Dustin Hoffman

Po faces his greatest challenge yet when he ventures to the big city and meets a new villain called the Chameleon.

To Work, examines how race is often an accelerant for workplace inequity. Through a series of interviews, Black participants are provided with a space to chronicle and process their experiences of systemic racism.

When Po discovers a secret village of fun-loving, clumsy pandas, he must train them to defeat Kai, a supernatural villain who threatens to destroy Kung Fu.

A chef who loses his restaurant job starts up a food truck in an effort to reclaim his creative promise, while piecing back together his estranged family.

David and Amy Sumner (James Marsden and Kate Bosworth), a Hollywood screenwriter and his actress wife, return to her small hometown in the deep South to prepare the family home for sale after her father`s death. Once there, tensions build in their marriage and old conflicts re-emerge with the locals, including Amy`s ex-boyfriend Charlie (Alexander Skarsgard), leading to a violent confrontation.

In his biggest challenge since becoming the Dragon Warrior, Po must lead his kung fu masters, The Furious Five, on an epic mission to defeat his most threatening rival yet.

A clumsy panda bear named Po becomes an unlikely kung fu hero when a treacherous enemy spreads chaos throughout the countryside.

An unusually brave mouse helps to restore happiness to a forlorn kingdom after making friends with a gentleman rat. The tale of three unlikely heroes - a misfit mouse who prefers reading books to eating them, an unhappy rat who schemes to leave the darkness of the dungeon, and a bumbling servant girl with cauliflower ears - whose fates are intertwined with that of the castle's princess.

Harvey Shine (Dustin Hoffman) works as a jingle writer for television commercials in Manhattan, a job not in keeping with his one-time aspiration to be a jazz composer and pianist. We see him at work and he is very good at what he does. However, his boss does not seem impressed with his latest output. As Harvey departs for London to attend his daughter Susan's wedding, his boss actually suggests that he spend more time there than he had originally planned. Harvey declines, making the point that he needs to be back for an upcoming pitch to an old client. His boss insists that it is being done by other musicians, and that Harvey's latest work was his last chance to keep his job. On the plane, Harvey tries to chat up a fellow passenger, but she is having none of it. He is left sitting there with egg on his face and we come to regard him as even more of a loser. Meanwhile, we witness the mildly strained relationship between Kate Walker (Emma Thompson), a single Londoner, and her mother, whose husband left years earlier. Kate tries to reassure her mother that despite being single, she may yet find a man. Further, Kate tells her mom to quit worrying about the new Polish neighbor who has moved in next door and seems to be stacking a lot of firewood. Upon arrival at Heathrow Airport in London, Harvey encounters Kate at her job collecting statistics from passengers as they pass through the terminals. She attempts to question him about his reasons for visiting the UK. Tired and anxious to get to his hotel, Harvey brusquely dismisses her when she approaches him to ask questions. Harvey heads for the hotel to check in and discovers that he is the first one to arrive. Upon calling his daughter to double check where everyone else is when they were all supposed to be staying together, he learns that his ex-wife Jean actually rented a house to accommodate family and friends from the States and he is the only one at the hotel. After a brief nap, he showers and hurriedly dresses. On the way to the rehearsal dinner in the taxi cab, he realizes the anti-shoplifting device is still attached to the sleeve of his jacket. And to make matter worse, he has worn a white suit (thinking this was requested) while all the other men wore black. During the meal, it becomes increasingly clear Harvey is considered a mere guest and the role of father of the bride has been delegated to Jean's husband Brian. To add insult to injury, Brian stands to give the toast, and recollects the vacation they all spent in Rome, and his stepson-in-law-to-be embraces him and calls him Dad. Just before leaving back to his hotel, when Harvey tells Susan (with whom he has shared a strained relationship since his divorce) that he will be attending the ceremony but not the subsequent reception because he needs to return to the States for an important meeting, she informs him she has asked Brian to give her away. Meanwhile, Kate is set up on a blind date by a well meaning co-worker that does not go well. When she returns to the table after taking yet another call from her mother, she discovers her younger date has invited some of his younger friends to join them. Feeling unwanted and excluded from the conversation, she eventually excuses herself and goes home. As it turns out, Kate's increasingly neurotic mother seems convinced that her Polish neighbor is some kind of murderer because she sees him toting strange looking, lumpy packages into a shed in the back yard. The following morning Harvey attends Susan's wedding, but heavy traffic delays his arrival back to Heathrow, and he misses his plane. When he calls his boss Marvin in NYC to inform him he will be returning a day later than planned and that he will try to get there as soon as possible, he is told that he is fired. In his glum mood, Harvey makes his way to the airport bar and starts slugging down scotch, determined to drown his sorrows. Kate is sitting in the lounge reading a novel and drinking wine when she notices Harvey. She makes a barb to him about the drinking being a big help to whatever is bothering him and he fires back about her reading a trashy novel and drinking chardonnay not being so much better. They gradually warm to each other over the course of their salads. After an awkward goodbye at the exit, where Harvey wistfully watches Kate walk away, he decides to follow her to the Heathrow Express and upon arrival at Paddington station, asks if he can walk her to her writing class on the South Bank. She accepts his offer and is pleased when he offers to meet her after class. As they stroll along the River Thames, Harvey mentions he is missing Susan's wedding reception, and Kate urges him to go. He finally relents, but only if she will accompany him. When Kate insists she is not properly dressed for such an occasion, Harvey buys her a dress and the two head to the Grosvenor House Hotel, where they are welcomed warmly by Susan and her new husband Scott. When the father of the bride is called upon to make a toast, Brian rises and begins to speak until Harvey taps his glass and reminds him who the real father of the bride is. He then delivers an eloquent speech that redeems him with his daughter and endears him to Kate. Following the reception, Harvey and Kate walk and talk until dawn. They exchange a single, gentle kiss and agree to meet again at noon at the same place, a cafe near a water park. They are both excited about the upcoming rendezvous, but after running up the hotel stairs too quickly, Harvey suffers an attack of arrhythmia! Paramedics rush him to the hospital, where he protests to doctors that he is fine and must leave to meet someone. The doctors insist that he must stay for further tests. Kate buys some flowers and does her makeup in anticipation of seeing Harvey again. She waits at the cafe where they agreed to meet, yet he is still in the hospital, unbeknownst to Kate. After a long time waiting, she leaves alone, crushed and rueful. Harvey immediately attempts to contact Kate after he is released from the hospital, but is surprised to receive a call from his ex-boss Marvin, who explains how his superiors like Harvey's latest work so much that he wants him to return to his job right away. Harvey pauses and then tells Marvin that he no longer wants the job. Kate visits her mother again and discovers that the Polish neighbor has left a rather large smoked ham. Turns out that he is not a killer after all, just a meat smoker. Kate then returns to her job taking surveys at the airport, and when Harry calls her there, she refuses to take his call. Harvey rushes to the airport to redeem himself with Kate but she has left for the day. Her workmates are suspicious of him at first but know that she likes him, and let him know that she is at her writing class. He tracks her down after class and reveals why he missed their rendezvous. Overly cautious about romance because of so many past disappointments, Kate initially resists his suggestion that they see what the future might bring them, but finally agrees to give things a chance. When she asks Harvey how it will work, he replies that he does not know, "But it will, I promise you that." As they walk away, Kate takes off her shoes to make her closer in height to the shorter Harry. He says, "I think you're my kind of girl." When he recalls that she never did ask him the questions from her airport survey, she asks for his name and residence, to which he replies, "I'm in transition." Over the end credits, we see that Kate's mom has gone to visit her Polish neighbor to thank him for the ham. The neighbor invites her to come into his house, and after some feigned hesitation, she agrees to enter.

The young apprentice of a magical, eccentric toy store owner learns to believe in herself, and in her friends, upon learning some grave news about the future. Molly Mahoney is the manager of Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, the awesome toy store owned by Mr. Edward Magorium. Molly was a promising composer and piano player when she was a girl, and now she is a twenty-three year-old insecure woman who feels stuck in her job. Among the costumers of the Emporium is the lonely hat collector, Eric Applebaum, who has only Molly and Mr. Magorium for friends. When the last pair of shoes that Mr. Magorium bought in Toscana is worn, he hires the accountant, Henry Weston to adjust the accounts of the Emporium. Furthermore, he claims that he is two hundred and forty-three years old and his time to go has come; he gives a block of wood called Congreve cube to Molly and asks Henry to transfer the Emporium to her name. Molly tries to convince Mr. Magorium to stay in his magical toy store instead of "going". —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Molly Mahoney is the awkward and insecure manager of Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, the strangest, most fantastic, most wonderful toy store in the world. But when Mr. Magorium, the 243-year-old eccentric who owns the store, bequeaths the store to her, a dark and ominous change begins to take over the once-remarkable Emporium. —Production A magical toy store that has been opened for many years is under the threat of stopping and closing forever because the owner is planning on leaving the living and putting the other workers in charge. The other workers have no idea how to operate the magical toy store. —RECB3

The film begins with the sentencing of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Ben Whishaw), a notorious murderer. Between the reading of the sentence and the execution, the story of his life is told in flashback, beginning with his abandonment at birth in a French fish market. Raised in an orphanage, Grenouille grows into a strangely detached boy with a superhuman sense of smell. After growing to maturity as a tanner's apprentice, he makes his first delivery to Paris, where he revels in the new odors. He focuses on the scent of a kindly girl selling plums (Karoline Herfurth) and startles her with his behavior. To prevent her from crying out, he covers the girl's mouth and unintentionally suffocates her. After realizing that she is dead, he strips her body naked and smells her until the scent fades. Afterwards, Grenouille becomes haunted by the desire to preserve the woman's scent forever. After making a delivery to a perfume shop, Grenouille amazes the Italian owner, Giuseppe Baldini (Dustin Hoffman), with his ability to create fragrances. He revitalizes the perfumer's career with new formulas, demanding only that Baldini teach him how to convert scents into perfume. Baldini explains that all perfumes are harmonies of twelve individual scents, and may contain a theoretical thirteenth scent. He also tells a story about a perfume discovered in an Egyptian tomb that was so perfect that it caused everyone in the entire world to briefly believe they were in paradise the moment the bottle was opened. When Grenouille discovers that Baldini's method of distillation will not capture the scents of all objects, such as iron chains and dead animals, he becomes depressed. After receiving a letter of presentation written by Baldini, Grenouille leaves to learn a different method in Grasse. En route to Grasse, Grenouille realises that he has no scent of his own, and is therefore a cipher. He decides that creating the perfect smell will prove his worth. Upon arrival in Grasse, Grenouille catches the scent of the naive Laura Richis (Rachel Hurd-Wood), daughter of the wealthy Antoine Richis (Alan Rickman) and decides that she will be his "thirteenth scent", the linchpin of his perfect perfume. Grenouille finds a job in Grasse under Madame Arnulfi (Corinna Harfouch) and Dominique Druot (Paul Berrondo) assisting with perfumes and learns the method of enfleurage. He kills a lavender picker and attempts to extract her scent using the method of hot enfleurage, which fails. After this, he tries the method of cold enfleurage on a prostitute and successfully preserves the scent of the woman. Grenouille embarks on a killing spree, murdering beautiful young girls and capturing their scents. He dumps the women's naked corpses around the city, creating panic. After preserving the first twelve scents, Grenouille plans his attack on Laura. During a church sermon against him it is announced that a man has confessed to the murders. Richis remains unconvinced and flees the city with his daughter. Grenouille tracks her scent to a roadside inn and sneaks into her room that night. The next morning, Richis discovers Laura lying dead in her bed. Soldiers capture Grenouille moments after he finishes preparing his perfume. On the day of his execution, he applies a drop of the perfume over himself. The executioner and the crowd in attendance are speechless; the perfume endows Grenouille the essence of innocence and beauty, and they declare Grenouille "innocent" before falling into a massive orgy. Richis, still convinced at Grenouille's guilt, threatens him with his sword, before being overwhelmed by the scent and embracing Grenouille as his "son". Eventually, the town awakens and decides that the godly Grenouille could not have been the murderer. Druot is convicted for the murders and hanged, since it was his backyard where the clothes and hair of the victims were found. Walking out of Grasse unscathed, Grenouille has enough perfume to rule the world, but has discovered that it will not allow him to love or be loved like a normal person. Disenchanted by his aimless quest and tired of his life, he returns to Paris. Back in the city, Grenouille returns to the fish market where he was born and dumps the perfume on his head. Overcome by the scent and in the belief that Grenouille is an angel, the nearby crowd devours him. The next day, all that is left are his clothes and the open perfume bottle, from which one final drop of perfume falls.

Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) is an auditor for the Internal Revenue Service, living his entire life based on the timing of his wristwatch. He is given the job to audit an intentionally tax-delinquent baker, Ana Pascal (Maggie Gyllenhaal) to whom he is awkwardly attracted. On the same day, he begins hearing the voice of a woman that is Omnisciently narrating the events in his life, but he is unable to communicate with the voice. On his way home, Harold's watch stops working and he resets it using the time given by a bystander; the voice narrates "little did he know that this simple, seemingly innocuous act would result in his imminent death". Worried over this prediction, Harold turns to a psychiatrist (Linda Hunt) who attributes the voice to schizophrenia; though they also consider that if it is not schizophrenia and there really is a narrator, he should then visit an expert in literature. Crick visits Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman), a university literature professor, and relates his story. Jules first comes to the same conclusion as the psychiatrist, as Harold's dull life is not something commonly seen in novels. However, Jules then recognizes aspects of a literary work in Harold's story ("little did he know"), and encourages him to help identify the author, first by determining if the work is a comedy or a tragedy. As Harold proceeds to audit Ana, the two begin to fall for each other, but when Harold refuses to accept cookies that Ana made for him on the grounds that they could be viewed as a bribe, Ana angrily tells him to leave, making Harold believe the story is a tragedy. On the advice of Jules, Harold spends the next day at home to try to control his own destiny and stop the plot of the book by doing absolutely nothing, but his apartment is partially demolished by a wrecking crew mistaking the building for an abandoned one. Jules then believes that since Harold cannot control the plot that has been set for him, he should accept that he will die and enjoy whatever time he has left to the fullest. Harold takes this to heart: he takes an extended vacation from work, develops his friendship with his co-worker Dave (Tony Hale), fulfills his dream of learning to play the guitar and starts to see Ana on a regular basis. Harold believes he may have mistaken his story and now reassesses it as a comedy. When he returns to Jules with this revelation, Harold inadvertently identifies the voice in his head from a television interview as noted author Karen (Kay) Eiffel (Emma Thompson). Jules, an admirer of Eiffel's work, reveals that every book she has written is about the main character's tragic death. Karen (who has been appearing throughout in a parallel story) has been struggling from writer's block for years and is currently researching numerous ways to have Crick die. Her publisher has sent an assistant, Penny Escher (Queen Latifah), to make sure the book gets completed (ironically, the book's title is "Death and Taxes", a snippet from a famous statement by Benjamin Franklin). Harold finds Eiffel through her tax records. When Karen learns that Harold is a real person and has experienced everything she's written, she is horrified by the thought that all of her previous books may have also resulted in the deaths of real people. She tells Harold she has finally written a draft of the ending and his death but has not typed it up yet; the pair realize that all the events in the book become true when she strikes the period key. Penny suggests Harold read the book and the drafted ending to get his opinion. Harold is unable to bring himself to read it and gives the manuscript to Jules to review. Jules confirms its excellence, labeling it as Karen's masterpiece, and makes clear that Harold's death is integral to its genius. Though Harold is deeply distressed over his fate, Jules comforts him by stating the inevitability of death: this one death, at least, will have a deeper meaning by completing the book. Harold reads the manuscript himself over the course of a day; he returns the manuscript to Karen, telling her the death she has written for him is "beautiful" and that she should keep it as it is. Accepting his fate, he spends one last night with Ana. The next day, Harold prepares to return to work after his vacation, despite Karen's voice narrating the fateful day as she types up her planned ending. Because Harold's watch is three minutes fast (owing to the imprecise time given to him when he reset his watch) he arrives at the bus stop early, and watches as a young boy on a bicycle ride in front of the arriving bus but falls. Karen continues to write, narrating as Harold leaps from the curb and pushes the child out of the way, saving the boy at the cost of being struck by the bus, however Karen is unable to complete the sentence confirming Harold's death. Harold wakes up to find himself in a hospital, severely injured but alive, Ana by his side. He learns that fragments of his wristwatch helped to block the right ulnar artery in his body after the collision, preventing him from bleeding to death. When Jules reads Karen's final manuscript, he notes that the story is weaker without Harold's death. Karen admits the flaw, although she points out that the story was meant to be about a man that dies unexpectedly; with Harold knowingly and willingly sacrificing himself, the story would have lost its tragic impact. In place of Harold, his wristwatch-Anthropomorphized throughout most of the film-is now the character who died tragically.

Greg Focker and his fiance Pam Byrnes introduce their parents to each other, but the hyper-relaxed Fockers and the tightly-wound Byrneses are woefully mismatched from the start.

In 1903 London, following the dismal reception of his latest play (the play is taken down after a few days of opening night), Little Mary, Barrie (Johnny Depp) meets the widowed Sylvia (Kate Winslet) and her four young sons (George (Nick Roud), Jack (Joe Prospero), Peter (Freddie Highmore) and Michael (Luke Spill)) in Kensington Gardens. A strong, close friendship develops among them. He proves to be a great playmate and surrogate father figure for the boys, and their imaginative antics (they imagine whole worlds and create characters and play them with conviction. Injuns and the westerners. Exploration of Africa in the backyard. kite flying) give him ideas which he incorporates into a play about boys who do not want to grow up, especially one named after troubled young Peter Llewelyn Davies. Barrie gifts Peter his first diary and encourages him to write stories coming out of his vivid imagination. Barrie is shown to be friends with Arthur Conan Doyle (Ian Hart). Barrie's wife Mary invites Sylvia, her kids and her mother to dinner. Barrie misses meals at home and suggests that they loan their own cook to Sylvia, as she is short of helping hands in her own house. Although Barrie sees this family as wonderful and inspirational, people question his relationship with the Llewelyn Davies family. Sylvia was a widow: her husband died from cancer and left her with four boys to bring up on her own. Arthur makes Barrie understand that people are questioning his relationship with Sylvia and even her boys. Barrie brushes them aside and takes Sylvia and her boys to his summer cottage for the summer. This is where the script for Peter Pan takes shape. Barrie's wife Mary (Radha Mitchell), who eventually divorces him (she started an affair with Gilbert Cannan (Oliver Fox). When Barrie tries to reconcile she demands that he return home at the end of the rehearsals and stop his forays into the countryside with Sylvia's family), and Sylvia's mother Emma Du Maurier (Julie Christie), object to the amount of time Barrie spends with the Llewelyn Davies family (a grown man spending so much time with the kids, and that Barrie is hurting any future prospects that Sylvia might have for settling down into a married life again). Emma also seeks to control her daughter and grandsons, especially as Sylvia becomes increasingly weak from an unidentified illness (which started at the summer cottage). Along the way, Barrie goes on adventures with Sylvia and her boys. He too is a boy at heart and spending time with the family is special. Barrie takes those adventures he has with the boys and makes them into a play called Peter Pan. Peter blames Barrie for Sylvia's illness. Producer Charles Frohman (Dustin Hoffman) skeptically agrees to mount Peter Pan (The play demands a ship on stage, surrounded by huge amounts of water, which requires huge amount of money. But Barrie says that they can fake the water), despite his belief that it holds no appeal for upper-class theatergoers (doctors, lawyers, and so on with their wives). Barrie asks Charles to set aside 25 seats in the audience, scattered all over the place. George breaks his hand when Jack and Michael let go of the ropes helping him fly in the air (in the theatre). George insists that Sylvia undergoes medical examination, before he will allow the doctors to set his hand right. Barrie peppers the opening night audience with children from a nearby orphanage, and the adults present react to their infectious delight with an appreciation of their own. The play proves to be a huge success. Barrie is all set for his play, but when Peter arrives alone to the play (as Sylvia had a coughing fit and was in no position to attend), Barrie goes to Sylvia's house to check up on her and misses the show. Peter attends the play and realizes the play is about his brothers and Barrie. Mary attends the opening and realizes that Barrie could never have written anything like this, without Sylvia's family. She understands and apologizes to Barrie. Sylvia is too ill to attend the premiere, so Barrie arranges to have an abridged production of it performed in her home. He gets the actors, props and musicians together in the Llewelyn Davies house. At the end of the play, Peter Pan points to the back doors and implies that Sylvia should go off to Neverland. She takes the hands of her boys and slowly walks out into Neverland. The living room and back garden transform into Neverland and Sylvia continues to walk on her own. In the next scene, everyone is at Sylvia's funeral. Barrie discovers that her will says that he and her mother should look after the boys, an arrangement agreeable to both. The film ends with J. M. Barrie finding Peter on the bench in the park where they first met after Peter ran off from the graveyard. Peter is holding his book where he wrote the plays that he ripped apart and that his mother glued back together for him. Barrie sits down and puts his arm around Peter to comfort him. They both fade, and all that is left is the bench.

A group of Grifters rip off their latest mark and celebrate, while the group leader, Jake Vig (Edward Burns), explains the art of the con. In their latest con, they get their mark Lionel Dolby (Leland Orser) to pay them a briefcase full of money, to get away from being an accomplice to an apparent homicide (Jake made it look like he shot Gordo in a drug deal gone wrong). The local cops Omar and Lloyd work with Jake for a 10% cut, to add to the dramatic effect. When one of the four, Big Al (Louis Lombardi), is found shot to death, the other three learn that the latest money they stole belonged to a local Los Angeles crime lord known as The King (Dustin Hoffman). Lionel was an accountant for The King, and the money he gave to Jake was collection money that Lionel was holding on The King's behalf. When questioned, Lionel revealed the the sequence of events with Jake and his group. The King tracked Big Al, when Al made a large cash payment to a bookie, and bragged about how he had carried out a big score, which netted him the cash. Jake goes to meet The King, and accepts that he didn't know that Lionel worked for him. But he refuses to pay back the money, since The King killed Al. The Kind orders that the Grifters work for him and steal money from Morgan Price (Robert Forster), a rival who owns a bank. Jake enlists the aid of his remaining partners, Gordo (Paul Giamatti) and Miles (Brian Van Holt), and also convinces an independent con artist named Lily (Rachel Weisz) to round out their foursome. The King, a ruthless killer with ADHD, demands that one of his men, Lupus (Franky G), also go along. The con involves bribing a bank vice president to wire $5 million money offshore disguised as a business loan. Jake will withdraw the money and bring it back into the US in a carry on bag. Jake owed The King only $150,000. Jake asks The King to lend him $200,000 to bribe the banker. The King is livid with Jake, but Jake is confident of himself, and The King does extend him the additional credit. The gang finds Leon Ashby (John Carroll Lynch), VP of Corporate loans at Price Bank and decide that he will be the mark. Leon has no friends, no family, no life. Lily is the shell, who is supposed to make the whole pitch believable to Leon. But Lily dresses in a red wig, and wears a pigeon themed scarf, both of which Jake says has put a huge jinx on the entire operation. Lily proceeds with the plan and makes initial contact with Leon, posing as a start-up executive, looking for a business loan. She invites Leon for dinner with the gang, who also play their roles as executives of the start up. At dinner, the group convinces Leon that they have a buyer lined up for the company at 5-6X valuation, and need the loan for working capital till the sale takes place. That night Jake and Lily have sex. Leon agrees to sanction the loan the next day, in exchange for his own cut. The plan hits a snag when Special Agent Gunther Butan (Andy García) shows up in Los Angeles looking to finally bust Jake, who he has followed for years. Butan forces corrupt LAPD detectives Omar Manzano (Luis Guzman) and Lloyd Whitworth (Donal Logue) to switch their allegiance from Jake to him. Butan had videotapes of Omar and Lloyd dealing in drugs, which could put them away for a long time. After hearing about Butan's arrival, a nervous Jake pulls the plug on the whole con. He screams at Lily when she presses Jake to continue with the scam with some changes, making her walk out. Lupus gets Jake to reconsider nixing the con, hinting that The King will torture and kill the Grifters if the plan falls short. The con is back on, although now without Lily's help. Leon wires the money to Gordo in Belize. Jake tips off Lupus that they can keep the money and cut out The King. Lupus informs The King, who decides to intercept the money at the airport. Gordo brings it to Ontario Airport, where he is met by both Butan and The King's men, both sides after the $5 million in a carry on bag. Butan arrests The King and confiscates the money. Omar and Lloyd are also arrested by Internal Affairs, based on video evidence shared by Butan. Gordo disappears. Lupus, thinking The King has the money, reveals he was the one who killed Big Al. Lupus holds Jake at gunpoint, but he is shot by Travis (Morris Chestnut), a henchman for Morgan Price. It turns out that when Lily walked out, she went straight to Price and revealed the entire con, which was taking place that minute. Price told Travis to locate Jake to find out exactly how the con was engineered, and to stop such a thing from ever happening again. Travis takes Jake to an abandoned lot, and forces him to explain the entire story. A furious Lily takes out a gun and shoots Jake. Travis demands that he and Lily both disappear immediately. Minutes later, Butan arrives in a car, and Jake sits up from a pool of blood, unharmed. The final parts of the con are revealed. Lily's "quitting" was faked; a set-up to confuse Lupus. Butan is actually an old confidant of Jake's. He managed to "confiscate" the money and arrest The King at the same time. Butan has the money, and it's split five ways. Jake was wearing squibs to fake his own death in the lot. In the end, everyone was in on everything except for The King and Lupus (the first marks), Price and Travis (the second, bigger marks), and the two corrupt LAPD detectives, who have been arrested. The four Grifters reunite and celebrate, driving off into the night.

In the middle of the southern Pacific Ocean, a thousand feet below the surface, what is believed to be an alien spacecraft is discovered after a ship laying transoceanic cable has its cable cut and the United States Navy investigates the cause. The thickness of coral growth on the spaceship suggests that it has been there for almost 300 years. A team made up of marine biologist Dr. Beth Halperin (Sharon Stone), mathematician Dr. Harry Adams (Samuel L. Jackson), astrophysicist Dr. Ted Fielding (Liev Schreiber), psychologist Dr. Norman Goodman (Dustin Hoffman), and U.S. Navy Capt. Harold Barnes (Peter Coyote) are tasked with investigating the spaceship. The team (along with two navy technicians) are housed in a state-of-the-art underwater living environment called the Habitat during their stay on the ocean floor. Upon entering the spaceship, the team makes several discoveries. The first is that the ship is not alien, and that it is in fact an American spaceship. They assume, due to the years of coral growth and advanced technology, that the craft is from the future. The last date in the ship's log, 06/21/43, does not indicate the specific century. The last entry in the log details an "Unknown (Entry) Event", which depicts the ship apparently falling into a black hole, resulting in its trip through time. The ship's mission apparently involved gathering objects from around the galaxy to bring back to Earth. An item of particular interest is a large, perfect sphere in the cargo hold. It is suspended a few feet above the ground and has an impenetrable fluid surface which reflects its surroundings but not, for some undetermined reason, people. Harry concludes from the classification of the event which sent the ship back that the Habitat crew is fated to die: it would not have been an "unknown event" if they had lived to report about it, he reasons. Harry soon sneaks back to the spaceship and finds a way to enter the sphere. Soon after, a series of numeric-encoded messages begins to show up on the habitat's computer screens, and Harry and Ted are able to decipher the messages and converse with what appears to be an alien (which calls itself "Jerry"), which has been trapped in the sphere. They soon discover that "Jerry" can hear everything they are saying aboard the Habitat. Harry's entry into the sphere prevents the team from evacuating before the arrival of a powerful typhoon on the surface, forcing them to stay below for almost a week. A series of tragedies then befalls the crew: Fletcher, the navy technician, is killed by aggressive Sea Nettles. Later, Edmunds' corpse is found drifting near the station, her body completely pulverized by what turns out to be a giant squid, which returns to attack the station. In the chaos that ensues, Barnes is cut in half by a computer operated door, and Ted is burned to death. Sea snakes attack Norman, though he is not injured. Jerry is suspected to be the cause of these incidents. Eventually, only Harry, Norman, and Beth remain. At this point, they realize that they have all entered the world of the perfect sphere except for Norman. Norman enters the Sphere to hurt Beth later than the others. The Sphere has given them the power to manifest their thoughts into reality. As such, all of the disasters that had been plaguing them are the result of manifestations of the worst parts of their own minds. The name "Jerry" turns out to have been erroneously decoded and is actually spelled "Harry"; it is Harry's subconscious communicating with them through their computer system whenever he is asleep. At that point, Beth's suicidal thoughts manifest themselves as triggering a countdown to detonate the explosives that were brought along to clear away the coral. They abandon the Habitat for the mini sub, but their fears manifest an illusion of the spacecraft around them. Norman finally sees through the illusion and punches the mini-sub's emergency surfacing button. The explosives destroy the habitat and the spaceship, but (unknown to them) the sphere itself remains undamaged. As the explosives detonate and create a huge blast wave below it, the mini sub rises to the surface, to be quickly retrieved by the returning surface ships, permitting the survivors to begin safe decompression once on board a navy ship. The film ends with the three deciding to use their powers to erase their own memories before being debriefed, in order to prevent the knowledge about the sphere from falling into the wrong hands. Thus, Harry's paradox, in which they are alive, yet no one has learned about the "unknown event," is resolved. As they erase their own memories of the "unknown event," the sphere is seen emerging from the ocean and flying off into space. (There is an alternate ending which does not feature the special effects of the sphere, first at the bottom of the ocean, and then flying off into space. Instead, it just includes their decision to forget, followed by one or two lines from each character demonstrating that they have forgotten what happened while a helicopter flies off into the distance)

A dog wags its tail as the dog is smarter than the tail. If the tail was smarter, it would wag the dog. The President (Michael Belson) is caught making advances on an underage girl inside the Oval Office, less than two weeks before the election. Conrad Brean (Robert De Niro), a top spin doctor, is brought in by presidential aide Winifred Ames (Anne Heche) to take the public's attention away from the scandal. The President himself is in China, while Washington Post has the story and is ready to roll with it the following day. Conrad starts by delaying the President's return by 1 day claiming that he got sick in China. And then he floats a rumor regarding a deal for the B3 Bomber, only there is no B3 Bomber. As Conrad works with Ames on his plans, the news of the Presidential sexual misconduct with an underage girl hits the TV news. The President's rial Senator Neal (Craig T. Nelson) goes on TV and demands that the President step down to allow for an impartial investigation. The President is still 17 points ahead of Neal in the opinion polls. Conrad decides to construct a fictional war in Albania, hoping the media will concentrate on this instead. Conrad then ties in the rumor and adds that this is why the B3 bomber is being mobilized. Conrad plants questions in the media briefing regarding the situation in Albania and the B3 bomber being mobilized. The White House Press secretary had no knowledge of either and vehemently denied any such developments, thereby providing more credence to the stories. Brean contacts Hollywood producer Stanley Motss (Dustin Hoffman) to create the war, complete with a theme song and fake film footage of a photogenic orphan. Conrad convinces Motss that war is show business. Each war in the American past is characterized by a single iconic photo or event. People remember the symbolism but forget the war itself. Conrad argues that why US is at war with Albania is almost immaterial as when the bombs start falling, the reasons are sent to the background. Grace (Suzie Plakson) is Motss' assistant. Motss comes up with the story that Albania has a nuclear bomb and is threatening the US with it. The Albanians have placed the device into a suitcase and moved it to Canada to smuggle it into the US. Johnny Dean (Willie Nelson) is brought in to sing the song while "Fad King" (Denis Leary) and Liz Butsky (Andrea Martin) come up with the lyrics. Tracy Lime (Kirsten Dunst) is hired to play the orphan, running from a terrorist attack, with a kitten in her hands. Tracy is concerned that she will not be allowed to put the gig on her resume even after it goes national. Ames gets her to sign a security clearance form that prohibits her from even talking about it. Tracy is made to run in front of a blue screen and the entire scenery is added digitally, including the village, the flames and the kitten. The hoax is initially successful, with the President quickly gaining ground in the polls appearing afterwards. When the CIA learns of the plot, they send Agent Young (William H. Macy) to confront Brean about the hoax. Brean convinces Young that revealing the deception is against his and the CIA's best interests. But when the CIA - in collusion with the President's rival candidate - reports that the war did happen but is drawing to an end, the media begins to focus back on the President's sexual abuse scandal. To counter this, Motss decides to invent a hero who was left behind enemy lines in Albania. Inspired by the idea that he was "discarded like an old shoe", Brean and Motss have the Pentagon provide the team with a soldier named Schumann (Woody Harrelson) around whom a POW narrative is constructed, complete with T-shirts, patriotic songs, and faux grassroots demonstrations of patriotism and solidarity. As part of the hoax, folk singer Johnny Dean (Willie Nelson) records a song called "Old Shoe", which is pressed onto a 78 RPM record, prematurely aged so that listeners will think it was recorded years earlier and sent to the Library of Congress to be "found". Soon, large numbers of old pairs of shoes began appearing on phone and power lines, signs that the movement is taking hold. The American public gets caught up in the events of a fictional war produced in the basement of the White House with computers and blue screens, actors and scenarios. Soon they even release a mental patient who once served in the military because he has the right last name, "Shoe", to portray a war hero of the conflict. They release him because they have a show song from a nostalgic old tune that contains his name, a war tune now to drum up sympathy and national support for the war effort. When the team goes to retrieve Schumann, they discover he is in fact a criminally insane Army convict. On the way back, their plane crashes on route to Andrews Air Force Base. The team survives and is rescued by a farmer, an illegal alien who is given expedited citizenship for a better story. However, Schumann is killed after he attempts to sexually assault a gas station owner's daughter. Seizing the opportunity, Motss stages an elaborate military funeral for Schumann, claiming that he died from wounds sustained during his rescue. While watching a political talk show, Motss gets frustrated that the media are crediting the president's upsurge in the polls to the bland campaign slogan of "Don't change horses in mid-stream" rather than Motss's hard work. Despite previously claiming he was inspired by the challenge, Motss announces that he wants credit and will reveal his involvement, despite Brean's offer of an ambassadorship and the dire warning that he is "playing with his life". After Motss refuses to back down, Brean reluctantly orders his security staff to kill him. A newscast reports that Motss has died of a heart attack at home, the president was successfully re-elected, and an Albanian terrorist organization has claimed responsibility for a recent bombing, suggesting the fake war is becoming real.

A distraught man inadvertently takes a group of children hostage in a museum while a hungry, seasoned reporter tries to resurrect his career covering the story. Sam Baily, upset over losing his job, takes a natural history museum hostage. Max Brackett, journalist, is in the museum when this occurs and gets the scoop. The story spreads nationwide, and soon it is all anyone talks about. The story itself is the news, not the reason why or the real people behind it. —<freckles@vivid.net>

Lorenzo "Shakes" Carcaterra (Jason Patric), Thomas "Tommy" Marcano (Billy Crudup), Michael Sullivan (Brad Pitt), and John Reilly (Ron Eldard) are four childhood friends who grew up in Hell's Kitchen, New York City in the mid-1960s. Hell's kitchen was an immigrant neighborhood and life was tough. Domestic violence was a daily occurrence, but the Kitchen also protected its own from outside criminals. During this time, the local priest, Father Bobby Carillo (Robert De Niro), plays a very important part in their lives and keeps an eye on them. They served as altar boys at the church. However, early on they start running small errands for a local gangster, King Benny (Vittorio Gassman). The boys also had a competition going on who could play the boldest prank. Mostly it was innocent stuff like sitting in the priest's chamber of the confession booth, or poking holes into walls to ogle at naked women changing clothes in the change rooms. On a summer day in 1967, their lives take a sharp turn when they almost kill a man after pulling a prank on a hot dog vendor. They accidentally roll the cart down a set of subway stairs, severely injuring an elderly man. As punishment, they are all sentenced to serve time at the Wilkinson Home for Boys in Upstate New York. Shakes is given six-to-twelve months, while the others are given 12-to-18 months. The juvenile center is full of hard-core offenders, with no method for rehabilitation. There, the boys are systematically beaten, abused, and sexually assaulted by guards Sean Nokes (Kevin Bacon), Henry Addison (Jeffrey Donovan), Adam Styler (Lennie Loftin), and Ralph Ferguson (Terry Kinney). These traumatic events change the boys and their friendship forever. Father Bobby visited the boys regularly, but Nokes warned them not to say anything else the reprisals would be severe. Father Bobby gives Shakes the strength to keep going. Mr. Carlson (John Slattery) is the English teacher at the facility and appreciates the interest that Shakes shows in the subject. Guard Marlboro (James Pickens Jr.) is the only one who tries to protect the boys a little bit from the brutality of the predators. When at the facility, the boys participate in Wilkinson's annual football game between the guards and inmates. Michael convinces inmate Rizzo Robinson (Eugene Byrd) to help win the game. Humiliated, the guards move the boys to solitary confinement for weeks, where they are systematically beaten. Rizzo does not survive, and his family is told he had died of pneumonia. In spring 1968, shortly before Shakes's release from Wilkinson, he suggests the boys publicly report the abuse. The others refuse, with Michael asserting that no one would believe them or care, and they vow to never speak of it again. The night before Shakes is released, Nokes and the other guards arrange a "farewell party", in which the four boys are brutally sexually assaulted worse than they have been before. Fourteen years later in 1981, John and Tommy, now gangsters, find Sean Nokes in a Hell's Kitchen pub. When John and Tommy confront him, he dismisses the abuse he put them through. They both shoot him dead in front of several witnesses. Mike, now an assistant District Attorney, arranges to be assigned to the case, secretly intending to botch the prosecution to use it as a means of getting revenge. Moreover, he and Shakes begin forging a plan to get their revenge on all the guards who abused them. Together with many of their lifelong friends, especially Carol (Minnie Driver), a social worker, and King Benny, they manage to carry out their revenge using information on all the Wilkinson guards compiled by Mike previously. Benny spreads the word not to touch Mike and forbids any hits on Mike for taking the case against John and Tommy. Mike says that all Juvenile records are destroyed after 7 years, so there is no link between them and the guards anymore. They hire Danny Snyder (Dustin Hoffman), a washed-up, alcoholic lawyer, to defend John and Tommy to make it seem as if the case is hopeless, allowing them to carry out their plan without being watched. Benny gets involved and 2 of the 4 witnessed change their minds about testifying against John and Tommy. Mike provides all the research to Danny to prove that one of the witnesses who testifies to have seen both John and Tommy walk out of the pub, was drunk at the time of the shooting. However, to clinch the case they need a key witness who can give John and Tommy an alibi. Shakes has a long talk with Father Bobby and tells him about the abuse they suffered at Wilkinson. Mike calls Ralph Ferguson as a character witness in court. Again, Danny has been provided a detailed list of questions to expose Ferguson and Nokes as serial abusers of kids at the juvenile facility. Ferguson breaks down under the strain of the questions and his oath and admits to all accusations against him and Nokes. After a few days of soul-searching, Father Bobby agrees to lie on the stand about where John and Tommy were on the night of the shooting; the priest swears under oath that they were with him at Madison Square Garden at a New York Knicks basketball game. As a result, they are acquitted. The remaining guards are also punished for their crimes: one, Henry Addison, is killed by the drug gang run by the older brother of Rizzo (who was informed by Benny about Addison's crimes against Rizzo), a boy killed years before in the Wilkinson Home; the other, Adam Styler, a corrupt policeman accused of extorting and killing a drug dealer, is exposed, and arrested. Mike and Shakes had provided all the evidence against Adam to a detective, who was Benny's cousin. After the case is over, Mike quits his job as an attorney and moves to the English countryside where he becomes a carpenter; John drinks himself to death and Tommy is eventually murdered, both within a few years of the acquittal.

It`s traveling fast...destroying everything in its path. The Motaba virus inflicts a swift, horrible death, and only one man can stop it from becoming a deadly worldwide outbreak.

A small-time criminal rescues passengers from a crashed airliner only to see another man take credit. Bernie LaPlante is having a rough time. He's divorced, his ex-wife hates him, and has custody of their son. The cops are setting a trap for him, then to top it all, he loses a shoe while rescuing passengers of a plane crash. Being a thief who is down on his luck, he takes advantage of the rescue, but then someone else claims credit for it. —Rob Hartill Bernie LaPlante is an amoral man and a hustler. He is facing criminal charges. His wife decides to limit his access to their son because he doesn't keep his promises. While on his way to his son's birthday, a plane crashes, and he is nearby. He goes on board to steal what he can but in the process saves some people, one of them being television reporter Gale Gayley. She doesn't get a good look at him but someone gets a photo of him which isn't clear. She then mounts a campaign to find him which includes a reward of a million dollars. Before hearing of this, Bernie tells his experience to John Bubber. He also says that he doesn't want any recognition. Bernie's trial is taking place and he, upon hearing of the million dollars, thinks that he hit the mother lode but before he can claim it, John does, and Bernie is sent to jail. John then grows close to Gale. Bernie, who stole her purse, sells what's in it, and when word of this reaches her, she thinks he is holding this over John, and all sorts of chaos ensues. —rcs0411@yahoo.com

When Captain James Hook kidnaps his children, an adult Peter Pan must return to Neverland and reclaim his youthful spirit in order to challenge his old enemy. Peter Pan (Robin Williams) has grown up to be a cut-throat merger and acquisitions lawyer, and is married to Wendy's (Dame Maggie Smith's) granddaughter, Moira (Caroline Goodall). Captain James Hook (Dustin Hoffman) kidnaps his children, Jack (Charlie Korsmo) and Maggie (Amber Scott), and Peter returns to Neverland with Tinkerbell (Julia Roberts). With the help of her and the Lost Boys, he must remember how to be Peter Pan again in order to save his children by battling with Captain Hook once again.

After a selfish L.A. yuppie learns his estranged father left a fortune to an autistic-savant brother in Ohio that he didn't know existed, he absconds with his brother and sets out across the country, hoping to gain a larger inheritance. Charles Sanford "Charlie" Babbit is a self-centered Los Angeles-based automobile dealer/hustler/bookie who is at war with his own life. Charlie, as a young teenager, used his father's 1949 Buick convertible without permission and as a result, he went to jail for two days on account that his father reported it stolen. It is then that Charlie learns that his estranged father died and left him from his last will and testament a huge bed of roses and the car while the remainder will of $3 Million goes into a trust fund to be distributed to someone. Charlie seemed pretty angry by this and decides to look into this matter. It seems as if that "someone" is Raymond, Charlie's unknown brother, an autistic savant who lives in a world of his own, resides at the Walbrook Institute. Charlie then kidnaps Raymond and decides to take him on a lust for life trip to the west coast as a threat to get the $3 Million inheritance. Raymond's acts and nagging, including repeated talks of "Abbott & Costello", "Four minutes till Wapner" and refusal to fly on an airline except Qantas drives Charlie insane... and out of his selfish world into a cross-country trek of pure love and understanding that these two both have. —Christopher Howell (Ckhowell75360@aol.com) When car dealer Charlie Babbitt learns that his estranged father has died, he returns home to Cincinnati, where he discovers that he has an autistic older brother named Raymond and that his father's $3 million fortune is being left to the mental institution in which Raymond lives. Motivated by his father's money, Charlie checks Raymond out of the facility in order to return with him to Los Angeles. The brothers' cross-country trip ends up changing both their lives. —Jwelch5742 In this story we retrace the path of two brothers who meet and get to know each other following a legacy story that led Charlie to "kidnap" his brother from a psychiatric hospital, claiming the amount that his father had not paid him following his death. Raymond, an autistic scholar, and above all, the one who inherited the small fortune, is his brother he was separated from too early to know that this imaginary friend he called "Rain Man" was him. What is interesting about this film is the link that is created between two very different people. Raymond, being autistic, has difficulty communicating like the others, although most people in his case do not know how to speak at all. It makes it difficult for him to express his emotions and he is very sensitive to his routine; all characteristics of autism. Later we will see that he also has extraordinary memorization abilities that his brother will not deprive himself of using for his purposes. Charlie works in a car sales company, rather charismatic, he knows how to speak and be heard and has no trouble expressing himself. Throughout their journey, travel the hotel by hotel, the kidnapping quickly becomes an opportunity to create new links destroyed in the past. Charlie is a hustler. He's been on his own long enough to know how to work people and situations. He finds that the father who threw him out as a teen ager has died. He's left him a now antique convertible and something more important, a previously unknown brother, Raymond. Raymond is autistic, but is able to calculate complicated mathematical problems in his head with great speed and accuracy. Their father has left his fortune to Raymond who doesn't even understand what money is for. Charlie is enraged by what has happened and by his father keeping Raymond's existence from him for his entire life. He kidnaps Raymond from his residential home but then finds that Raymond will only fly Qantas. The two begin a long road trip that will lead them to an understanding of each other. —John Vogel <jlvogel@comcast.net>

In New York City, two singer/songwriters, Chuck Clarke (Dustin Hoffman) and Lyle Rogers (Warren Beatty), stare at the window of a Sam Goody record store. Chuck insists the only difference between them and hit makers like Simon and Garfunkel or Bruce Springsteen is that they do not have an essential ingredient: an agent. Soon, Chuck invites talent agent, Marty Freed (Jack Weston), to watch them perform their material at the store Song Mart. Afterward, Marty informs the duo that they have no stage talent. They need patter, "shtick," and gimmicks. For their next tryout, Chuck and Lyle (playing as their duo act called 'Rogers and Clarke') cover a familiar song with awkward choreography at a local nightclub. Despite audience booing, Marty offers them two bookings, one in Honduras at a hotel frequented by American journalists, and another longer engagement in Morocco. Chuck and Lyle mull Marty's offer at a nearby bar. In a series of flashbacks to five months earlier, Lyle was working by driving an ice cream truck, writing song lyrics as he worked. He played new songs for his speechless wife, Willa (Tess Harper). At a restaurant, Chuck played piano for customers. Afterward, as Chuck and his girl friend, Carol (Carol Kane), chatted, a waiter delivered a note from Lyle saying how much he enjoyed Chuck's performance. The songwriters met and had instant rapport, furiously collaborating on songs. They spent so much time composing that Willa left Lyle due to neglect. He sank into a depression, then Chuck helped him recover. Soon, Carol also felt neglected and ended her relationship with Chuck. He called Lyle and threatened suicide. Lyle promised to come to Chuck's aid, but his friend asked him not to alert the police because it would ruin his show business career. However, Lyle called the police, and Chuck climbed onto the ledge of his building when an officer appeared at his apartment. As Lyle joined Chuck on the ledge, Rabbi Pierce appeared to calm Chuck. Lyle grabbed Chuck's hand, and guided him back into his apartment. At the bar in the present day, Chuck remembers all that he and Lyle went through and decides they should take their act to Morocco. In Ishtar, Morocco, as a desert archaeological camp is attacked, Professor Barnes orders his associate, Omar (J.C. Cutler), to escape with an important, newly discovered ancient map that could provoke war in the Middle East. Omar barely has time to give his sister, a left-wing French-Moroccan agent named Shirra Assel (Isabelle Ajani), the map before he is killed. His last words promise that no one will find the map except "two messengers of God." At the Ishtar airport, Shirra Assel, disguised as a man, approaches and persuades Chuck to exchange passports and suitcases with her so she might travel to Marrakesh. She quotes: "It is a matter of life and death." She convinces him that he can visit the American Embassy and have his passport easily replaced. When the duo learns that a new passport will take days to process, Chuck convinces Lyle to travel to nearby Marrakesh and do the show alone, while he checks into a hotel in Ishtar. At the Marakesh Hotel, another American, named Jim Harrison (Charles Grodin), invites Lyle to dinner. After Chuck chats about show business, Jim reveals he works for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He is in Morocco to prevent the Communists from staging a coup to overthrow the royal Moroccan government. Jim hints that his agency likes to recruit people like Chuck as operatives. At his solo show, Lyle launches into a rendition of "Bridge Over Troubled Water," and is soon drowned out by an apathetic crowd. Suddenly, Chuck appears and belts out "That's Amore," and show tunes that revive the audience. The new act of Rogers and Clarke, are a hit and are applauded. Later, Chuck says he is going for a drive to get some air. Later that night, Shirra wakes Lyle in his hotel room as she tries to reclaim her suitcase. As Lyle tackles her, she claims Chuck is a CIA agent, and the contents of the suitcase are necessary to overthrow the tyrant running her country. Lyle is skeptical about her story, but she convinces him to help her find a camel seller named Mohammed, and buy a blind camel. She leaves carrying the heavy suitcase. Meanwhile, Chuck secretly meets Jim Harrison, and learns his movements have been tracked through a pen with a hidden microphone that Jim gave him as a gift. The CIA has reason to believe that dictator Muammar Gaddafi in Libya is interested in Shirra's map, and the CIA wants to take possession of the document before Gaddafi does. Chuck claims not to know where Shirra is. However, Jim Harrison believes Lyle knows where to find her after appearing to have a sexual encounter with her at the hotel, and being recruited by her as a left-wing terrorist. Chuck does not believe any of Harrison's assertions but Harrison gives Chuck a beeper to stay in contact. In the morning, Lyle sneaks out of the hotel room, and Chuck follows him. The friends meet and CIA agents follow them to an outdoor market. Chuck and Lyle are kidnapped, but Harrison's associates shoot the captors and panic breaks out. The two friends run, and ask an enterprising local to help them hide. The youth takes them into his uncle's rug shop. The kidnappers confiscate two rolled up rugs, thinking the songwriters are hidden inside. Dressed in Moroccan garments, Chuck and Lyle escape over the rooftops. Meanwhile, Harrison visits Emir Yousef (Aharon Ipalé) at his palace in Ishtar to explain that the Americans, Chuck and Lyle, are merely pawns. The Emir insists the songwriters will be mistaken for "messengers of God." If radical Shiites gain possession of the map they will use it as a sign to overthrow the Emir. The Americans must be killed to demonstrate that God does not favor those who oppose the Emir. As Lyle negotiates for a blind camel at the Ben Sheli Camel Market, Chuck confronts Shirra in a nearby hotel room. He accuses her of recruiting Lyle as a Communist but she denies it. She thinks he stole her map and gave it to Jim Harrison. He denies it but promises to keep her secret. When Chuck finds Lyle, he has bought a blind camel with poor teeth. As Lyle leaves to change his disguise, Harrison appears and warns Chuck that the Emir's men want to kill them. Harrison hands Chuck two canteens with water, and a compass with escape instructions. When they reach a safe hotel at a desert oasis, CIA agents are supposed to rescue them, but it is a ruse. Harrison hopes that the desert trek will result in their deaths. Meanwhile, Shirra's associates convince her the songwriters must be executed. Shirra gives Lyle a beaded necklace with instructions to drop a trail of beads, heading into the desert. At night, the beads will glow and the friends can find their way back to town. The next morning in the desert, Chuck collapses from heat exhaustion. As Lyle helps his friend, vultures appear. Elsewhere, an associate of Shirra's tells Prof. Barnes they plan to announce over radio that they are in possession of the ancient map. The songwriters survive a sandstorm and think they see Moroccans with a truck. Chuck instructs Lyle, dressed in flowing robes, to get water. The Moroccans are actually Australian gunrunners who mistake Chuck for an auctioneer. As Chuck pretends to auction guns to the locals, CIA agents see that the songwriters have stopped moving through the desert and send a helicopter to retrieve their bodies. When the helicopter pilot realizes they are alive he retreats, and the auction is cut short. At his palace, the Emir tells Harrison he wants the "the messengers of God" killed and the helicopter returns to the desert. Parched and exhausted, Chuck and Lyle think of song lyrics to keep alert, and soon discover Shirra's map sewn into the lining of Chuck's jacket. Just then the helicopter appears and when the pilot shoots at the songwriters, they return fire with guns they collected from the auction. The helicopter leaves but returns with a second Apache attack helicopter. However, Shirra appears in a truck. She arms Chuck and Lyle with powerful guns, and the two helicopters are forced to abort their mission. Chuck and Lyle manage to smuggle the map into the United States. Back in New York, Marty, the talent agent, negotiates with Harrison to implement social reforms in Morocco, get rid of the Emir, and back and promote an album and worldwide tour for Chuck and Lyle. If the CIA succeeds, the songwriters promise not to sell the map to the KGB or anyone else. As a show of support, Harrison arranges for American forces and CIA agents to attend Chuck and Lyle's show at Chez Casablanca. Shirra thinks their songs are wonderful. In the final scene, back in America, Chuck and Lyle's "Live in Concert" album can be seen in the window of Sam Goody records.

An out-of-work actor finds success, love and frustration when he gets the role of his life...playing a woman.

A career-obsessed dad must learn how to be a parent when his wife leaves him and their 6-year-old son.

The difficulties of a career burglar to reinsert himself after being released on parole. After 6 years in prison, career criminal Max Dembo is released on parole. He wants to go straight, but doesn't like the restrictions of parole, much to his parole officer Earl Frank's chagrin. Some conditions--living in a halfway house, not associating with past friends and associates, no driving, and no drugs--could be more difficult than he imagines especially as his encounters with Earl become increasingly tense. Max deals with Earl the same way he deals with everything: his way or no way. Through his life in the outside world, he embarks on a relationship with Jenny Mercer, an employment-agency clerk he meets while looking for a job. Jenny knows about his past criminal history, but he ends up only telling her so much of his current life if only to protect her, just in case.

Two Washington Post reporters` investigation of a minor hotel room break-in uncovers the greatest political scandal in US history and leads to the downfall of President Nixon.

Thomas "Babe" Levy (Dustin Hoffman) is a history Ph.D. candidate and avid marathon runner researching the same field as his father, who committed suicide after being investigated in the Communist witch hunts of the Joseph McCarthy era. Babe's brother, Henry James Levy (Roy Scheider), known only as "Doc", poses as an oil company executive but in fact is a U.S. government agent working for a secret agency headed up by Director Peter Janeway (William Devane). Babe is not aware of his brother's true occupation. Doc is often supposedly out of the country on business for extended periods of time, but comes to New York under the guise of a visit to Babe. The brother of a Nazi war criminal possesses a safety deposit box key, but is killed in a traffic accident (after a road rage altercation with a short tempered middle-aged Jewish American motorist). Doc suspects that the criminal, Dr. Christian Szell (Laurence Olivier) will be arriving to retrieve an extremely valuable diamond collection. Szell later sends a burly assassin named Chen (James Wing Woo) to kill Doc in his Paris hotel room, but Doc fights the hit man and breaks his back. Babe enters into a relationship with a young woman named Elsa Opel (Marthe Keller), who claims to be from Switzerland. One night while out on a date Elsa and Babe are mugged in a park by two men dressed in suits. Some time later, Doc takes the couple to lunch, where he tricks Elsa into revealing that she has been lying to Babe about her background. Though Doc suspects she may have some connection to Szell, he tells Babe only that she is seeking an American husband so that she can become a U.S. citizen. After Szell arrives in America, Doc meets him to tell the former Nazi he is not welcome in the country, and also to warn Szell to stay away from Babe. Szell casually accepts the pronouncement, but then swiftly knifes Doc, wounding him severely. Doc is able to make it back to his brother's apartment, but collapses and dies in Babe's arms without telling him anything. The police interrogate Babe for hours, until government agents led by Peter Janeway arrive. Janeway asks Babe what Doc told him before he died, and informs Babe of his brother's career as a U.S. government agent. Babe insists that his brother did not tell him anything, but Janeway feels that Doc struggled all the way to Babe's apartment to give him vital information of some kind. Babe is later abducted from his apartment by Szell's henchmen, Karl and Erhardt (the two men from the park). In an infamous sequence, Babe is tortured by Szell, a skilled dentist, who repeatedly asks "Is it safe?" Confused by the question code phrase he does not understand, Babe denies any knowledge, but is tortured. The dentist offers him oil of cloves, an anesthetic, as positive inducement to cooperate. Eventually, Babe loses consciousness and Szell pauses his torture. Babe is then rescued by Janeway, who apparently kills Szell's bodyguards and takes Babe from Szell's hideout. As he drives, Janeway explains that Szell is in America to sell off his large cache of diamonds, which he had taken from Jews he had exterminated at Auschwitz during World War II. Janeway continually presses Babe about Doc's dying words, but Babe again insists he knows nothing. Frustrated, Janeway reveals himself as a double agent working with the Nazi criminal all along, and he turns Babe over to Karl and Erhardt (Janeway had only faked killing them). As it turns out, Szell is one of Janeway's highest level informants, and had informed on other Nazi war criminals in return for immunity. Delivered back into Szell's hands, the Nazi criminal has a curiously kindly conversation with Babe before calmly explaining why he is holding Babe for questioning. Szell suspected that Doc would attempt to rob him of his diamonds, or rat on him to authorities; thus his desire to know if it's "safe" to withdraw the diamonds, i.e., whether Doc told Babe any incriminating information. Still unable to extract anything from Babe, he proceeds to drill into one of Babe's healthy teeth. Babe eventually escapes again, this time on his own, with Janeway and Szell's two henchmen giving chase in a car. Though exhausted and barefoot, he is able to outrun his pursuers in part by remembering famous "marathon man" Abebe Bikila, who ran barefoot. After inviting a neighborhood acquaintance and his toughs to break into his apartment and steal his pistol (the same pistol his father used to commit suicide), Babe phones Elsa, who agrees to meet him with a car. She drives him to a country home as a hideout. Babe guesses that she has set him up; she confesses that Szell's dead brother owned the home, and that she was one of Szell's couriers. Janeway and Szell's men arrive, but Babe avoids an ambush by taking Elsa hostage. In another twist, Janeway kills Szell's men and offers to let Babe kill Szell in revenge for Doc's death if Janeway can have the diamonds. Babe agrees, but as he leaves to find Szell, Janeway attempts to shoot Babe, but kills Elsa instead when she tries to alert Babe. Angered, Babe guns down Janeway. Back in New York, Szell attempts to determine the value of his diamonds. However, he chooses an appraiser in the Diamond District in midtown Manhattan, where many of the shop owners are Jewish. A shop assistant who is also an Auschwitz survivor believes he has recognized Szell as a wanted Nazi criminal. After Szell hurriedly leaves the shop, an elderly Jewish woman also recognizes him, but passersby think she is senile. Trying to cross the street to get closer to Szell in order to expose him she is hit by a taxicab, causing a crowd to assemble to assist her. Amidst the confusion, the shop assistant appears again, directly confronting Szell. Becoming increasingly paranoid, Szell slits the man's throat with a retractable blade concealed in his sleeve. Szell retrieves his diamonds from the bank, but is taken hostage by Babe as he attempts to leave, who inconspicuously forces him into Central Park and into one of the pump rooms at the south end of the Reservoir. Babe holds Szell at gunpoint on a scaffold and seizes the diamonds; rather than kill Szell, Babe informs him that he will allow Szell to live and keep as many diamonds as he can swallow. Szell initially refuses, prompting Babe to begin throwing the diamonds into the water below them. Szell relents and swallows one diamond, but then refuses to cooperate further. Szell goes on to insult Babe, and after he spits in Babe's face, a fight erupts in which Szell tries to stab Babe. Babe throws the remainder of the diamonds down the scaffold steps towards the water; Szell dives for them, but stumbles, and fatally falls on his own knife blade. Picking up his gun, Babe exits the pump room and heads out into Central Park. Stopping by the Reservoir, he throws the gun into the water.

In an interview, Honey Harlow Bruce (Valerie Perrine), ex-wife of stand-up comic Lenny Bruce (Dustin Hoffman), recalls her life with him: In 1964, Lenny shocks his audience by stating that Eleanor Roosevelt gave Lou Gehrig "the clap," but then says the real point he wants to make is about the suppression of words. Venereal disease he says, is an epidemic because people will not talk about it. Honey then recalls seeing Lenny for the first time in Baltimore, when he was a comic impersonator: In the early 1950s, Honey, a stripper known as Hot Honey Harlow, is eating in a cafeteria when she sees Lenny watching her from across the room. The next time Lenny and Honey see each other, they go off together to have sex. Afterward, the smitten Lenny calls Honey his "shiksa goddess" and follows her to Miami. In another interview, Artie Silver (Stanley Beck), Lenny's manager, discusses the delicate balance of involving himself in both Lenny's professional and personal life: Shortly after Lenny and Honey meet, Artie warns Lenny that Honey, who had done jail time as a teenager, would be trouble. Despite Artie's misgivings, Lenny marries Honey, then takes her to meet his mother, Sally Marr (Jan Miner), and her sister Aunt Mema (Rashel Novikoff). Later, Lenny, who is uncomfortable with Honey's stripping, adds her to his act. They are hired to perform in the Catskills, where, during a show, Lenny makes an impulsive, crude joke to the band that is overheard by the audience. After this incidence, Sherman Hart (Gary Morton), an established comic, advises Lenny not to use "dirt" in his routines, but, at his next performance, Lenny intentionally insults his audience, thus losing career opportunities. In a 1960s performance, Lenny asks his audience, "What is dirty?" He says he would rather his child watch a stag movie than 'The King of Kings' , because nobody gets hurt in porn. In a flashback to 1950s, Honey is seriously injured and, while in the hospital, guesses that Lenny has an affair with her nurse. This incident becomes the source of a routine Lenny performs a decade later, in which Lenny advises men to deny their indiscretions at all costs, even if their wives catch them in the act. Explaining the difference between men and women, Lenny says that a woman is physical with someone she likes, but a man will seek out anything, even on a desert island. In the 1950s, the couple moves to Los Angeles, Honey returns to stripping, Lenny to small gigs and they become involved in the show business drug culture. Lenny pushes to experiment sexually, but then accuses Honey of enjoying the other woman in their ménage a trois "too much." In her interview, Honey recalls that after their daughter, Kitty, was born, she and Lenny parted. During his stand-up act in the 1960s, Lenny says that "divorce is great at first, but then you realize the women you meet are also divorced and burdened with children or poodles". He claims the only satisfaction is the revenge of gaining child custody, but then you are responsible for getting up in the morning to raise the child. In her interview, Honey at first accuses Lenny of stealing Kitty, but then admits she had a problem with drug abuse: In the late 1950s, Honey, an emotional wreck from loneliness and drugs, calls Lenny collect from Hawaii, where she has been arrested for possession of marijuana. In a 1960s performance, Lenny explains that the problem is that we live in a "happy ending" culture instead of a "what is" culture. He thinks that true human responses are denied and lied about, causing people to feel guilty when they act in a natural way. In an interview, Sally says that she moved to California to help with Kitty, and that Lenny had by then given up impersonation and begun to improvise: In the late 1950s, Lenny works in strip clubs, content that no one censors his act. Eventually, Artie and Sally convince him to take engagements at college and political venues, where his irreverence soon becomes trendy. During a performance, Lenny risks audience alienation by boldly referring to individuals using racial epithets. Then, explaining that suppression gives words power, he advocates using offensive words until they can no longer cause pain. When a Time magazine reporter suggests that Lenny's act has social impact, Lenny denies it, saying he likes attention and wants to "make a buck." Now, Artie commands high fees for Lenny's appearances. During one performance, Lenny says that he has been accused of making "sick jokes," but that a true sick joke is that Zsa Zsa Gabor earns $60,000 a week in Las Vegas and a Nevada school teacher's top pay is $6,000 a year. After wisecracking about masturbation and integration, Lenny says his financial success is based on violence, segregation, disease, despair and injustice, and if the world suddenly became pure, he would be unemployed. When he visits Honey in prison, he shows her an album cover of a recording of some of his performances. At an appearance in San Francisco, Lenny protests the dismissal of homosexual teachers, saying the men were considered good at their jobs and their actions occurred far from school grounds. Because of one of his crudely worded comments, Lenny is arrested and charged with the use of an obscene word in a public place. During his interview, Artie recalls that Lenny became obsessed with his legal battles and would read court transcripts to his audience: At Lenny's trial without jury in San Francisco, the judge orders a continuance and cautions Lenny not to repeat any of "those words." At Lenny's next performance, after pointing out to the audience several uniformed and plainclothes policemen posted around the room, Lenny talks about his arrest, substituting the sounds, "blah blah blah," for provocative words. When the trial resumes, the humorless judge finds Lenny guilty, after which his counsel requests a jury trial. In his interview, Artie states that Lenny began to study law books and record his trials: During the appeal trial, his lawyer forces the arresting policeman to admit that one of the words that Lenny is being charged for saying in public is often used at the police station, which also is a public place. Then his lawyer suggests that Lenny's work is found in the social satire of Aristophanes and Jonathan Swift. A professor of religion testifies that Lenny's routines convey a sincere message that exposes hypocrisy. A recording of a performance is played, one in which Lenny riffs on the phrase, "to come," and arranges his words into a kind of beat poem. Although the judge is offended, the jury votes for acquittal. Lenny, however, is dissatisfied, feeling that he won because of the jury's idiosyncrasies rather than the acknowledgment of First Amendment rights. According to Artie's later recollection, Lenny, who added jokes about the Pope and other religious leaders to his routines, developed a following, although some people attended shows just to see if he got arrested. After Honey is released from prison, she and Lenny spend time together taking drugs. Artie and Sally try to cancel Lenny's Chicago performance, but when the manager refuses, the drug-addled, coughing Lenny goes onstage. After an attempt at coherence, he apologizes, admitting he is not funny. Backstage, the police arrest him. In the present, Honey recalls that Lenny was arrested a total of 13 times, and Sally states that he suffered from pleurisy. Artie says Lenny dealt with depression, and was going broke from lawyer and doctor bills. In a performance at the height of his career, Lenny tells the audience that there has been an "obscenity circus" for years, starring the district attorney and the lower and Supreme Courts, and that he is the "schmuck" who fell off the high wire into the ring. As he wonders aloud why it is permissible to show photographs of maimed breasts injured in war, but not the beautiful breasts of a lovely woman in the audience, a policeman rises to arrest him. At the trial, words Lenny has spoken are presented out of context and a gesture he used is incorrectly stated to signify masturbation. Increasingly frustrated, Lenny speaks out, asking to talk to the judge and jury as human to human, but his interruptions anger the judge. Expecting a guilty verdict, his defense team plans to appeal to a higher court, but Lenny, no longer thinking clearly, is uncooperative. He tries defending himself, but the judge declares him in contempt of court. Lenny states that he has no money left and his cabaret card, which allows him to perform, has been confiscated. As he is removed from the courtroom, Lenny claims he hurts no one and pleads that they do not take away his words. In her interview, Sally says the New York court found Lenny guilty, but an appeal was being planned by his defense team. When the interviewer suggests the possibility of suicide, Sally denies it. Honey describes Lenny as funny, and Artie, pleased that Lenny's records are selling again, states that he is negotiating a film about his life. Intrigued, the interviewer mentions that Lenny's speeches are now-after less than a decade-considered harmless. Back in 1966, when Lenny is found dead in his apartment, naked, with drug paraphernalia nearby, the police allow news photographers to film his death scene.

As the film opens, Joe Buck (Jon Voight), a young Texan working as a dishwasher, dresses in new cowboy clothing, packs a suitcase, and quits his job. He heads to New York City hoping to succeed as a male prostitute for women. Initially unsuccessful, he succeeds in bedding a well-to-do middle-aged New Yorker (Sylvia Miles), but Joe ends up giving her money. Joe then meets Enrico Salvatore "Ratso" Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman), a street con man with a limp who takes $20 from Joe by offering to introduce him to a known pimp, who turns out to be a Bible thumper (John McGiver). Joe flees the encounter in pursuit of Ratso. Joe spends his days wandering the city and sitting in his hotel room. Soon broke, he is locked out of his hotel room and most of his belongings are impounded. Joe tries to make money by agreeing to receive oral sex from a young man (Bob Balaban) in a movie theater. When Joe learns that he has no money, Joe threatens him and asks for his watch, but eventually lets him go. The following day, Joe spots Ratso and angrily shakes him down. Ratso offers to share the apartment in which he is squatting in a condemned building. Joe accepts reluctantly, and they begin a "business relationship" as hustlers. As they develop a bond, Ratso's health, which has never been good, grows steadily worse. Joe's story is told through flashbacks throughout the film. His grandmother raises him after his mother abandons him, though his grandmother frequently neglects him as well. He also has a tragic relationship with Annie, a local girl. Ratso's back story comes through stories he tells Joe. His father was an illiterate Italian immigrant shoe-shiner, who worked in a subway station. He developed a bad back, and "coughed his lungs out from breathin' in that wax all day". Ratso learned shining from his father but won't stoop so low as to do so. He dreams of moving one day to Miami. An unusual couple approach Joe and Ratso in a diner and hand Joe a flyer, inviting him to a party. They enter a Warhol-esque party scene (with Warhol superstars in cameos). Joe smokes a joint, thinking it's a normal cigarette and, after taking a pill someone offered, begins to hallucinate. He leaves the party with a socialite (Brenda Vaccaro), who agrees to pay $20 for spending the night with him, but Joe cannot perform. They play Scribbage together, and Joe shows his limited academic prowess. She teasingly suggests that Joe may be gay, and he is suddenly able to perform. In the morning, the socialite sets up her friend as Joe's next customer, and it appears that his career is on its way. When Joe returns home, Ratso is bedridden and feverish. Ratso refuses medical help (because he has no money or health insurance) and begs Joe to put him on a bus to Florida. Desperate, Joe picks up a man in an amusement arcade (Barnard Hughes), and when things go wrong, robs the man when he tries to pay with a religious medallion instead of cash. With the cash he steals, Joe buys two bus tickets. On the journey, Ratso's frail physical condition further deteriorates. At a rest stop, Joe buys new clothing for Ratso and himself, discarding his cowboy outfit. As they near Miami, Joe talks of getting a regular job, only to realize Ratso has died. The driver tells Joe there is nothing else to do, but continue on to Miami. The film closes with Joe, alone and afraid, seated with his arm around his dead friend.

The film explores the life of 21-year-old Ben Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) shortly after earning his bachelor's degree from an unnamed college in the Northeast. The school is widely believed to be Williams College, Webb's alma mater (in the opening sequence of the movie, Dustin Hoffman, playing Benjamin Braddock, is wearing a Williams College tie). Benjamin is seen arriving at LAX International Airport over the opening credits. The movie really begins at a party that same evening celebrating his graduation at his parents' house in Pasadena, a suburb of Los Angeles. Benjamin is visibly uncomfortable at the party attended by his parents' friends. He remains aloof while his parents deliver accolades and neighborhood friends ask him about his future plans. Benjamin escapes from each person who comes to congratulate him, exposing his seeming embarrassment at all the honors he had won at college. Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), the neglected wife of his father's law partner, asks Benjamin to drive her home, which he reluctantly does. We never learn Mrs. Robinson's first name (or, indeed, the first names of any of Benjamin's and Elaine's parents) during the course of the film (in the novel, we are told that the initial of Mrs. Robinson's first name is G). Arriving at her home, she pleads for Benjamin to come inside, saying that she doesn't like to enter a dark house alone. Once inside, she forces a drink on him, and later exposes herself to him offering to have an affair with him. This scene, known as the "Mrs. Robinson, you are trying to seduce me" scene, as said by Benjamin, is said to be one of the most iconic scenes in the film. She, for no clear reason, does attempt to seduce him, removing her clothing. Mr. Robinson arrives home a few minute later, but does not see or suspect anything. Initially flustered and shocked by her advances, Benjamin flees into the night. A few days later Benjamin contacts Mrs. Robinson and clumsily organizes a tryst at a hotel beginning their affair. A now confident and relaxed Benjamin spends the summer drifting around in the pool by day and seeing Mrs. Robinson at the hotel by night. Benjamin is clearly uncomfortable with sexuality, but he is drawn into the affair with the older, but still attractive, Mrs. Robinson. Their affair appears to last most of the summer. All of their scenes pass in a musically-backed montage, showing the endless pass of time. One scene is edited so that it appears Benjamin is walking directly from his parents' dining room into the hotel room he shares with Mrs. Robinson. This seems to accent the separation of he and his parents, though they still live under the same roof. Benjamin discovers that they have nothing to talk about but, she refuses to talk and only wants sex. After pestering her one evening, Mrs. Robinson tells Benjamin that she was forced to give up college and marry someone she didn't love when she became pregnant with her daughter Elaine. Meanwhile, Benjamin is hounded by his father to select a graduate school to attend. Benjamin, clearly not interested in pursuing his studies, shrugs off his father's wishes and spends his time lounging about and sleeping with Mrs. Robinson. His affair may serve as an escape from his lack of direction or ambition, and his fear and anxiety of his impending future. Mr. Robinson, unaware of his wife's budding affair, encourages Benjamin to call on his daughter, Elaine (Katharine Ross). Benjamin's parents also repeatedly encourage him to date her. During one liaison, Mrs. Robinson forces a promise from Ben to never date Elaine. Whether out of fear of Mrs. Robinson, or sensing that getting involved with the daughter of his lover could be disastrous, he tries to avoid it. However, because of the three parents' persistent intervention, he is essentially forced to date her. Therefore, he tries to ensure his date with her will be a disaster so she would not want to pursue a relationship with him. He drives recklessly, practically ignoring Elaine, and then takes her to a strip club where she is openly humiliated and silently begins to cry. After making her cry he relents and explains he was mean only because his parents forced him to ask her out. He awkwardly kisses her to try and cheer her up and they go and get a burger at a drive-in. Benjamin discovers that Elaine is someone he is comfortable with and that he can talk to her about his worries. From here, Benjamin's life falls apart. The jealous Mrs. Robinson threatens to reveal their affair to destroy any chance Benjamin has with Elaine, so Benjamin rashly decides he has to tell Elaine first. Upset over hearing about Benjamin's tryst with her mother, Elaine returns to Berkeley refusing to speak with Benjamin. Benjamin decides he is going to marry Elaine in order to have a future with her and goes to Berkeley where he rents a room in a local flop house, and begins to stalk her. He contrives a meeting on a bus while she is on her way to a date with her classmate Carl. The next day, an angry Elaine bursts into Benjamin's room and demands to know what he is doing in Berkeley after he "raped" her mother by taking advantage of her while she was drunk that evening of his graduation party. Shocked by what Elaine said, Benjamin tells her it was her mother who seduced him that night, but Elaine refuses to believe him and doesn't want to hear the fact that her mother is a crafty vixen. Benjamin says he will leave Berkeley and go somewhere else for her sake. Elaine tells Benjamin not to leave until he has a definite plan at what he wants to do with his life. The next day, Elaine comes into Ben's apartment in the middle of the night and asks him to kiss her. Over the next few days, the two hang out in Berkeley while Benjamin keeps pressing her to get blood tests so that they can get married. Elaine is unsure about this and tells him she had told Carl she might marry him. Mr. Robinson, who has found out everything about Benjamin and his wife's affair, goes to Ben's apartment in Berkeley where he threatens Benjamin with violence and forces Elaine to drop out of school and takes her away to marry Carl. Benjamin tells Mr. Robinson that his wife is the bad person and she manipulated him into having an affair with her. But Mr. Robinson also is skeptic and refuses to belive Benjamin. Benjamin is left with just a note from Elaine saying that she loves him but that her father is really angry and it can never work out. Benjamin drives back to Pasadena and arrives at the Robinson house that evening looking for Elaine. After getting no response by knocking on the front door, goes around to the back of the house and forces open a screen door. Benjamin quickly sees that Elaine is not there, but finds Mrs. Robinson instead. She coldly tells him he won't be able stop Elaine and Carl's wedding and she immediately calls the police and play-acts by claiming that a man broke into her house and is assaulting her. Finally seeing the sociopath that Mrs. Robinson really is, Benjamin flees and drives back to Berkeley to hide out there. The next morning, Benjamin goes to the Delta Chi Fraternity house to look for Elaine or Carl where he learns from Carl's frat brothers that the wedding is in Santa Barbara that very morning. Benjamin then speeds off towards Santa Barbara, stopping only at a gas station to ask for directions to the church. Benjamin is in such a hurry that he rushes off without refueling. Consequently, Ben runs out of gas and must sprint the last few blocks. He arrives at the church just as the bride and groom are about to kiss. Thinking he is too late, he bangs on the glass at the back of the church and screams out "Elaine!" repeatedly. Elaine turns around, hesitates by looking at her parents and her would-be husband, but then screams out "Ben!" and starts running towards him. A brawl breaks out as everyone tries to stop her and Benjamin from leaving. Elaine manages to break free from her mother, who claims "It's too late!" for Elaine apparently already said her marriage vows, to which Elaine replies, "Not for me!" Benjamin holds everybody off by swinging a cross ripped from the wall, then using it to jam the outside door while the pair escape. They run down the road and flag down a bus. The elated and smiling couple take the back seat. But in the final shot, Benjamin's smile gradually fades to an enigmatic, neutral expression as he gazes forward down the bus, not looking at Elaine. Elaine also seems unsure, looks lovingly across at Ben but notices his expression and turns away with a similar expression as the bus drives away, taking the two lovers to an uncertain future.