Dorothy Tristan

A small-town police chief investigating a murder is offered help by a self-described psychic. However, when the chief discovers that the "psychic" is in possession of information known only to the police, he suspects that the man may be more involved in the case than he lets on. —Anonymous

An ex-con drifter with a penchant for brawling is amused by a homeless ex-sailor, so they partner up as they head east together. Max is an ex-con who's been saving money to open a car wash in Pittsburgh. Lionel is a sailor who's returning home to the midwest to see the child born while he was at sea. They form an unlikely pair as the brawling Max learns a little how Lionel copes with the world: Lionel believes that the scarecrow doesn't scare birds, but instead amuses them - birds find scare-crows funny. —Anonymous Max Millan and Francis Delbuchi are both drifters traveling independently of each other. Max, a quick tempered and highly regimented man, has just served a six year prison term, and is heading to Pittsburgh to open a car wash business, with a stop in Denver first to visit his sister Coley. "Lion" as Max eventually coins Francis (Lion which is short for Francis' middle name, Lionel), whose easy going nature demonstrates how immature he is, has just spent five years working on a ship, and is heading to Detroit to see his wife Annie and their child, who he has never met and whose gender he doesn't even know. An act of his immaturity, he abandoned Annie when she was pregnant. To make up for it, he has since sent all his paychecks to Annie. He hasn't told her of his impending visit. Max and Lion meet each other in California early in their current travels. Despite their initial meeting being somewhat confrontational due to their different natures, they decide to travel together, combining resources to open that car wash. They still plan on stopping in Denver and Detroit before their final destination of Pittsburgh. As they thumb rides and ride the rails together, each brings the other a little closer to his own temperament. But a longer than anticipated stay in Denver and an incident with Annie threatens their dreams. —Huggo Max, a tough, brawling ex-convict, who dreams of one day owning his own car-wash, hooks up with "Lion," a clowning kid just home from five years at sea. They go from California to Reno to Denver to Detroit hoping to find a life far removed from the jails and skid-rows they know too well. —Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

Bree Daniels (Jane Fonda) is a prostitute in New York City who aspires to be a model/actress. Along with Jane McKenna and Arlyn Page, she used to work for pimp Frank Ligourin (Roy Scheider). Bree quits working full-time as a prostitute after a serious encounter with a violent customer. The movie opens with Tom Gruneman and his wife hosting a social gathering at their house in Tuscarora, Pennsylvania. Their guests include Tom's colleague Peter Cable (Charles Cioffi) and Tom's friend/policeman John Klute (Donald Sutherland). Soon after, Tom Gruneman disappears without a trace and the police perform an investigation. They find an obscene letter to Bree Daniels at Gruneman's office in his desk. Daniels is contacted and she confirms that she had received several such letters but does not recognize Tom when shown a photograph. Daniels is arrested for prostitution. When released, she severs her relationship with Ligourin and begins to freelance and make her own contacts with customers. She leaves Park Avenue and moves into a small apartment and begins to worry that someone is following her. After six months of investigating Tom Gruneman's disappearance, the Police are at a dead end. Peter Cable hires John Klute to go to New York City and continue the investigation. Klute moves into a basement apartment in the same building where Daniels lives. He taps her telephone and records her telephone conversations. He then contacts Daniels and asks for her help in solving Gruneman's disappearance. Although initially reluctant, Daniels eventually cooperates with the persistent Klute who provides her protection from whomever is stalking her. Bree tries to manipulate Klute using sex but eventually she actually comes to care for him when he helps her get away from her former pimp. Klute learns that Jane McKenna (one of Frank Ligourin's former prostitutes at the time Bree was with him) apparently committed suicide. Then Aryln Page, another prostitute from Bree's past, whom Klute tracks down and also fails to recognize Tom's picture, is subsequently found dead. As Klute's investigation continues, it becomes evident that: (1) The same man mistreated Bree Daniels and the other two prostitutes of Frank Ligourin; (2) The man used Tom Gruneman's name when he was with the prostitutes; (3) The man murdered Jane McKenna and Arlyn Page and probably Tom Gruneman Klute eventually investigates Tom's friends and identifies Peter Cable based on the typewriter used to type the obscene letters and his writing style and consistent typing errors. The killer is not a mystery to viewers as Peter Cable is shown several times throughout the movie listening to tapes he had recorded of the sexual encounters and murders on a small tape recorder. / Replace following paragraph: It is unclear why Cable thought it necessary to try to frame Gruneman (by planting the letter to Daniels in Gruneman's desk) or why Cable hired Klute to continue the investigation when the police had come to a dead end. /With this: Toward the end of the movie Cable reveals to Bree Daniels that Gruneman had found him with Arlyn Page, which is why Cable thought it necessary to try to frame Gruneman (by planting the letter to Daniels in Gruneman's desk). However, it is a mystery why Cable hired Klute to continue the investigation when the police had come to a dead end, or if Cable had later killed Gruneman. Cable follows and attempts to kill Daniels, but Klute arrives just in time to save Daniels and Cable falls out the window to his death. (He jumped out the window.) Daniels moves out of her apartment to go with Klute who she has fallen in love with although she doubts she will be able to convert to a domestic life.