Harry Dean Stanton

Rango is a chameleon who accidentally ends up in the town of Dirt, an outpost that is in desperate need of a new sheriff.

In 1995, Ray and Gary go to the United States to find Elvis memorabilia to sell on the market stall Ray runs in London. A former US Army cameraman, Harvey, sells them a silent black and white film of Elvis performing live, but later returns with an intriguing offer. Harvey takes Ray to Miami, Florida to see a film from 1947, showing the autopsy of an alien supposedly killed in a UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico. Harvey wants to sell the film for $30,000. Gary and Ray return to England to look for an investor to give them the money. Ray convinces Laszlo Voros, a Hungarian homosexual art and drug dealer obsessed with crop circles, to give him the $30,000 and retrieves the film from Harvey. Back in England, the pair discover that the film has degraded from humidity and heat and is now completely unwatchable. In order to avoid serious repercussions from Voros, they decide to make their own recreation of it. They base the content on Ray's memories of the original, and, with the help of some friends, fashion a convincing replica of the dead alien using a mannequin and meat products obtained from a friend's butcher's shop, turn the living room of Gary's sister into a film set, and shoot the film on a Bell and Howell spring-wound camera. Ray gives a copy of the final product to Voros, who believes it to be real. Having convinced Voros, Ray and Gary decide to sell the film to other venues, earning them a large sum of money. However, when Voros hears about its international distribution, he demands 80% of the profits. A potential clash is averted when Voros is killed by a green Land Rover while standing naked in the middle of a crop circle, leading to speculation that he has been killed by a CIA agent. Ray and Gary travel to Argentina to promote the film, followed by reporter Amber Fuentes, who seduces Ray. She eventually tracks down Harvey, who demands from Ray and Gary that they maintain his anonymity. To fulfil this obligation, they produce an interview with a homeless former actor playing Harvey, which convinces Amber. She remains sceptical, however, about the film's authenticity. Ray and Gary are now persuaded that some of the original 1947 footage might actually be recovered by film restoration experts in order to be viewed. However, after viewing the results, the pair bury the film, telling each other that they cannot continue with the endeavour.

An F.B.I. Agent from America and his bride and young child travel to the Sicilian island of Ginostra, to solve the murder of a key witness. Matt Benson, an FBI investigator, has been posted to the island of Panarea in the Lipari archipelago within the framework of an agreement between the USA and Italy. He has been allocated a comfortable, well-protected house with vast grounds and a private cove facing the Ginostra volcano. This delights his wife Jessie and their 5-year-old daughter Tina. A few days after they arrive, a 11-year-old boy, Ettore Greco, a Mafia victim, is questioned by Matt about the death of his whole family in a car bombing. For security reasons, Matt decides to bring Ettore to the house where he is living. This artificial adoption gradually reveals the tragic secret binding Matt to the child, a secret Jessie knows nothing about. From secrets to lies, the atmosphere in the villa slowly leads the Benson family to the gates of hell. Outside is the danger, inside is the fear. In between is an orphan child... —Anonymous

Kevin suffers from a Morquio's syndrome, which weakens his heart and stunts his growth. Maxwell has dyslexia and towers above his classmates. The two couldn't be more different, but, when Kevin is asked to help Maxwell, they soon bond. This tells the story of a strong friendship between a young boy with Morquio's syndrome and an older boy who is always bullied because of his size. Adapted from the novel, Freak the Mighty, the film explores a building of trust and friendship. Kevin, an intelligent guy helps out Maxwell to improve his reading skills. In return, Kevin wants Maxwell to take him out places since he is not allowed out unauthorized. Being the social outcasts of the town, Kevin and Maxwell come to realize that they are similar to each other and accept that they are "freaks" and nothing will stop them. —Thorpe89 This is the heart-warming story of a unique friendship shared by two seventh grade boys, Kevin and Max. Kevin, afflicted with a rare physical disability that prevents him from living a normal childhood, is an extremely intelligent boy who lives in the world of his imagination. Max on the other hand, is an over-weight boy who suffers from a learning disability and has failed the seventh grade several times. Fate brings the boys together when Kevin is assigned to tutor Max in his reading skills; here their magical journey begins. These two boys, who appear on the surface to have nothing in common, find they share many painful realities of being outcasts, and of being abandoned by their fathers early in life. Kevin's enchanting world of knights and their quest for justice is brought into reality through his exciting journey with Max. Through their adventures, they find a friendship providing completeness of self and an unbreakable bond of love. —Chris

A federal agent uncovers lucrative toxic waste dumps in Appalachia and must deal with the locals who want to keep their 'gold mine' secret. When a friend and fellow agent is found dead under suspicious circumstances in a close-knit Appalachian community, it falls to the veteran EPA Agent Jack Taggert to shed light on the mystery. Posing as a worker, Taggert soon discovers that the ruthless businessman, Orin Hanner Jr, keeps dumping toxic waste into an abandoned coal mine shaft, posing a threat to public health and all living things in the picturesque valley. Now, Jack has to deal with the unscrupulous criminals who destroy nature. But, can one man working alone right a wrong and restore peace? —Nick Riganas After F.B.I. agent Jack Taggart looses his best friend to the hands of a corrupt toxic dump coverup, he decides to visit the town and find out what he can about the coverup. In the process he is met by unfriendly town folk who are being paid to keep the dumping secret. With the help of an old man and a young woman, he takes on the corporate head of the toxic dumping with a vengeance. —Steven Dretzke <stevend@unicomp.net>

Sailor and Lula run away to start a new life, pursued by hitmen hired by Lula`s vengeful mother.

An accident puts the consciousness of an elderly dream researcher into the body of a bratty teenager. The problem? The kid prefers dreamworld limbo to real life. The lives of a crusty old scientist and a bratty, teen Michael-Jackson-wannabe are about to intersect in a paranormal way. Coleman Ettinger seeks to break down the door of reality through studied dreaming; Bobby Keller wants Lainie Diamond, the girlfriend of his high school friend Joel, a handsome school jock. As Coleman persuades his wife Gena to join his experiments, an accident knocks their bodies out of existence, along with Bobby's consciousness. Coleman's consciousness winds up in Bobby's body while Gena's ends up buried and asleep inside Lainie's. Only when sleeping can Coleman contact Bobby and elicit his help in putting things back, except that Bobby smugly prefers limbo over his aggravated life as a modern teenager. —statmanjeff Bobby Kellar has a crush on Lainie Diamond, girlfriend of school jerk Joel. Coleman is working on an experiment which will help him move into a place where Dreams are reality. When an accident occurs Coleman finds himself in Bobby's body and can only contact Bobby in his dreams. —yusufpiskin Bobby Kellar has a crush on Lainie Diamond, girlfriend of school jerk Joel. Coleman is working on an experiment which will help him move into a place where Dreams are reality. When an accident occurs Coleman finds himself in Bobby's body and can only contact Bobby in his dreams. Part of his wife's mind has also ended up in Lainie. To bring his and his wife's body back to reality, Coleman must agree to fix Bobby's messed up life. —Liam Smith Bobby Keller has a best friend and a girlfriend. But, he's not happy. His parents don't notice him, he's failing in school, and he has a crush. He feels his life is pointless. Then, one night, everything changes when Bobby collides with his dream girl Lainie in his elderly neighbors' yard. Now, Coleman is trapped in Bobby's body, and his wife Gena is trapped in Lainie's body. In Coleman's dreams, Bobby advises him on how to act and that he isn't willing to go back, unless Coleman can fix his screwed-up life. —Allison L. Venezio <YankeeSNL01@aol.com>

Delusional and spoiled Maureen and her eccentric brother Howdy decide to track down and meet their estranged mother, all while the drama of dysfunctional relationships, disastrous weather conditions and a dark family secret ensue. An oddball family on a Kansas farm are trapped in their farmhouse by an impending storm. The patriarch of the clan is a retired soda pop tycoon. He is currently dating a children's TV evangelist. Also living at the farm is his layabout daughter and her precocious 8 year old daughter, his would-be artist son, the son's fiancée, and the black maid. Also thrown into the mix is the daughter's ex-husband, a ne-er-do-well who is seeking to get back in his ex-wife's good graces. —John Sacksteder <jsackste@bellsouth.net>

A British art expert travels across America in order to purchase a rare Renoir painting in the South but comes across some crazy characters in the process. Young Englishman Henderson Dores (Daniel Day-Lewis), yearning to give up his genteel British ways and be a bold and brash American, gets his chance when his New York firm sends him south to acquire a Renoir painting from Loomis Gage (Harry Dean Stanton), the eccentric head of an unusual family. Working at a New York City auction house as a nineteenth century art expert under the direction of Edgar Beeby, the father of his overbearing socialite fiancée Melissa, stereotypical uptight Brit Henderson Dores moved to the US to expand his horizons i.e. to break out of his staid British rut. Edgar sends him to rural Luxora Beach, GA upon news that a man named Loomis Gage wants to sell what was thought to be a long lost Pierre-Auguste Renoir painting, Henderson estimating its value in auction upwards of $10 million, which would make it one of the house's most lucrative acquisitions. Already feeling like a fish out of water in New York, Henderson feels even more so in rural Georgia in dealing with Loomis and his stereotypical backwoods, eccentric and disparate family, each member who has his or her own motivation separate from Loomis. As one by one New Yorkers start descending on Henderson in this situation, some related to his professional life and some to his personal life, Henderson reevaluates what was his version of the American dream. —Huggo A British art expert travels across America in order to purchase a rare Renoir painting in the South but comes across some crazy characters in the process. —anonymous

Andie comes from a poor home, is a bit of an outcast at school and works at a record store. She takes care of her dad, who is still a bit lost after being left by Andie's Mom years ago. Duckie is her best friend who has secretly been in love with her since childhood. Enter Blaine, A popular rich kid who is interested in Andie despite the social pressure from his friends. After a couple days of flirting Blaine eventually asks Andie out, much to Duckie's disappointment. Andie is initially very excited but feels out of place when Blaine takes her to a party and his friends are less then accepting. They leave and go to one of Andie's favorite hangouts, A bar with live music, but the Blaine gets a less the welcome reception from Duckie. Despite the social world differences the two want to make it work and Blaine asks Andie to Prom. Blaine's douche bag friend Steff get's to him though and Blaine backs out of the prom date. Andie eventually decides to go anyways, is meet there by Duckie, and they reconcile their friendship. Blaine realizes he was wrong and apologies to Andie, Duckie relents and tells her to go after him, and Andie and Blaine make up and out in the parking lot and everything is golden in 80's teen romance land.

In the Mojave Desert, a motorcycle cop pulls over a 1964 Chevrolet Malibu being erratically driven by Dr. J. Frank Parnell. Despite warnings from the space-out Parnell, the policeman opens the trunk, sees a blinding flash of white light, and is instantly vaporized, leaving only his boots behind. Parnell drives off, continuing his erratic driving. Otto Maddox, a young punk rocker in L.A., is fired from his job as a supermarket stock clerk when his manager nitpicks his work placing products in displays. He goes to a punk rocker party where he catches his girlfriend cheating on him with his best friend Duke. Depressed and broke, Otto is wandering the streets when a man named Bud drives up and offers him $25 to drive a 1978 Olds Cutlass Salon out of the area, saying it's his wife's car. Bud tells Otto that his wife is at the hospital about to deliver twins and that he needs to get her car out of the bad neighborhood. Otto follows Bud in the car to the Helping Hand Acceptance Corporation, where he learns that the car he drove was being repossessed and Bud's story was a ruse. After defiantly pouring out the beer they give him, he refuses to join Bud as a "repo man," and goes to his parents' house. He learns that his burned-out ex-hippie parents have donated the money they promised him for finishing school to a crooked televangelist. He decides to take the repo job. Bud teaches Otto what he calls the Repo Code and about the lifestyle of a repo man which involves dressing like a cop, working very late hours, getting little sleep and snorting speed to keep awake. Bud also tells Otto about the Rodriguez Brothers, Hand Acceptance's chief competition in the repo business. They engage the brothers in a brief race in the LA River with Bud yelling insults as the Rodriguez' speed off. After repossessing a flashy red 1976 Cadillac, Otto sees a girl named Leila running down the street. He gives her a ride to her workplace, the United Fruitcake Outlet. On the way, Leila ducks down in the footwell when she spots two men in the next car who dress like government agents. She shows Otto pictures of aliens that she says are in the trunk of a Chevy Malibu. She claims that they are dangerous because of the radiation that they emit. Meanwhile, Helping Hand is offered a $20,000 bounty notice for the Malibu. Most assume that the car is drug-related, because the bounty is so far above the actual value of the car. Parnell arrives in L.A. driving the Malibu, but he is unable to meet his waiting UFO compatriots because of a team of government agents led by a woman with a metal hand. When Parnell pulls into a gas station, Helping Hand's competitors, the Rodriguez brothers, take the Malibu. They stop for sodas because the car's trunk is so hot. While they are out of the car, a trio of Otto's punk friends, Duke, Debbi and Archie, who are on a crime spree, steal the Malibu. After they visit a night club, Parnell appears and tricks the punks into opening the trunk, killing one of them and scaring the other two away. Later, he picks up Otto and drives aimlessly, before collapsing and dying from radiation exposure. Otto takes the Malibu back to Helping Hand and leaves it in the lot. The car is stolen from the lot by an unidentified thief, and a chase ensues. By this time, the car is glowing bright green. Eventually, the Malibu reappears at the Helping Hand lot with Bud behind the wheel, but he gets shot by government agents who arrive on the scene in a helicopter. The various groups trying to acquire the car soon show up; government agents, the UFO scientists, and the televangelist. Anyone who approaches it bursts into flames, even those in flame-retardant suits. Only Miller, an eccentric mechanic at Helping Hand, is able to enter the car. He slides behind the wheel and beckons Otto into the Malibu. After he settles into the passenger seat, the Malibu lifts straight up into the air and flies off, streaking around downtown Los Angeles at high speed. Otto happily says the ride is "intense" and Miller replies

"Red Dawn" envisions an alternate history of mid-1980's America. A few title cards that precede the opening credits tell of famine in the Soviet Union, leading to food riots in Poland. The USSR subsequently invades Poland. Troubles in Central America include Cuba and Nicaragua building their armies to immense, unprecedented numbers and invading the nations of El Salvador and Honduras. A Communist revolution breaks out in Mexico. In Europe, political divisions in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) lead to the dismantling of nuclear weapons. Finally, NATO dissolves, leaving the United States with no allies or support. The story is set in a small Colorado mountain town called Calumet. Before an autumn school day in September a young man named Jed Eckert (Patrick Swayze) is dropping his younger brother Matt (Charlie Sheen) and their friend Arturo (Doug Toby) off at school. While giving a lecture on Genghis Khan's tactics in conquering Asia, their history teacher (Frank McCrae) notices paratroopers landing outside in the school football field. Thinking they may be American soldiers who are off course, he leaves the classroom to investigate and is immediately shot and killed by one of the soldiers, who then open fire on the classroom, killing at least one student. Matt and Arturo ("Aardvark") escape the chaos when Jed pulls up, having quickly returned. They are also joined by their friends Daryl (Darren Dalton), Robert (C. Thomas Howell), and Danny (Brad Savage). They drive through town, witnessing more of the invasion. Arturo's father is seen being chased by the invaders and tries to reach them but is apprehended in the street. The group drives out of town to Robert's father's gas station on the highway. Robert's father tells them to gather supplies for camping and gives them a few rifles and ammunition. They escape to the mountains; Jed's plan is to camp out there until the conflict is over. Back in Calumet, a Cuban colonel named Bella (Ron O'Neal) oversees the hasty occupation of the town. American forces have moved in from all sides and are attacking relentlessly. Bella orders his Cuban and Nicaraguan troops to defensive positions and orders another of his men, a Russian KGB agent, to acquire documents from the gun store identifying local citizens who possess privately-owned firearms. The boys arrive in the mountains and set up camp. An argument erupts between Jed and the high school class president, Daryl (the Calumet's mayor's son), who insists they go back and turn themselves in. Jed orders him to leave, however, Daryl relents and stays with the group. The group also discovers that their radio has been destroyed when they were shot at, so their contact with the outside world is essentially cut off. While hunting deer, Robert makes a kill and drinks some of the deer's blood as part of a ritual that Jed, Matt & their father all took part in. Jed also suggests that everyone will notice a change in Robert from then on. A few weeks later in October, Jed, Matt, and Robert slip into Calumet to find out what has happened in their absence. They talk to a store owner, Alicia, who tells them that the Russians know who they are and tells them that the boys are being blamed for a series of violent crimes in the town. She also tells them that many people have been remanded to a holding camp at the town's drive-in theater. The boys go to the camp that evening and find that it's a communist re-education camp. Jed and Matt's father (Harry Dean Stanton) is a prisoner; when they see him, he has been severely beaten. Telling his sons that he was hard on them for an occurrence like this, he also implores them to avenge him. The next morning, the group next goes to the ranch of their father's friend, Mr. Mason (Ben Johnson), whose property lies far enough outside Calumet to go unnoticed. Mason informs the boys that a large portion of the central United States has been occupied by Soviet and Cuban forces and they are all 40 miles behind enemy lines. Beyond the Soviet/Cuban front lies "FA" or "Free America". They also tell Robert that his father was killed by the enemy; while gathering their supplies at his father's store before fleeing to the mountains, the group also took several rifles. The Soviet authorities had Robert's father publicly executed for providing insurgents (the boys) with weapons. Mason doesn't know what happened to Robert's mother. Robert breaks down and a distressed Jed feels obvious guilt for their deaths. Mason tells the boys that they are not at fault and that the lesson learned from the incident (symbolizing that of US government registration of privately-owned firearms) should sink in to them all. Before they leave, Mason gives them a radio and also asks that the boys take his teenage granddaughters with them. The two new additions are Toni (Jennifer Grey) and her sister Erica (Lea Thompson) who ride back to the camp with them on a few horses Mason gives them. Meanwhile, Daryl's father, Calumet's mayor, Bates (Lane Smith), a collaborationist of sorts, tries to appease the occupation authorities under Colonel Bella. He offers his assistance in getting the citizens of his town to adhere to the new laws that Bella imposes. Back in the woods, the group hears a radio announcement from the Free Zone that tells them the war is far from over ("John has a long mustache") and the combat is at a standstill ("The chair is against the wall"). The next day, the group sees a Russian patrol of three soldiers headed toward their position. While taking in the sites, the patrol sees the group and attempts to arrest them. Jed, Robert & the others kill them all. Robert later talks of his enjoyment of killing them, probably seeking revenge for the deaths of his parents. Jed remarks that they cannot return to town ever again because they'll be hunted. In reprisal, Colonel Bella orders the killing of several of the town's residents after they dig graves for the dead Soviets. A mass execution takes place, one that Matt witnesses from a distance. Among those killed are his and Arturo's fathers. Also present is Daryl's father, who is visibly sickened. Jed later tells everyone not to cry over their families' deaths. In retaliation, the teens continue their guerrilla campaign, dubbing themselves "Wolverines" after their high school football team's mascot. They ambush Soviet and Cuban patrols, shoot up armored columns, and raid local armories to steal weapons such as AK-47 rifles, sniper rifles, ammunition, land mines and RPG launchers, among many other weapons. A month later, Erica, while on patrol, sees a pilot land nearby by parachute. The pilot is an Air Force Colonel, named Andy Tanner (Powers Boothe), who joins the team and fills them in on the events of the war. The occupying forces are made up of Cuban and Soviet commando forces who invaded from both Mexico and Canada. The Soviet forces crossed into Alaska (cutting the Alaska oil pipeline). Tactical nuclear weapons were used to take out key U.S. nuclear missile and communication locations. However, by this time the front lines of combat have mostly stabilized. Tanner tells the teens that the United States' only allies are Great Britain, who are suffering huge defeats, and about 600 million Chinese. When Daryl says that China's population is supposed to be over one billion, Tanner implies that they've been defeated by the Soviets as well, perhaps by mass slaughter in combat or by nuclear weapons. The team invites the Colonel to join their guerrilla efforts. Tanner also teaches them basic tactics for attacking larger targets; they attack an airbase located near the re-education camp. They free the prisoners and destroy a few key military targets. Tanner later notices Robert carving hash marks into the stock of his AK-47 rifle for every enemy soldier he kills. Tanner tells the boy that "all that killing is gonna burn you up inside." Robert replies, "Yeah, but it keeps me warm." Jed takes Tanner to meet Mr. Mason where he tells them both that there are rumors of the Soviets dropping special forces units into the occupied zone to hunt the Wolverines. There is also talk of sending in American Special Forces troops to aide them. Jed believes their only chance to survive the war is to cross the front lines into Free America. Tanner decides to show them the way out of the occupied territory. They go to the front lines of combat where an M1 Abrams American tank is engaged in a fierce battle with a few Soviet T-62 tanks. Tanner tells Jed that they'll have to cross the no-man's land between the tanks to reach the free zone where Soviet jets are dropping napalm. As they prepare to move forward, another Soviet tank moves up to their position, unaware that Tanner and the team are nearby. The tank begins to fire on the American tank and Tanner sees an opportunity to disable the enemy. In the skirmish, Arturo is killed and Tanner is critically wounded by a grenade. Before he succumbs to his injuries, he is able to mark the tank with a colored smoke bomb, making it visible to the American forces. They destroy the tank and Tanner along with it. Back in camp, Erica becomes deeply depressed over his loss, having been attracted to him. A small funeral is held for Tanner and Arturo. Their names are carved by the team into a nearby rock as a memorial. Meanwhile, Colonel Bella and his superior, the Russian Cossack Major General Bratchenko (Vladek Sheybal), call in a Soviet special forces team to hunt the Wolverines. Before they move in, their commander, Major Strelnikov (William Smith), orders the forces in the area to cease their reprisals and atrocities against the local population, saying terror tactics like those will not win the conflict for them in the long term. The Soviet commandos move into the mountains, using a tracking device to find the Wolverines, however, the teens are waiting for them and kill most of the commandos. One is left alive and is interrogated by the group. They discover the tracking device, which reveals that the Daryl is a traitor, having stolen away from the team and into town to see his father despite Jed's strictest orders. While there, he had been forced to swallow a tracing bug and reveal his and his friends' location in the mountains. The team makes a tough decision to execute both Daryl and the Soviet prisoner. Jed, enraged by the Soviet invasion, kills the soldier and turns his gun on Daryl, but is unable to kill him. Robert steps up and very casually and coldly shoots Daryl, leaving the team horrified at his callousness in executing a friend. By March of the following year, after five months of fighting, the Wolverines are physically and emotionally weakened, however, by the attacks and other events, and their morale erodes as the war of attrition continues. Even though the American civilians are increasingly resistant to Soviet rule, the occupation forces are pushing the resistance of the Wolverines to the breaking point. A few days later, while observing a small detachment of Soviet vehicles, Jed notices that they drop a few cartons of food and calls off their attack. They scrounge what's there and take it back to their camp. However, apparently the food had somehow been bugged and three heavily armed Soviet Mi-24 Hind helicopters move in and attack the group. Toni is shot immediately and is taken to cover by Jed. The rest of the group also scatter on their horses and try to make it to cover, however, Robert's horse is shot out from under him. He makes a final stand, damaging one Mi-24 chopper with an RPG, killing the door gunner, and firing his rifle at a second. He is killed in a hail of gunfire. After the three Soviet helicopters leave the scene, Jed and the seriously wounded Toni share a final moment and Jed leaves her a grenade. Later, when Soviet ground troops arrive and find her dead body, the grenade that had been left live under her goes off, taking at least one Russian soldier with it. Jed adds Toni's and Robert's names to those already on the memorial rock. Tired and demoralized by the loss of their friends, Jed and Matt prepare a suicidal attack on the Soviet headquarters in Calumet itself which will serve as a diversion allowing Erica and Danny to escape to Free America. During the climactic final battle, many Soviet, Cuban, and enemy soldiers and officers are killed during the fighting. Jed and Matt kill Bratchenko and blow up his communications trailer with RPGs. While trying to escape on a nearby train, Matt is shot by the pursuing Strelnikov. Jed sneaks up on Strelnikov and the two shoot each other simultaneously at close range. Strelnikov is killed and Jed is wounded in his side. Colonel Bella sees Jed holding his brother, but does not shoot them and lets him pass. Jed takes his fatally wounded brother to a bench in the town's empty, snowy park square and cradles him as he dies. Jed refuses to leave the dead Matt behind and stays, holding his dead brother while waiting to die from his own wounds or for the Soviet troops to find and finish him off. At the same time, Bella, equally war weary and hoping to leave the prolonged conflict, returns to his office headquarters and finishes writing out a letter of resignation from the Cuban Army. The film closes with Erica and Danny being the only two survivors of the original team. They make their way to Free America territory in the Great Plains. Erica narrates the final scene of the film, saying that the war ended an indeterminate time later. She adds that she often visits a memorial to their friends called "Partisan Rock", but no one else ever visits. The memorial has an inscription that invokes the words of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. The memorial, its inscription, and the presence of an American flag indicate America eventually won the war. The plaque reads: "In the early days of World War III, guerrillas - mostly children - placed the names of their lost upon this rock. They fought here alone and gave up their lives, so that this nation should not perish from the earth."

It's 1958 in Detroit. We are inside a car factory where numerous Plymouth Fury's are being assembled. Among the rather plain-colored vehicles, one of them stands out: a bright-red one. During the process, this particular red car is being fussed about by one factory worker who has his hand injured when the vehicle's hood comes down on it. Another factory worker takes a seat inside the vehicle; he will be found dead afterwords. Present day, September 16, 1978 in Northern California. Arnie Cunningham (Keith Gordon) is a meek teenager who spends his weekends playing Scrabble with his parents (Christine Belford and Richard Darnell), who still treat him as a child. Arnie and his best friend Dennis Guilder (John Stockwell) are going to their school, as usual. Arnie is clumsy, and his black-rimmed glasses characterize him as being nerdy. Dennis is a football player, who still befriends Arnie and tries to stand up for him. During shop class, Arnie is bullied by several students led by Buddy Repperton (William Ostrander). Dennis tries to stop the bullies, but he can't be all the time checking on weak Arnie. Today, Buddy stamps on Arnie's sack-lunch and also breaks his glasses. When both Arnie and Dennis tell the shop teacher that Buddy had a switchblade in his possession when he teased Arnie, it looks that the only consequence will be bad for Arnie, as Boddy announces he will take his own back pretty soon. Arnie and Dennis start their way back to their homes. Arnie notices a used Plymouth Fury with a placard announcing "SOLD". Supposedly, this is the same vehicle that we saw on the Detroit assembly line... only now it's dirty, gritty, broken, with pieces peeling off or falling apart. In spite of everything, Arnie falls in love with this car. He immediately wants to buy it. The owner, George LeBay, tells the story of the car: he inherited it from his dead brother, Roland. The current owner also tells Arnie that the car has a name: Christine. Arnie drives Dennis home in his new car. Once at home, Arnie's overprotective parents angrily start pestering him for having spent his money on a car without consulting them, and especially one in Christine's wrecked condition. Arnie angrily shouts back that throughout his life, they haven't allowed him to have something he truly wants, and that he is dead-set on keeping Christine. However, his parents refuse to have it parked in their driveway. Arnie decides to take it to a local junkyard garage run by an irritable middle-aged man named Will Darnell (Robert Prosky) for storage. Over the next several weeks, Arnie begins working on Christine whenever he has a bit of free time after school. He also starts to help Mr. Darnell around his garage. This was the first time when Arnie stood up to his parents. However, it's not only about being against parental control. Dennis also notices a subtle change in Arnie, as he seems to be more assertive. Weirdly enough, Arnie has stopped using his eye glasses. During a football game, Dennis is shocked to see Arnie arrive in Christine, now fully-restored into a shining beautiful red car, but also along for the ride is the new student, Leigh Cabot (Alexandra Paul). The sight of the two of them together causes Dennis to make a mistake on the field as he's tackled hard. This puts an end to Dennis' football career - and to his ambitions for the future-, so he ends up recuperating in hospital, surrounded by medical paraphernalia. Meanwhile, Arnie continues to date Leigh. One night, he takes her to see a film at the drive-in; and there, Leigh confesses to Arnie that she thinks he's moving too fast in their relationship. She also claims she feels unsettled when she is around Christine. During the movie, one of Christine's windshield wipers becomes stuck, and Arnie gets out to fix it. As he does so, Leigh chokes on a hamburger and immediately, the door latches lock themselves! Arnie tries to get back into the car unsuccessfully. Basically, Leigh has to save herself when she manages to unlock the passenger door, and a nearby viewer who saw her struggling performs the Heimlich maneuver on her. Arnie then drives Leigh home. At her doorstep, she tells him that she won't go anywhere in Christine again. There are weird things about the car, she says, like when only old songs can be reached through the radio aerial, but none of the local radio stations can be heard. Arnie then returns Christine to Darnell's garage. After Arnie's departure, Buddy Repperton and his thugs arrive, and they proceed to systematically destroy the car. Arnie sees the wreck done to Christine the following day and is shocked that all the work he had put into restoring the car has evaporated. Arnie suspects that Leigh was somehow responsible for the wreck. He is getting into trouble as home as well, as his temper is radically changed. His parents notice the acute change in him and they comment that they want the old Arnie to come back. The long Scrabble nights are over, and Arnie has one big row with his father. But more and more, Arnie can only think of one matter: he wants to restore Christine to its full beauty again. Next day, first thing he does is going to the salvage garage to re-start work on Christine. Determined, he looks for his tools. Turning his back on Christine, he hears the crinkling of metal behind him. Arnie looks at Christine startled, and he realizes that, part of her engine is now repaired as if by magic. Arnie doesn't look startled anymore, and he encourages Christine to restore herself in front of him. The car flicks her headlights on, and obediently, there is suddenly mayhem: pieces are moving to their original position, the hood dusts itself off, the aerial strengthens up, buttons and seats start mending themselves and end up being shiny as brand new. The living malevolent car has the power to regenerate. A more-determined Arnie goes back to high school life. Nobody dares to touch him now. At night, Christine comes to life by herself and she seeks out and gruesomely kills each gang member who took part in destroying her. He runs after them. Eventually, Christine arrives at a gas station, spilling gasoline, setting it on fire so that the building becomes debris and ashes. Christine catches fire herself, but that doesn't stop her, as she still goes after Buddy. He tries to run away the scene, terrified because he has seen an unexplainable thing happened. The following morning, Chrisitne becomes the quiet, shiny, brand-new red car of the cover painting. Christine also kills grumply Will Darnell, by the slow method of crushing him in the front seat against the steering wheel. Christine has to deform herself in order to do this, but the following morning, she is in perfect condition. Some weeks later in December, Dennis catches Leigh in high school between classes and he talks to her about Arnie and his car. Dennis and Arnie are not best pals anymore, and Leigh had realised that, in spite of not having broken up verbally with Arnie, there is no place in his life for her. Holidays approach, and New Year's Eve is close. Dennis and Leigh talk about the supernatural element in Christine, knowing that they can only talk to each other about that, as nobody else would believe them. They know they will have to kill Christine. Dennis decides to call on his old buddy at his home, but Leigh advises him to take caution. After she leaves, it's Arnie who calls on Dennis instead. Arnie arrives in Christine and invites Dennis over. Arnie drives Dennis to the former's. Dennis realises about Arnie's dazzled eyes, even before Arnie starts doing things he would have never done before, during his nerd phase: he drinks beer in Homer Simpson-quantities, he terrorizes other drivers and even copies the "without-hands" motorbike stunt. Dennis watches how Christine's mile counter moves backwards, having less miles instead of more. Arnie tires to explain to Dennis how wonderful, strong and fulfilled he feels when he is driving Christine; Arnie's words increasingly become those of a starry-eyed lover. When Dennis leaves Christine, he is more unsettled than ever. Dennis is determined that the nightmare has to stop. He thinks that killing Christine is the only way of returning Arnie to normal. Dennis and Leigh may be having a thing going on between them, but it also may be that each one is the only safe rock of the other. They are worried about Arnie, especially Dennis, who really misses his best friend. Next morning, Dennis goes to the school parking lot and scratches "Darnell's Tonight" into Christine's hood, and drives off with Leigh. They go to Darnell's scrapyard and they wait for Arnie and Christine inside a bulldozer. Night falls down, and Dennis devises a plan. He tells Leigh to wait in the office. The plan is that she will shut door on Christine after her arrival, trapping the vehicle inside the office. Leigh leaves to do so. While she is on her way there, the car's lights suddenly break the night: she was hiding under a pile of garbage. Christine drives towards Leigh trying to run over her, but crashes on to one of the office walls instead. Arnie gets ejected through Christine's windshield and is impaled on a shard of glass, fatally wounding him. Arnie is bloodied, but in his last breath, he just caresses Christine's front bumper for the last time. In his own way, he dies happy. Enraged, Christine attacks Leigh once again. Dennis drives the bulldozer and he fights Christine, who is playing Pledging My Love at top volume on her radio. Christine is still set on dealing with Leigh first, so she approaches her top speed to run over her. However, Dennis drives the bulldozer up on to the car's back, stopping her and crashing her. Leigh climbs in to the cab of the bulldozer and embraces Dennis. Meanwhile, Christine returns back to life and begins to heal herself over again. So, Dennis has to drive the bulldozer over Christine, crashing her onto a thin layer of metal and glass materials, until her headlights flicker and then go out for good. Dennis compacts the red car onto a cube. The ordeal is over. However, later on, within that scrape-yard cube, a metallic stick starts to slowly move and straighten up...

In a voice-over we learn that the story is set in a dystopian 1997. World War III is nearing an end, both the United States and the still-existing Soviet Union suffered greatly in the conflict and both are looking for a peaceful resolution. The island of Manhattan has been turned into a maximum security prison in 1988 because of a nationwide crime increase of 400% in the United States due to a gas attack by the Soviets at the start of the war in which New York was worst hit. Surrounded by a 50-foot (15 m) containment wall, all inmates are sentenced to life imprisonment, and have formed gangs which rule over the crumbling, garbage-strewn city. The opening scene shows the dark skyline of Manhattan as two men in a makeshift raft attempt to paddle away from the island when the raft they are in is blown to pieces by a hovering helicopter gunship. The chopper returns to its base on Liberty Island where the overland entrance to the prison is located and the command center of the US police force surrounding the island. Traveling to a three-way summit between the United States, the Soviet Union and China, Air Force One, the plane of the President of the United States, is hijacked by a sole member of a revolutionary organization opposed to the government; a woman impersonating a stewardess (Nancy Stephens) kills the pilots and takes control of the plane. The nameless militant female anarchist crashes the plane in a suicide mission into a Manhattan skyscraper but the unnamed President (Donald Pleasence) is safely sealed in an escape pod and survives. The United States Police Force Commissioner Bob Hauk (Lee Van Cleef) arrives at the Liberty Island command center where he and the chief of security Remy (Tom Atkins) witness the crash on monitors in their control center. Hauk assembles a platoon of soldiers and they travel to the crash site in a fleet of helicopters. When they arrive, they find the escape pod empty, indicating that the President has been taken hostage. An emissary of the inmates, named Romero (Frank Doubleday), appears and tells Hauk and the soldiers that they have the President and if they do not leave the island in 30 seconds, the President will be killed. Romero offers them one of the President's severed fingers as evidence. With no other choice, Hauk orders his men to return to the helicopters and they fly back to Liberty Island. In his office, Hauk meets with the recently arrived Secretary of State (Charles Cypress) who puts him in telephone contact with the Vice President in Washington DC where Hauk asks for authorization of a rescue attempt and accepts it. In his office, Hauk offers a deal to a newly arrived prisoner, a scruffy, one-eyed, famous special-forces-soldier-turned-armed-robber named S.D. "Snake" Plissken (Kurt Russell). Plissken prefers to be called "Snake", growling his demand whenever Hauk refers to him by his surname. If Snake rescues the President, and retrieves a cassette tape that contains important information on nuclear fusion, Hauk will give him a full pardon. However, Snake Plissken must complete his mission before the international summit that the President was due to attend, which begins in 24 hours. After Snake Plissken reluctantly agrees to the rescue plan, Hauk secretly has him injected with microscopic explosives that will blow open his carotid arteries in 24 hours. The explosives cannot be defused until the last 15 minutes before they go off, as a way of ensuring that Snake does not abandon his mission and escape, nor find another way to remove them. If he returns with the President and the tape in time for the summit, Hauk will save him by having the charges in his neck neutralized with X-rays. A furious Snake gruffly promises to kill Hauk when he returns. Snake covertly lands atop the World Trade Center in a Gulfire glider similar to the one he piloted in a daring covert operations action over Leningrad, USSR, and then locates the hijacked plane wreckage and the escape pod, but the President is gone. Snake tracks the President's life-monitor bracelet signal to the basement of an abandoned theater, only to find it on the wrist of an incoherent old coot (George "Buck" Flower). At the theater, Snake meets a friendly inmate nicknamed "Cabbie" (Ernest Borgnine), who offers to help. After wandering the dark streets, Snake is accosted by the 'Crazies', a subterranean gang that hunts the streets at night. Snake first seeks refuge in an abandoned Chock Full O' Nuts diner where he meets a seductive young woman (Season Hubley), who asks to take her away to freedom. But the Crazies soon attack the diner, and Snake is forced to run, leaving the nameless young woman to her fate at the hands of the Crazies. After a chase down a back alley, Cabbie shows up in his taxi and rescues Snake, fighting the Crazies off with a Molotov cocktail. Snake demands Cabbie tell him where the President is being held. Cabbie tells him that Brain (Harry Dean Stanton), a savvy and well-educated inmate, knows. Cabbie takes Snake to the New York Public Library where Brain lives, a place he's turned into a veritable fortress. It is here that Snake identifies Brain as a former accomplice of his named Harold Helman, from some heists they did in the past. Forced at gunpoint, Brain tells Snake that a powerful gang leader, the self-proclaimed "Duke of New York" (Isaac Hayes), and the leader of the Gypsies, the largest and most powerful gang in the city, has the President and plans to lead a mass escape across the mined and heavily guarded 69th Street Bridge (the real Queensboro Bridge is the 59th Street Bridge), using the President as a human shield and hostage. When the Duke unexpectedly arrives with a large convoy of henchmen to get a diagram of the bridge's land mines, Snake forces Brain and his girlfriend Maggie (Adrienne Barbeau) to lead him back to The Duke's compound. After stealing a car from one of the Duke's henchmen, Snake, Brain, and Maggie drive through Skulls gang territory along Broadway, barely escaping. Snake finds the President who is being held in an abandoned railroad car in what was the Grand Central Train Station, but his rescue fails and he is captured after Brain betrays Snake. The next day, Snake is forced to fight with a giant power-house brute (Ox Baker). At the same time, Brain and Maggie trick Romero and the Duke's men into letting them have access to the President. After killing Romero and the guards, they free the President and flee to Snake's glider hoping to escape with the President. Meanwhile, Snake defeats his huge opponent, impressing the crowd. When the Duke learns the President has escaped with Brain, he is furious, and he rounds up his gang to chase them down. In the confusion, Snake slips away and manages to catch up with Brain, Maggie and the President at the glider, but during their attempted getaway, a gang of inmates, the Indians, push it off the building. Snake and the others soon find Cabbie, and Snake takes the wheel of his cab, heading for the bridge. When Cabbie reveals that he has the nuclear fusion tape (traded to him from Romero who guarded the President), the President demands it, but Snake takes it for insurance. With the Duke chasing them in his Cadillac, Snake and the others drive over the mine-strewn bridge. After the cab hits a land mine, the cab is destroyed and Cabbie is killed. As the others flee on foot, Brain is killed by a mine and Maggie refuses to leave him. She attempts to hold off the Duke's car by firing at him with a handgun, and she succeeds in forcing Duke's car (a distinctive vehicle with ornate chandeliers mounted on either side of the car's hood) to crash, but he crashes into her, killing her, and he continues his pursuit on foot. Snake and the President reach the containment wall, and the guards raise the President on a cable and harness. The Duke then attacks Snake, but the President shoots the Duke with a sub-machine gun, killing him out of revenge for torturing him during his confinement. Snake is then lifted to safety, and the mini-explosives implanted in his neck are deactivated with X-rays with seconds to spare. At Liberty Island, as the President prepares for a televised speech, he distractedly thanks Snake for saving him. Snake asks him how he feels about the numerous men and women who died saving his life, but the President only offers half-hearted regret that visibly disgusts Snake as he sees the President, a trembling and helpless captive, revert back to his self-assured personality. After Snake is pardoned, he decides he will not kill Hauk at this time and leaves the prison. Hauk thanks him for the rescue, and offers the incredulous anti-hero a job of working for the government in other top secret missions. Snake, alienated with the nation he once served with honor, refuses. Hauk tells Snake to think about the offer and notes: "We make quite a team! Huh, Snake?" In complete contrast to Snake earlier and frequently reminding Hauk to call him by his first name, Snake angrily rebuffs Hauk by replying: "The name's Plissken!" The President's speech commences and he offers the content of the cassette to the summit. To the President's embarrassment, the tape has been switched for a cassette of the swing song "Bandstand Boogie" (the theme from American Bandstand), Cabbie's favorite song. Snake had apparently switched tapes during the chase across the bridge. In the distance unnoticed just outside the Liberty Island prison gate, Snake is seen casually unwinding and tearing apart the all-important nuclear fusion cassette tape (the only thing to save mankind from nuclear war) and smiling while puffing on a cigarette as he walks off alone into the night. On that cynical note, 'Escape from New York' comes to a close.

When Judy was 8 years old, her life's desire was to have a big house, nice clothes, 2 closets, a live-in maid, and a professional man for a husband. Judy Benjamin (Goldie Hawn), a 28-year-old Hebrew woman from a sheltered wealthy upbringing whose lifelong dream is to "marry a professional man,". Judy marries Yale Goodman (Albert Brooks) in an elaborate ceremony, and it seems that all Judy's dreams are coming true. Judy is a blonde who is more worried about the color of the upholstery, and the matching carpets in her house, than any practical matters. Even her parents do not take her seriously. Judy and Yale have planned to visit Jamaica for their Honeymoon. Judy's new husband dies on their wedding night during sex. Yale was a lawyer and was handling a divorce case even on the evening of the wedding. Judy is 28 years old and even her parents know that she is trained for nothing (Judy used to work as a secretary as her dad's office as only he would give her a job). Judy's mother Harriet asks her to start dating again to find another man to look after her. Her parents are worried that Judy will spend the rest of her life living with them. From the age of 2, she has always had a boyfriend, who looked out for her. She has already been married twice. Judy leaves her parent's house without telling anyone. Judy checks into a motel and ponders what to do if she is not going to be married. Adrift, Judy tells her story on a radio call-in show. On the call, Judy talks to an Army recruiter who says that he knows what Judy needs and asks for a meeting. Judt meets Army recruiter, SFC James Ballard (Harry Dean Stanton) the next day, who leads her to believe military life will provide the "family" she seeks. He pitches the service as a glamorous getaway, comparing it to a spa vacation with Condos and private rooms with yachts. James says that 89,000 women are currently serving in the army and serving their country. The recruiter says that the job pays $458/month, a job of her choice, food, housing, medical and 30 days of paid vacation. James also adds that a woman with Judy's educational background could easily land an assignment in Europe and promises to get her into the best physical shape of her life. Judy decides to sign up for the army. But Judy has a rude awakening upon arriving at basic training at Fort Biloxi. She falls asleep on the bus and is rudely awakened by the drill instructor who makes her do 20 push-ups. She wants to quit almost immediately as she has to sleep in one room with 20 strangers, no drapes, and dirty linen, but is astonished to find out, contrary to the assertions of her recruiting sergeant, that she cannot leave and that she has to serve a full 3 years. Private Wanda Winter (P. J. Soles) is a class favorite and does everything by the book. Private Gianelli (Toni Kalem) is the rebel, her only other choice was to go to jail. Colonel Clay Thornbush (Robert Webber) is the CO of the base. Captain Doreen Lewis gets Judy to clean all the bathrooms, when she complains about unsanitary conditions. She tries to escape at night but gets caught in the barbed wire. Army regulations and the continual disapproval of both Captain Doreen Lewis (Eileen Brennan) and SFC L. C. Ross (Hal Williams), the drill sergeant, frustrate Judy. Her parents Theodore Benjamin (Sam Wanamaker) and Harriet Benjamin (Barbara Barrie) arrive at Fort Biloxi to take her home. They think it is bad for their social status and Theodore says she is incapable of making her own decisions. Benjamin decides to stay and finish basic training, which she does with distinction after a war games exercise in which her squad exposes an affair between a member of her training platoon (Private Einter) and a rival company officer Captain William Woodbridge (Craig T. Nelson) (with whom Lewis was also having an affair) and takes the both of them hostage. Lewis is livid that she was made a fool and orders the entire company to clean up the barracks. In response, Judy gets into Lewis's bathroom and fill her shower head with a blue dye. Lewis attends the graduation ceremony, looking like Smurf. Upon completion of basic training, Judy and her friends spend the weekend on leave in New Orleans, where she meets Henri Tremont (Armand Assante), a French doctor there for a medical conference. After a brief romance, Henri returns to Paris and Judy begins training with an elite paratrooper unit, the Thornbirds. Judy quickly discovers she was chosen for paratrooper training because the unit's commander finds her attractive. After the other trainees have jumped from the plane, he attempts to sexually assault her. When Judy refuses to comply, he attempts to have her transferred far from Biloxi as soon as possible. Rather than accept what she sees as an undesirable post in Greenland or Guam, Judy negotiates (with a threat of reporting sexual assault attempt) an assignment to SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe) in Belgium and meets up with Henri again on a visit to Paris. He proposes marriage and she accepts, but when Captain Lewis, who is also posted to the same base in Belgium, discovers that Henri is a communist, Judy is forced to choose between the Army and love. Benjamin chooses Henri and gets engaged. But then Henri reveals his childish, controlling nature. He tries to "remake" Judy, and also insists she sign a prenuptial agreement (in French) to protect his centuries-old family home. Finally, when Henri sleeps with the house maid and also makes it obvious that he hasn't gotten over his ex-girlfriend Clare, Judy has a change of heart. On her wedding day, in the middle of the ceremony, she realizes she is on the verge of a huge mistake. Judy abandons Henri at the altar and heads off into the unknown, empowered by her newfound freedom and excited about what may lie ahead.

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.

The action takes place in Montana in the 1880s among the tributary streams that eventually flow together into the Missouri River, an area known as the Missouri Breaks. Tom Logan, (Jack Nicholson) is the likable leader of an amiable gang of horse thieves. They make their living stealing horses or rustling cattle from ranchers, laughing all the way, spending their money on whiskey and whores. Logan and his gang are particularly upset by the hanging of a friend by rancher David Braxton (John McLiam), an egomaniacal gay local land baron who took the law into his own hands. Braxton has horses, and a daughter, worth stealing. Logan's men pull off a daring train robbery, only to lose much of the money. The gang retaliates against Braxton by hanging his foreman Pete Marker (Richard Bradford) on the same noose. Posing as an aspiring cattle rancher, Logan buys an abandoned ranch next to Braxton's to serve as a relay station for moving stolen horses across the plains. While his men ride off across the Missouri River and north of the border to steal Canadian Mounted Police horses, Logan plants crops at their new farm and enters into a relationship with Braxton's virginal daughter, Jane (Kathleen Lloyd). He knows how to court a woman by brewing Chinese tea in the Wild West. Jane is on bad terms with her father and has taken a shine to Logan in any event, seems to be fascinated by the bad guys and demands sex, saying: "Do you want to have sexual intercourse?" while flirting with Logan. Braxton, obsessed with his rustling problem, his daughter, and avenging his friend's murder, sends for Robert E. Lee Clayton (Marlon Brando), a notorious regulator from Medicine Hat, Wyoming, who, for a price, will take care of rustlers personally, one at a time. Regulators were mercenary frontier agents famous for their ruthlessness and their ability to kill without warning from long distances with their trademark Creekmore rifles. Clayton arrives with a fancy wardrobe, a perfumed scent, an Irish brogue and a rifle with which he is deadly accurate from afar. Clayton bursts in on the funeral of the murdered foreman dressed like a western dandy in fringed leather coat and scarf, bellowing and yanking the corpse up out of the open casket to borrow a few of the ice cubes used to keep the body from decomposing as a compress for a tooth-ache. Clayton is portrayed comically, but he is a sadistic, perverse, and psychotic killer who comes across as much more lawless than the criminals he's hunting. Quickly suspicious of Logan, who doesn't strike him as much of a farmer, Clayton dons a variety of disguises to pick off Logan's gang, one by one. Impersonating a preacher "Jim Ferguson," Clayton tries to cajole Little Todd into confessing that he is part of the gang. He kills Todd by dragging him with a rope through the raging Missouri, seemingly aware of the fact that Todd cannot swim. Clayton spies on Logan with binoculars and taunts Braxton about his daughter's affair with a horse thief. Braxton attempts to discharge him but Clayton is determined to finish what he starts. He amuses himself by shooting two more of Logan's partners from a distance and then by wearing a granny dress while brutally killing Logan's closest friend, Cal (Harry Dean Stanton) with a handmade weapon. Logan knows it's kill or be killed by Clayton. He also wants vengeance against Braxton for having hired the regulator in the first place, despite his feelings for Jane. Now it's up to Logan to hunt down Clayton. One night after a campfire goes dark with Clayton serenading his horse, Logan gets his revenge catching up with him while he's asleep and then slitting his throat: "You know what woke you up? You just had your throat cut!" Logan then comes after Braxton. There's a shootout where Braxton, who everyone now believes is infirm with a stroke, pulls out a gun while he's sitting in a wheelchair and shoots the unawares Logan. Logan then shoots back killing Braxton. Logan abandons his farm and packs up to leave the area and Jane, although he acknowledges that he and Jane might renew their relationship another time, another place.

A family of Appalachian children live together in the backwoods so that they can stay together after the death of their widower father. Roy Luther, widowed for four years, and his four children - Devola, Mary Call, Romey and Ima Dean - live in the shadows of the Smokey Mountains of North Carolina, they truly a product of the mountains. They used to own the land on which they now sharecrop, they believing Kiser Pease stealing it from them in he paying the back taxes which Roy Luther failed to pay. Devola, the romantic, took over the domestic duties of the household following her mother's passing. However, in Roy Luther knowing of his own imminent passing due to his poor health, he instructs fourteen year old Mary Call, as the practical one - as practical as a fourteen year old can be - to take over his role in the family following his passing, including not to call in any figure of authority in his distrust, and not to allow Devola to marry Kiser, who is sweet on her and Devola who would say yes if left to her own devices. Mary Call takes the directive literally in not informing anyone of authority of their father's passing in fear that she and her siblings would be separated in the foster care system. Trying to hide Roy Luther's death becomes difficult as more and more people want to speak to him, including Kiser in his continuing pursuit of Devola. But Mary Call has to decide how far to honor Roy Luther's dying wishes as she struggles to keep everything together, and as she herself is pulled in other directions. —Huggo