Frank Sinatra

As New York City Police Detective Edward Delaney (Frank Sinatra) counts the days to his retirement, a psychotic serial killer commits random murders throughout the city with an unusual weapon. At the same time, Edward's wife, Barbara (Faye Dunaway), contracts a mysterious illness after her kidney operation that leaves her physician, Dr. Bernardi (George Coe), stumped. The seriousness of Barbara's illness could rob Edward of all he has to live for and shows his tender side as he frets over his younger wife. Every time the killer commits another murder, Barbara experiences a relapse and a thunderstorm inexplicably erupts. Although Captain Broughton (Anthony Zerbe), his superior, orders Edward off the case, he is obsessed after a coroner named Dr. Sanford Ferguson (James Whitmore) reveals the killer used an odd form of pickax. Edward teams up with Christopher Langley (Martin Gabel), a museum curator specializing in military weapons, who identifies the murder weapon as a mountain climber's ice ax. At a store specializing in mountain-climbing equipment, the owner supplies a list to Edward and Christopher of individuals that purchased the specific tool, narrowing their search. Monica Gilbert (Brenda Vaccaro), the wife of one murder victim, helps the men eliminate suspects until they home in on an individual who lived in all the neighborhoods, where the murders occurred. Edward goes to a large high-rise apartment building complex where he bribes Charles Lipsky (Joe Spinell), the doorman at the high rise block, to gain entry to a posh apartment owned by Daniel Blank (David Dukes), a publishing executive, who is revealed to be the killer. A confrontation occurs in which Edward finds the ice ax and faces the killer. Blank admits to Edward to being the serial killer, but refuses to be taken into custody and tells Edward to follow legal procedure. When Blank phones the police to report that Edward has broken into his apartment without a search warrant and is threatening him, Edward shoots Blank dead, eliminating the killer for good.... but also destroying his career. Edward escapes prosecution for entering a person's residence without a warrant and killing an unarmed suspect, but is prematurely dismissed from the police force and his pension is revoked. Never the less, Edward returns to the hospital to be at his wife's bedside before she quietly passes away.

"Big" Jim Stevens (Edward G. Robinson), undisputed boss of the Chicago underworld, gets an unexpected birthday present from his ambitious lieutenant, Guy Gisborne (Peter Falk). Instead of a stripper popping out of the cake, Big Jim gets shot by all the guests. Gisborne takes over. He orders all the other gangsters in town to pay him protection money. Gisborne says that Jim was not even an US citizen and was a no-good boss (as under him everybody was fighting each other rather than taking care of business) and he intends to make a lot of changes around town. Gisborne outlaws all independent operations and wants a cut from every pie. Gisborne demands a 50% cut from every business as the protection money. The news does not sit well with Big Jim's friend and fellow gangster, Robbo (Frank Sinatra), and a gangland war breaks out. Sherrif Glick tries to argue that the people were sick of Jim as there were 34 killings under his reign I 2 months. Gisborne has 85 guns under his command, and he can hit everything at once, if he so desires. Robbo recruits pool hustler Little John (Dean Martin), who demonstrates his pool skills while singing, plus quick-draw artist Will (Sammy Davis Jr.) and a few other hoods, but they are still greatly outnumbered. In addition, the corrupt Sheriff Octavius Glick (Robert Foulk) is on Gisborne's payroll. Gisborne and Robbo come up with the same idea, to destroy the other's gambling joint on the same night. Robbo chooses Gisborne's gambling joint as that is his pride and joy and the flagship of his underworld criminal empire. Gisborne as $250,000 tied up in the gambling joint. The 2 crews pass each other at a traffic intersection and both joints are destroyed at nearly the same time. The loss to Robbo is nearly $400,000. Gisborne calls Robbo and offers to build a new gambling den together, and become partners, but Robbo refuses and prefers to have Gisborne as the enemy. Big Jim's refined, well-educated daughter, Marian (Barbara Rush), shows up. She asks Robbo to avenge her father's death (wrongfully attributed to the sheriff), a request which Robbo flatly refuses. Marian offers to pay $50,000 to Robbo for her demand. Gisborne disposes of the sheriff for his failure to kill Robbo before he could strike his gambling joint. Gisborne wanted Sherrif to reduce his cut from 25% to 10% for the expenses to rebuild the gambling joint, but Sherrif resents that the entire blame for the failure to kill Robbo was being attributed to him. Gisborne kills the Sherrif and buries him in a concrete slab that is laid to set up the new administrative block for the police department. Marian then invites Robbo to dinner and gives him $50,000, thinking that Robbo did as she had asked. Robbo refuses the money, but Marian attempts to seduce him into joining forces to take over the whole town. Marian says that Jim also wanted to retire and the man he wanted to take over was Robbo. Robbo turns her down. When she sends the money to his under-repair gambling club, Robbo donates it to a boys' orphanage. Alan A. Dale (Bing Crosby), the orphanage's director, notifies the newspapers about this good deed. A new Chicago star is born: a gangster who robs from the rich and gives to the poor. Robbo finds it useful to have the public on his side. Robbo and his gang receive a lot of letters from old age homes, women shelters and orphanages asking for donations of cash. Dales comes over to introduce himself to Robbo. Dale is very erudite and most of his words are not understandable by Robbo or any of his gang. Dale offers to help Robbo by writing his speeches and managing his public image. Dale says that he never anticipated the huge positive response to Robin Hood comparison he made in the papers and can build on it. Robbo invites the delighted Dale to join his gang, having him handle all the charities. Dale starts the Robbo Foundation and opens a string of soup kitchens, free clinics and orphan shelters. He even gives green, feathered hats and bows and arrows to the orphans, while thoroughly milking the Robin Hood image. In the meantime, Robbo and Little John teach Dale a little about "Style." Robbo's joint re-opens and it is a hit. Gisborne, whose place is now empty, is infuriated. He and the new sheriff, Alvin Potts (Victor Buono), organize a police raid. Robbo has anticipated this. when a few switches are pulled, the entire club is disguised as a mission. The sheriff and Gisborne burst in to find Robbo's gang singing gospel songs and preaching the sins of alcohol, complete with hymnals and tambourines ("Mr. Booze"). Robbo is framed for Glick's murder. At the trial, Gisborne and Potts claim that Robbo planned the whole thing. Dale tries to teach the despondent orphans to view this as a lesson ("Don't Be a Do-Badder"). The jury finds Robbo innocent. Wearing a green suit, Robbo publicly thanks everyone in Chicago ("My Kind of Town"). When he returns to his club, Robbo finds every one of his charities is now a front for counterfeiting. The soup kitchen smuggles fake bills in soup cans over state lines. Robbo also finds Little John living it up in Marian's mansion. Marian is willing to keep Robbo as a front, as long as she is in charge. Robbo shows his contempt for her and leaves. Little John decides to go with him. Marian finds another willing partner in Gisborne. However, the gangster is not a match for Robbo and ends up dead. Robbo tells a shocked Marian to clear out of town. She instead turns public opinion against him, starting a Women's League for Better Government and framing Robbo for the counterfeiting ring that she and Little John started. Unable to fight an angry mob of women, Robbo and his gang flee. Robbo and his merry men are reduced to working as Santa Clauses to solicit charitable donations. They watch dumbfounded as Marian steps out of a car with her latest partner, Alan A. Dale. He casually gives them money before going off with Marian.

Zack Thomas is a tough guy who hooks up with Joe Jarrett to open a casino. Sharpshooters Zack Thomas and Joe Jarrett are in a Texan stage-coach and manage to fight off Matson's robber gang, so afterward they can fight over the $100,000 cash carried by a railroad official. Both make it to Galveston, where each, including vexed Matson, meets up with respective accomplices in various dirty schemes. The money keeps changing hands and the scene shifts to a river boat, which should multiply the winnings as a casino, but the crooks and bullets follow. —KGF Vissers Stranded in the Wild West with $100,000 in cash and gold coins, Zack Thomas and Joe Jarrett form an uneasy alliance after surviving a deadly ambush by notorious bandit Matson and his gang. However, as they arrive in the bustling town of Galveston, they both set their sights on taking over the same run-down riverside casino owned by Maxine Richter, an alluring widow. Now, with Zack's statuesque girlfriend Elya urging him to stay out of trouble and the conniving banker Harvey Burden scheming in the background, the stage is set for a showdown. And the burning question looms. Is Galveston big enough for both Joe and Zack? —Nick Riganas

In 1952 during the Korean War, the Soviets capture an American platoon and take them to Manchuria in Communist China. After the war, the soldiers return to the United States, and Staff Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) is credited with saving their lives in combat. Upon the recommendation of the platoon's commander, Captain Bennett Marco (Frank Sinatra), Shaw is awarded the Medal of Honor for his supposed actions. In addition, when asked to describe him, Marco and the other soldiers automatically respond, "Raymond Shaw is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life." Deep down, however, they know something is wrong. As Marco puts it: "It isn't as if Raymond is hard to like. He's impossible to like!" Marco who has since been promoted to Major suffers from a recurring nightmare in which a hypnotized Shaw strangles one of his fellow soldiers, and shoots another, killing both before the assembled military brass of communist nations, during a practical demonstration of a brainwashing technique. (Raymond and his platoon have been hypnotized into believing that the Korean military brass are a bunch of harmless old American ladies from a garden club.) Marco wants to investigate, but receives no support from Army Intelligence as he has no proof. However, Marco learns that another soldier from the platoon, Allen Melvin (James Edwards), has had the same nightmare. When Melvin and Marco separately identify some of the men in the dream as leading figures in communist governments, Army Intelligence decides that this is too much of a coincidence and agrees to help Marco investigate. Shaw's mother, Mrs. Eleanor Iselin (Angela Lansbury), is the driving force behind her husband, Shaw's step-father, Senator John Yerkes Iselin (James Gregory), a bombastic demagogue in the style of Joseph McCarthy, who is dismissed by most people as a fool. Shaw hates them both, especially his domineering mother. Senator Iselin's political stature is established when (per his wife's orders) he interrupts a televised press conference given by the Secretary of Defense, accusing him of knowing that some 207 Defense Department employees are "card carrying" Communists. This provokes the expected chaos and shock among journalists and an enraged reaction from the Secretary. Unknown to everyone including Raymond, the Iselins (or possibly only Mrs. Iselin) are actually Stalinist agents with a plan intended to take them all the way to the White House. His mother is actually the American "operative" for whom Raymond is to effect the operation's final step. Raymond was conditioned in Manchuria to be an unwitting assassin whose actions are triggered by a Queen of Diamonds playing card. When he sees it, he will obey the next suggestion or order given to him by anyone. When given instructions to kill selected targets, he must also kill any witnesses and never remember his actions, making him the perfect assassin as he can never feel fear or guilt. It is revealed that Shaw's heroism was a false memory implanted in the platoon by the Communists in Manchuria, and that they were covertly returned to the American lines only after their conditioning was completed. The actions for which Shaw was awarded his Medal of Honor never took place. Raymond briefly finds happiness when he rekindles a youthful romance with Jocelyn Jordan (Leslie Parrish), the daughter of Senator Thomas Jordan (John McGiver), one of his stepfather's political rivals. Raymond had previously courted Jocelyn in order to get at his parents in a Romeo and Juliet-style romance, but they then genuinely fell in love, both she and her father being the nearest thing Raymond has ever had to having friends. Mrs. Iselin broke up the relationship for obvious political reasons, but now facilitates the couple's reunion as part of her scheme to garner the support of Senator Jordan for her husband's own sudden vice presidential bid. Jocelyn, wearing a Queen of Diamonds costume outfit, inadvertently hypnotizes Raymond at a costume party thrown by the Iselins at their Long Island home and the couple elopes. Although tolerant of the match, Senator Jordan makes it clear to Mrs. Iselin that he will move for her husband's impeachment if he makes any attempt to seek the vice-presidential nomination. Raymond's conditioning is then triggered by his mother and he is sent to assassinate Jordan. Jocelyn happens upon the scene and is also shot dead as a witness to the event. Raymond has no knowledge of his actions and is genuinely grief-stricken when he learns of the murders. In the course of Marco's investigation, he discovers the role of the Queen of Diamonds card in putting Raymond into the hypnotic state for his assignments. Marco meets Raymond and, using a deck composed entirely of Queen of Diamonds, gets the full story and orders Raymond to break the linkages between himself and the card forever and to disobey any further subsequent orders from his controllers. Unaware of this, Mrs. Iselin primes her son to assassinate their party's presidential candidate at the nomination convention so that Senator Iselin, as the vice-presidential candidate, will become the presidential candidate by default and give an inflammatory anti-Communist speech (actually written by the Communists themselves). This will cause mass hysteria that will get Iselin, the real "Manchurian candidate", elected and justify such emergency powers that, in Mrs. Iselin's words, "will make martial law seem like anarchy". She condescendingly tells her son that, although he may never fully understand, she did not know it would be her son whom the Communists selected as the assassin, apparently because they believed it would solidify their own hold over her. Furious, she vows that once in power she will "grind them into the dirt". She proceeds to give the ostensibly "hypnotized" Raymond a decidedly non-maternal kiss. Marco's attempt to free Raymond appears to have failed. Raymond enters the convention hall disguised as a Catholic priest and takes up a position to carry out the assassination as he was instructed, using a rifle with a scope. Marco and his supervisor, Colonel Milt (Douglas Henderson), arrive at the convention to stop him. As the Presidential nominee (Robert Riordan) makes his speech, Raymond instead shoots his stepfather and mother dead. He then commits suicide in front of Marco while wearing his undeserved Medal of Honor.

A crusty, eccentric priest recruits three reluctant convicts to help him rescue a children's leper colony from a Pacific island menaced by a smoldering volcano.

A gang of World War II 82nd Airborne veterans are recruited by Danny Ocean (Sinatra) and Jimmy Foster (Lawford) to rob five different Las Vegas casinos (Sahara, Riviera, Desert Inn, Sands, and The Flamingo) on a single night. The gang plans the elaborate New Year's Eve heist with the precision of a military operation. Josh Howard (Davis) takes a job driving a garbage truck while others work to scope out the various casinos. Sam Harmon (Martin) entertains in one of the hotel's lounges. Demolition charges are planted on an electrical transmission tower and the backup electrical systems are covertly rewired in each casino. At exactly midnight, while everyone in every Vegas casino is singing "Auld Lang Syne" the tower is blown up and Vegas goes dark. The backup electrical systems open the cashier cages instead of powering the emergency lights. The inside men sneak into the cashier cages and collect the money. They dump the bags of loot into hotel's garbage bins, go back inside and mingle with the crowds. As soon as the lights come back on, the thieves stroll out of the casinos. A garbage truck driven by Josh picks up the bags and passes through the police blockade. It appears to have gone off without a hitch. Their ace electrician, Tony Bergdorf (Conte), has a heart attack in the middle of the Las Vegas Strip and drops dead. This raises the suspicions of police, who wonder if there is any connection. Reformed gangster Duke Santos (Romero) offers to recover the casino bosses' money for a price. He learns of Ocean being in town and his connection to Foster, who is the son of Duke's fiancee. Santos pieces together the puzzle by the time Bergdorf's body arrives at the mortuary. Santos confronts the thieves, demanding half of their take. In desperation, the money is hidden in Bergdorf's coffin, with $10,000 set aside for the widow (Willes). The group plans to take back the rest of the money, making no payoff to Santos, after the coffin is shipped to San Francisco. This plan backfires when the funeral home talks Bergdorf's widow into having the funeral in Las Vegas, where the body is cremated along with all the money.

During WW2, the American OSS mounts covert operations with the native Kachin against the Japanese army in the jungles of Burma. Captain Tom Reynolds and his band of skilled OSS operatives are in WWII Burma to arm and train the Kachin natives. But jungle combat, particularly against a Japanese army as familiar with the terrain as the Kachin, is hazardous. Some respite is found during leaves in the arms of beautiful gold digger Carla, but after Chinese raiders cross the border to loot and murder American soldiers, Reynolds abandons all notions of "military protocol" and seeks requital.

Joey Evans is a charming, handsome, funny, talented 1st class, A-Number 1 heel. When Joey meets the former chorus girl and now rich widow Vera Simpson, the pair of lecherous souls seem made for each other. Joey Evans is a charming, handsome, funny, talented 1st class, A Number One heel. When Joey meets the former chorus girl ("she used to be 'Vera...with the vanishing veils'") and now rich widow, Vera Simpson, the pair of lecherous souls seem made for each other. That is, until Linda English comes along. Linda's a "mouse on the chorus line" and built like there's no tomorrow. But she's the typical good little girl from a good little home - just the right ingredient to louse up Joey's set-up. —A.L.Beneteau <albl@inforamp.net>

As socialite Tracy Lord prepares for her wedding to priggish George Kittredge at her Newport, Rhode Island estate, her ex-husband, millionaire song writer C. K. Dexter-Haven, organizes a jazz festival for the same weekend, using his neighboring home as a rehearsal hall. On the eve of her wedding, Tracy informs her precocious kid sister Caroline that she has not invited their father, Seth Lord, because he has left their mother for a chorus girl. Soon after, when Tracy hears Dexter play her and Dexter's favorite tune, she runs to Dexter's and accuses him of setting up the festival to disrupt her wedding. Dexter confesses he is still in love with her, but reminds Tracy that she left him because her expectations for him differed from his own. Tracy retorts that instead of becoming a respected composer, Dexter has lowered himself to being a "jukebox hero," and leaves. Back at the Lords', Uncle Willie calls to tell Tracy's mother, Mrs. Lord, that Spy magazine will withhold a slanderous article about Seth's affair in exchange for being allowed to send reporter Mike Connor and photographer Liz Imbrie to cover Tracy's high-society wedding. To appease her mother who fears for the family's reputation, Tracy agrees to the blackmail, but she and Caroline greet Mike and Liz, who arrive shortly after, with exaggeratedly gauche mannerisms and interrogate them about their lives, while avoiding any questions about their father. Soon after, George and Dexter arrive at the Lord house, prompting Liz to request a photograph of Tracy standing between her past and future husbands. Tracy reluctantly agrees, but later intentionally knocks the camera over, ruining the film. Tired of the reporter's constant badgering about her father, Tracy introduces her Uncle Willie as "papa" when he arrives at the house. The family goes along with the lie and when Seth arrives, they call him "Uncle Willie." Later, as they peruse tables filled with extravagant, impractical wedding gifts, Mike and Liz confide that they would rather have true happiness than be married into a wealthy, but obviously dysfunctional family. Later at the pool, Dexter suggests to Tracy that she soften her expectations of George to ensure a happy union and notes that she has little tolerance for "human frailty." Later alone, Tracy unwraps Dexter's wedding gift, the model of their honeymoon yacht, and fondly remembers the first few romantic weeks of her and Dexter's marriage. Suddenly, George interrupts her reverie to promise unfailing adoration of his "goddess." Upset that she might be seen as distant, Tracy demands that she be treated as a real woman. When Tracy later confronts her father about his affair, Seth supposes that his philandering is an attempt to maintain his youth and suggests that Tracy is partially to blame for refusing to show him any affection. Distraught by the day's events, a drunken Tracy takes Mike on a drive to tell him that his presumptions about the Newport upper class are unfair. As they stop at Uncle Willie's house for a drink, Tracy admits she has been sheltered by wealth, while an enamored Mike insists that Tracy needs only the right man to "fire her heart." Although her inhibitions are diminished by alcohol, Tracy flees the room when Mike tries to embrace her. After returning to the house, Tracy overhears Dexter sing a love song for his "Samantha," her nickname, rekindling her attraction to him. Later at the bachelor ball held at Willie's house, Dexter, Louis Armstrong and his band entertain the crowd with jazz, while George insists that Tracy sleep off her drunkenness alone in a parlor. Meanwhile, Mike wanders into a study, where he shares glass after glass of champagne with Dexter until the men break into song about the "swell party," mocking the haughty crowd. Later, Tracy climbs out the parlor window and joins Mike on a walk back to the Lords' house, where Mike tells her that she is a "flesh and blood" woman. After embracing him, Tracy jumps into the pool, fully clothed and swooning at the compliment. While escorting Liz back to the Lords' house, Dexter asks her why she and Mike have not married, prompting the patient Liz to reply that Mike must first outgrow his love for Tracy. Meanwhile, George, having discovered Tracy missing, rushes to the Lords' house, where he, Dexter and Liz witness a woozy Mike carrying Tracy back from the pool, both soaking from a swim. Horrified by what he assumes is a case of infidelity, George prepares to take a swing at Mike, but Dexter jumps in and punches him instead, hoping he has saved Mike from a savage blow of the truly jealous groom. The next morning, as dozens of wedding guests arrive, Tracy is so hung over that she has forgotten the previous evening's escapade. When she asks Mike about the night, he tells her only that he enjoyed himself. In a moment alone, a guilt-ridden Tracy asks advice from Dexter, who suggests that a mistake can sometimes help a couple learn. Soon after Mike and Liz announce they are through with dirty journalism and so will not to publish the story, George arrives and proclaims that he is undecided about continuing the wedding. When Tracy cannot provide an explanation for the previous evening, Mike informs the worried groom that the "affair" consisted of only two kisses and a swim, prompting Tracy to accuse Mike of thinking her too "unattractive and distant" to sleep with. After Mike tells her he did not want to take advantage of her drunken state, George, now full of self-righteousness, tells Tracy he can forgive this one mistake. Tracy, realizing the larger mistake is marrying George, tells her fiance that she "couldn't bear a perfect man." As George marches off and the processional music begins, Tracy, at a loss for words, seeks Dexter's coaching to address the awaiting crowd. As she repeats his phrasing unthinkingly, Tracy parrots that she eloped with Dexter two years ago and then announces she will now marry him in a full ceremony. Tracy turns to Dexter, ecstatic at his off handed proposal, and then thanks her father for helping her become more human. Meanwhile, Mike and Liz, inspired by the turn of events, decide to marry, as a jazzed-up version of the processional begins again.

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

Oscar winner Frank Sinatra is riveting as a cold-hearted assassin out to assassinate the U.S. President. Remastered and in Color for the very first time.

The life of the youngest of three sisters in a musical family is complicated by the separate arrivals of a charming composer and a cynical music arranger. When Alex enters the lives of the musical Tuttle family, all three daughters fall for him. He is charming, good-looking, and personable. Laurie and Alex seem to be made for each other, and they become engaged. When Barney comes into the picture to help Alex with some musical arrangements, matters become complicated. Laurie sees him as a challenge; she can't believe anyone could be as cynical as he is, and she is more than a match for his gloomy outlook on life. —Ron Kerrigan <mvg@whidbey.com> Gregory Tuttle is the Dean of a music foundation in a coastal town in Connecticut. He has passed on his love of music to his three young-adult daughters Amy, Fran, and Laurie, who live with him and his spinster sister, the girls' Aunt Jessie. Gregory and his daughters often rehearse together as a musical quartet. The girls support one another however they can, but each is an individual with her own distinct personality and wants, including ideal-husband wishlists. After only seven dates, Fran becomes engaged to developer Bob Neary, a man with prospects and wealth aspirations which match Fran's own. After Fran and Bob's announcement, Laurie and Amy vow to be spinster sisters together, despite practical but deep-in-her-heart romantic Amy's long courtship by unassuming plumber Ernie Nichols, who dotes on her. Only fun-loving Laurie truly believes that she will never marry. Their collective lives change with the entry into their lives of two men. The first is Gregory's old friend's son, composer Alex Burke, who is in the process of writing the songs and incidental music for a Broadway musical. He easily gets a job at the foundation using his natural and sincere charm which he applies to all equally, those charms which he also uses to get temporary lodging at the Tuttle home while he spends most of his time writing. Many women misconstrue that charm for romantic interest. The second is Alex's orchestrator and arranger, Barney Sloan. Barney has a chip on his shoulders about what life has dealt him, which he uses in turn as a reason for living a reckless life. The two men make each of the three daughters re-examine what she thinks she wants in life, or more precisely who she wants, which for all may be the same person, and affects what all three end up doing in their romantic lives. —Huggo

In 1941 Hawaii, Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt (Montgomery Clift) is transferred from the Bugle Corps at Fort Shafter (giving up his corporal stripes) to a rifle outfit, Company "G," at Schofield Barracks on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. When Captain Dana "Dynamite" Holmes (Philip Ober) learns of his reputation as a talented boxer, he recommends that Prewitt join the regimental boxing club that he heads, and promises that Prewitt will be promoted to corporal or even sergeant, if he helps win the boxing trophy on December 15. For reasons unknown to the regiment Prewitt adamantly refuses. Holmes retaliates by making army life as miserable as possible for Prewitt hoping he will agree to box. Unable to break Prewitt, Holmes orders First Sergeant Milton Warden (Burt Lancaster) to prepare court martial papers. Warden, however, knowing of Holmes' unfair treatment and realizing Prewitt is a thirty-year soldier (career soldier), suggests that he try to entice Prewitt to change his mind by doubling up on company punishment. The other non-commissioned officers assist in the conspiracy with brutal hazing rituals. Prewitt is supported only by his friend, Private Angelo Maggio (Frank Sinatra). Meanwhile, behind his commander's back, Warden begins an affair with Holmes' neglected wife Karen (Deborah Kerr). Sergeant Maylon Stark (George Reeves) has told Warden of Karen's many affairs with other soldiers at Fort Bliss, including his own. As their relationship develops, Warden asks Karen about her numerous affairs to test her sincerity with him. Karen relates that Holmes had been unfaithful to her most of their marriage. She lost a baby when Holmes came back from one affair drunk, and unable to assist her to the hospital. She then affirms her genuine love for Warden. Prewitt and Maggio spend their liberty time at the New Congress Club, a gentleman's club in downtown Honululu where Prewitt meets, and falls for, Lorene (Donna Reed), a local dancer and call girl. Prewitt confides to Lorene the reason he refuses to box for the company is that he blinded a close friend while sparring. Maggio encounters Sergeant 'Fatso' Judson (Ernest Borgnine), a crass and racist sergeant at the club. When Maggio complains that Judson's piano playing is interfering with his dancing, the two nearly come to blows. Maggio is told that Judson is the Sergeant of the Guard at the stockade. Later, at a tavern called "Choy's," located near the base, Judson sees Maggio holding a photograph of his family. Judson makes an inappropriate comment to Prewitt about Maggio's sister causing Maggio to smash a bar stool on Judson's head. Judson pulls a switchblade on Maggio, but Warden, sitting in a corner, intervenes to save Maggio by telling Judson that killing Maggio would "create two weeks of paperwork" for him. When the brutal Judson advances on Warden with the knife, Warden breaks a beer bottle in two and uses the jagged edge as a weapon. Judson retreats, throws down his knife and goes to the bar for a drink. However, he warns Maggio that sooner or later Maggio would end up in the stockade and he would be there waiting for him. A few days later, Karen tells Warden that if he became an officer, she could divorce Holmes and they could return to the States and marry. Warden is not keen on the idea because of his dislike of officers, but agrees to consider the matter. Prewitt manages a weekend pass, courtesy of Warden, and goes to meet Lorene who is too busy at the club to talk. However, she meets him later at a bar for a drink. He tells Lorene he loves the Army, and shows Lorene his prized possession, a bugle mouthpiece. He tells her, "I played taps last Armistice Day at Arlington National Cemetery. The President was there." Maggio then walks in drunk and in uniform, explaining that he was assigned to for guard duty that night, but deserted his post. Lorene encourages Prewitt to take Maggio back to the base. While Prewitt is calling for a taxi, Military Police arrive and arrest Maggio, and he is sentenced to six months in the stockade for desertion. Matters come to a head for Prewitt when Sergeant Galovitch picks a fight with Prewitt while on yard detail, and the two come to blows. At first, Galovitch repeatedly pummels Prewitt, who initially refuses to fight back, and then resorts to using only body blows. But as Galovitch and others watching continue taunting him, he begins boxing, hitting Galovitch in the face and nearly managing to knock him out before Holmes finally steps in and stops the fight. When Galovitch falsely accuses Prewitt of insubordination, Holmes is about to punish Prewitt again until the man in charge of the detail says that it was Galovitch, not Prewitt, who was spoiling for the fight. Instead of punishing Galovitch, Holmes abruptly lets him off the hook and disperses the crowd. The entire incident is witnessed by the base commander, who orders an investigation by the Inspector General. When Holmes' true intentions are revealed, the general orders a court-martial. When Holmes begs for an alternative, the commanding officer's aide suggests that Holmes resign his commission "for the good of the service" and leaves the Army, which the general accepts with dispatch. Holmes' replacement, Captain Ross, orders that Sergeant Galovitch be demoted to private and put in charge of the latrine. One evening, a few weeks later, Maggio manages to escape from the stockade and find Prewitt. He tells of the abuse he endured by Judson, then dies in Prewitt's arms. The next morning, Prewitt plays taps as tears stream down his cheeks. Seeking revenge, Prewitt tracks down Judson in town and invites him into a back alley to talk, then attacks him. The two fight with switchblades, Prewitt using the very same switchblade Judson had pulled on Maggio earlier. Prewitt kills Judson, but not before sustaining a serious stomach wound. Prewitt goes into hiding at Lorene's apartment. Despite Prewitt's AWOL status, his platoon sergeant carries him "present" for three days at Warden's direction. Lorene, whose real name is Alma, tends to Prewitt's wounds. On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. Enemy planes also attack nearby Wheeler Air Base as well as the barracks. Warden leads several of his men in battle by climbing to the roofs of the barracks and returns fire against strafing Japanese fighter planes, shooting down at least one of them. That evening, Prewitt, still weak from his unhealed wound, finds out about the attack over the radio, and attempts to return to camp under cover of darkness, despite protests from Lorene to wait until daylight. During the walk back to the barracks, Prewitt is spotted by several jittery sentries on the lookout for saboteurs. Instead of stopping and identifying himself to the sentries, Prewitt attempts to run and gets shot dead while running across a golf course, his body landing in a nearby sand trap. Warden arrives on the scene a few minutes later with military investigators and identifies the body. Warden laments Prewitt's stubbornness and states the irony that because of the attack, the December 15, 1941 boxing tournament has been canceled. Holmes' resignation results in Karen having to return to the States with him. When she finds out that Warden failed to apply for officer status, she realizes they will never be together. In the final scene, Lorene and Karen meet for the first (and only) time on a ship leaving for the mainland. Karen then tosses two leis into the water. She tells Lorene, "If the leis go to shore, a person will return to Hawaii. If the leis float out to sea, a person will never return." Lorene says she will never return to Hawaii, telling Karen that her fiance was an Army Air Corps pilot who was killed in a B-17 plane during the December 7th attack. Lorene quotes: "he was awarded the Silver Star, they sent it to his mother. She wrote me. She wanted me to have it. They are very fine people, Southern people. He was named after a general. Robert E. Lee Prewitt." Karen recognizes Prewitt's name from conversations with Warden and is aware that Lorene is lying about Prewitt's death, but she says nothing. The final shot shows Lorene holding Prewitt's treasured bugle mouth piece.

Chip, Gabey and Ozzie, three sailors on a twenty-four hour shore leave, look for adventure and romance in New York City and seek out the city's best known attractions. Following a whirlwind tour of Manhattan that includes stops at the Empire State Building, Central Park and Rockefeller Center, Ozzie and Gabey decide to forgo sightseeing and instead pursue the beautiful women of New York. While riding on a subway, the three sailors see a poster of Ivy Smith, "Miss Turnstiles" for the month of June, and fall instantly in love with her. As they gaze dreamily at the poster, they imagine Ivy coming to life and revealing her life story in a dance. Although they all are taken with her beauty, Gabey is especially smitten with Ivy and vows to find her. To their astonishment, the sailors find Ivy as soon as they step off the train into the subway station, where Ivy is posing for a photo shoot. Gabey poses with her for a photograph, but before he can make an impression on her, she disappears. Gabey, Chip and Ozzie follow Ivy and pile into a taxicab driven by the flirtatious Brunhilde Esterhazy, who tries to seduce Chip. With the facts on the poster about Ivy's life as their only clues to her whereabouts, Gabey and his pals search for her in places she is likely to be found. Accompanied by Brunhilde, who is determined to snare Chip, the sailors look for Ivy at the Museum of Natural History, where Ozzie meets Claire Huddeson, an anthropologist who quickly succumbs to his charms. While celebrating their new love with a kiss and a dance, Ozzie and Claire accidentally destroy a dinosaur skeleton at the museum. They flee, but the police are on their trail. The search for Ivy continues at various museums around the city. Finally the group decides to split up and search for her separately, agreeing to meet at 8:30 that evening at the Empire State Building. Alone at last with Chip, Brunhilde takes him to her apartment, only to be greeted by her annoying, ailing roommate, Lucy Shmeeler. Meanwhile, Gabey finds Ivy in a dance studio, and she consents to go on a date with him that evening. As she owes her dance instructor, the unpleasant, dipsomaniac Madame Dilyovska, a great deal of money, Ivy promises to return from her date at 11:30, in time to make her performance as a cooch dancer at Coney Island. At 8:30, Chip, Brunhilde, Ozzie, Claire and Gabey meet at the top of the Empire State Building, where they hide Ozzie from the policemen who are looking for him. When Ivy arrives, the three couples begin their wild night on the town. The merriment soon comes to an end, however, when, at 11:30, Ivy vanishes without explanation, leaving behind only a brief farewell note. Although his pals try to cheer him up by quickly substituting Lucy for Ivy, Gabey gets drunk and sadly recalls his time with Ivy. Later, acting on a tip from Madame Dilyovska, Gabey and his pals find Ivy at Coney Island, where she admits that shame made her keep her job a secret from him. Gabey and Ivy soon resume their romance, but they only have a few hours remaining before the end of Gabey's shore leave. After Ivy, Claire and Brunhilde persuade the police to drop the charges against the men, the three women bid their sailors farewell at the shipyard.

After eight months at sea, sailors Clarence Doolittle and Joseph Brady are granted a four-day shore leave in Hollywood, California. Joe, an incorrigible philanderer, plans to see one of his sweethearts while on leave, and later offers the shy and bookish Clarence advice on how to meet women. Clarence and Joe set out to find their shore leave romances but their plans are soon thwarted by a police sergeant, who demands that they help him with an unusual situation involving a young boy named Donald Martin. The police sergeant explains that Donald has run away from home to join the Navy and refuses to tell the police where he lives. Joe and Clarence easily win Donald's trust and agree to escort him home, where he lives with his widowed aunt, Susan Abbott. While Joe is eager to avoid any further involvement with the young boy, Clarence falls in love with Susan and promises to return the following day. When Joe and Clarence return to Susan's, they meet Bertram Kraler, a man Susan hopes will introduce her to the famous maestro José Iturbi. As Susan dresses for her date, Joe, convinced that Bertram is a new suitor who will only get in the way of Clarence's romantic pursuit of Susan, scares Bertram away by suggesting that Susan is a notorious Navy sweetheart. When Susan learns what Joe has done, she breaks down in tears and believes that her chances at breaking into show business are doomed. Joe tries to comfort Susan but only makes matters worse for himself when he tells her that Clarence and Iturbi are good friends and that he can arrange an audition for her. With her faith in Joe and Clarence restored, Susan takes them to a Mexican restaurant and sings a song for them. While Joe dances with Susan, Clarence meets a friendly waitress, whom he nicknames "Brooklyn," after their hometown. Realizing that he must honor Joe's promise to Susan for an audition with Iturbi, Clarence tries unsuccessfully to meet with Iturbi at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios. Meanwhile, Joe, who has become quite fond of Donald and Susan, tells Donald's classmates a story about his experience in a mythical kingdom populated by animals: In the kingdom, Joe discovers that the animals that live there are sad because their mouse king has prohibited them from singing. Determined to help the animals, Joe visits their unhappy king and shows him the beauty of song and dance. Joe's story concludes with the king repealing his edict and allowing the animals to sing. As a new romance develops between Clarence and Brooklyn, Joe falls in love with Susan. One day, Susan has a chance encounter with Iturbi and discovers that Joe and Clarence have been deceiving her and do not really know Iturbi. Feeling embarrassed and betrayed, Susan breaks down in tears. Iturbi, however, understands her situation and arranges a screen test for her. The test is a great success, and Iturbi soon presents Susan at one of his shows. Before returning to his ship, Joe makes amends with Susan, and Clarence and Brooklyn embrace.