partial fire set by the sailors, the Hawaiians drive the sailors back to their ships. Hoxworth seduces Iliki to leave the island with him in retribution for Abner's marriage to Jerusha. When Abner reaches for her, he tosses him overboard. A shark attacks, leaving him walking with a limp. On her deathbed, Malama makes the decision to give up Kelolo as her spouse and undergo Christian baptism. The church is destroyed by a powerful gale that sweeps in after an Ali'i Nui dies, just as the islanders predicted. When Abner tells Keoki that he will never be ordained because he is not white, Keoki rejects Christianity and turns back to his original faith. Noelani takes up the role of Ali'i Nui. Abner learns that Keoki and Noelani are now married and that Malama converted to Christianity solely for the benefit of her people. The infant of Noelani and Keoki is terribly malformed upon birth. Jerusha begs Abner to save the baby, but he refuses, thinking it is God's retribution. Hale learns the child was drowned by Keoki. Jerusha died young because she was weak after years of overworking and having children. Abner grows closer to and more protective of the Hawaiian people after losing Jerusha. In an effort to stop plantation owners and white settlers from annexing additional land, he joins them. Abner votes against the other ministers' desire to acquire and profit from the land, and as a result, he is given to pastor a Connecticut parish. His three children are sent to the Bromley family in New England since he will not leave Hawaii. When Abner gets back to his hut, a young native man awaits him and tells him he wants to aid in Hale's missionary work. When he realizes that the young man was the disfigured baby Jerusha saved from drowning years ago, he is delighted.

The movie opens with modern day cowboy Jack Burns (Kirk Douglas) stretched out beside a dying campfire at dawn, awakened by the roar of fighter jets above the vast, open scrub-lands of New Mexico. Burns is a cowboy ill at ease with the modern world of the early 1960s. He rolls his own smokes and cuts through fences when they block his path. He carries no ID, not even the requisite draft card. He is on a collision course with the world around him. His only constant companionship comes from Whiskey, his spirited and beloved buckskin mare. Burns rides into Duke City, New Mexico, crossing a busy highway atop his spooked horse and nearly getting killed in the process. He surprises Jerry Bondi (Gena Rowlands), the wife of his best friend, in her kitchen. Her husband Paul (Michael Kane) is in jail, having been sentenced to two years in prison for assisting Mexican immigrants who have crossed into the United States illegally. Burns wants to go see him, but Jerry explains that the next visiting opportunity is several days off. Burns divulges that he has been forced to herd sheep just to earn a living. He says he started for Duke City as soon as he learned of Paul's plight. Meanwhile, a long-distance truck driver (Carroll O'Connor) exits a diner in Joplin, Missouri and climbs into the cab of his vehicle, headed for Duke City. He is hauling a load of porcelain toilets in his tractor-trailer. Burns plans to go into town, get drunk, and somehow get thrown in jail in order to see his friend. He finds a Mexican bar and heads for a back table with his beer and a whiskey chaser. On the way to his table, he trips over the intentionally outstretched foot of a one-armed man (Bill Raisch). Burns starts to complain, then notices the man's missing arm and apologizes. Burns sits down, drains a glass of whiskey, and starts nursing his beer, but the one-armed man suddenly throws a whiskey bottle across the room and over Burns' table. Burns calmly tells the man to watch himself and returns to his beer. The man then throws his whiskey glass and hits Burns with it. Burns once again tries to avoid a confrontation, but the man gets up from his table and approaches threateningly. He obviously has a chip on his shoulder and wants Burns to fight him. He kicks the chair out from under Burns, dumping him onto the floor. Amazingly, Burns still tries to avoid a fight, offering the truculent man a drink. The man calls Burns a coward, provoking Burns to slap him. Burns offers to even things up by putting one arm behind his back, and a savage fight ensues. The one-armed man is more than a match for Burns, using his good arm, the stump of his missing arm, a chair, a billiard ball, and a cue stick to attack Burns. A wild melee erupts with a group of patrons before the police arrive. Burns is taken to the police station, only to discover that the cells are overloaded and he is therefore being released. When he realizes he won't get to see Paul, he intentionally slugs a policeman, earning a one year jail sentence.. Sheriff Morey Johnson (Walter Matthau) arrives at the police station, where he is greeted by his deputy (William Schallert). Discipline at the police station and jail is noticeably lax. A sadistic deputy named Gutierrez (George Kennedy) enjoys riding roughshod over the prisoners. Burns quickly earns the attention of Gutierrez. Burns confides in Paul that he intends to spring him from the jail, but Paul says he doesn't intend to escape and risk a longer sentence. Burns reveals that he has smuggled two hacksaw blades into the jail. He and two Navajo cellmates spend the night sawing through one of the bars before Gutierrez shows up and calls Burns out of the cell for a supposed phone call. Gutierrez brutally beats Burns and knocks out a tooth before bringing him back. The two Navajo have escaped and Burns hurriedly resumes his escape efforts before daylight can arrive. As Burns slithers through the opening in the bars, Paul once again declines to escape. Burns is disappointed but understands the difference in their situations. Paul has a wife and child to think of; Burns is all alone. Burns climbs down the side of the jailhouse with the aid of a blanket for a rope and returns to Jerry's house. Jerry packs him some food before he gathers up spare ammunition and puts a saddle on Whiskey. It is now revealed that Burns and Jerry were once in love before Jack selflessly backed away in favor of Paul. Burns kisses Jerry goodbye and rides off, certain that his pursuers won't be far behind. Sheriff Johnson soon learns that escapee Jack Burns served in the army during the Korean War, earning a Purple Heart and the DSC, along with jail time for striking an officer. Up in the foothills, Burns watches over his shoulder for activity down below and heads for a distant mountain ridge that promises safety. The route gets steeper and more difficult with every switchback. Burns spots several armed deputies in pursuit far below. He is forced to dismount and lead Whiskey up the slippery and treacherous mountain face. Sheriff Johnson is lent the use of a helicopter by a general at the local army base to locate Burns. The skittish horse causes Burns considerable delay, allowing the helicopter crew to spot him. Burns expertly puts a rifle bullet through the tail rotor to cause the helicopter to have to land and it spirals down and crashes without killing the crew. Deputy Gutierrez, involved in the chase, eventually comes across the tethered horse and thinks he has gotten the drop on Burns, but he feels a rifle barrel pressed up against his face. Burns repays his earlier vicious beating with a rifle butt across the face of the sadistic deputy, knocking him out cold. Burns now leads Whiskey up an incredibly steep talus slope where the horse nearly plunges down the mountainside. They are rapidly approaching the summit and freedom, but the deputies are closing in. Just as the deputies are able to get a clean shot at him, Burns reaches the crest and quickly mounts up, spurring his horse into a thick stand of timber on the other side with complete concealment. Burns discovers that a bullet has passed through his boot and into his lower leg. He gingerly slides off the horse and fashions a splint from his rifle stock. Mounted up again, Burns rides down to the edge of an interstate highway at night during a heavy downpour. Across the highway is Manzano Mountain and the freedom of Mexico. Barreling down the rain-slick highway is the tractor-trailer introduced earlier, carrying the load of toilets. Burns desperately tries to maintain control over his nervous horse and coax him across the highway through the heavy traffic. At the critical moment, Whiskey spooks and rears up in the middle of the highway. The truck driver cannot possibly stop in time, slamming into man and horse and hurling them onto the shoulder. As a crowd gathers and surrounds the injured Jack Burns, Whiskey screams in agony. Burns is in obvious shock, but every scream from the horse is registered on his contorted face. Sheriff Johnson and a deputy soon arrive at the accident scene. Johnson sends the deputy to dispatch the badly injured horse, and the resulting gunshot causes Burns to wince noticeably. Sheriff Johnson is asked to identify Burns as the escaped fugitive, but the sheriff declines claiming he's never seen him closeup. Burns is loaded onto an ambulance and driven away as his cowboy hat washes across the rainy highway.