Harry Northup

A young man returning home to attend a wedding hooks up with a drifter who turns out to be a violent bank robber. Before he knows it, the man finds himself involved in the robber's plans.

The New Deal used car lot in Mesa, Arizona is in danger of being taken over by the Roy L. Fuchs car dealership across the roadway where they do business. Both dealerships are managed by twin brothers, Roy L. Fuchs and Luke Fuchs (both played by Jack Warden). However, Roy L's dealership is easily the more lucrative than his brother's, which deals in often junked used cars. One of New Deal's most prominent salesmen is Rudy Russo (Kurt Russell), a young man who never shies away from making a deal, and also has plans to run for a seat on the State Senate. Along with Rudy, there's Jeff (Gerrit Graham), a superstitious fellow, and Jim (Frank McRae), the mechanic who is easily excitable. Recently, Luke has been having problems with his heart, much to the delight of his other brother. Roy L. is desperate to keep his car lot from being demolished and replaced by a proposed freeway exit. He sends one of his mechanics over to the car lot under the guise of an 'interested party', and gets Luke to give him a test drive. However, Roy L's mechanic takes Luke on a wild ride around the block during which Luke has a heart attack and dies. Rudy, Jeff and Jim attempt to cover this up by burying Luke in an old Edsel in a service pit out back. When Roy L. and his lawyer Sam Slaton (Joe Flaherty) show up looking for Luke, Rudy explains that Luke drove to Florida in the Edsel. However, Roy L. believes that Rudy is lying, but Sam explains that there's no way to disprove this claim. The following night, Rudy and his friends go through with the first of several advertising stunts. Taking his camera crew out to a packed football stadium, they intend to hijack the signal for the football game to tell of their car lot. Things don't go as planned, when Jeff begins cursing on camera that the car he's standing by is red (he's superstitious about the color), and the woman they hired for the commercial ends up getting her dress ripped open and exposed on public television. The technique works, as the stunt makes newspaper headlines, and brings many kinds of people out to see the New Deal car lot. The next morning, Jeff cons a family into buying a station wagon by having the car lot's mascot, Toby, fake being run over during a test drive. Roy L. counters this with a little stunt of his own, but in the war to win customers, Rudy does one better, and steals away Luke's customers, by setting up a gaggle of strippers to entice vehicle buyers from Roy L's car lot. Roy L. counters this with purchasing airtime to denounce New Deal's business tactics as harmful. It is then that Rudy plans to really up the stakes, and wants to attempt and interrupt the broadcast for the President's State of the Union address. Matters are further complicated when a woman shows up claiming to be Luke's daughter, Barbara Jane Fuchs (Deborah Harmon). She visits the car lot in hopes to reunite with her father, having dropped out of college more than 10 years before to reside in a hippie commune. Rudy conceals the truth about her father by taking her out on a date, but finds that he slowly is growing to like her. Rudy eventually distracts her during the night of the broadcast, by taking her to dinner, and then to his place. Jeff and Jim do the commercial, with Jeff on drugs as a cowboy named Martial Lucky, who shoots out and blows up several of Roy L. Fuchs' vehicles for the commercial. After the broadcast, Roy L. drives immediately to the New Deal car lot and angrily picks a fight with Jeff for destroying his cars. As they fight, Roy L. notices a picture of the service pit in an old picture, and remembers how Rudy and the others were filling it in. Roy L. rushes out back, and after digging down always, finds the roof of his brother's old Edsel. Shortly after this, Jim contacts Rudy to come to the car lot right away. Rudy does not explain to Barbara why he has to go, leaving her curious. In the morning, the police arrive at the car lot along with Roy L. and his lawyer. Rudy makes up the lie that Luke came back the night before, and went to get some breakfast. During the night, Rudy, Jeff and Jim exhumed the Edsel, and have moved it out of the pit area. Jim has poured gasoline on the vehicle, and sends it off with the accelerator on. As everyone's attention is drawn to the car, they watch as it speeds out of control towards a power transformer, that erupts in a fireball, destroying Luke's body. Roy turns to Rudy, and assumes that since Luke is dead, the car lot is now his. However, Rudy explains how Luke's daughter returned, and she's staying with him. It is just then that Barbara appears after listening to a message on Rudy's answering machine and finding out about Luke's death. Barbara fires Rudy, Jeff and Jim for their cover-up scheme, and assumes control of her father's car lot, but knows very little about advertising. Roy L. gains access to the script for her commercial, and has his connections at a local television station doctor up her commercial. In place of her saying 'style of cars', the word 'mile' is substituted for 'style', making this as though Barbara has committed a case of false advertising. Meanwhile, Rudy's luck changes when Jeff's superstitious nature causes him to win a bet he made on the night's football game, guaranteeing him enough money for his campaign, and the next day, he meets with the party chairman, named Tucker (Dub Taylor). However, on their way to their destination, the car passes by the New Deal car lot, which has been closed by court order. Tucker explains that a 'concerned citizen' reported the car lot after the commercial mentioned a 'mile of cars', and that the trial is scheduled for the same day. Rudy immediately grabs back his money, and bolts from the car, heading towards the courthouse; he arrives in time for the trial to begin. As Barbara is questioned if she does indeed have a mile of cars on her car lot, Rudy mimes in the back of the room to lie and say 'yes'. Barbara does so, to which Roy L's attorney claims he can prove she is lying to the court. Rudy mushily shouts from the back of the room, "Why don't you see for yourself, Judge?" This buys Barbara some time, as the judge decides to come by the car lot the next day. After the trial, Rudy uses most of his campaign funds to purchase over 250 cars from a Mexican dealer he knows. Using the town's driver's education class, he sets out with all 250 cars headed towards the car lot in less than two hours. Rudy has the student drivers ramp their vehicles up to 70 mph, but hits a snag when a policeman ends up hitting one of the vehicles, leaving them without a 'safety margin' for error. After the incident, Rudy sends Jim up ahead to scout for any other possible issues. Jim eventually finds a police roadblock, and Rudy has his student drivers take their vehicles off road. Meanwhile, Roy L. has heard of the cars, and drives out to attempt and intercept Rudy; a fight breaks out between the two, leading to Rudy winning, and the cars heading towards the car lot. Eventually, the student drivers arrive, and fill the car lot to capacity, just as the judge arrives. This soon becomes apparent that Jim has not arrived and Rudy radios Jeff, who is sitting along the side of the road. Jeff explains that some water washed off the blue paint on his car...revealing this as a red Fire Chief's car...and per Jeff's stigma, he can't drive a red car! Rudy attempts to convince Jeff that there is actually 'gray primer' underneath the red paint, and tells him that he is the key to helping them keep the car lot. Jeff manages to overcome his fear of the red color, and makes it just in time to help them save the car lot. Roy's attorney informs Rudy and Barbara that once the freeway ramp across the street is constructed, New Deal will become the largest dealership in the state. While everyone celebrates, Roy L. curses out the judge, who then decides to see Roy L. in court for his outburst. The film then ends with Barbara, Rudy, Jim and Jeff presiding over their saved car lot.

It is 1947. An 8-year-old girl named Alice is growing up on a farm near Monterey, California, and has dreams of being a singer. The background is all ruby red, a deliberately theatrical and artificial feel of classic cinema, indicating satire of "Gone With the Wind" and "The Wizard of Oz." Flash forward to the summer of 1974, present-day when this was filmed. A view of the town of Soccoro, New Mexico with Mott the Hoople's All the Way From Memphis blasting on the soundtrack. Inside a tacky, blue-collar home is Alice trying to sew and she turns down her son's record player. Alice is clearly a bright and witty woman that clowns around with her son, but stuck with a bored, uncommunicative husband that works as a Coca Cola truck driver. He berates and threatens her for her son's bratty antics and behavior. One day while Alice and her friend Bea are hanging out together, she receives a phone call that her husband died in a vehicle accident while at work. Soon afterwards, she practices her piano and singing and has a sale of her household belongings and sells the house Alice and Tommy leave Soccoro for Monterey. They first stop in Phoenix, where she is trying to get a job singing in a bar, but the first time she's checked out by the owner and offended, but soon finds work in another bar. Soon afterwards, she meets the younger and charming Ben. Alice's son is forced to fend for himself and constantly complaining about them being stuck where they are, but she insists on staying. One morning, a woman Alice doesn't recognize comes to Alice's motel and reveals herself to be Ben's wife. Alice assures her she knew nothing about Ben being married. Ben comes to the door screaming for his wife to get out, breaks in, and beats her to get out. He threatens Alice for telling him to calm down. Alice and her son leave immediately. Alice and Tommy are in the car and Tommy seems indifferent to Alice's situation and trying to tell her a "Shoot the Dog" joke, despite her breakdown. They settle into a motel room in Tucson. Alice gets a job as a waitress at Mel and Ruby's Cafe, which is walking distance from them Alice is at work for the first day at the cafe, for which she and the staff were the basis for the hit TV series "Alice", in the late 1970's and early 1980's. It is a backbreaking job for her at the extremely busy and chaotic greasy spoon diner. There's the owner and short order cook Mel, the sassy and foul-mouthed Flo, and the strange and neurotic Vera. Flo introduces Alice to the customers as the new girl and makes references to her body and Alice is offended and does not want anything to do with her personally. She also meets David, a divorced, soft-spoken rancher who is a regular customer. He takes an instant liking to her. Alice reluctantly takes up a relationship with David and her son Tommy takes a liking to him as well. Meanwhile, Tommy forms a friendship with the tomboyish Audrey, whom he takes guitar lessons with. One day at the diner, Flo has an outburst with Mel when he's trying to find Vera spilling ketchup all over several customers. Alice is believed to have been hurt at the outburst, but it turns out she's laughing uncontrollably and begins a friendship with Flo. They hang out together in between shifts and Flo tells her how she can make more money at the job Alice's son celebrates his 12th birthday at David's ranch and has an outburst over his music choices and David spanks him for it and corrects Alice for having such a bratty son. They both leave the house. Alice and Tommy have a fight and she drops him off the side of the road. Alice receives a call that Tommy is at a juvenile detention center drunk and that he and Audrey were getting drunk on ripple. She oversleeps the next day Alice is unable to function at work and Flo takes her to the ladies room for a chat. Alice tells her about how she's depended on men her whole life, her late husband, and broken relationship with David. Flo also tells her of her single parenting and about dental work her daughter needs that will cost hundreds. Vera is in the diner alone trying to break up a fight going on. Alice and Flo return to work and publicly, she and David work out their differences and reconcile. Afterward, Tommy tells her it's okay if they don't go to Monterey. At the same time, a Monterey Hotel is in front of them while they're walking.

During the Great Depression, a union leader and a young woman become criminals to exact revenge on the management of a railroad. Based on "Sister of the Road," the fictionalized autobiography of radical and transient Bertha Thompson as written by physician Dr. Ben L. Reitman, 'Boxcar' Bertha Thompson, a woman labor organizer in Arkansas during the violence-filled Depression of the early '30's meets up with rabble-rousing union man 'Big' Bill Shelly and they team up to fight the corrupt railroad establishment and she is eventually sucked into a life of crime with him. —alfiehitchie In the 1930's American south, Bertha Thompson decides to live the life of a transient after her crop duster father dies in a crash leaving her alone in the world. She grows up quickly from the experiences she has with various people she meets while riding the rails. Ultimately, she ends up traveling with three others: "Big" Bill Shelly, a laborer who now speaks on behalf of workers' rights and unions; Rake Brown, a gambler not averse to cheating and who carries a gun but is too scared to ever use it; and Von Morton, a harmonica playing black man who worked as her father's mechanic. Despite their different motivations in life, the four become fiercely loyal to each other, especially Bertha and Bill, both who consider the other to be the love of their life. Besides Rake's need to cheat to make a living, none of the four is predisposed to criminal behavior, but they end up living a life of crime out of circumstance, which included a card game gone wrong. Bill in particular feels uncomfortable with the criminal behavior in and of itself, except for the good he can do for the working class in the crimes. Even before their overtly criminal activities, they riled the police, who harassed them for riding the rails and for Bill's "Bolshevik" talk. But they also rile a railway owner named Sartoris and the sadistic McIver brothers, who work as henchmen for both the authorities and Sartoris, as Bill's pro-union/pro-striking diatribes are generally against the railroad. Hence, the battle between Sartoris/the McIvers and the foursome becomes a personal one on both sides. —Huggo During the Great Depression, Bertha Thompson begins riding the rails and has a series of adventures, some lighthearted and others deadly serious. She gets involved with a less than honest gambler, Rake Brown, having to shoot her way out of a game when Rake is caught cheating. She also has a stint working in a bordello. She regularly crosses paths with union organizer Big Bill Shelley who is out to get a fair shake, by legal means or otherwise, for railway workers. They become lovers and take to robbing the payroll and when necessary, Bertha even breaks him out of jail. The railroad has its own enforcers however and Bill doesn't meet a just end however. —garykmcd

In this adaptation of Neil Simon's stage play, 1960's radical journalists Norman Cornell and Andy Hobart fall in love with the girl next door, patriotic Olympic hopeful Amy Cooper, who is the kind of square that they are fighting.