Clint Eastwood

While serving as a juror in a murder trial, Justin Kemp finds himself in a moral dilemmaone he could use to sway the jury verdict and potentially convict or free the accused killer.

In 1978, a one-time rodeo star and washed-up horse breeder take up a job from an ex-boss to bring the man's young son home and away from his alcoholic mum.

A hero`s life is shattered by one massive, misplaced rush to judgement when the man who thwarted the 1996 Atlanta bombing is wrongly accused as the main suspect.

In 2005, Earl Stone (Clint Eastwood), in his 80s, is an award-winning horticulturist and Korean War veteran in Peoria, Illinois. In 2005 Earl missed his daughter Iris' wedding so he can receive a lifetime award celebrating his professional accomplishments. Enraged that her father once again chose his career over her, Iris stops speaking to him and his wife Mary files for divorce. By 2017, He is facing financial ruin and is estranged from his ex-wife Mary (Dianne Wiest) and daughter Iris (Alison Eastwood), for always putting work before family. He's still on friendly terms with his granddaughter Ginny (Taissa Farmiga) and attends her wedding rehearsal. Mary is super angry with Earl for missing Iris's wedding in 2005 and now is angry as she thinks Earl wants to mooch off Ginny as he has nowhere else to go. Earl has not told his family that the only reason he's there is because his flower farming business has gone bankrupt, and his home has just been foreclosed on by the bank. Earl is desperate for money as he had promised to pay Ginny's wedding. While there, he is spotted by a member of a drug cartel (who is the boyfriend of one of Ginny's bridesmaids) who had been tipped off by one of Earl's former employees as to his financial problems. Earl accepts the gangster's offer and becomes a "mule", transporting cocaine through Illinois for the cartel. Facing little suspicion due to his age, race, spotless criminal history, and strict adherence to driving laws, Earl is soon trusted with huge amounts of drugs and paid large amounts of cash. Over time, Earl gets more involved with the cartel and becomes one of their best mules. With the money he obtains from drug-running, he buys a new truck, settles his financial problems, pays for renovations of the local VFW Post that had been damaged in a fire, and his granddaughter's wedding and education. He becomes friendly with the cartel members, who call him Tata ("grandfather"). There are only 2 rules, don't look at the cargo and always answer the phone. Meanwhile, Special Agent Colin Bates moves to the Chicago DEA office and assigned Agent Trevino as his partner. They are tasked with closing in on the cartel's deliveries to Chicago. With details from an informant, a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) task force made of Agent Colin Bates (Bradley Cooper), his partner Agent Trevino (Michael Pena) and their boss (Lawrence Fishburne), is narrowing in on the cartel's deliveries to Chicago. They start looking for the cartel's most profitable driver, Tata ("grandfather") As Earl gets more successful, cartel boss Laton assigns him bigger loads and assigns Gustavo to handle Earl. Gustavo doesn't like Earl as he has no family ties, doesn't listen to him, does whatever he wants. But Latin values Earl and asks Gustavo to put up with him. Unknown to all a snitch has given Earle's name to the DEA agents as their top mule. Earl keeps making bigger drops and earns a meeting with Laton at his home in Mexico. Earl mistakenly believes that the cartel considers him their friend. At a late-night party Earl suggests to Gustavo that Laton doesn't really care for him. Tensions within the cartel erupt when Gustavo (Clifton Collins Jr.), a power-hungry cartel lieutenant, assassinates cartel boss Laton (Andy García), and subsequently demands Earl be kept under tighter control. Earl follows instructions given to him and the snitch gives his exact route and stopping points to the DEA agents, but they simply don't suspect an old man like Earl to be the mule and keep on arresting the wrong people. In the middle of a $12 million cocaine shipment, Earl winds up in a diner with Bates. Neither man recognizes the other, and the elderly Earl gives Bates advice to try and mend fences with his wife and not make the mistakes Earl has made. Earl then leaves to conclude the delivery of the shipment but then gets a call from Ginny, who informs him that Mary is gravely ill. Earl initially tells Ginny there's nothing he can do until she rebukes him for his perceived lack of care. Earl relents and disobeys Gustavo, making peace with Mary and staying with her in her final moments. Mary dies peacefully days later. After attending the funeral and finally reconciling with Iris and the rest of his family, Earl resumes the delivery as the DEA and the cartel close in on him. The cartel's enforcers catch him and upon discovering that he disobeyed them to care for his ex-wife, they call Gustavo to request leniency. Gustavo agrees to this request and allows Earl to continue. Earl continues driving toward the drop point, but the DEA agents set up a roadblock and arrest him; Bates has a pleasant aside with Earl before sending him away. In court, Earl's lawyer starts to give an impassioned plea, asking for mercy for Earl due to his age and military service. However, a clearly guilt-ridden Earl interrupts her to plead guilty to all charges and is promptly sent to federal prison. His family lend him their support and promise to visit him. In prison, he returns to horticulture.

Sully follows Chesley Sullenberger, who became a hero after gliding his plane on the Hudson River, saving 155 passengers, but faced an investigation that could destroy his career.

Jersey Boys tells the story of four young men from the wrong side of the tracks in New Jersey, who came together to form the iconic 1960s rock group The Four Seasons. The story of their trials and triumphs are accompanied by songs that influenced a generation, including Sherry , Big Girls Don`t Cry , Walk Like a Man , Dawn , Rag Doll , Bye Bye Baby , Who Loves You , and many more.

The front office of the Atlanta Braves is starting to question his judgment and the one person who might be able to help is also his daughter, Mickey (Amy Adams), an associate at a high-powered Atlanta law firm. Mickey has never been close to her father, who was ill-equipped to be a single parent after the death of his wife. Against her better judgment and over Guss objections, Mickey joins him on his latest scouting trip to North Carolina, jeopardizing her own career to save his. Forced to spend time together for the first time in years, each reveals truths about their past and present that could change their future. The film also stars Justin Timberlake as Johnny Flanagan, a rival scout who has his sights on a career in the announcers boothand and also has eyes for Mickey.

In 1920s Los Angeles, a woman`s kidnapped son is found alive but she realizes the child is not her own. She faces corrupt police and a skeptical public in her pursuit of answers.

As three US servicemen - Marine Private First Class Ira Hayes, Private First-Class Rene Gagnon, and Navy Corpsman John "Doc" Bradley are feted as heroes in a war bond drive, they reflect on their experiences via flashback. After training at Camp Tarawa in Hawaii, the 28th Marine Regiment 5th Marine Division sails to the small island of Iwo Jima as part of an invading armada. Tough Japanese resistance is expected, and the Navy bombards suspected Japanese positions for three days. Sergeant Mike Strank is put in charge of Second Platoon. The next day, February 19, 1945, the Marines land in Higgins boats. The beaches are silent and Private First Class Ralph "Iggy" Ignatowski wonders if the defenders are all dead, before Japanese heavy artillery and machine guns open fire on the advancing Marines and the Navy ships. Casualties are heavy but the beaches are secured. Two days later the Marines attack Mount Suribachi under a rain of Japanese artillery and machine gun fire, as the Navy bombards the mountain. Doc saves the lives of several Marines under fire, which later earns him the Navy Cross. Finally, the mountain is secured. On February 23, the platoon under command of Sergeant Hank Hansen is ordered to climb Mount Suribachi. They reach the top and hoist the United States flag atop the mountain to cheers from the beaches and the ships. Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal, who witnesses the flag raising as he lands on the beach, requests the flag for himself. Colonel Chandler Johnson decides his 2nd Battalion deserves the flag more. Rene is sent up with Second Platoon to replace the first flag with a second one for Forrestal to take. Mike, Doc, Rene and three other marines (Corporal Harlon Block, Private First-Class Franklin Sousley and Private First Class Ira Hayes), are photographed by Joe Rosenthal as they raise the second flag. On March 1, Second Platoon are ambushed from a Japanese machine gun nest. During the fight over the nest Mike is hit by a U.S. Navy shell and dies from his wounds. Later that day Hank is shot in the chest and dies almost instantly, and Harlon is killed by machine gun fire. Two nights later while Doc is helping a wounded Marine, Iggy is abducted by Japanese troops and dragged into a tunnel. Doc finds his viciously mangled body a few days later. On March 21 Franklin is killed by machine gun fire and dies in Ira's arms. Of the eight men in the squad only three are left: Doc, Ira and Rene. A few days after Franklin's death, Doc is wounded by artillery fire while trying to save a fellow corpsman. He survives and is sent back home. On March 26, the battle ends and the U.S. Marines are victorious. After the battle the press gets hold of Rosenthal's photograph. It is a huge morale booster, and newspapers all over the country ask for prints. Rene is asked to name the six men in the photo: he identifies himself, Mike, Doc and Franklin, but misidentifies Harlon as Hank. Rene believes that Ira is the sixth man in the photograph; when he tells Ira this, Ira furiously denies it, insisting that it was Harlon in the photograph, not him. Rene pleads with Ira that as flag raisers they will both be sent home, but Ira reacts by holding a bayonet to Rene's throat, telling Rene he will kill him if he names Ira as the man in the photograph. Rene initially refuses to identify the sixth man but when he is threatened with being sent back to the fighting, he names Ira. Doc, Ira and Rene are sent home as part of the seventh bond tour drive to raise money for the war effort. When they arrive to a hero's welcome in Washington, Doc notices that Hank's mother is on the list of mothers of the dead flag raisers. Ira angrily denounces the bond drive as a farce. The men are reprimanded by Bud Gerber of the Treasury Department, who tells them that the country cannot afford the war and if the bond drive fails the U.S. will abandon the Pacific and their sacrifices will be for nothing. The three agree not to tell anyone that Hank was not in the photograph. As the three are sent around the country to raise money and make speeches, Ira is guilt-ridden, facing discrimination as a Native American and haunted by memories of the battle. He descends into alcoholism and throws up one night in front of General Alexander Vandegrift, commandant of the Marine Corps. A furious Vandegrift orders to have Ira sent back to his unit and the bond drive continues without him. After the war, the three survivors return to their homes. Ira still struggles with alcoholism and is never able to escape his unwanted fame. One day after being released from jail, he hitchhikes over 1,300 miles to Texas to see Harlon Block's family. He tells Harlon's father that his son was indeed at the base of the flag in the famous photograph. In 1954, the USMC War Memorial is dedicated and the three flag raisers see each other one last time. In 1955 Ira dies of exposure after a night of drinking. That same year Doc drives to the town where Iggy's mother lives to tell her how Iggy died, though it is implied that he does not tell her the truth. Rene attempts a business career but finds that the opportunities and offers he received during the bond drive are rescinded. He spends the rest of his life as a janitor. Doc, by contrast, is successful. He buys a funeral home and runs it for the rest of his life. In 1994, on his deathbed, he tells his story to his son James and in a final flashback to 1945, the men swim in the ocean after raising the flags.

A 2004 sports drama film, Million Dollar Baby, is the story of an under appreciated boxing trainer, his elusive past and his quest for atonement by helping an underdog amatuer boxer achieve her dream of becoming a professional. This movie is directed and co-produced by Clint Eastwood, who also stars in the film along with Hilary Swank.

Childhood friends Dave, Sean and Jimmy are forced to confront their past when a seemingly senseless murder reawakens the buried trauma of a crime that occurred 25 years ago.

Terry McCaleb (Clint Eastwood) is summoned to a crime scene, where Detectives Waller (Dylan Walsh) and Arrango (Paul Rodriquez) tell him the victims are numbers 5 and 6. Arrango cracks jokes throughout, and they show Terry a wall, where, written in blood, is "McCaleb Catch Me", and a code number. As Terry works his way through the reporters, he spots a figure with blood on his shoes and gives chase. He almost nabs the figure, but has a heart attack. The suspect comes back to check on him, and Terry fires at him, possibly hitting him as the figure flees. 2 years later, Terry is undergoing a check-up following a heart transplant. His doctor, Dr. Fox (Angelica Huston) gives him a clean bill of health. Terry goes to his boat, and meets Graciella Rivers (Wanda De Jesus), who wants to hire him. She tells him that Terry's heart transplant came from her sister and leaves. The next day, Terry meets up with Arrango and Waller, and after some creative bribery with donuts, they show Terry a convenience store security tape of the murder. Terry makes some deductions, but the detectives won't give him more details. Terry goes to the convenience store and starts asking questions, then does some research online. He goes to the county sheriff's station to see Jaye Winston (Tina Lifford) with whom he worked once. He charms her into seeing the ATM video of a similar robbery, and thinks it's the same guy. He goes to visit a witness from the ATM murder, James Lockridge (Rick Hoffman). James is angry because the ambulance didn't respond to the 911 call quickly enough. Terry then goes to the ATM where the shooting occurred, and a man in sunglasses asks him to move, so he can use the ATM. Terry has nightmares, and enlists the aid of his boat-neighbor, Jasper "Buddy" Noone (Jeff Daniels) to drive him around. Terry argues with Dr. Fox about morality - she's concerned that he'll reject his transplant due to stress, and quits as his doctor. Terry calls Graciella, and she offers to bring Raymond over and cook dinner later. Later, Terry and Jasper go to a metal plant, tracing a Mikhail Bolotov, who Terry thinks may be involved. He questions Bolotov (Igor Jijikine), and Bolotov attacks him. Jasper comes in as Bolotov leaps out a window. Back at the sheriff station, Jaye tells Terry the shooter at the ATM mouthed "happy valentine's day" on the videotape. Terry watches the convenience store tape, trying to decide if that killer is saying the same thing. Graciella brings Raymond (Mason Lucero) over, and she sees the video he was watching. They walk along the shore, and Terry tries to establish a link between Graciella's sister and the ATM victim. Graciella mentions a special earring that her sister wore, and Terry remembers the man he saw at the ATM with the same earring. The next day, Jasper and Terry drive out to see the wife of the ATM victim, Mrs. Cordell (Alix Koromzay). He finds out the victim's sunglasses are missing, and remembers the same man from the ATM wearing them. He goes back to see Jaye, and she tells him Bolotov has been found, dead. Terry explains his theory of the ATM man, but Arrango has the missing earring and sunglasses. The coroner finds a .38 bullet in Bolotov's mouth. Everyone remarks on how tired Terry looks. As Graciella talks about her sister, a reference to giving blood triggers a memory - there was an "I gave blood" sticker in Cordell's truck as well. They go to Dr. Fox and explain their theory. Terry's temperature is elevated, and Dr. Fox complains to Graciella that she is making Terry sick. Graciella is worried about Terry's health, and asks him to stop, but he refuses. Terry realizes that the killer wanted the victim's organs, since their blood type (and Terry's) is rare. Recordings of the convenience store camera and 911 call confirms that the killer called 911 BEFORE he killed Graciella's sister. The ATM victim would have been saved by the ambulance, except for the mistake mentioned by Lockridge. Terry and Jaye go back to the ATM, and Terry chases a man in sunglasses, but he drives away. They go to visit Lockridge and find his wife, dead. When Terry returns to his boat, Graciella and Raymond are cooking dinner. Raymond finds the code from Terry's first case, and notices there's no "1". They spend the night on the boat, and Graciella sleeps with Terry. Terry hears footsteps on the deck, and knocks Waller and Arrango into the water. Waller and Arrango take Terry to Lockridge, who has been shot, and there's another message for Terry, with the same code, and the words "McCaleb, happy valentine's day". He realizes the same killer is back, and the .38 slug found in Bolotov's mouth is one Terry fired at the victim years ago. He thinks the killer was trying to get Terry a new heart, so they could continue the sick chess game. Terry returns to his boat, and Graciella and Raymond are gone. Terry drops off a check to Jasper, and realizes his last name is Noone ("no 1"). He threatens him, and Jasper confesses to be the killer. Jasper tells Terry that he has Graciella and Raymond hidden, and wants Terry to resume his work. Jasper leaves to set up in a new location, and Terry shoots him. He puts a tourniquet on Jasper and has Jasper take him to Graciella and Raymond. They go to a boat that had run aground, where Jasper takes Terry down below, then jumps overboard. Terry rescues Graciella and Raymond, and Jasper fires on them. Terry gets Graciella and Raymond onto his boat and stalks Jasper, holding his heart. Graciella sees Jasper on Terry's boat, and rams it into the wreck. Terry shoots Jasper, and Graciella holds his head under water, finishing the job. Later, Jaye and Terry wrap things up on the dock, and Terry takes Graciella and Raymond fishing.

Forty years after their original space mission was scrapped, a retired Air Force "space cowboy" leads a group of former astronauts on a dangerous mission.

During his final heist, a master thief catches the U.S. President in an extra-marital affair that leaves a woman dead. Should he run...or stay to fight the White House itself?

A visiting city reporter's assignment suddenly revolves around the murder trial of a local millionaire, who he befriends. This panoramic tale of Savannah, Georgia's eccentricities focuses on a murder and the subsequent trial of James Arthur Williams (Kevin Spacey): self made man, art collector, antiques dealer, bon vivant, and semi-closeted homosexual. Magazine reporter John Kelso (John Cusack) finds himself in Savannah amid the beautiful architecture and odd doings to write a feature on one of William's famous Christmas parties. He is intrigued by Williams from the start, but his curiosity is piqued when he meets Jim's violent, sexy lover, Billy Hanson (Jude Law). Later that night, Billy is found dead, and Kelso stays on to cover the murder trial. Along the way, he encounters the irrepressible Chablis Deveau (Lady Chablis), a drag-queen comedienne; Sonny Seiler (Jack Thompson), lawyer to Williams, whose famous dog Uga, is the official mascot of the Georgia Bulldogs; an odd man who keeps flies attached to mini leashes on his lapels and threatens daily to poison the water supply; the Married Ladies' Card Club; and Minerva (Irma P. Hall), a spiritualist. Kelso has his hands full being Jim's buddy, cuddling up to a torch singer, meeting every eccentric in Savannah, participating in midnight graveyard rituals, and helping solve the mysteries surrounding Billy's murder. —Teresa B. O'Donnell <sun.moon.stars@worldnet.att.net>

In 1965, photographer Robert Kincaid asks housewife Francesca Johnson for directions, an encounter which blossoms into a few days that will stay with them for their whole lives.

A Secret Service agent seeks to redeem himself by saving the life of his country's highest elected official, even if it means sacrificing his own.

"A Perfect World," ostensibly about the escape of convicts Butch Haynes (Kevin Costner) and Terry Pugh (Keith Szarabajka) from a Huntsville prison, quickly focusses on their hostage-taking of an 8-year old boy, Philip Perry (T. J. Lowther). The movie opens with the final scene, Butch lying in a field with a Casper the Friendly Ghost mask lying beside him in the grass, a helicopter hovering, and money blowing in the breeze. Both the man and the mask have a faint smile on their faces. The rest of the movie answers the questions posed by that enigmatic opening image. In a small town somewhere in Texas, the town kids are trick or treating except for one family sitting at the kitchen table talking about Halloween. The mother, Gladys Perry (Jennifer Griffin), explains that their religious beliefs put them on a higher plane where such activities are forbidden. Just then the doorbell rings and some children outside yell "trick or treat." Gladys answers the door and explains they don't participate in the holiday because they are Jehovah's Witness. Meanwhile, Larry Billings, a prison guard, returns to the prison to get some paperwork to do at home even as the two prisoners in their cells (Butch and Terry) consult with an elderly inmate regarding where the vents go. Once Butch and Terry break through the vents, and it is clear that an escape is underway, Butch tells Terry that they will separate when they get free and reach the state line because he doesn't like Terry. And Terry agrees with that plan as their hatred for each other coalesces. Butch and Terry get past the guard at the gate in Larry's car with Larry at the wheel. Once they reach town they commandeer Larry's car and search for a new escape car. Terry is sidetracked by Gladys making breakfast. Terry breaks into the kitchen holding a gun and terrorizes her, grabbing her around the neck for a smooch. Young Philip, who has wandered in, gets on Terry's nerves so he slaps the boy, an action that further infuriates Butch and precipitates a struggle between the two. Butch asks Philip to pick up the "Pistola" and give it to him. Then Butch says to point it at him and say "stick em up," a make-believe playful act, but deadly serious, which he does. A neighbor tries to save the family but Buzz asks him to drop the rifle because he might hit the boy and the neighbor agrees, a pattern of negotiation and violence avoidance that continues throughout the movie. Butch and Terry take the boy, Philip, as a hostage and leave, still in the guard's car. At the state office of the Texas Rangers, Red Barnett (Clint Eastwood) speaks with the Governor by phone. Sally Gerber (Laura Dern), criminologist from Huntsville hired by the Governor to assist Red in matters concerning parole and escapes, introduces herself to Red as one of the team, a fact that does not sit well with Red. The Governor also loans Red's team a shiny new truck and trailer to track the escapees. The rig has lots of bells and whistles and looks suspiciously like a Campaign Headquarters on Wheels with its decorative bunting. While loading up the new trailer prior to starting the manhunt, FBI agent Bobby Lee (Bradley Whitford) is added to the team and Sally is almost left behind. Meanwhile, the escapees and their young hostage are trying to find somewhere to hide out. Terry looks for his cousin's name in a phone book while keeping an eye on Butch and threatening him. Butch responds by breaking his nose. They stop at a store for provisions and Butch asks Philip to train the gun on Terry to hold him in check while Butch shops. Terry starts to play with Philip and try to get the gun away, and resorts to intimidating Philip physically and verbally by casting aspersions on Philips manhood ("Kind a puny, ain't it?"). When Terry grabs Philip, Philip bites his hand and runs to hide in a corn field across the road, maintaining possession of the gun. Terry searches for Philip even as Butch sees his traveling companions are missing. Butch locates Philip first in the corn field and Philip returns the gun to Butch. Butch shoots Terry. As Butch and Philip get back to the car, the store owner emerges from the store with a rifle but Butch tells him to go lie on the floor of the store until they leave. As the truck and trailer head down the road Red's manhunt team learns about the sighting of the escapees. Sally tells Red they need an auxiliary roadblock because the prisoners will split up. Only one road block is set up. Red and Sally argue about her spot on the team. Red informs her that a strong back side and a sense of humor are the only prerequisites to serving on his team. Sally explains that she is not a moron, she just wants to do her job. Red says that he is in charge and takes responsibility but agrees to listen to her concerns. Butch and Philip continue on as running buddies, drinking RC Cola and getting to know each other. Butch appeals to the boy's desire to play by telling Philip that the car is a time machine and they are driving into the future. He explains gas and brake pedals and that they need to find a Ford to steal. Terry's body is found. Red's entourage continues to follow the escapees. Butch and Philip find a Ford. Butch has Philip play "like an Injun" and check whether the keys are in the ignition and whether there is a radio. Yes on both counts. While Philip relieves himself, Butch goes to a clothes line to steal some civilian clothes for himself. The farmer who owns the car and the home spots him helping himself. While the farmer runs in from his tractor, Butch jumps in the Ford and fiddles with the starter for an interminable time. The farmer nearly catches the two until Philip bites his hand and he releases his grip on the car. The manhunt team discusses whether locals should shoot if they have a clear shot. Red and Sally say no because of the boy. Butch learns that Philip's dad is gone. They realize they have some things in common: they are handsome, they like RC, and their dads ain't worth a damn. They are on their own and seek foolish destiny. Red gets to the scene of the car recovery. They pry open the trunk and find the dead guard, Larry Billings, inside. Sally barfs and Red shows a smidgeon of compassion. Butch gives Philip an alias, Buzz, so they can go to a store called Friendly's to buy skivvies, britches, rope, and duct tape. Buzz eyes a Casper costume left over from Halloween. A local cop finds the car parked by the store and waits to nab the escapees. The clerk flirts with Butch and gets a nice tip. Butch refuses to buy the Casper costume. Mr. Willits, the store manager, starts to call to report presence of Haynes but Haynes threatens him with a look. Troubles aplenty outside but Butch outmaneuvers them and stops by to pick Buzz up on way out of town. "You ain't so friendly," is Butch's take on the clerks screaming at Buzz for shoplifting the Casper costume. The two are a team. Buzz and Butch hide behind a barn while the coast clears. Butch forgives Buzz by saying that although stealing is wrong, the Casper costume theft is an exception to the rule. Buzz is embarrassed by his puny pecker (in the words of Terry). Butch looks at it and declares it good sized for a boy his age. Buzz is heartened by Butch's assessment. Red and Sally believe that Haynes (Butch) and the boy are headed for the Panhandle. Sally outlines Butch's sad life before incarceration. Mom killed herself and Daddy split. After Haynes killed a man who hurt his mom when he was just 8, he stayed clear of the law until he stole a car some years later. Haynes received an inappropriately long sentence. Sally declares that where they are going is not important but why they are going there is very important. Butch trains his navigator in the ways of map-reading. They pass a trailer and wave just for fun. Turns out it is the team of trained criminologists. The trailer does a U-turn when they spot the Casper costume. A chase ensues. The trailer and truck get separated in the process. The Governor's trailer crashes, much the worse for wear. The Governor tells Buzz's mom that the boy is OK as he smiles for the cameras. Butch lets Buzz decide what to do, whether to hoof it or stick with the car. Butch informs Buzz that he is headed for Alaska. Buzz considers the options and decides that 1500 miles is too far to walk. Supply inventory is low, just soda, gum, and half a Moon pie. The Governor wants the trailer back but Red doesn't tell him its condition. With Buzz now sporting the Casper costume, they go trick or treating even though Buzz is a Jehovah's Witness and Halloween is past. Butch tells him how it's done. They go to a woman's house way out in the country, and she says that he is too late. He missed the popcorn balls. When she sees Butch's gun, however, she changes her mind and gives them whatever she has, including money. They feast on the spoils, mustard sandwiches. Later, while Buzz sits in the car alone waiting for Butch to check out the road block, the car starts rolling. Buzz finally sorts out the brake from the accelerator and stops it. Then it happens again. A guy out with his family almost hit by the car buys their story about bad brakes and agrees to take them along in their car, enabling the pair on the lam to get through a checkpoint. The mom in the car with Butch and Buzz blesses her children out and slaps them for spilling a drink in the new car. Butch's face clouds over and he decides to have Bob let them out of the car. Then he kicks the family out with their suitcases and steals their car. The next scene is of the family approaching one of the roadblocks on foot. Red and Company are getting hungry. They find steaks and tater tots in the trailer and Red starts cooking them up. Bobby Lee tries to put the make on Sally but Red cuts it short to ask Sally how she likes her steaks cooked. Then Red sets the would-be suitor Bobby Lee straight about the mission. Butch and Buzz talk over the limitations of the Jehovah's Witness religion. Butch introduces Buzz to the fun side of American life by allowing him to ride on the car roof. Later, they stop for dinner and Butch hopes for a side order of nookie from the waitress. Buzz watches out of curiosity. When Buzz is discovered, the couple's mood is dampened. Butch and Buzz get back on the road not fully replenished. They discuss women and love. Butch and Buzz hide in a corn field to lay low, plan their journey, and catch some sleep. Buzz tells Butch he wants to return home and Butch promises to return him soon. Butch reassures him of his concern for the boy by asking him to make a list of all the stuff he wants to do, such as eat cotton candy, and says he will try to make certain he gets a chance to do some of it. Sally asks Red whether he was a sheriff when Haynes got his long sentence for stealing the car. Red said Butch's dad was a crook, bad news, and Red thought it would be better for Butch to send him away from the household to an institutional setting. Regret was in his eyes. A sharecropper, Mack (Wayne Dehart), finds Butch and Buzz in the corn and offers them a place to sleep and Butch agrees. Mack hits his grandson, Cleve (Kevin Jamal Woods), upside the head and Butch does not approve. The two families eat breakfast together the next day and get to know each other. Butch shows Cleve a gymnastic trick like skinning the cat and they practice a little. Butch plays some old 45's and invites Mack's wife, Lottie (Mary Alice), and the boys, to dance. Butch talks about growing up in a whore house watching his mama dance. Mack hears about the manhunt on the radio and the mood changes quickly: Butch threatens him to secure his silence. The farmer's family gets tied up with their mouths taped shut, and Butch is ready to kill Mack for hitting his grandson. Trust is the topic of conversation and it is clear that Buzz does not trust Butch as much as he did because of Butch's hairpin temper. Buzz shoots Butch in the gut, crying the entire time. Then he throws the gun in the well, throws the car keys on the ground, and runs away. Butch, bleeding profusely, shows mercy and leaves his pocket knife on the table so Mack and his family can use it to free themselves after he leaves. Philip crawls under a fence and runs through a field, leaving a bit of his torn costume on the fence. Butch follows him telling him he's a hero and agrees to let him drive if he will continue on as his running buddy. It is clear, however, that they have reached the end of the line. Philip climbs a tree. Butch is slowly dying from his wound but he continues to follow the boy. Butch asks Philip to go with him to Alaska and he reads the message from his dad on the back of the postcard out loud to Philip. Philip apologizes for shooting him. Butch says he was glad it was Philip who shot him and not some stranger. Butch and Philip are surrounded by cops. Shotguns abound and Bobby Lee, the FBI agent, gets out a high-powered rifle with a telescopic site and prepares to shoot Butch. Red talks to Butch via a megaphone. Negotiations begin and end with a threat to kill the boy even though the "pistola" is in the well. Gladys, Philip's mom, arrives on a helicopter and she pleads for Philip's life. Philip trick or treats the group of cops and Butch negotiates for Philip's future fun, not his own life. When Philip tries to say that his Mom lets him do a lot of great stuff, Butch is skeptical: "Don't kid a kidder, Philip." Butch makes her promise to allow him to go to fairs and trick or treat and Philip vouches for her veracity as a "real good mama." Butch asks him to walk toward the cops and yell, Trick or treat! The running buddies shake hands goodbye. Philip, still dressed as Casper the Friendly Ghost, starts to go to his mom but returns to Butch who is dying. Philip is worried they will shoot Butch. They hug and begin to walk toward the cops very slowly, hand in hand. Red walks out to talk to them but tells Bobby Lee to keep him "locked down, clean as a whistle." Red drops his gun on the ground and tells Butch to drop his gun. Butch says Pistola is gone, thanks to his partner. Butch tries to hand the postcard to Philip but Bobby Lee, looking through his scope, thinks Butch is reaching for a weapon and shoots him, a mortal wound. Buzz weeps over him. They run and grab the boy as Red looks on and winces. Red punches Bobby Lee for improper discharge of his weapon. Sally gives Bobby Lee a knee to the groin for good measure. The last scene is Butch in the field again as in the first scene. Only now it is clear that Butch is a ghost too.

In 1880, in Big Whiskey, Wyoming, a group of prostitutes led by Strawberry Alice (Frances Fisher), offers a $1,000 reward to whoever can kill Quick Mike (David Mucci) and "Davey-Boy" Bunting (Rob Campbell). Quick Mike slashed prostitute Delilah Fitzgerald's (Anna Levine) face multiple times with a knife, permanently disfiguring her after she laughs at his small penis. The prostitutes wanted the sheriff to hang Quick Mike for his crime. As punishment, Sheriff "Little Bill" Daggett orders Mike and his associate who was with him at the brothel, Davey Bunting, to turn over seven of their ponies to Delilah's employer, Skinny DuBois (Anthony James), for his loss of revenue. Little Bill even refuses to whip the culprits. Outraged, the prostitutes offer a $1,000 bounty for the cowboys' deaths. Each of the women contributes from their savings to come up with the rewards pot. This upsets the local sheriff, Little Bill Daggett (Gene Hackman), a former gunfighter and now an obsessive keeper of the peace who does not allow guns or criminals in his town. Little Bill had given the two men leniency, despite their crime. In Hodgeman County, Kansas, the Schofield Kid (Jaimz Woolvett), a boastful young man, visits the pig farm of William Munny (Clint Eastwood), seeking to recruit him to kill the cowboys. The Kid claims to be an experienced bounty hunter looking for help pursuing the cowboys. In his youth, Munny was a bandit who was notorious for being a vicious, cold-blooded murderer, but he is now a repentant widower raising two children and has sworn off alcohol. Munny's wife died of smallpox in 1878. The Kid says that the cowboys slashed a lady's face, and cut her eyes and ears out, and even her nipples. The Kid offers a 50-50 partnership. Though Munny initially refuses to help with the assassination, his farm is failing, putting his children's future in jeopardy. Munny is getting old and can no longer put up with the rigors of farm work, while his kids are still too young to be able to manage everything by themselves. Munny reconsiders a few days later and sets off to catch up with the Kid whom he discovers, is severely near-sighted. On his way, Munny recruits Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman), another retired gunfighter who reluctantly leaves his wife (Cherrilene Cardinal) to go along. Back in Big Whiskey, the bounty hunters start arriving into town, giving hope to Alice and the other prostitutes. Meanwhile, Quick Mike and Bunting make their payment of 7 ponies to Skinny DuBois. British-born gunfighter "English" Bob (Richard Harris), an old acquaintance and rival of Little Bill's, seeks the bounty. He arrives in town with his biographer W. W. Beauchamp (Saul Rubinek), who naively believes in Bob's tall tales. Enforcing the town's anti-gun law, Little Bill, with his deputies, disarm Bob, and Bill beats him savagely, hoping to set an example for other would-be assassins. The next morning Bob is ejected from town. Bob, humiliated, is banished from town the next morning, but Beauchamp stays out of a fascination with the sheriff, who debunks many of the romantic notions Beauchamp has about the Wild West. Little Bill explains to Beauchamp that the best attribute for a gunslinger is to be cool-headed under fire rather than to have the quickest draw, and to always kill the best shooter first. Munny, Logan and the Kid arrive later amid a rainstorm and go to the saloon/whorehouse to discover the cowboys' location. Munny has a bad fever after riding in the rain and is sitting alone in the saloon when Little Bill and his deputies arrive to confront him. Little Bill has no idea who Munny is, and after finding a pistol on him he beats him brutally and kicks him out onto the street. Logan and the Kid, upstairs getting "advances" on their payment from the prostitutes, escape out a back window. The three regroup at a barn outside of town, where they nurse Munny back to health. Three days later, they ambush a group of cowboys and kill Davey. After missing Davey and shooting his horse, Ned falters and Will shoots Davey instead. Although it becomes apparent that Logan and Munny no longer have much stomach for murder. Logan decides to return home while Munny and the Kid head to the cowboys' ranch, where the Kid ambushes Quick Mike in an outhouse and kills him. After they escape, a very distraught Kid confesses he had never killed anyone before and renounces the gunfighter lifestyle. When Little Sue (Tara Frederick) meets the two men to give them the reward, they learn that Logan was captured by Little Bill's men and tortured to death, but not before giving up the identities of his two accomplices. The Kid heads back to Kansas to deliver the reward money to Munny and Logan's families, while Munny drinks half a bottle of whiskey and heads into town to take revenge on Bill. Shocked by the news, Will begins drinking and demands the Kid's revolver. The Kid hands it over, saying that he no longer wants to be a killer, and Will sends him back to Kansas to distribute the reward. That night, Logan's corpse is displayed in a coffin outside the saloon. Inside, Little Bill has assembled a posse to pursue Munny and the Kid. Munny walks in alone and promptly kills Skinny Dubois (Anthony James), the saloon owner and pimp. After some tense dialogue, a gunfight ensues, leaving Bill wounded and several of his deputies dead. Beauchamp lingers briefly to ask how Will survived. Will replies that it was luck and scares him away. Munny orders everyone out before stopping Little Bill from reaching for his pistol. Little Bill tries and fails to take another shot at Will while lying on the floor, then bemoans his fate and curses Will, who shoots him dead. Will shouts threats as he mounts his horse and rides out of town. A closing title card states that Will's mother-in-law found his farm abandoned years later, Will having possibly moved to San Francisco with the children. She remained at a loss to understand why her daughter married such a notorious outlaw and murderer.

The story opens in the drunk tank of a small town jail. Marine Gunnery Sergeant Tom Highway is sharing stories about his combat service with the other prisoners. At one point, he's interrupted by another prisoner who mocks Highway's military rank. Highway immediately beats the man, easily disarming him after he pulls a knife on the sergeant. The next day in court, Highway is given one last chance by the judge after being charged with public drunkenness and disorderly conduct. That doesn't sit well with the cop whose squad car Highway urinated on. He insults Highway, telling him his heroics are old news and that he doesn't give any serviceman discounts. Highway counters with an insult of his own and leaves. Highway returns to his base where he works in supply. He roughly turns down a bribe from another officer who offers him a supply of Cuban cigars. Highway reports to his commanding officer, who tells him he's being transferred to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina where he'll be training unmotivated marines. Highway takes the bus to Camp Lejeune, meeting a young man, Stitch Jones, a budding rock guitarist who had just been kicked out of the club he was performing in for starting a fight with a group of locals. Jones is an instant irritation to Highway with constant chatter while Highway tries to get some sleep. When the bus stops at a roadside diner, Jones waits until Highway goes into the men's room and steals his bus ticket. The bus leaves before Highway can catch up with it and Jones. Highway arrives at Camp Lejeune and reports to his commanding officer. Before meeting with the man, Highway catches up with and old friend, Sgt Major Choozoo. Highway's & Choozoo's new CO, Major Malcolm Powers, used to work in Supply and was a big football hero at Annapolis. He is even stricter than Highway and immediately assumes that Highway, who has a history of conflict with superiors, will be trouble. Highway's past also includes an incident where he struck an officer who was classmate of Powers at Annapolis Academy. Powers assigns Highway to the battalion's "recon" (reconnaissance) platoon, one where the men are unmotivated, slightly out of physical shape, and have already gone through several sergeants who failed to get them up to the battalion's expectations. Making matters worse, Highway is saddled with Lieutenant Ring, a milquetoast officer who lacks the necessary stern nature of a platoon leader. Highway leaves the meeting and meets the recon platoon, finding them just as lazy as Powers said they would be. At first, the men are scornful of Highway and pay him little attention. Highway destroys their boom box and suggests they have one last night of freedom before he begins his regimen of training the next day. Just then, Stitch Jones walks into the rec room and is instantly recognized by Highway. Highway drags Jones by the ear to his bunk to pay him for the bus ticket he stole. When Jones' claims he's unable to pay back some money he also stole from Highway, Highway rips out Jones' earring, telling the men to be ready by six AM for training. After Highway leaves, the men conspire to have their biggest unit member, Swede Johanson, currently serving time in the brig, to take care of Highway when he's released. Highway goes to the local bar and apartment house, meeting Little Mary Jackson, the wife of one of Highway's old combat buddies who was killed in Vietnam. She rents him a room and tells him that his former wife, Aggie, is working at a local bar popular with younger Marines. Highway goes there and finds Aggie, who is also seeing the bar's owner, Roy Jennings, a hulking man who hates Marines. While Highway tries to patch things up with Aggie, Stitch Jones performs live. He's heckled by a small group of Marines at one of the tables. Jones fires back easily at his hecklers. A fight nearly breaks out and despite Jones' own defusing of the other Marines, Jennings moves in, shoving the Marines around even after they've calmed down. Highway steps in threateningly, but Jones and Aggie talk the two men out of fighting each other. Jennings throws Highway and Jones out of the bar. The next morning, Highway wakes the recon platoon at five AM instead of six. When they complain, he tells them they need to adapt to any situation. He lines them up for physical training (PT) and orders them to take off their mismatched t-shirts, saying they'll all wear the same or none at all. The platoon begrudgingly complies and Highway orders them to run for the day. The next day, he orders the t-shirts off again, even though they were wearing the same ones. (HIGHWAY: "Same as me?") While doing PT, Highway surprises them by shooting at them with an AK-47 assault rifle and live ammunition, announcing that it's the "preferred" weapon of their enemy & makes a "distinctive sound" when fired. When not training his Marines, Highway studies up on women's magazines, trying to understand how they think. He also keeps an eye on Aggie, who gets escorted home every night from the bar by Roy. One morning, the platoon refuses to muster, several of them mouthing off and Jones introducing Highway to Swede Johanson. Swede tries to hit Highway, who dodges and blocks the bigger man's blow, forcing him to his knees. Highway hits Swede once on the jaw, knocking him to the deck. The rest of the platoon, their plan foiled, runs out for muster. Swede regains his composure & tells Highway he'll wait for the MPs outside. Highway, knowing that his comrades were using Swede, tells him to join his platoon for PT, willing to forget the incident if Swede shapes up. Other little hints begin to form about Highway caring for his men. When Profile accidentally discharges his rifle at the target range and almost hits Major Powers, Highway stays with him while Powers makes him run circles around his marching platoon back to the barracks. Profile soon collapses from exhaustion. Highway says something quietly to his man and Profile suddenly gives a loud war cry and takes up his run again. When Powers asks Highway what he said to Profile, Highway growls "I told him 'Don't give the prick the satisfaction, Sir.' " Major Powers arranges a combat exercise involving his own pet project, 1st Platoon, and wants Recon to act as a target to sharpen his unit's skills. Highway goes off book and executes a mock ambush. Powers is ready to arrest him for insubordination, but Lt. Ring, feeling guilty about putting Highway in that position in the first place, takes responsibility for it, saying he'd given Highway permission to freelance the platoon. Before Highway leaves Powers' office, he asserts that if recon went into combat improperly trained, at least half of them would die. Powers threatens to discharge Highway if he screws up again, saying it's in Highway's nature to do so. As Highway leaves, he meets Ring outside who apologizes for the incident. Highway acknowledges Ring's position and his willingness to accept responsibility for the incident. A slightly depressed Highway is met later at Little Mary's place by Choozoo. He laments about how restrictive and incompetent Powers is being and that he'd never lead his men into combat if they're not properly trained. Choozoo tells Highway about a conversation he'd had with Powers recently where Powers told him that marines like them are "0-1-1"; no wins in combat, 1 tie (Korea) and one loss (Vietnam)". The thought seems to depress Highway even more. Just then, Little Mary walks in and informs them that they have to report back for unit deployment. At the base, Highway's platoon is frantic, trying to ready their gear and get out to the parade ground for muster. Jones stammers about the missing Aponte (whose prior absence his mates had been covering up), whom he fears will be charged AWOL. At the muster site, Highway asks Powers to issue Ring a set of night-vision goggles. Powers, already going through his strict routine of supplying the battalion with ammo and other equipment, tells Highway he'll have to fill out a request form for the item. Highway is taken aback and tells the battalion chief so when he reports. Just then the announcement comes through that the deployment was a readiness exercise and the base is standing down. Powers is disappointed. Highway finds Jones in the rec room and demands to know where he can find Aponte. After a harsh retort from Jones, Jones takes him to Aponte's house off the base. Aponte tells Highway that what his salary from the Corps isn't enough to support his wife and kids so he took a part-time job. Highway is exasperated but shows he genuinely understands when he agrees to cover for Aponte and gives him a small amount of money to help out. As they leave, Highway tells Jones never to pull another stunt like that again and drives off, leaving Jones to walk back to the base. Highway goes to visit Aggie and tries to talk to her, asking her what he could have done to fix their marriage. She said he was Marine through and through and had a hard time changing. She even accused him of trying to get back in with her by changing up his tactics, throwing him out of her house. A pissed-off Highway gets drunk and ends up in jail, joined by Jones, who got arrested when he protested a fixed band contest at a local bar. Aggie and Choozoo come to bail Highway out, and Aggie reads him the riot act about how hard it was for her to be married to him while he was fighting in Vietnam and not knowing if he would come home alive when so many others didn't. All of her anger came out, and she hits Highway, but she apologizes and breaks down crying in his arms. He holds on to her and comforts her. Back in the bar, Choozoo tells Jones about the history of the place and the Marines who are honored there, mostly in the photographs covering the walls. He also tells Jones about his and Highway's combat experiences in both Korea and Vietnam. One of their guys, Sonny Jackson (Little Mary's husband), was killed at Khe Sanh in 1968. Their combat in Korea was particularly rough, with their entire platoon being wiped out except for Choozoo, Jackson and Highway. Highway himself took out two enemy emplacements, despite extreme exhaustion. Much to Jones' astonishment, Highway won the Congressional Medal of Honor for his efforts. Little Mary offers to make them something to eat and Jones sees that Mary is holding a stack of Highway's t-shirts. When he asks her about them, she tells him she puts out his clothes for him in the morning before he leaves for the base. Jones smiles widely, knowing he's got an upper hand. The next morning when Highway meets his platoon, they're all wearing the same shirt he is, suggesting Jones only had to place a quick phone call to Mary. Highway smiles slightly, impressed with their ability to adapt. Highway leads his now well-motivated Marines into a competition against 1st Platoon, parachuting to a designated target, the Marine Bear Pit, to earn a 72-hour liberty. He even gets Swede, who is afraid of heights, to skydive by admitting he was afraid of heights, too. Recon and 1st Platoon get there at the same time, and despite Powers' insistence Choozoo make 1st Platoon the winner, Choozoo goes to a tiebreaker called a "Matchup". Both units get in the Bear Pit and fight each other hand-to-hand to claim victory. The battle eventually comes down to Jones and two of 1st Platoon's men. They seemingly get Jones under control and haul him out of the Bear Pit until Jones viciously grabs their crotches hard and pulls them out instead. Powers claims that 1st Platoon won only because Jones cheated. Highway says Jones improvised, adapted and overcame. When Powers orders Choozoo to declare 1st Platoon the victor, Choozoo decides to let Highway and Powers battle. Despite his bragging that he'll defeat Highway, Powers is defeated by Highway and hauled out, clinching recon's victory. Powers sends Sgt. Webster, 1st Platoon's sergeant, known for kissing up to Powers, to get statements from Recon that Highway used live ammunition on the training exercises, even bribing them with weekend liberty. Recon refuses to inform on Highway, having found new respect for their their own commander. Aggie finds Highway at a Commanding Officer's party and they enjoy a nice dance. Highway admits to reading the magazines and is trying to understand how women think, hoping he could reconcile with Aggie. However, Aggie tells him Roy asked her to marry him. Before Highway finds out her answer, his unit is immediately activated for mobilization for the 1983 invasion of Grenada. On the hangar bay of the USS Belleau Wood, Ring briefs the men of their mission: to helicast on the western side of the island of Grenada and recon in advance of the battalion landing team. Their ultimate goal is to rescue American students of St Georges Medical University who are being held hostage. Despite their nervousness about seeing real combat, Recon boards a UH-1 Huey and drops into the water and swims ashore. While advancing inland they make hostile contact with forward patrols and machine gun fighting positions of enemy soldiers and come under heavy fire. While his men keep the attention of the enemy focused on them, Highway moves in behind and kills the soldiers who try to retreat into the jungle. He looks one of them over, finding a fine cigar and announces they're a small Cuban recon team. He gruffly tells his men to spread out and keep a close watch for more of the enemy. Highway's unit moves in on a lightly-guarded bridge. They come under fire again and Highway orders them to improvise: Jones hot wires a bulldozer to provide cover so they can advance on and destroy an enemy machine gun nest. They take out the nest on the far side of the bridge and take down the Cuban flag flying above it. One of their number asks for forgiveness from a soldier he killed, his first such kill in combat. The recon unit moves towards the university as ordered and secure the area, rescuing the captured students. In a humorous incident, the jumpy Fragetti is surprised by a skeleton in a medical lab and shoots the place up. Highway finds him and tells him he's improved his rifle skills. After linking up with Powers, Highway, Ring, and the platoon are then ordered on another recon mission: investigate a hill where air support spotted an enemy arsenal. They are also given strict orders by Powers not to take the hill until he and 1st Platoon arrive. En route, they're caught under fire, Ring and the platoon make the mistake of trapping themselves in a structure rather than staying out of sight. A blast from a HRAKM armored tank knocks out their radio and kills Profile. Ring is beside himself for leading the men into a trap and getting Profile killed, but Highway gets him to refocus. Ring finds a telephone they could use to order an air strike by calling Camp Lejeune long-distance, but Jones has to go on the roof to find where the line is cut, successfully reconnecting the line and letting Ring use one of Jones' credit cards to pay for the call to Camp Lejeune. Ring gives their coordinates successfully but the line suddenly goes dead. Saying they'll have to improvise, Highway goes out to light a smoke marker to tell their position, and comes under fire, seemingly taking a grenade hit. The men look to Ring to lead, which he does by leading them out to get the unconscious Highway. The air strike comes through, the enemy is routed and Highway is actually uninjured and ready to resume command. Buoyed by their success, the men look to Ring for their next order. Ring rouses them, shouting that they'll take the hill. They make their way to the rebel position, destroy it, and capture the men inside while Highway enjoys the cigar he'd taken earlier, proud to see his men become real Marines. When Powers arrives and finds out, he bawls both Highway and Ring out and threatens Highway with a court-martial, even ready to assault Highway himself, but Highway remains defiant, pointedly telling Powers that he bores him. Their commanding officer, Colonel Meyers, arrives with Choozoo, and Powers reports that Ring and Highway disobeyed direct orders. Meyers asks where Powers came from and Powers said he came from Supply and was good at it. Meyers then tells Powers to stick with Supply since Highway and Ring, despite disobeying orders, took the initiative & came out the victors, completing a difficult mission under harsh circumstances. Proud of how his unit did with the mission, he gruffly tells Highway and Choozoo to leave the area and see to the cleanup operation. As they walk away, Highway tells Choozoo that they're not "0-1-1" anymore since they've chalked up a victory in combat. Highway and his men return to the U.S. and are met by a warm reception. Aggie is there to welcome him back, too. To Highway's mock dismay, Stitch informs him that he is going to give up his music and make a career for himself in the Marines, while Highway takes his mandatory retirement. All of the Marines are celebrating with friends and family as Highway and Aggie walk off into the distance of airplane hangars.

Somewhere in California, at the end of the Gold Rush, several horsemen come riding down from the nearby mountains. They ride as if on urgent business. At a mining camp by a creek, prospectors calmly pan for gold and inspect their sluice boxes. A woman hangs up laundry. The riders approach the camp, crossing through the creek and through the local woods. Suddenly the dogs start barking furiously, and people stop what they're doing to look. A girl looks for her dog, Lindsay. The horsemen emerge from the woods, shooting guns as they enter the camp. They knock down shacks and tents, and kick people as they ride by. Megan's mother (Carrie Snodgress) shouts for Megan (Sydney Penny) as she runs after her dog Lindsay. Prospectors fight back feebly, but are no match for the horsemen. The horsemen shoot cattle and Megan's dog, and then chase donkeys as they leave. The people come out from hiding and assess the damage; the town is devastated. Megan is bent over her dead dog when her mother catches up to her. A man spits and calls the horsemen "sow-wallowing monkeys". Megan picks up her dog, crying. She takes the dog into the woods. Still crying, Megan buries her dog in the woods, and then recites the 23rd Psalm, interjecting her comments. Calm music plays, and local scenery is interspersed while she prays: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. "But I do want." He leadeth me beside still waters. He restoreth my soul. "But they killed my dog." Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil. "But I am afraid." Thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. "We need a miracle." Thy loving kindness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. "If you exist." And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. "But I'd like to get more of this life first. If you don't help us, were all gonna die. Please. Just one miracle. Amen." As she prays the last few lines, an image of a man (Clint Eastwood) riding a white horse mottled with black is superimposed on the screen, along with foreboding music. The man on the white horse continues riding through the snow-covered ground into the woods. Mr. Barret (Michael Moriarty) rides out of camp in his wagon and Eddie (Chuck Lafont) asks if he's quitting. He says no, that he's going into town. Eddie asks him if that's dumb, because of what happened to him last time. Barret doesn't answer. Barret passes Teddy (Jeffrey Weissman), who asks him the same question, again with no response. Hull Barret arrives in the town of LaHood, and people look through their windows. After Barret ties up his wagon, he walks into the Blankenship mining supply store as four men stare. Hull greets Mr. and Mrs. Blankenship (Richard Hamilton and Fran Ryan). Mr. Blankenship calls Hull a "damn fool", and asks him if he couldn't wait until the smoke cleared away. Hull says that they needed some supplies. Mr. Blankenship tells Hull he has "sand but no sense". Hull says that they didn't have any choice because of the damage the men did to their shacks. Mr. Blankenship expects payment in gold. Hull says that as soon as he gets a couple of ounces, he'll bring them in. Mr. Blankenship says it will take more than that. Some thugs are now gathering by the supply store and looking in. Mr. Blankenship tells Hull that the last payment he made was 8 months ago, when Old Lindquist brought his dust in, and says that all the gold is gone from Carbon Canyon. Hull replies that if there were none left there, why is LaHood driving them out? Mr. Blankenship says to tell Spider and everyone else no more credit. Hull thanks Mr. Blankenship. Mr. Blankenship says that he's not doing it for him; he's the only merchant in town that LaHood doesn't own. Hull promises that one day they'll strike it big and he will pay them back with interest, and leaves the store. Hull walks outside, passing the men waiting there. After he loads up his wagon, they pick up some pick handles and confront Hull, saying that he forgot to say hello when they rode through the canyon. They also say that they told him to stay out of town. They joke that when they kicked him it made him forget, and they need to kick his head again to jar his memory. They also make crude remarks about his "Wheeler women". One of them pauses when he sees the man on the white horse at the edge of town. They ask Hull why he won't fight. Hull says he didn't come here to fight. One of them says that he shouldn't have come here at all, and then he looks at the edge of town and the horseman is gone. Another calls him a "Tin Pan", saying that he made a big mistake. They look inside his wagon and grab his goods. When he tries to stop them, they pull him down and beat him with the wooden handles. Hull crawls under the wagon, but they pull him back out. One of the men lights a match to burn Hull's goods he just bought. The stranger from the white horse throws a bucket of water on him, putting out the match. He says, "You shouldn't play with matches," and then grabs the last handle and walks towards them. They attack the stranger, but he counters every swing easily, knocking away their handles and knocking them down. He breaks the last man's handle in two and knocks him down too. Hull thanks the stranger but he just walks away. The bullies lie on the ground, badly injured and groaning. The stranger rides away towards Carbon Canyon, and Hull follows him in the wagon, as Mr. and Mrs. Blankenship still look out, worried. Hull catches up to the stranger and introduces himself. Hull warns him not to stay in Carbon Canyon after what he did. He offers the stranger to stay at his cabin because it has two rooms. The stranger says he doesn't want to be a burden on them. Hull says that it's a pleasure not a burden. The stranger follows Hull into Carbon Canyon. Ulrik (Herman Poppe) rides past them on his horse and pulling his mule as they enter camp and tells Hull goodbye. He says he's going away because he can't fight anymore. He says he's not the only one, and wishes Hull good luck, that he would quit too if he were smart. Hull and the stranger continue into camp. Inside their cabin, as her mother prepares dinner, Megan reads from the Bible, Revelation: The power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the Earth, and that they should kill one another. And there was given unto him a great sword. And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. Megan's mother says, "Very good. Fetch me some butter and some syrup." As Megan does she continues reading: And I beheld, and lo, a black horse, and he that sat on him, had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say A measure of wheat for a penny. Megan's mother looks out the window, and then mysterious music plays as Megan continues: And three measure of barley for a penny, and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. Hull and the stranger approach the house. Megan continues: And I looked. And behold, a pale horse, and his name that sat on him was death. Megan stops and looks out the window too, seeing the stranger stopped there. She finishes: And Hell followed with him. They watch as he rides past. The stranger took his shirt off and is washing his face. Hull sees scars that look like bullet wounds on his back. He tells the stranger that dinner will be ready soon, and leaves. Hull describes the fight between the stranger and McGill and his men. Megan's mother, Sarah says he sounds no different from McGill, Tyson, or any of LaHood's roughnecks. Hull says that at least the stranger wasn't afraid of them, and that's what they need up here. He tells them that Lindquist left. Sarah says that the colony is beaten, that Hull is the only one who doesn't know it. Megan says that shes not leaving until LaHood's men are whipped. Sarah reprimands Hull, telling him that Megan talks more like his daughter than hers. She wants him to tell Megan this business about fighting is nonsense. Sarah asks if the stranger is a gunman. Hull says he hopes so, and would he pay for protection. Sarah threatens to leave with Megan unless Hull gets rid of the stranger. He says that he will, but he saved his life. They continue to argue and then the stranger enters. They stop and stare at him, seeing his white preacher collar. He hopes he's not the cause of this excitement. They suddenly become very polite towards him. Sarah Wheeler thanks him for helping Hull, and then introduces herself and Megan. Megan smiles at the preacher. At a large mining camp, high-pressure water from pipes blasts the hillsides, the massive water runoff running into sluices. The thugs arrive, cut and bandaged. Their boss, Josh (Chris Penn) tells them that they're late for work. McGill (Charles Hallahan) apologizes to him, saying that they were at the doctor. Tyson (Allen Keller) says that they tangled with Barret. Josh is surprised that a "Tin Pan" beat them up. Jagou (Marvin J. McIntyre) says that a stranger helped him, a big guy. McGill says he left with Barret. Josh orders the men to their duties and then walks to a tent and calls Club. Club (Richard Kiel) steps out, over 7 feet tall. Hull is outside, telling the preacher that they've had a feud with Coy LaHood and his son, and that LaHood is a powerful man. LaHood came there in '54 or '55, and was the first man to strike it rich. He would use money from his mines to continue staking new claims. During the last couple of years, he has used the big hydraulic monitors and blasted all the hillsides. Megan says that although LaHood is more powerful than ever, Carbon Canyon is the only place his crew hasn't ruined yet. She adds that he's greedy for it, too. The preacher asks if he has any lawful rights to their canyon. Hull says no, all their claims are filed in Sacramento; the only way LaHood could take the land legally is if they leave it. The preacher says that LaHood is persuasive. Megan says that even if they all leave, she's staying there; they killed her dog and her grandpa. The stranger asks about the law, someone they could take their case to. Hull says if there were, LaHood would own them, just like he owns everything else. Hull says that a lawman couldn't do anything because LaHood hasn't killed anyone yet; Megan's grandpa's heart gave out on him. Hull has been taking of Sarah and Megan ever since. Hull says quietly that they're not living in sin, that he does want to marry her. A few years back her husband, Megan's father, walked out on them; it's been hard to get them to trust a man. He asks the preacher if he would marry Hull and Sarah when they do get married. The preacher tells Hull that if he's waiting for a woman to make up her mind, he may have a long wait. The preacher asks to be put to work, holding a sledgehammer. Hull declines at first and then agrees. Hull points out a boulder in the stream, saying that he wants to split it, that the gravel underneath it could have gold.; every morning for two years, he's been pounding it. He thought of drilling it and blasting it, but it would wreck the stream. The preacher swings away at the boulder, as Megan watches up on a hill. Hull gets another sledgehammer and they take turns hitting it. Megan gets closer and sits down to watch. Sarah comes out and sees them, and then so does everyone else as they chip away. Sarah and Megan both smile. Josh and Club rides up slowly, and Megan sees them, getting up. She calls Hull and Preacher. They stop swinging, and everyone looks at Josh and Club. Hull tells Preacher that he recognizes LaHood's son Josh, but not the other man. Hull tells Josh that he's their new preacher and Preacher nods yes. Josh says that Preacher messed up some of his men. Preacher says it wasn't anything personal. Josh replies that it's not personal when he's telling him to get out of Carbon Canyon. Preacher says there is lot of sinners around, that he can't leave before he finishes his work. Club dismounts his horse and walks into the stream. Everyone is apprehensive. He rolls down his sleeves, and quickly grabs Hull's sledgehammer with one hand and strikes the boulder once, screaming, splitting it and smiling. Josh asks Preacher if his work is done now. He replies that part of it is. Josh motions at Club, but before he can swing at Preacher, Preacher hits him instead with his sledgehammer. Club drops down holding his crotch, and Preacher helps him back up onto his horse. Josh and Club ride away. Preacher strikes the boulder and it splits again. The other men come over with sledgehammers and join in pounding the remaining pieces of the boulder. A train pulls into the station from Sacramento while Josh and McGill wait. Josh's father Coy LaHood (Richard Dysart) exits the train, and then he goes with Josh and McGill. Josh and McGill report the conditions of their various locations and Coy asks about Carbon Canyon. Josh tells Coy that a stranger pulled them together. Coy asks if they explained to him who they are, that once they explain things to him, he'll decide to move on. Josh says that he's a preacher, and Coy gets upset that they let a preacher into Carbon Canyon. Josh says that they didn't invite him, that he went with Hull. Coy said that when he left for Sacramento, "those Tin Pans" had given up, but a preacher could give them faith; with faith, they'll never leave. He tells them to bring the preacher to him and then changes his mind, saying that he doesn't want to make him a martyr. Coy says that Sacramento is useless because they didn't sign the writ; also, some politicians want to end hydraulic mining. Coy says that they have to move on Carbon Canon quickly because they may be out of business in a couple of years. He also tells them that he'll deal with the preacher. Megan asks her mother if her grandma and grandpa were happy when she got married. Sarah says they didn't have any choice. Megan asks if they were surprised. Sarah replies that they were more than surprised. Megan asks if it was because they thought she wasn't old enough. Sarah replies that Megan's grandma was 15 when she got married; they got upset because of who she married. Megan asks Sarah if she'll be happy married to Hull. Sarah asks Megan, who said that she will marry him? Megan says that Hull is nice enough. Sarah agrees that he's nice. Megan asks if preachers get married. Sarah replies she doesn't see why not and then tells her that she's the prettiest daughter she could ever have. Preacher and Hull are working in the stream when Hull finds a large nugget. He yells excitedly and then runs off and shows the nugget to Sarah and Megan. Others talk are excited too, except Spider (Doug McGrath), who is angry. Hull says it came from underneath the boulder, that he was right. Hull wants to celebrate, and Megan wants to go into town. Sarah thinks that's not a good idea. Preacher says that it would help clear Hull's credit. All four of them go to town in the wagon. When they arrive in town, Hull tells them to wait while he clears things up with Mr. Blankenship. Josh comes out of the LaHood residence, next to their business, and then walks toward the wagon. He greets Sarah and Megan, and then tells Preacher that his father wants to see him. Sarah says that it's a trick. Preacher says that it's all right and goes with Josh inside. More of LaHood's men are inside. Coy LaHood introduces himself and gives Preacher a drink. LaHood says that when he heard a parson had come to town, he "had an image of a pale, scrawny, bible-thumping easterner, with a linen handkerchief and bad lungs." He says, "It must be difficult for a man of faith to carry the message on an empty stomach, so to speak, so he would invite him to preach in town. The town could be his parish. He could build that preacher a new church." Preacher realizes that LaHood is trying to bribe him and plays along, suggesting that he would need new clothes and would appreciate the generous collections. Preacher finally tells LaHood, "That's why it wouldn't work. Can't serve God and mammon both, mammon being money." LaHood gets upset and shows Preacher a writ that supposedly gives him mineral rights to Carbon Canyon. Preacher replies that if he had those rights he would have exercised them; those people have legal rights, and he can't mine that canyon until they leave. LaHood then gives Preacher 24 hours to pack up and leave, or his men will "ride through that canyon and run them out." He says that if any blood gets spilled will be on Preacher's hands, and then calls him a troublemaker. Preacher starts walking out. LaHood tells Preacher as he leaves that he tried reasoning with him. He says that the marshal, Stockburn, won't be as patient as he is. Preacher asks LaHood if he would pay cash for the claims of the people at Carbon Canyon. LaHood says he would do anything to prevent bloodshed, and offers $100 each. Preacher asks for $1000. LaHood laughs, and so do all his men. LaHood offers $125. Preacher tells LaHood that Stockburn and his deputies will cost him a lot more than that. LaHood angrily settles for $1000 per claim, but says that he wants them out in 24 hours. Hull comes back to the wagon; he paid off his debt and had money left over to pay off Spider's debt too. Preacher comes out, followed by Jagou, McGill, and another one of LaHood's men. Hull grabs a hickory handle. He asks Preacher what he was doing in there, and Preacher replies that LaHood was buying him a drink. Nighttime around the campfire, the Carbon Canyon men vote on whether or not to accept LaHood's offer. Spider is the only one who doesn't want to accept the offer. He says LaHood is greedy, but not a fool, and that if he's willing to pay $1000 per claim, he knows it's worth 5 times that. Another man counters that the way LaHood works it's worth that much. Preacher walks up and Spider asks for his opinion. He tells them that it's their hard labor and its up to them; they should sleep on it, and then decide in the morning. Spider asks what if they can't agree? Preacher replies that LaHood would take that as no and then call in the marshal, Stockburn. He tells them that he's not an ordinary marshal. He travels with 6 deputies, and they uphold whatever law pays them the most. Killing is a way of life for them. Spider asks Preacher if he knows Stockburn. Preacher replies that he's heard of him. Hull tells the others that they all know how to pull a trigger; its still 20 against 7. Ev Gossage (Graham Paul) wants to take his money and start over somewhere else. Hull says that starting fresh sounds good when you're in trouble, but before they pack up and leave, they should ask themselves why they're here. He reminds them what Spider said about one of them finding $1000 worth of nuggets, that he wouldn't quit. He says that he came here to raise a family; it's his home. He says they all buried members of their families here; would they take $1000 and leave their graves unattended? Hull says that if they sell out now, what price do they put on their dignity next time? The men vote to stay and not take LaHood's offer, and then they all leave. Preacher leaves the campfire. Megan meets him and shows him where she buried her dog. She says that she said a prayer for her dog after the raid, and prayed for a miracle. Preacher replies that someday she might get that miracle. She says that it was the day he arrived. She tells Preacher that she loves him, and then asks him if they could ever get married and make love. Preacher replies that there's not anything wrong with love or making love, but politely tells her that some day she'll find the right man for her. He also tells her that her mother is probably looking for her. Megan looks at him suspiciously and gets the wrong message, and thinks that Preacher loves Sarah. She goes on a tirade about him, and then angrily storms off. The next day Preacher goes to LaHood's camp and stops to observe as they blast the hillsides. He rides past Josh and tells him, "Tell your father they turned him down," and then rides away. A train pulls up to the train station. The telegraph officer notices Preacher waiting on his horse on the other side of the tracks before the train stops. McGill comes over to the office and the telegram officer tells him he's just in time for the mail. McGill doesn't worry about the mail, but gives him a telegram from his boss that he wants sent right now. McGill leaves and the officer keys the telegram. When the train departs, the officer looks up and notices that Preacher is gone, and then continues keying the telegram. In Yuba City, the telegraph officer receives the telegram McGill sent and then walks immediately to the marshal's office. Hull goes to Preacher's room and finds out that he left. Hull tells Sarah and Megan that he doesn't know why Preacher left. Sarah says that he must have gone to tell LaHood about the vote last night, but Hull says that he took his bedroll and coat. Hull thinks they will survive. Sarah tells Hull that he got the others to vote his way. They argue, bringing Megan nearly to tears. Sarah says that the preacher was holding them together and they were counting on him to beat LaHood himself. There is an explosion and they all go outside. Hull sees a cloud of smoke, and then he runs down to look at the stream. The water has slowed to a trickle. Hull tells Sarah and Megan that LaHood dammed up the creek. Sarah tells him that if he had accepted LaHood's offer, this never would have happened. At Wells Fargo and Co's. Express, Preacher retrieves the contents of his safety deposit box: a Remington 1858 New Army in a holster and a Remington Pocket. He removes his collar and puts it into the box, revealing a blood spot from a bullet wound. Back at Carbon Canyon, the men are gathered around a campfire again, discussing what they will do now. They seem to have given up, that they have no choice except to leave. Spider asks Hull if he has any ideas. He shakes his head no. Spider asks where the preacher is; hell know what to do. Hull replies that hes not there. Ev stands up, unable to believe that Preacher left. Hull says that Preacher went to tell LaHood that they turned him down. And then lying, he continues, "But before he left... he said that if anything happened, that he hoped that we'd do like he'd do... if he was here." Ev looks down sadly, and says that they could dry pan for a couple of days. Hull says that he'd hate to see them quit. Another man says they could try for a couple of days, because they don't have anything to lose. The men sadly agree, resigning themselves to their situation. They agree to try two more days then laugh and leave. When Spider gets up, he tells Barret that he's "got sand" but can't lie well and suggests that he leave with Sarah and Megan; Spider walks away. Hull turns around and sees Megan sitting on the porch, poking a stick in the ground as she watches. She throws the stick on the ground and walks the other direction. The marshal and his six deputies ride quickly down from the mountains. Megan comes over to the stream and asks Hull if he's angry with her. He says no. She asks to borrow the mare and he lets her. Spider finds a large golden rock in a puddle. He stands up and shouts that he's rich, and jumps around. He shows it to Gossage and Henderson (Terrence Evans). Everyone close by comes over except Hull, who just sits there. Spider tells his sons Eddie and Teddy to get the horses because they're going to town. Hull apologizes to Sarah. He says that it looks like Spider's payday came. She replies that maybe it's just his turn. Hull tells her that when they pack up, there's room in the wagon for whatever she wants to take. She wonders if he's asking them to leave with him. He assumes that they're all going. He tells her that when her father died, he did the best he could to help her and Megan, without any conditions attached, and asks if there is a chance for them to be together. She looks at him sadly and says, "You are the decentest man I ever met, Hull Barret. The answer is yes." She apologizes for being so high-strung lately, but has been confused. Hull says that they can start over somewhere else and find another preacher, and she agrees. Trying to find Preacher, Megan arrives at the LaHood mining camp and stops to look around. Josh asks her if her mother knows where she is. She says that she's 15, doesn't tell her mother everything, and can do what she wants. He explains what they're doing: how diverting Cobalt Creek into a large pipe, and then downhill into smaller pipes, makes the water pick up speed and pressure. Megan says it hurts her ears. He says that the water has enough pressure to blast gravel off the cliff, into the riverbed, and then into the sluice. Megan says that it looks like hell. Josh asks what she really came for. She replies that she's just riding, taking a look around. Josh says he wants to take a look too, at her real close. He pulls her off the horse. She screams as he carries her downhill. The men stop work and he shows Megan to them, still struggling. He puts her down and walks towards her as she backs up. More men come out of the tents and shacks to look, and then surround her. Josh grabs her hair and kisses her. They both fall to the ground. The men cheer him on while Megan begs him to stop. Club walks towards the crowd, saying, "No." He pushes men aside, and then a gunshot sounds out. Josh gets up and everyone turns around. Preacher, on his horse, is up on the hill holding his gun, smoke coming out. His gun is trained on Josh. Megan sees him and smiles, relieved. The men back away from Josh and Megan. Josh pulls out his gun and tries to shoot, but Preacher shoots it away. Josh falls to the ground. He reaches for his gun, but Preacher shoots his hand and then shoots the gun again. Preacher rides down, helps Megan up onto his horse, and they ride away. In town, Spider Conway walks into the street drunk, holding a bottle of liquor and his golden rock. He shouts for LaHood to come out. Inside, LaHood tells Stockburn (John Russell) that for a while "he had them buffaloed", but the preacher gave them sass. LaHood tells Stockburn to take care of him and the rest, and tells him that the preacher beat up four of his men. Stockburn asks what the preacher looks like. LaHood replies, "Tall. Lean. His eyes... his eyes. Something strange about em. That mean something to you?" Stockburn says that it sounds like a man he knew, but that man is dead. Outside, Spider is still ranting and then falls to the ground. Stockburn and his six deputies, all armed, walk outside and stop on the porch in front of Spider. Spider insists that he wants to talk to LaHood, not them. Stockburn tells Spider that LaHood doesn't want to talk to him, but might like to watch him dance. Spider's sons come out, and Spider tells them to stay there. Stockburn and his deputies shoot at Spider's feet, and he hops around. Stockburn signals for them to stop. He shoots the bottle Spider's holding and then the rock. Spider pulls his gun out, yelling, and all the deputies shoot Spider, emptying their guns. LaHood watches through the window as they kill Spider, Stockburn finishing him off with one final bullet through the head. Spider's sons run to him as the deputies go inside. Stockburn tells Spider's sons to take him back to Carbon Canyon and tell the preacher to meet Stockburn here tomorrow morning. Preacher rides into Carbon Canyon with Megan. Ev Gossage excitedly tells Preacher that LaHood dammed up the stream and other news, including how Megan's horse returned without her. Gossage stops talking when he sees Megan on the horse with Preacher as they ride by. Preacher puts Megan in bed. Sarah is crying. He tells Sarah that Megan got caught up at LaHood's place but is fine. He tells Megan that she's home now, that her mama's here. Megan gets up and hugs him. Sarah sees his gun. Hull calls out for Preacher and he goes outside. All the people are gathered around a wagon holding the deceased Spider. His son Teddy is finishing his story that Stockburn and his men shot him. He then tells Preacher that Stockburn wants him to come in the morning. Preacher tells them that Spider made a mistake and went into town alone. He tells them to bury Spider and then walks away. Preacher is checking his guns inside his room when Sarah comes in. She tells him that Megan is sleeping, and thanks him. Preacher says that he's just glad he came by. She says that Megan told her what he did with Josh LaHood; who but a gunfighter could have done that. She asks him not to go into town to face the marshal. He replies that it's an old score; it's time to settle it. She says that when he left that day, it reminded her of when someone else left her. She tells him that she needs a man who would never leave her, and then says it's best for her to marry Hull. Preacher agrees that Hull is a good man. She kisses him, saying that it's so she won't wonder for the rest of her life. Outside, a voice calls for Preacher in the distance. Preacher tells her that it's a voice from the past and tells her to close the door. She asks who he really is. He says that it doesn't really matter, and she goes to him. The next day Preacher gets on his horse and greets Hull, who is waiting outside. Hull insists on going with him so Preacher agrees. They go to the LaHood camp and blow up their pipes, sluices, tents, and the barracks with dynamite. After fooling Hull to dismount, Preacher scares away his horse. He then tells Hull to take care of Sarah and Megan, and rides into town. At their cabin, Sarah tells Megan that Preacher is gone. Megan asks Sarah if she loved him. Sarah replies that he knows they both love him. Megan tells her that she didn't say goodbye to him and runs out. Preacher rides into town. LaHood watches through a window and tells Stockburn that he's the preacher. Stockburn can't see his face yet. Outside, LaHood's men stop working and walk towards Preacher as he rides by, and watch as he walks into the cafe. Mrs. Blankenship serves him some coffee and he sends them both out. The men all draw their guns and storm the store, emptying their guns everywhere. LaHood tells Stockburn that he won't have to bother with the preacher. As the men reload, Preacher comes from the side and asks if they are through. Two men run away, but the others continue to reload. Preacher waits with his gun drawn. They draw their guns on Preacher but he shoots them all. LaHood and Stockburn watch as Preacher comes out. He walks to the edge of town, turns around, and replaces the cylinder of his Remington New Army, like a speedloader. Stockburn goes outside with his deputies. Only Preacher's hat is left where he was standing, so Stockburn tells his deputies to spread out and find him. Stockburn waits there. Preacher shoots the first deputy as he enters a store. Another deputy goes to investigate and Preacher shoots him too. Preacher hides behind some crates and shoots two more deputies. Another deputy sees the open door of the outhouse and stops by a water trough to shoot at it, but Preacher was hiding on the ground behind the trough and shoots him. The remaining deputy walks into the livery stable. A noose grabs his neck and his gun goes off wildly. A shadowy figure hooks the rope to a horse's saddle and the horse runs out, dragging the deputy as he screams. Stockburn watches the man get dragged out of town. The shadowy figure, Preacher, returns to the spot where he left his hat, puts it on his head and then turns to look at Stockburn. With his Remington Pocket in his belt, Preacher walks towards Stockburn while reloading his Remington New Army again, and then puts it back in its holster. He stops a few feet from Stockburn, his hat still shading his eyes. When he raises his head, Stockburn recognizes him. Stockburn says, "You!" and reaches for his gun, but Preacher draws his New Army first and unloads it into him. Mortally wounded, Stockburn collapses to his knees and looks up at Preacher, who shoots him in the forehead with his Remington Pocket, killing him. LaHood tries to shoot Preacher from inside his residence, but Hull bursts in, shooting and killing him instead. Hull goes outside to look for Preacher, who emerges riding from the livery. Preacher tells Hull, "Long walk." and then rides away. Megan comes into town with the wagon. She asks Hull where Preacher is and he replies that he's gone. She jumps in the wagon in order to chase after Preacher but Mrs. Blankenship tells her that the horses are exhausted and she would kill them. Megan

Kansas City 1933.Prohibition and the mobsters rule the streets.The number one crime boss is Leon Coll (Tony Lo Bianco),but Primo Pitt (Rip Torn) is determined to be top dog.One night at a cafe,Police Lieutenant Speer (Clint Eastwood) encounters his ex-partner turned Private eye Mike Murphy (Burt Reynolds) who gets into a fight with a pair of thugs.Speer's heard rumours about some dodgy dealings going on around at Murphy's agency and is convinced that the punch up had something to do with it.The next day at his office,Murphy's secetary Addy (Jane Alexander) who he and Speer have both always liked (and is possibly the reason for their feud) tells Murphy that the two thugs were in fact Repo guys.Murphy's partner Dehl Swift (Richard Roundtree) arrives flashing his money around,and Murphy becomes suspicious that his partner is up to no good. Dehl arrives at a club where his girlfriend Ginny Lee (Irene Cara) sings and gives Leon Coll's crooked book keeper $25,000 from Primo Pitt.Pitt wants all of Coll's accounts to use as evidence against him so that he can take over the streets.Ginny Lee worries that Dehl is getting in too deep when he tells her of his plan to double cross Pitt and sell Coll his books back to him for $50,000.Later at a boxing match,Speer is on a date with Addy when Dehl arrives to meet Coll.Dehl tells Coll that his book keeper betrayed him and Pitt will have enough to bring him down. Dehl goes home and Speer follows him.When Dehl arrives he finds Ginny Lee been held hostage by Pitt and his gang.Attempting to save her,Ginny Lee manages to escape but Dehl is killed.Speer kills one of the henchmen.Pitt manages to escape without been seen but without the books he wanted.At the morgue,Speer fills Murphy in on the incident.As he leaves,Coll's men pick Murphy up and tell him about the situation with Dehl and the books and that he wants them back.But it isn't long before Pitt pays him a visit as well and tells him he has his girlfriend Caroline (Madeline Kahn) hostage and that he wants the books. Speer discovers that the bullet found in Dehl's body matches the bullet from Pitt's gun and tells Murphy he wants to know Ginny Lee's whereabouts so she can testify.But Murphy secretly meets her so he can try and find out where Dehl has hidden the books.He soon realises that he had stashed them in the locker of a boxing gym.Pitt's men arrive to try and get hold of Ginny Lee but as she escapes she is hit by a car. Now in possession of the books,Murphy plans to get Caroline back but Pitt's men and Coll's men arrive at the same time and he finds himself caught up in a shootout.Speer arrives and reluctantly takes care of the situtation.Murphy tells him about Caroline,so Speer joins him at Pitt's hideout for the exchange of the books.Pitt tells them that Caroline is been held somewhere else.Murphy tells him in that in the case with the books is also some explosives.A shootout breaks out and Speer ends up killing Pitt. Speer and Murphy extract the whereabouts of Caroline from one of the thugs - at a brothel.They set out to get her back.But at the same time,Addy is taken hostage by Coll and his men at her apartment.Speer and Murphy gate crash the brothel and beat up Pitt's remaining men and rescue Caroline.As they leave,Coll drives up with Addy and tells the pair he wants the books.Addy gets out of the car and Murphy hands Coll the case with the books and explosives.As Coll and his men drive off,the car explodes. Some time later,Ginny Lee is back singing at the club and Murphy is on a date with Caroline,while Speer is dating Addy.A fight breaks out between Murphy and a few guys and after making Speer spill his drink,Speer gets him outside for a fight.The film ends with the two squaring up to each other and trading insults.

The San Francisco police sends detective Harry Callahan to a Northern California town where he uncovers a string of murders and resolves to bring the perpetrators to justice.

A large Sikorsky helicopter flies over the Alaskan wilderness, its pilots looking for someone below. That someone, Major Mitchell Gant USAF (Rtd) (Clint Eastwood), hears the helicopter approaching and instantly breaks into a dead run back toward his cabin, where he takes a shotgun off its rack and cocks it. As the helicopter lands, Gant lapses into a post-traumatic memory of a nightmare that he lived through in Vietnam: shot down over the North in his F-105 jet, he was being taken to a prison camp when two Hueys machine-gunned his captors. Gant suffered personal trauma when two overflying A-1 Skyraider planes dropped incendiaries on the site, killing a little girl who stood around too long, watching the battle. Back in the present, Captain Arthur Buckholz (David Huffman) pulls Gant out of his episode and apologizes for the unannounced visit. The next several scenes are back-and-forth cuts between the conversation between Gant and Buckholz, and a briefing being run by Kenneth Aubrey (Freddie Jones) of the British SIS concerning the Soviet Union's latest fighter/interceptor: the Mikoyan-Gurevich "MiG" Model 31, given the code name "Firefox" by NATO. Its capabilities seem otherworldly: total stealth, twin engines each delivering 50,000 pounds of thrust, combat ceiling 100,000-plus feet, speed in excess of Mach 5 or even Mach 6 (and able to maintain it, no small feat), and a weapons and defense system able to read the pilot's thoughts and allow him to aim and fire his weapons without even having to press a button, thus affording him a 3- to 5-second reaction-time advantage over any opponent. NATO's decision is to send Gant in to steal a Firefox prototype right off the Soviet development base at Bilyarsk, hundreds of miles east of Moscow, near the Ural Mountains. Gant resents the operation because he is being quite simply blackmailed; he has been allowed to live on government land which now will be sold out from under him if he does not agree to the mission. The NATO Air Force attache (Thomas Hill) resents it as well because Gant has no experience as a spy and, worse yet, is subject to post-traumatic stress disorder and may crack at any time. They use Gant for two reasons only: he speaks fluent Russian and happens to be a perfect fit for the pressure suit worn by the MiG-31's prime test pilot, Lt. Col. Yuriy Voskov (Kai Wulff). Gant goes through several weeks of retraining, both in flying and in aerial combat, and briefings on his first required impersonation--as a corrupt businessman named Leon Sprague, known to be smuggling heroin into the Soviet Union. After his training is over he is sent to London where Aubrey gives him his final briefing on his objectives and he's disguised with a new haircut and a false mustache. Gant is also familiarized with the underground network group, who are mostly Russian Jews. Aubrey also hands him a one-way homing device disguised as a cheap transistor radio. What his handlers don't tell him, though, is that if anything compromises the mission, Gant will be left on his own. Gant lands at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow, blusters his way through an unannounced customs search, and manages to leave the airport--with the "radio." He takes a taxi to his rooms at the Hotel Moscow, puts the radio into his pocket, and waits. Outside he sees three Soviet soldiers goose-stepping in formation while patrolling. In the meantime, at KGB Moscow Center on Dzerzhinsky Square, Colonel Kontarsky (Kenneth Colley) of the KGB finalizes his plans to safeguard the MiG-31 prior to its trials the next day which will be conducted for the Soviet First Secretary. He also orders his second-in-command, Dmitri Priabin (Oliver Cotton), to arrest some underground members at dawn, but not to move before then. Kontarsky in fact knows all about the spy network funneling information from Bilyarsk out of Russia--but even he does not know what the CIA and the SIS really have planned and as such, he does not want to totally disrupt the network, driving them further into hiding. That night Gant walks out to the Krasnokholmsky Bridge, under instructions to be there at precisely 10:30 with the KGB shadowing him -- he is ordered not to lose the KGB tail. There he meets the real Leon Sprague (George Orrison), plus his Moscow network escort, Pavel Upenskoy (Warren Clarke), and two of his confederates. Upenskoy orders Sprague to take Gant's cigar away from him and start smoking it--and then, before Gant's horrified eyes, whips out a pipe and clubs Sprague to death, mutilating the man's face. He then demands that Gant surrender his false papers, which he plants on Sprague before throwing him into the Moscow River. The four men then race to the Paveletskaya Metro station, where Upenskoy hurriedly briefs Gant on his next impersonation: as Michael Lewis, American tourist registered at the Hotel Warsaw. The four then board a subway, though Gant nearly misses it, because his bad dream of the burning girl returns at just that moment. The four ride the train to another station, but when they arrive the KGB is all over it. A KGB plainclothesman challenges Gant for identification, and Gant barely manages to convince him that he is who he says he is, and has to feign illness on account of the "rich food" at the Warsaw Hotel. Upenskoy, dissatisfied with Gant's performance, sends the flustered Gant into a nearby men's room to "get yourself together." But another KGB plainclothesman (Eugene Lipinski) follows Gant into the restroom, challenges him again, and then says that his papers are not in order. The plainclothesman reaches into his coat. Gant, thinking the man is going to draw a gun, grabs his arm and finds the man was only holding a wallet. Gant fights with the agent and kills him. Upenskoy, rushing in at the last minute, is horrified. Infuriated, he tells Gant that when the dead agent is discovered, the entire station will be locked down. He orders Gant to move quickly to the exit and angrily assures Gant this papers are, indeed, in order. Gant manages to leave the station, but only by cutting in line and acting like a clueless American. He, Upenskoy, and Upenskoy's colleagues barely manage to get to street level before whistles blow below, indicating that the KGB have found their dead detective and have sealed off the station. Upenskoy takes Gant to a warehouse belonging to a light-delivery service, where Upenskoy gives Gant yet another identity: that of Boris Glazunov, resident of the Mira Prospekt and employed as "driver's mate" to Upenskoy. The next morning, a telephone rings--just once--and Upenskoy tells Gant that they must leave at once because "KGB assigned to the plane" are outside in a car, prepared to follow him. Upenskoy gives Gant a pistol with orders not to use it unless absolutely necessary. Kontarsky, meanwhile, has word that Priabin has already picked up the real Boris Glazunov (Barrie Houghton) at his apartment, indicating the man in the van with Upenskoy is an imposter. Curious, Kontarsky orders a KGB tail team not to arrest Upenskoy but to tail him at a distance. Upenskoy and Gant manage to get through a checkpoint, where they know that they must "pose" for a photograph that will be sent to Moscow Center. Afterward, Upenskoy tells Gant that Boris Glazunov was picked up, and that Gant needs to realize that he is now a man of mystery. Upenskoy has decided to assume that the KGB will merely wait to see what develops as they try to identify Gant, who to them is simply someone who pretended to be a Russian driver's mate for some reason still unknown to them. Upenskoy also shares some of his own story: his wife is an imprisoned dissident and he has been trying to conduct his life in a way that will make him "worth of her", hence his involvement in the Jewish underground. She is Jewish but he is not, making his task even harder. Gant questions Upenskoy on his loyalty to the Jewish underground and can't seem to understand why so many of them are willing to die in opposition to the Soviet government. In the meantime, Sprague's former business associate identifies the body of Sprague but notes that he was badly beaten, almost as though his assailant wanted to obscure his identity, a thing that Police Inspector Aleksei Tortyev (Hugh Fraser) is very curious about indeed. Kontarsky is also curious, and demands to know who the mystery man is with Upenskoy, and why an old man (Czeslaw Grocholski) arrested at the warehouse took a poison and the others are "holding out." Kontarsky still refuses simply to arrest Upenskoy, because he wants every member of the spy network, no matter what--this although his officers now suspect that the mystery man is a foreign agent. Priabin is also present, and voices his suspicion that Boris Glazunov, now their prisoner, is totally ignorant of the identity of his substitute and perhaps even of the substitution. Upenskoy reaches Gant's next rendezvous point and orders Gant to jump from the van while it is in motion as soon as they round a curve. Gant thus succeeds jumping out undetected while Upenskoy leads the tail car away. Gant jogs down an incline and meets his next contact: Dr. Semelovsky (Ronald Lacey), a grumpy project scientist assigned to the MiG-31 program. Semelovsky hides Gant in his trunk and prepares to pass through the gate check at Bilyarsk. At Moscow Center, Boris Glazunov, refusing to the end to talk (or perhaps, as Priabin suspects, not knowing what to say or even what the KGB wants), dies under torture. Kontarsky, monumentally chagrined, now orders Upenskoy's van stopped. Oblivious to the new developments, Semelovsky successfully bluffs his way past the guards at the gate, excusing his tardiness by pretending to have engine trouble, sneaking Gant inside the Bilyarsk compound and drives him to the scientists' quarters, where Gant now meets Dr. Pyotr Baranovich (Nigel Hawthorne) and his significant other, Natalya (Dimitra Arliss), who offer him his first meal of the day. Meanwhile, Upenskoy gets into a gunfight with the KGB tail team and manages to kill them--but not before they wound him. He crashes his van, abandons it, and sets out on foot, knowing that his life is forfeit but still determined to lead them away from Gant. Baranovich outfits Gant as a Soviet Air Police officer and briefs him on how to bluff his way through a security gate, and on the location of the hangar and its facilities. Gant must kill the primary test pilot, Colonel Voskov, and hide his body in a locker. He also tells Gant that he knows that he will die after Gant escapes with the plane--but any resentment he might feel toward the British SIS for ordering him to sacrifice himself, pales before his resentment of the KGB for making that sacrifice necessary, and for denying him his freedom. At Moscow Center, Aleksei Tortyev asks Priabin to do him a favor: identify the man who landed at Sheremetyevo Airport posing as the dead Sprague. Tortyev thinks that this man is a foreign agent who substituted himself for Sprague. The technicians then surprise Tortyev and Priabin by saying that the man at Sheremetyevo is the same as the man who posed as Boris Glazunov and got out of Moscow on the way to Bilyarsk. Natalya brings word that the guards at the gate have been reinforced--and almost has a heart attack to see Gant outfitted as a Soviet Air Policeman. Baranovich reveals more dire information: that the program has not merely one prototype, but two. The second jet has an advantage over the 1st; it can refuel in the air, whereas Gant must rendezvous with an American submarine on an ice floe off Russia's Arctic coast. Baranovich also explains that he and his small dissident crew intend to sacrifice themselves by destroying the second prototype in the hangar. Gant must, therefore, get the first prototype out of the hangar as soon as he hears the fire alarm. Baranovich also briefs Gant on the coordinates he must feed into the navigation computer, and the Firefox' weapons (four air-to-air missiles, two 50-millimeter cannons, and two flak layers, called "rearward defense pods" or "drone tail units") and thought-activated control systems--but also says that in order to work it, he must "think in Russian" and not try to think in English and translate. Dmitri and Tortyev continue to discuss their lead. Tortyev then suggests that Dmitri search not for a seasoned spy, but for "a young fit man with brains"--i.e., an astronaut or a pilot. Dmitri agrees and commences a systematic search of their thousands of files on astronauts, Air Force pilots, etc. Gant steals his way inside the security gate and, using his falsified rank, takes it on himself to order an extra K-9 patrol to search the forest bordering the fence. He then walks through the hangar and sees the Firefox for the first time. A colonel (actually Kontarsky, though neither man knows the other) accosts him, and Gant apprises him of his orders to the K-9 unit to search the forest. Gant then moves to the pilot's dressing room, and waits there for Voskov, whom he knocks senseless, binds, gags, and stuffs into a locker, having decided not to kill him because "Oh, hell, you didn't do anything." Gant then goes into the showers and waits, at one point demanding that he not be disturbed when other security personnel challenge him for identification. Gant, now impersonating Voskov, manages to keep them from seeing him face-to-face. (Kontarsky has in fact realized that his mystery man has penetrated the installation and ordered a search.) While he waits, he suffers another attack of his PTSD and sits helpless on the floor of the shower. Back at Moscow Center, Priabin has now identified Gant from the pilot archive. Gant is a pilot in the American aggressor squadron, specially trained to engage Soviet pilots and fly their aircraft. He and Kontarsky speculate as to Gant's real plans: is he merely trying to inspect the plane up close? The two come to a terrifying realization that Gant means to steal the plane. Kontarsky immediately orders the arrest of Baranovich and the others--but just then the fire alarm rings; Baranovich and Semelovsky have started the fire that they hope will destroy the second prototype. The fire is put out before it can do any such damage. Semelovsky is shot down at once, and Baranovich manages to get off one round with a pistol before he and Natalya are also gunned down. The sound of the alarms in the hangar awaken Gant from his shock. The last thing Baranovich sees before he dies is a black pressure-suited figure making its way to the first prototype. Gant, like a man knowing what he is doing, walks over to the waiting plane, climbs aboard, hooks up, and starts going through a very accelerated pre-flight checklist. An officer challenges him for identification, and Gant first waves him off, but when the officer climbs to the cockpit Gant pushes him off the small ladder. Gant hurriedly completes his checklist--but when he raises his visor, Kontarsky recognizes him at once and orders the hangar doors shut. They are too late--Gant starts the engines and taxis out of the hangar at high speed. As the First Secretary's car arrives -- he has arrived early in an unannounced change of his itinerary -- Gant taxis to the end of the runway, and then takes off. A few miles away, Upenskoy watches Gant fly overhead and then, with the K-9 patrols ready to apprehend him, shoots himself. Gant first makes a deliberate close pass at an Aeroflot Ilyushin-model airliner, a deliberate strategy to confirm his heading traveling south, possibly to Turkey. He then begins a cockpit monologue--which turns into a dialogue with the First Secretary (Stefan Schnabel), who tries to persuade Gant to turn back and surrender, which Gant will not do. Gant finishes his conversation and then turns northeastward, back toward the Ural Mountain chain. The Soviet chiefs of staff, meanwhile, scramble all their air assets on the northern and southern borders and alert the Red Banner Fleets Northern and Southern. In a NATO war room, Aubrey and Buckholz realize, with great joy, that Gant has achieved liftoff. Gant reaches the Urals, and then makes his first mistake: impelled by insatiable curiosity, he test-flies the Firefox at supersonic speeds, seeking to test the power of the plane and its Terrain-Following Radar system. The Soviets realize that he has misled them, as the Air Force chief-of-staff, General Vladimirov (Klaus Löwitsch), has already realized. Vladimirov reasons that Gant was simply too good to blunder into an Aeroflot's flight path by accident. When the First Secretary asks why Gant simply doesn't fly east to China, Vladimirov says the MiG-31's range is only about 3000 miles. Vladimirov also explains that radar detection over Moscow will find him too easily if Gant flies west toward Europe, a chance that even a pilot as skilled as Gant would never take, despite the plane's stealth capability. Vladimirov now orders an elaborate plan to trap Gant at the northern end of the Urals, over the Gulf of Kara, where he believes that Gant may have a fueling rendezvous waiting for him on a sheet of ice. The Soviets think they have succeeded when they detect explosions over the Gulf (and so do Aubrey and Buckholz), but in fact Gant has devised a new strategy to elude them. He has downed another of their planes, a "Badger" recon plane, using the thought-controlled arsenal for the first time, and to good effect. This makes the Badger hotter than the Firefox and thus decoys the heat-seeking missiles the Soviets have fired after him. Vladimirov is not so sure that they could defeat Gant as easily as that. Sure enough, Gant wastes his advantage by overflying an ELINT trawler. The First Secretary excoriates Vladimirov, but can do little else; he cannot fire him on short notice. Vladimirov now sets up an ambush with a Soviet guided-missile cruiser. But Gant defeats that ambush, too. First he flies straight toward the cruiser, at low altitude and supersonic speed. He destroys one MiL-24 Hind helicopter gunship, and flies directly over the ship. The sonic boom slams a second Hind to the flight deck, demolishing it. Four missiles fire after him in a tail chase. Gant knocks out two of them with one of his Rear Defense flak layers, and simply outraces the other two a supersonic speed until they run out of fuel and fall into the sea. Back in Bilyarsk, Voskov has been found and has recovered, taking a final briefing from the First Secretary before taking off after Gant. Word comes that Gant has defeated the Russians yet again, and now Vladimirov plans to intercept Gant just short of the polar ice pack. Gant now has another problem: he is running out of fuel, though he at least knows where his refueling point will be, since the homing device activated before he engaged the cruiser. Gant gains altitude and proceeds to glide in--and barely makes it to an ice floe before a US Navy Ohio-class submarine breaks through it to serve as Gant's refueling stop. He lands on the floe and taxis to the submarine, whose crew refuel the plane and replace the two missiles he has used. Two Hinds make radar contact with the Americans and fly in to investigate. The Americans hurriedly finish the refueling and rearmament, steam a runway, and see Gant off before they then set up a mock weather station for the Soviets to reconnoiter. But what they don't know is that Vladimirov, loudly insistent, has prevailed upon his colleagues to send the second MiG after the radar contact. After Gant takes off, he thinks he's home free when he suddenly sees two missiles locked onto him that appear to have come out of nowhere--and then spots the second Firefox in his rearward monitor. He out maneuvers the missiles and Voskov pursues Gant in a hypersonic aerial chase. Gant uses his air brakes to slip behind the other aircraft and he releases two missiles that immediately miss, and after a rolling loop Voskov and Gant's positions are reversed again. Gant dives toward the ground and skims low over the Arctic, but Voskov stays hard in pursuit, firing his MiG-31's nose-mounted cannons, to no effect. Gant now tries to shake Voskov by flying a slalom race through narrow ice canyons - yet Voskov still stays locked in close pursuit. After clearing and regaining altitude Voskov's Firefox fires his last two missiles, and Gant pulls into a high loop. As he comes out of the loop he goes into a flat tailspin and begins to suffer another delayed stress seizure, but he snaps out of it and releases his landing gear, adding enough drag to barely pull out of the flat spin before he crashes into the Earth. Voskov, out of respect, salutes Gant one last time before dropping in behind Gant, preparing to make the kill. Gant recovers in time to reengage full speed as Voskov fires his 50mm cannon. Gant attempts to fire the Rear Defense Pod but forgets to think in Russian. When he finally realizes it, he issues the command again in Russian and Voskov's aircraft is hit by the missile, exploding in flame. Finally safe, Gant sets a course for the nearest NATO base in Western Europe.

A boy with a music talent goes on a journey with his uncle for a stage concert. As this movie opens on an Oklahoma farm during the Great Depression, two simultaneous visitors literally hit the Wagoneer home: a ruinous dust storm and a convertible crazily driven by Red Stovall (Clint Eastwood), Emmy's (Verna Bloom's) brother. A roguish country-western musician, he has just been invited to audition for the Grand Ole Opry, his chance of a lifetime to become a success. However, this is way back in Nashville, Red clearly drives terribly, and he's broke and sick with tuberculosis to boot. Whit (Kyle Eastwood), fourteen, seeing his own chance of a lifetime to avoid "growing up to be a cotton picker all my life", begs Ma to let him go with Uncle Red as driver and protégé. Thus begins a picaresque journey both hilarious and poignant. —Paul Emmons <pemmons@wcupa.edu> During the Great Depression, struggling singer-songwriter Red Stovall (Clint Eastwood), who's led a hard life, which includes excessive drinking, is heading east through the American south on his way to Nashville, where he has an audition to appear at the Grand Ole Opry. Making it on the Opry would be his big break and his dream come true. Without telling them beforehand, he stops at his sister Emmy Wagoneer's (Verna Bloom's) farmstead in Oklahoma, the Wagoneers, who live by cotton sharecropping, and who, despite having no money, are planning on moving to California to escape the drought which has ruined their current season crop. Under these circumstances, two of the Wagoneers end up accompanying Red on his way to Nashville. The first is Grandpa (John McIntire), Emmy's father-in-law, who was born and raised in Tennessee, there where he wants to die instead of California. And the second is Red's young teen nephew, Whit (Kyle Eastwood). Although not the oldest of the children, Whit is the one Red requests, Whit, who buys into Red's dreams. Emmy allows her son to go as she knows Red needs someone to take care of him, with Whit and Red to make their way to California after Nashville. As Red needs to make stops along the way to earn some money to get them to their destination, including one stop to collect on a substantial IOU, the trio gets into one misadventure after another, one which includes a young aspiring singer named Marlene Mooney (Alexa Kenin), who plans to use "Marlene Moonglow" as her stage name, and who truly believes that her and Red's lives were destined to be intertwined. In their time together, Whit gets to see the real side of his uncle. What happens with them is affected by the largely unspoken elephant in the room, one with which Whit, in his tender years, may be unable to cope despite the growing up he does on this trip, and which accounts for Red's haste in wanting to make it in the business this time around. —Huggo In the Oklahoma dustbowl of the 1930s country singer Red Stovall drops in on his sister's farm. He has an opportunity to play at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville but doesn't have enough money to get there. He eventually sets off with his teen nephew Whit and Whit's grandfather for company. For Whit this is his first chance to experience the wider world. —grantss

Based on a true story, the film portrays the fascinating account of the only three men ever to escape from the infamous maximum security prison at Alcatraz.

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.

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.

Jonathan Hemlock, a former government assassin, is forced to do one last job. A member of a climbing expedition is a killer and Hemlock must find him before he strikes again.

With the help of an irreverent young sidekick, a bank robber gets his old gang back together to organize a daring new heist. Seven years after a daring bank robbery involving an anti-tank gun used to blow open a vault, the robbery team temporarily puts aside their mutual suspicions to repeat the crime after they are unable to find the loot from the original heist, hidden behind a school chalkboard. The hardened artilleryman and his flippant, irresponsible young sidekick are the two wild cards in the deck of jokers.

While investigating a murder, inspector Harry Callahan realizes the killers are police who have vowed to rid the city of crime by any means - even killing fellow police officers.

A stranger is hired to protect a town from three outlaws about to be released from prison. But the townsfolk second-guess their hire when he begins to take advantage of them.

A young girl runs away from home and meets a grouchy older man who reluctantly takes her in. Eventually they develop a romantic and affectionate relationship. Breezy (Kay Lenz) is a teenage hippie with a big heart. After taking a ride with a man who only wants her for sex, Breezy manages to escape. She runs to hide on a secluded property where stands the home of a middle-aged divorced man, Frank Harmon (William Holden). Frank reluctantly takes Breezy in only to fall, unexpectedly, in love with her. —Kelly In this Counterculture vs. Establishment romance, Frank Harmon (William Holden) is a middle-aged businessman, recently divorced and bitter about his life and the world in general. One morning he discovers a pretty, hippie-esque girl who calls herself Breezy (Kay Lenz) asleep on his front porch. Frank asks her to leave and she politely obeys. She forgets her guitar, however, and returns the next day to retrieve it. Breezy also asks Frank if he would let her take a bath. He agrees, and even lets her sleep at his house that night. A few days later, Breezy turns up at again at Frank's doorstep with a cop; after being arrested for vagrancy, she told the police that she lived with her uncle Frank. Frank plays along and, against his better judgment, agrees to let her stay with him. After spending time together, Frank and Breezy open up to each other, discussing their feelings on a variety of issues. A friendship grows between them that, in time, becomes a love affair, but Frank's friends find fault in his new romance, and he breaks it off, a decision he comes to regret. This was the first movie Clint Eastwood directed in which he did not star, something he would not do again until Bird (1988). —Jack Herer A free-spirited young woman, Breezy, hitches a ride with an aging real estate salesman, Frank. Sensing that she just wants to use him he tries to have nothing to do with her. She's not that easy to shake, however, and over time a bond forms between them. —grantss Wanting to experience life in the world away from her small Pennsylvania hometown of Intercourse a year following high school graduation, free spirit Edith Alice Breezerman, who prefers to be called Breezy, has been in Los Angeles for three months living primarily with her drug-addict friend Marcy and Marcy's boyfriend David. With no real desire for a long term job and thus with no money - she only having the clothes on her back and a cheap guitar - Breezy will find a bed or couch elsewhere whenever Marcy is too drugged-out for her liking. Breezy is sincere in her feelings, she, in whatever she may offer others, not expecting anything in return beyond human decency. When she meets fifty-something real estate agent Frank Harmon, all Frank sees in her is another unkempt hippie who wants to sponge off society. Frank, a loner who lives a comfortable life in a house in the Hollywood hills, steers away from any committed relationship in the disaster that was his first and only marriage. As such, he is once again by himself when his "no-strings" girlfriend Betty Tobin, who could admit to him and herself that she is in love with him, announces that she is getting married to someone else in knowing there is no future for her and Frank. As such, Frank, with who Breezy quickly admits that she has also fallen in love, eventually opens himself up to her. In Frank falling in love with Breezy in return, the question becomes whether Frank can overcome his own pre-Breezy biases and what he perceives as those in his social circle about a relationship of their nature. —Huggo

An ex-bounty hunter reluctantly helps a wealthy landowner and his henchmen track down a Mexican revolutionary leader. Joe Kidd (Clint Eastwood) is a former bounty hunter and all-around tough-guy in the American southwest. When a band of Mexicans find their U.S. land claims denied and all relevant records destroyed in a courthouse fire, they turn to force-of-arms. Luis Chama (John Saxon) is their charismatic leader, spouting revolutionary rhetoric and demanding land reform. A wealthy landowner with interests in the disputed area, Frank Harlan (Robert Duvall), decides to settle things his own way. He hires a band of killers and wants Joe Kidd to help them track Chama. Initially, Kidd wants to avoid any involvement, until Chama makes the mistake of stealing Kidd's horses and terrorizing his friends. —Tad Dibbern <DIBBERN_D@a1.mscf.upenn.edu>

A California DJ`s one-night stand with a mysterious fan turns deadly as he realizes she`s really a jealous lunatic who has no intentions of leaving him.

During the Civil War Union Corporal John McBurney (Clint Eastwood) is wounded and is discovered in the woods by a young girl from a school for women in Louisiana. With a broken leg he is nursed back to health with the help of the school owner Martha Farnsworth (Geraldine Page) as the rest of the women tend to him, fascinated by the close proximity of a full-grown man. McBurney is aware he is behind enemy lines and manages to charm the women into allowing him to stay, even going so far as to pretend he is a visiting southern officer. One of the teachers at the school, Edwina (Elizabeth Hartman) through her tending to McBurney falls in love with the man and the soldier manipulates the woman's emotions convincing her that he loves her. McBurney also seduces Martha understanding that she misses her brother who helped her run the school and also held an unusual place as romantic partner. One of the older students Carol (Jo Ann Harris) approaches McBurney and openly shows her affections for him, and seeking new sensual experiences, convinces him to make love to her. When McBurney is discovered by the other women in Carol's room they make a concerted effort to insure that the wounded soldier will not be allowed to return to Union Troops now occupying the southern territories of Louisiana.

The film opens with a scrolling shot of a marble wall: a tribute to all the officers killed in the line of duty in the city of San Francisco. The shot of the wall fades into the silenced barrel of a rifle, and a long, dark-haired Caucasian man staring down it. Through the scope and the cross-hairs, we see his target: a young, beautiful blond woman, swimming in a rooftop pool. He follows her with his sights for a moment before pulling the trigger, hitting her in the back. She flails in agony in the water, and the pool slowly fills with her blood as she dies. Inspector Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) enters the rooftop pool area as the title cards roll. Harry inspects the dead body and looks up to the probable area of the shooter. He walks down the street to the building and up to the roof. He walks over to where he figures the shooter was stationed, looks down and across the street at the pool. Looking down, Harry finds a shell casing. Using a pen, he carefully picks it up and places it in an evidence bag. As he stands, he sees a piece of paper speared on a television antenna. He reads it and realizes what it is. In the mayor's office, the ransom note is blown up and put on a screen. The mayor reads out the demands of the sniper, dubbed "Scorpio". He demands $100,000 to stop his killing spree, or he "will target either a catholic priest, or a nigger". The mayor discusses his options with the police chief, and Callahan's superior, Lt. Al Bressler. The mayor calls Harry in, and immediately asks what he's been doing. Harry angrily responds that he's been sitting on his ass in the mayor's office, then lays out the plan of investigation so far. Lt. Bressler announces that he's arranged for helicopter surveillance in probable target areas. To Harry's disbelief, the mayor agrees to lead Scorpio on for the time being, to post a message in the newspaper (per Scorpio's instructions) as if they plan to pay him. Before leaving, the Mayor tells Harry that he doesn't want the same kind of trouble that Harry's caused in the past. Harry responds that he was trying to stop a rape, and, again with sarcasm, shoots down the Mayor. Across from a bank, Harry sits down for a hot dog lunch. He asks the cook behind the counter if the car across the street, in front of the bank, is still running. The cook says it is, and Harry tells him to call the police - there is an armed robbery in progress at that bank. No sooner does he say this than the banks alarms go off and gunfire erupts. Harry takes a bite of his hot dog, swears, and then heads out to face the robbers. He orders one man to freeze, and the man shoots at Harry with a shotgun, who returns fire. The men in the car speed toward Harry, but he shoots into the windshield, causing them to crash into a fire hydrant and flip the car over. One man jumps out and shoots at Harry, who shoots back and kills him. He looks down at his leg, shot and bleeding from buckshot, but he seems unaffected... still chewing on his hot dog. Harry strolls through the spraying water of the fire hydrant, to the wounded man by the entrance of the bank. The man's hand moves slowly toward his dropped shotgun, and Harry points his revolver at him and makes his famous "six-shots-or-only-five" speech with a hit of sarcasm in his voice: "I know what you're thinking. Did he fire six shots, or only five? Now, to tell you the truth, I forgot myself in all this excitement. But this here is a .44 Magnum Revolver, the most powerful handgun in the world and it'll blow your head clean off. You've gotta ask yourself one question: do I feel lucky? Well... do you, punk?" The man cowers and surrenders. Harry picks up the shotgun, and the robber stops him. "Hey I gots to know." he asks. Harry raises his .44 Magnum and pulls the trigger and smiles. Harry fooled the wounded robber into giving up. The gun is empty. In the hospital, Harry has his wounded leg looked at by a doctor. During the process of treatment, the doctor tells Harry to have his wife to help treat his wound, but stops himself mid-sentence and apologizes. In the air, a police helicopter is making the rounds over the city. The next day, Harry walks through the department and meets with the captain, who congratulates Harry on stopping the robbery. The captain announces that he's saddling Harry with a new partner, and introduces Chico Gonzales. Harry gripes about not wanting a partner, and that his partners always wind up in the hospital, or dead. But the captain is unmoved and tells Harry that he doesn't have a choice. Harry and Chico walk and talk for a while, before stopping to talk with another cop, DiGiorgio. Chico warily asks how Harry got his nickname Dirty Harry. DiGiorgio fills him in, explaining that Harry is an equal opportunity bigot, hating every ethnicity equally. Chico asks how he feels about Mexicans, and Harry responds that he hates them especially. Somewhere in the city, Scorpio is on another rooftop, across from a church, reading the personal ad that contains the city's response to his ransom. Unhappy with the "be patient" message, he tears up the paper, and walks to the roof's ledge. He opens his rifle case and begins spying down on the neighborhood through his scope. He sees a black man walking on the street and places the cross hairs on him. Scorpio follows him for a while, and then hastily puts his rifle together. Before he can take his shot, though, the police chopper spots him and he is forced to retreat. That night, Harry and Chico are riding through the city, complaining about how the chopper cops lost Scorpio. Over the radio, they hear a description of the sniper, and Chico immediately spots a man fitting the description and carrying a tan suitcase. They turn around to follow him, but eventually split up, with Harry inconspicuously pursuing him on foot. Harry walks down an alley and spies the man walking into an apartment. He climbs up on a trashcan and looks into the apartment window. The man's suitcase is only holding lingerie for his girlfriend, Hot Mary, who is walking around the apartment topless. Harry realizes this is not Scorpio, but is suddenly attacked from behind by a couple of men who thought he was a peeping tom. They smack Harry around a bit, before Chico stops them. Harry tells him to let the guys go, though, and Chico jokes about why the other officers call him Dirty Harry. Back in the car, Harry and Chico get a call from an officer who spots a man on a roof, and they take off in that direction. It turns out the man is not Scorpio, but instead, he's a suicidal jumper. Without much hesitation, Harry climbs into a crane bucket and rides up to the roof, to confront the man. The jumper immediately tells Harry to stay away, and Harry tells the man he's going to keep his distance: jumpers sometimes decide to take someone with them when they die. A grotesque story follows, about a fellow officer who was killed like that. Harry includes all the gory details causing the man to become sick. Angered, he attempts to grab at Harry, but Harry's quicker and punches him out, cuffs him to the rails on the crane bucket and brings him down. On the street, Harry tells Chico he got his nickname by taking "any dirty job that comes along". The next day, Harry and Chico are called to the site of a dead body: a young black kid is found shot in the head. As Harry and Chico are looking over the crime scene, the boy's mother tells them her son was only ten years old. Another officer finds a shell casing that confirms the boy was killed by Scorpio. Harry has a meeting with the chief, and they discuss the plan to capture Scorpio. They will post highly-visible policemen all over the city at high probability targets, but no policemen near the site where the chopper had spotted him the day before. Harry and Chico will stake out the area, armed and ready to take Scorpio down if he appears. Chico expresses his doubts that Scorpio will target the same area twice, but Harry explains that he believes the sniper will want to take out a priest now. That night, the two detectives are watching over the church. Harry tells Chico that the priest of the church volunteered to be bait for the murderer. With binoculars, Harry spies on the entire neighborhood, including a nude woman and her two male companions. As he's watching the party, he notices that one of the nearby roof doors is now open. Harry and Chico prepare to throw the spotlight on Scorpio, and Harry takes aim with his rifle. He fires, but misses. Scorpio fires on them with a machine gun but misses, destroying the lights. He laughs gleefully as he fires. Harry and Chico rush downstairs, and across the street, where DiGiorgio kneels over the body of an officer that Scorpio apparently killed in his escape. The next day, their captain tells Harry and Chico that Scorpio has kidnapped a 14-year-old girl, Ann Mary Deacon. His ransom note says that he's buried her alive, and has raised his ransom to $200,000, demanding it by 9pm. He threatens to let the girl suffocate to death if he's not paid. Harry insists that the girl is probably already dead, but Lt. Bressler tells him that the mayor has agreed to pay. He asks Harry to drop the money off, and tells Chico he's not allowed to help. Chico responds, 'No wonder they call him Dirty Harry. Always gets the shit-end of the stick.' Harry prepares for the drop by getting a microphone to put under his shirt, so that Chico can furtively follow him. Harry gets the money from the mayor's office. While the captain tells Harry that Scorpio will probably run Harry all over town before he drops the money, Harry tapes a switchblade to his ankle. The captain tells Harry to play it straight and not to try anything funny. Harry arrives at the marina, the designated drop point, and answers a nearby payphone. Scorpio tells him he's going to give Harry a little exercise and intends to have him travel all over the city on foot to make sure he's not being followed. Hidden nearby in his car, Chico listens in. Scorpio instructs Harry to run to a nearby railroad station. He makes it and answers the Scorpio's call. Harry next has to make a train that is leaving the station immediately. Barely making it, he jumps on and rides to the next checkpoint. Chico continues to follow. Harry answers the next call, and Scorpio laughs as he tells Harry that he's going to have a long run now. While running, Harry is accosted by three thugs who try to take the money bag. It's a short delay, but Harry can't afford it, and he quickly beats the three goons down. He sprints to the phone, but a man answers it before Harry can. Scorpio hangs up, but calls back immediately, giving Harry instructions to run to Mission Davis Park and meet him there at the foot of the cross. Chico follows but keeps a safe distance. Harry walks through the park, taking a look at everyone he passes. A young man that Harry thinks may be Scorpio turns out to be a male hustler, so Harry runs him off. He makes it to the top of the hill in Mission Davis Park, at the foot of the large stone cross. Scorpio shows up wearing a ski mask. Scorpio disarms Harry and starts to beat him. He tells Harry that he changed his mind and has decided to let the girl die, and now he's going to kill Harry, too. Before he can, though, Chico shoots at him, but misses. Scorpio and Chico exchange fire, and Chico is hit in the chest. Harry pulls the switchblade from his leg and plunges it deep into Scorpio's leg. Scorpio screams and limps off. Harry tries to shoot at Scorpio, but misses and then passes out from the beating. Scorpio makes it to a hospital. In his office, the hot-headed Bressler is talking to the chief on the phone; the chief is not happy that Harry and Chico disobeyed orders. Harry tells Bressler he'll quit when this is over, if that's what the chief wants. They get a call from a doctor at an emergency room: the doctor reports treating a man with a stab wound in the leg. Harry and DiGiorgio talk to the doctor who isn't very helpful at first. But he does remember that he had seen the man before. After a few moments he remembers that the man works as a groundskeeper at a nearby stadium. Harry and DiGiorgio climb the fence outside the stadium, and inspect the grounds in the dark. Scorpio spies on them and eventually takes off running. Harry chases him while DiGiorgio looks for a way to turn on the lights. Scorpio is running/limping across the football field, when Harry finally catches up to him, and DiGiorgio hits the floodlights. Harry has his gun on Scorpio and fires, hitting him in the leg. Scorpio sobs for help and Harry demands to know where the girl is. Scorpio yells that Harry tried to kill him, but Harry replies: "If I was trying to kill you, your head would be splattered all over this field!". Harry again demands to know where the girl is. The psychopathic Scorpio yells that he has rights and he wants a lawyer, but Harry angrily grinds his foot into the wound, as the scene pulls up and away from the two men in Kezar Stadium. At dawn, Harry stands on a hilltop overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. Behind him, officers are pulling the dead body of Ann Mary Deacon out of the ground. Harry is called to a meeting with William Rothko, the Assistant District Attorney. He is shocked and disgusted that the DA is going to release Scorpio, because Harry's search of the killer's home was illegal (the issue of probable cause is never brought up) and the rifle that is the murder weapon is inadmissible as evidence. Bannerman, a local by-the-book judge, backs up Rothko's claim, and the D.A. condescendingly chastises Harry about the suspect's rights. Harry fumes and wants to know about the rights of the victims, but the arrogant and unfeeling D.A. does not care. "That's the law", he says, and Harry retorts: "Then the law is crazy!" As he's leaving, Harry says that as soon as Scorpio slips up, Harry will be there to arrest him. The D.A. warns that he won't stand for harassment. Harry says that Scorpio is a sociopath con artist and he will not stop his killing spree, as "he likes it too much". Scorpio walks into a park in the middle of the day, and immediately notices Callahan following him. Sitting in a stag bar, he sees Harry watching him. The next day, Scorpio meets with a tough looking black guy in a run-down factory. The other man makes sure Scorpio wasn't followed and then leads him to a back room, where he takes payment from Scorpio: $200 for the man to beat Scorpio to a pulp. He sits him in a chair and then begins punching him in the face. He lands several heavy blows, but eventually grows dubious and stops. Scorpio taunts him with racist remarks and the black man kicks him in the face. Realizing that his victim is insane, he kicks Scorpio out. The next scene shows him being wheeled down the hall of a hospital, enthusiastically talking to reporters and blaming the San Francisco police for his beating. He falsely singles out Harry as the main culprit. The chief meets with Harry, but Harry says he looks "too damn good" to have caught a beating from Harry himself. The chief orders Harry to stop tailing Scorpio. Harry leaves with a scoff. Harry visits Chico at the hospital, where he is sitting outside with his wife. Chico tells Harry that he's not coming back to the department. He is going to be a teacher instead. Chico is wheeled off to physical therapy, leaving Harry and Mrs. Gonzalez to chat for a while. They walk out of the hospital, and Chico's wife tells Harry that she feels responsible for his leaving. She tells him that she got nervous every time Chico left, and asks Harry if his wife felt the same. Harry says no. He tells her that his wife died in a drunk-driving accident some years ago. Harry tells Chico's wife that he understands why Chico is leaving the police force. When she asks him why he stays in the job, Harry says, "I don't know. I really don't". Later that night, the killer Scorpio enters a liquor store and chats with the shopkeeper. To explain his beaten face, he makes up a lie about hitting his wife and being beaten by her brother. He asks the owner about his being robbed before, and the owner admits to shooting and killing the last two robbers. He brags and shows off his pistol to show Scorpio. Scorpio instantly smashes a bottle over the shopkeeper's head and takes the gun. The next scene shows a school bus dropping children off at the end of the school day. Scorpio climbs into the bus pretending to be a school bus inspector. When the driver tries to stop him, Scorpio pulls the gun on her. He tells her to start driving, he'll direct her. He then turns his attention to the kids, making them sing. At city hall, Harry's captain watches as Harry arrives. As he and the captain walk up to the mayor's office, they discuss a new note from Scorpio. They enter the mayor's office, while the mayor is preparing a jet for the killer. The mayor then takes a call from Scorpio, who informs them of the bus hostage situation. He forces the bus driver to confirm. He demands his jet and $200,000, and tells mayor he intends to take the bus to the airport. The mayor foolishly tells Scorpio that he won't be harmed. The chief asks Harry to take the money, but when they order him to just make the drop without trying to stop Scorpio, he refuses, telling the arrogant mayor, "Go find yourselves another delivery boy". Back on the bus, Scorpio has the children maniacally singing "Row, row, row your boat", but eventually the children become whiny, wanting to get home. Scorpio quickly loses patience, slapping one boy, and scaring the children even more. He gives the bus driver more directions, and has her exit the highway. They are headed for an underpass, and Scorpio panics when he sees Harry standing on top of the bridge, waiting for him. Harry jumps on the roof of the moving bus, and Scorpio starts shooting up at him, causing the bus driver to faint. Scorpio takes the wheel, and swerves the bus all over the road, trying to throw Harry off. He crashes the bus through a fence, sending Harry flying into a mound of sand. Scorpio jumps out of the back emergency exit and flees to a nearby mill. Harry chases him. While running, they exchange gunfire, and once again, we lose track of how many shots Harry has fired. Harry is gaining on Scorpio, so he tries to ambush him, but Harry ducks and Scorpio misses. Scorpio runs out the back of the mill, and to a small dock, where a young boy is fishing. With Harry not far behind him, Scorpio (ruthless to the last) grabs the boy and puts the gun to his head, yelling at Harry to drop his gun. Harry drops his arm to his side, but quickly brings it back up and shoots Scorpio in the shoulder, knocking him backwards. The boy escapes and quickly runs away. Scorpio tries to reach for his gun, but Harry stops him and points his revolver at the killer. He repeats his speech from earlier, but his wry grin is gone this time, replaced with dead-serious fury. "I know what you're thinking, punk! You're thinking, did he fire six shots, or only five?! Now, to tell you the truth, I forgot myself in all this excitement. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world and it'll blow your head clean off! You've gotta ask yourself a question! Do I feel lucky? Well, do you, punk?!" Scorpio thinks for a moment, then giggles madly and reaches for his pistol. Harry fires, shooting Scorpio in the chest. The psychopathic killer falls into the water and floats there, dead. Scorpio had unwisely called Harry's bluff - and paid for it with his life. Sirens wail in the distance. Harry takes out his badge. He pulls his gold star out of the leather fold and looks at it for a moment before throwing it into the water. The camera pans away from Harry as he walks away and the credits roll.

Two unlikely prospector partners share the same wife in a California gold rush mining town. A Michigan farmer and a prospector form a partnership in the California gold country. Their adventures include buying and sharing a wife, hijacking a stage, kidnaping six prostitutes, and turning their mining camp into a boomtown. Along the way there is plenty of drinking, gambling, and singing. They even find time to do some creative gold mining. —David J. Kiseleski <davidk269@aol.com>

There's a disruption in the life of Deputy sheriff Walt Coogan (Clint Eastwood) as a crack tracker and ladies' man when he is ordered as punishment for his inability to follow orders to travel from his home state Arizona to bring back bail jumper Ringerman (Don Stroud) from jail in New York City. When Coogan arrives in New York he is met by bureaucratic red tape because Ringerman is in the hospital recovering from a dose of LSD and not cleared to travel. Furthermore Coogan can get no cooperation from overworked Police Detective and department supervisor Lt. McElroy (Lee J. Cobb) who tells Coogan to wait for the autocratic machinery to function. Coogan takes matters into his own hands and breaks Ringerman out of the Bellevue prison hospital. Ringerman's girlfriend is at the hospital and takes a message to Ringerman's friend Pushie. Coogan is waylaid at the heliport when he answers a page. He is struck in the head from behind by Pushie who is accompanied by the lovely and elusive Linny Raven (Tisha Sterling). Pushie, in bright green corduroys and a red sweater, is seen by Coogan before the second blow knocks him out. Linty then steals his gun and gives it to Ringerman and they escape after Linny urges Ringerman to shoot Coogan but Pushie advises they beat it. Lt. McElroy orders Coogan to leave town and his boss sends him a telegram taking him off the case. Coogan refuses to give up and is confident he can track Ringerman down. He earlier met lovely parole officer Julie (Susan Clark), a naive case worker who is taken by Coogan's persuasive charms. Coogan asks and finds that Linny is one of Julie's patients and manages to access her file and track down the young girl. Coogan convinces the exotic Linny to take him to Ringerman. She instead leads him to Pushie at his pool hall and the group of toughs in the pool hall engage in a brawl with Coogan. Several get badly injured and the rest escape when they hear the police sirens. Coogan Is confronted by Pushie and although Coogan has been badly beaten he gets up and thrashes Pushie before leaving the pool hall. McElroy arrives, notices Pushie's clothing and finds Coogan's hat laying in the midst of the chaos. Coogan goes back to Linny's and kicks the door down and knocks her around until she leads him to Ringerman. Ringerman empties Coogan's pistol in hysterical shooting and then jumps on his motorcycle to escape. He runs into another motorcycle and the two riders are knocked to the ground while he restarts his bike and leaves. Coogan appropriates the second motor cycle and gives chase throughout the park, up and sown trails and staircases. Eventually Coogan rides into Ringerman and they crash on the lawn. Ringerman runs away but at the edge of the park he encounters a patrol car and turns and runs back into the park where he is tackled and arrested by Coogan. Lt. McElroy arrives and Coogan agrees to go through the required administrative process to get Ringerman's release into his custody. Coogan bids farewell to McElroy and then Julie on the heliport and flies off with Ringerman. Coogan then shares a cigarette with his prisoner showing some compassion that he did not display for a captured prisoner at the start of the movie.

In *Hang 'Em High*, the story begins with Jed Cooper, a former lawman, as he drives a herd of cattle across the Oklahoma Territory. His character is demonstrated as he saves a foundering calf from drowning. Suddenly, he is surrounded by a posse led by the vindictive Captain Wilson. The posse accuses Cooper of murder and cattle theft, refusing to believe his protests or examine the bill of sale he presents as proof of his innocence. Swiftly and mercilessly, they decide to lynch him. The men string him up on a tree and leave him to die, abandoning him as a symbol of their rough brand of frontier justice. Yet Cooper's fate takes an unexpected turn when he is found, still barely alive, by U.S. Marshal Dave Bliss. The marshal rescues him, cuts him down, and brings him to Fort Grant, where Cooper is determined to clear his name. At Fort Grant, Cooper appears before Judge Adam Fenton, the sole judge in the territory, known for his firm, no-nonsense approach to upholding law and order. After reviewing the facts and realizing Cooper's innocence, Judge Fenton releases him. However, rather than dismissing Cooper's grievances, Fenton sees an opportunity to recruit him as a deputy U.S. marshal, noting his skill and resilience. Fenton offers Cooper a badge and a mandate to bring criminals to justice under the law, warning him against seeking personal revenge. He urges Cooper to see this as an opportunity to channel his anger constructively, by upholding legal justice in a lawless land. Cooper, still reeling from the trauma of his near-death experience, reluctantly agrees, setting his sights on capturing the men responsible-not out of vengeance, he insists, but to see justice served. Cooper's journey as a marshal leads him across rugged terrain and into dangerous encounters as he pursues the members of the posse who wronged him. He arrests several criminals along the way, grappling with the ethical complexities of frontier justice. Some of the posse members beg for mercy, claiming they acted out of fear, while others remain defiant. His encounters reveal the fragility of law in a place where vigilante justice often prevails. At each step, Cooper is forced to confront his own sense of morality and the fine line between justice and revenge. Although tempted by the thought of exacting personal retribution, he remains committed to his role as a marshal, bringing each man in to face a trial. The tension escalates as Cooper confronts Captain Wilson and the last of his lynchers. The final showdown embodies the central conflict of the film, exploring whether true justice can ever be served in a place where life is cheap and justice often subjective. Cooper's dedication to upholding the law, despite his personal vendetta, ultimately underscores the film's message about the cost of revenge and the harsh, often flawed nature of frontier justice. In the end, *Hang 'Em High* delivers a powerful meditation on the themes of justice, morality, and the toll of vengeance. Cooper's journey is not just one of survival but of reckoning with the violent world he inhabits, as he chooses to abide by the law even when tempted to forsake it. His choice marks him as a figure of integrity in a world where such values are rare, leaving the audience with a nuanced perspective on what justice truly means in the unforgiving landscape of the American West.

Three men are on a mission to find a fortune that is buried in a remote cemetery. In the pursuit of the wealth, the two of them join hands with each other and team against the third only to eventually split-up and go on their own ways.

Eastwood (marketed as the Man with No Name) and Van Cleef (as Colonel Douglas Mortimer and marketed as the "Man in Black") portray two bounty hunters in pursuit of "El Indio" (Gian Maria Volonte), one of the most wanted fugitives in the western territories, and his gang (one of whom is played by Kinski). Indio is a ruthless, intelligent man. He has a musical pocket watch that he plays before engaging in gun duels. "When the chimes finish, begin," he says. Flashbacks reveal that the watch originates from a young woman (Rosemary Dexter), who killed herself while being sexually assaulted by Indio after he had found her with her lover (in Joe Millard's novelization of the film, the young man is her newly-wed husband) and killed him. The watch bears a photo of the woman and was presented as a gift by the young man before being killed. The film begins with Colonel Mortimer (Cleef) illegally stopping a train in Tucumcari, and soon after collecting a bounty of $1,000 on Guy Calloway (Jose Terron). Mortimer's gun-slinging skill is displayed as he easily kills him from long distance. After collecting the bounty, he inquiries about Red "Baby" Cavanagh (José Marco), who has a $2,000 bounty, and was last seen in White Rocks. Mortimer is told that Cavanagh has already been targeted by Eastwood's character, who is referred to as "Manco" (meaning one-armed in Spanish see below for an explanation). We see Manco ride into town and track down Cavanagh at a saloon playing five-card draw poker. Manco kills him and his men and takes the bounty. Eventually, the two bounty hunters, after learning about each other from different sources, meet in El Paso and, after butting heads, decide to team up to take down Indio and his gang. Indio's primary goal is to rob the Bank of El Paso and its disguised safe containing "almost a million dollars." Mortimer persuades a reluctant Manco to join Indio's gang during the robbery in order to "get him between two fires." Manco is offered membership in the gang after rescuing one of Indio's friends from prison. When Indio robs the bank, he brings the gang and the money to the small border town of Agua Caliente, where Mortimer reunites with Manco. The hunchback Wild (Klaus Kinski) recognizes the Colonel from a previous encounter in which the Colonel had deliberately insulted him and forces a showdown in which he is killed by the Colonel. The Colonel then proves his worth to Indio by cracking open the safe without using explosives, but Indio states his intention to wait a month if necessary to allow the furor over the bank robbery to die down and locks the money away in a chest in the treasure room. Manco and the Colonel meet in the treasure room and plan to steal the bank money from Indio. The Colonel had already taken the money out of the chest earlier and now locks it again with his special ability to open and lock locks without keys. When they leave the treasure room by roof (because the door is locked) they realize that the bandits are outside waiting for them, knowing that Monco is actually a bounty killer, and that the Colonel is his cooperator. Just before Manco jumps down, he throws the bag with the money in a tree unnoticed. When Manco and the Colonel have climbed down, Indio's band severely beat them. Afterwards, Indio finds out that chest is still locked, which makes him believe that Monco and the Colonel never stole the money. Later that night, Indio's right-hand man Nino (Mario Brega), on orders from Indio, kills the guard of Monco and the Colonel and releases them. Indio informs his gang that they "got away," and sends them after the escaped bounty hunters. He intends to kill off his gang with the bounty killers while he and Nino take all the loot for themselves. However, the smarter Groggy (Luigi Pistilli) figures out what Indio is up to and kills Nino. Before he can kill Indio, he finds that the Colonel has already removed the stolen money from the chest. Indio convinces Groggy to join forces with him to trap the bounty-killers. The next morning, Manco and Mortimer shoot down the gang, one by one, in the streets of the town. Standing alone, Mortimer shoots Groggy when the outlaw tries to run for it, but then has his gun shot out of his hand by Indio, who then takes out his pocket watch and begins playing it. As the chimes nears the end, Manco suddenly appears with an identical pocket watch, playing the same tune as Indio's, which Mortimer realizes had been taken from him earlier. As this happens, Manco holds a Henry rifle on Indio and gives his gun belt and pistol to Mortimer, evening the odds. "Now we start," Manco announces and sits while Mortimer and Indio face off. During the standoff, Manco looks down at the pocket watch and sees the same picture of the woman Indio had sexually assaulted. The music finishes, and Mortimer outdraws and guns down Indio. At this juncture, Mortimer takes Indio's pocket watch. Manco gives him back the other watch and remarks on a family resemblance; the Colonel replies, "Naturally, between brother and sister," indicating that the young woman's portrait was that of Mortimer's sister. His revenge complete, he decides to take no part of the bounty. As Manco tosses the last of the bodies into a wagon and counts them by the reward for each one, he realizes he is short of the $27,000 total, and spins around to gun down Groggy who had survived and waited in ambush. As he leaves, he takes the bag with the bank money out of the tree, though it is not clear whether he intends to return it. He then rides off into the distance with his horse towing the wagon full of the lifeless bodies of the entire gang.

A Man with No Name (Clint Eastwood) arrives at a little Mexican border town named San Miguel. The Stranger simply observes the events of the town from a distance. The town itself is quite small and only has a few buildings. As the bell tolls, all residents of the town seek safety in their homes. The Stranger meets Silvanito who runs the town inn and bar. The town is visited by bandits and smugglers from Texas, who cross the border to load up on guns and liquor, which are cheaper in Mexico. Then they return to Texas and sell the same stuff to the Native Americans. The Stranger is quickly introduced to the feud between two families vying to gain control of the town: the Rojo brothers, consisting of Don Miguel (Antonio Prieto) (the eldest and nominally in charge), Esteban (Sieghardt Rupp) (the most headstrong) and Ramon (Gian Maria Volonte) (the most capable and intelligent), and the family of so-called "town sheriff" John Baxter (Wolfgang Lukschy), his matriarchal wife, Consuelo (Margherita Lozano), and their son, Antonio (Aldo Sambreli). Rojos own the liquor business and the Baxters own the gun business. Hence the town has 2 bosses. Both gangs pay in dollars. Rojos are the stronger gang due to Ramon. The Stranger quickly spies an opportunity to make a "fistful of dollars" and decides to play both families against each other. The Stranger kills 4 of Baxter's men who shot at him earlier when he rode into town. The Stranger than makes a deal with Don Miguel to work for the Rojos and gets paid $100 for killing the 4 Baxter men. He gets a room in the Rojo residence, where he finds a woman named Marisol. The Stranger overhears Esteban arguing with Miguel about hiring him and decides to leave the residence. The Stranger stays with Silvanito. His opportunity comes when a detachment of Mexican soldiers escorting a shipment of gold passes through the town. The gold is ostensibly being delivered to a troop of American soldiers at the border river in exchange for a shipment of modern American weapons. Upon following the Mexican troops, the Stranger watches from hiding as they are massacred by members of the Rojo gang, disguised in American uniforms and led by Ramon Rojo. After the raid Miguel introduces Ramon to The Stranger. Ramon instantly dislikes him as he believes that The Stranger is a sharpshooter and an intelligent man. The Stranger pretends to leave town saying that he is moving on. Ramon tells Miguel to extend a hand of friendship to the Baxter's. Ramon knows that the US and the Mexican Governments will investigate the massacre and he wants to lie low for the duration, even if it means letting the Baxters do what they want. The Stranger takes two of the bodies to a nearby cemetery with Silvanito's help and sells information to both sides (for $500 each) that two soldiers survived the attack. Both sides race to the cemetery, the Baxters to get the "survivors" to testify against the Rojos, and the Rojos to silence them. The factions engage in a fierce gunfight, but Ramon manages to kill (as he believes) the "survivors" and Esteban captures John Baxter's son Antonio. While the Rojos and the Baxters are busy, the Stranger takes the opportunity to search the Rojo hacienda for the Mexican gold, but accidentally knocks out Ramon's beautiful prisoner and unwilling mistress Marisol (Marianne Koch) when she surprises him. He takes her to the Baxters, who arrange for a prisoner swap with the Rojos. During the hostage exchange, Marisol's son and husband approach her. Ramón orders one of his men, Rubio (Benny Reeves), to kill Marisol's husband, Julio (Daniel Martín), but he is deterred by Silvanito (Pepe Calvo) and the Stranger. The Stranger orders Marisol to go back to Ramón, and her husband to take their son home. He learns from Silvanito that Ramón accused Julio of cheating during a card game and took Marisol as collateral. That night, while the Rojos are celebrating, the Stranger rides out and frees Marisol, shooting the guards and wrecking the house to make it look like it was attacked by a large band. The Stranger tells Marisol, her husband and their son to leave town, and gives them some money to live on. Marisol then asks the Stranger, "Why do you do this for us?" And for the first and only time, the Stranger provides some insight for his actions when he replies to Marisol, "Why? Because I knew someone like you once. There was no one there to help. Now get moving." The Rojos capture and beat the Stranger up after this betrayal, but he escapes, killing Chico (Mario Brega) in the process, with the help of the coffin maker Piripero (Joseph Egger). Believing the Stranger to be protected by the Baxters, the Rojos set fire to the Baxter home and massacre all the residents when they are forced to flee the flames, including John Baxter, his son and his wife Consuelo. The Rojos become the only gang left in San Miguel. The Stranger escapes town by hiding in a coffin and recuperates in an abandoned mine. When Piripero tells him that Silvanito has been captured and tortured by the Rojos for the Stranger's whereabouts, he returns to town to confront them. The Man with No Name returns to town to engage the Rojos in a dramatic duel. He first rescues Silvanito, who was tortured to reveal the Stranger's whereabouts. The Man with No Name has a steel chest plate hidden under his clothing and taunts Ramon to "aim for the heart" as Ramon's rifle shots bounce off. As Ramón's shots deflect until Ramón exhausts his Winchester rifle's ammunition. The Stranger shoots the weapon from Ramón's hand and kills Don Miguel, Rubio and the other Rojo men standing nearby. He uses the last shot to free Silvanito, who is hanging from a rope by his hands. After challenging Ramón to reload his rifle faster than he can reload his revolver, the Stranger shoots and kills him. Esteban Rojo aims for the Stranger's back from a nearby building but is shot dead by Silvanito. The Stranger bids Silvanito and Piripero farewell, and rides away from town.