Hume Cronyn

A law student`s theory about the deaths of two Supreme Court justices embroils her in a web of greed, corruption and murder that goes to the top of the United States government.

Montgomery "Monty" Brewster (Richard Pryor) is a second-rate minor league baseball pitcher with the Hackensack Bulls. One night after winning a game, Monty and his best friend, the Bulls' catcher, Spike Nolan (John Candy), are flirting with two women at a local bar. When they try to leave with them, they're confronted by two large men who claim they are the women's husbands. Monty and Spike are punched out by the men and a large bar brawl starts. They are later arrested and thrown in jail. Their coach, Charley (Jerry Orbach), tells them that management has decided to kick them off the team. In court, Monty tries to explain the fight to the judge, who is wholly unsympathetic. A photographer that had been following Monty (whom Monty thought may be a professional baseball scout) suddenly rises and tells the judge that he represents an unidentified party that will post bail for both Monty and Spike if they plead guilty. The photographer, named J.B. Donaldo (Joe Grifasi) takes Monty and Spike to New York City with him. At the Manhattan law office of Granville & Baxter, Brewster is told that his recently deceased great-uncle Rupert Horn (Hume Cronyn), whom he has never met, has left him his entire fortune because Monty is his only living blood relative (by way of Monty's grandmother, Rupert's half-sister), but with several conditions. Rupert's last will is on film and features the wheezy and ill-tempered Rupert himself. He relates a story from his youth where his father made him smoke a whole box of cigars to punish him for smoking just one. Rupert tells Monty that he wants to teach Monty to hate spending money. Monty will be given $30 million to spend in 30 days. If he's successful, he'll be awarded the full inheritance of $300 million. Brewster is challenged to either take $1 million upfront (as part of a "Wimp" clause), or spend $30 million in 30 days. If he chooses the former, the law firm becomes executor of the estate and divides the money among various charities (after taking a sizable fee). In the latter case, he must spend the entire $30 million within one month under the following rules: 1.) With the exception of those who witnessed the will reading, whom are the firm's two senior partners George Granville (David White) and Norris Baxter (Jerome Dempsey) and Rupert's lawyer and executor of the estate Edward Roundfield (Pat Hingle), Brewster cannot reveal to anyone the will's terms. He may only tell everyone else he inherited $30 million. Rupert doesn't want anyone directly helping Monty in his quest. 2.) Brewster must spend the money on tangible items. If anything he buys accrues value, such as an investment or property that earns money, that is considered part of the money he inherited and he must spend that as well. 3.) Directly giving away money is capped at 10%; split between 5% ($1.5 million) in gambling losses and another 5% ($1.5 million) maximum to be donated to charity. 4.) Brewster may not willfully damage or destroy anything he buys with the money. 5.) After 30 days, he must be penniless and may not own any assets that are not already his (in other words, nothing but "the clothes on his back"). If any one of these five rules are violated, the challenge is forfeited. Also, if Brewster fails to meet the 30 day challenge to spend the $30 million, any remaining money that he has after the 30 day deadline (regardless if it's a few dollars or a few million dollars) will go to the law firm and Brewster will inherit nothing. Despite the tempting offer just to "wimp out" and walk away with a one-time payment of $1 million, especially after the law firm reveals that they already did a background check on him and showed that the highest annual salary he ever earned was $11,000-a-year while a member of the Toledo Mud Hens, Monty decides to take the $30 million challenge. After leaving the offices, Monty goes to a bank across the street where the money is waiting for him in cash. He appoints Spike as the vice president of an investment corporation he's building and hires one of the bank's security guards as his personal guard for the next month. He also asks to rent the bank vault where the cash is stored and is granted a 30-day lease and refuses an account that will earn him interest. On the street, Monty hires a Russian taxi driver (Yakov Smirnov) to be his personal driver. He has the cabbie rent a fleet of limousines and other drivers. He takes everyone in earshot out for an expensive dinner in Manhattan. At dinner he talks with the accountant that Granville and Baxter have assigned to him, Angela Drake (Lonette McKee), an attractive woman and law student clerking in the firm, who Monty is instantly smitten with. Monty tries to convince her that he's not another newly rich snob and asks her out, thinking he can hire someone to do her work for her. He is coldly rebuffed by Angela, who has a fiance, Warren (a junior partner at the law firm). Monty rents a large penthouse in the Plaza Hotel and a large amount of office space in the same building, beating the rental fee proposed by another client. He has also hired a couple of high-priced tailors to make custom suits for him, renting the clothes themselves. With the salary that Monty is paying him, Spike fixes himself up. Down in the new office that Monty is renting, he meets Angela's boyfriend Warren (Stephen Collins) and his former wife Marilyn, whom Monty has hired to redecorate the office space. (Over the next few weeks, Monty changes his mind several times regarding the stylistic choices Marilyn presents to him, thereby using up more of his inheritance.) In Monty's office over the next few days are hundreds of people looking to either do business with Monty or scam him. One man has an investment offer; a large iceberg will be outfitted with giant engines and be sailed to the Middle East where the ice will be used to supply water to the farmers in the region. Monty is also allowed to gamble 5% of his $30 million, so he hires a bookie to bet on every long shot racehorse he can and even puts down a sizable amount on the field hockey team of Drake's alma mater, Loyola University. Monty calls his old Bulls coach and tells him he plans to fix up their old playing field in Hackensack and that he'll arrange a three-inning exhibition game where the Bulls will play the New York Yankees. Monty continues his spending campaign for a few weeks. One night he's inspired by an idea from Spike to invest in expensive items like stamps. Monty goes to a fine collectibles store and asks to see the most expensive stamp the owner has. The stamp is the infamous Inverted Jenny which Monty buys for $1,250,000. Granville and Baxter read the story in the newspaper, thinking Monty has flagrantly violated the terms of the will. Baxter finds a postcard in the daily mail that has a photo of the Hackensack Bulls and a bland message from Monty. After a few moments, Baxter realizes that Monty has used the Inverted Jenny stamp to mail the card, thereby making it their property and devaluing it. Both men are furious and have a private meeting with Warren where they show him the will (the conditions of not revealing the $30 million spending plan in 30 days does not apply to the others of the will reading). They then order him to cause a small error in bookkeeping amounting to $20,000 that will be discovered at the last moment. They promise Warren that he'll be made full partner and that Monty's real $300 million inheritance will go to the firm. Spike and the rest of Monty's friends and associates become very worried about Monty's frivolous spending and try to convince him to curtail it. They go so far to trick Monty into meeting Spike's financial adviser, Eugene (David Wohl), who tells Monty that he'll only require a modest fee of any earnings that pay off. Monty hires him on the spot and shows some resentment toward Angela for tricking him. When Monty finds out that the iceberg investment has turned out to be lucrative, he immediately wants to sell his stock in it. Moments later, the bookie he hired storms in and furiously tells him he's won a large amount of money on all the long shot bets he placed and that he's banned from any more gambling in New York. Monty decides to donate the money he won to charity. Note: the amount that Monty wins, ($1,500,000) is all of the 5% of the $30 million that he can be allowed to donate. Spike and Eugene, both rush into Monty's office one day with exciting news. Spike had invested a large amount of Monty's money in a venture and earned Monty's company $10 million. Monty becomes upset, realizing that he's "right back where he started" and orders everyone out of his office. On television, he sees a news commentary about New York's upcoming mayoral election. The reporter says that his news station has chosen not to endorse either of the sleazy, possibly mob-funded candidates. Monty enters the race himself, declaring a ticket called "None of the Above" where he wants to buy the votes of New York. The campaign involves a large amount of advertising, staffing and televised ads and drains much of the $30 million in a short amount of time. Monty is unabashed in attacking his opponents openly, insulting them publicly in media spots and public appearances. When Monty's two opponents, Heller and Salvino, figure out that Monty's campaign could defeat them both, they both agree to sue him for libel. Monty settles out of court for $4 million. Meanwhile, Angela has grown increasingly cold toward Monty, thinking he's foolish for spending the $30 million so rapidly. Earlier, Monty had tried to give her a new Aston-Martin convertible -- a violation of the will that Monty can't tell Angela about. While he talks to her on the street, he's overseen by both Warren and Marilyn, who mistakenly assume Monty and Angela are having an affair. The day of the big Bulls vs. Yankees game arrives. At the game, the Bulls start out doing very well against the Yankees, until the Yanks battle back and defeat the Bulls early in the third inning, hitting a grand slam home run off Monty. Defeated, Monty leaves the game. In the locker room, Roundfield approaches Monty in the locker room and tells him that he is actually leading the election for mayor at the polls, but that if he wins the election, the $60,000 annual salary given to him as mayor could be considered an asset in accordance with the will. Monty announces to the crowd that he's withdrawing from the election. He also invites everyone to a final party which he'll pay for with his last $38,000. At the party, Monty plans to get very drunk. Spike and Melvin take up a small collection to give to Monty so he won't be flat broke. Monty refuses the money, knowing it would also violate the conditions of the will. Spike suggests that he and Monty buy a nice sports car and leave New York for a new life. Monty still turns him down. The next morning (on the 30th day), the landlord for Monty's offices and penthouse politely evicts him. The tailors take back all the clothes he rented and he finds his old Chicago Cubs jersey in the closet. He checks in on Marilyn, who'd finished the latest iteration of interior decorating of Monty's offices; she orders everything to be taken back when Monty tells her he approves of the work. Monty leaves the Plaza in his old street clothes and wanders off into Manhattan... alone. That evening, the local newscaster Chuck Fleming (Peter Jason), wondering where Monty has vanished to after declaring that he is now flat broke, announces that the mayoral race will be held again in a run-off election after primary election results showed that Monty's campaign had worked to sink the campaigns of Heller and Salvino, with the voters indeed voted for "none of the above". The run-off election will be held in a few days with neither of Monty's opponents running for office ever again. At 11:50 pm, Monty reappears at Granville & Baxter to finalize the will, not a dime to his name. Before he enters the meeting with the two, he's stopped by Warren who eagerly gives him the $20,000 he'd withheld. Monty is immediately upset, believing he'd lost and, with the clock about to strike the midnight deadline, agrees to sign whatever paperwork the two men have. While Warren watches, Angela suddenly appears. Warren discloses the conditions of Monty's will and shows her the furniture company receipt she'd missed for the money he'd given Monty. Angela is furious and rushes in to stop Monty from turning over the money to the firm, saying that Warren had cheated him, drawing an immediate termination from her bosses. Warren tells Monty and Angela that he'd suspected they'd been having an affair all along and Angela tries to hit him. Monty stops her and punches Warren himself, which Warren promises to sue him for. When offered an out-of-court settlement for the money he'd been given, Warren refuses. Monty suddenly decides to hire Angela on retainer for $20,000. She frantically writes him a receipt by the stroke of midnight and Roundfeld declares Monty's inheritance complete. He also promises to investigate Granville and Baxter for any wrongdoing for revealing to Warren the terms of the will. Monty and Angela leave the office together where they agree to talk about his legal options and of his new inheritance.

Seattle, Washington Senator Charles Carroll (William "Bill" Boyce), an independent senator, is holding a luncheon atop the Seattle Space Needle. Joe Frady (Warren Beatty), an alcoholic journalist, tries to gain entry to the luncheon, but is turned away. At the restaurant atop the Space Needle, Senator Carroll is holding a press conference when he is suddenly shot to death by an unseen assassin. Everyone looks around and sees a waiter holding a gun, and he is jumped by security guards. However, a second waiter (Bill McKinney), who also has a gun (and the real or second shooter) leaves unnoticed. The first waiter replies that he didn't do it, and he is chased over the roof of the building by guards, where he accidentally slips and falls off the roof to his death. The real assassin chuckles as he leaves the scene and reports to an unseen contact that the job is finished. Four months later, a seven-man commission holds a special public gathering and they conclude that the waiter, named Thomas Richard Lindern (Chuck Waters), acted alone and that there is no greater conspiracy to the assassination of Senator Carroll. Three years later Joe Frady, writing for a Portland, Oregon newspaper, sets himself up to get arrested to get a story on a major drug bust. Frady is bailed out of jail by his boss and editor Bill Rintels (Hume Cronyn) who always complains that Frady is trying to create news rather than reporting it. Shortly thereafter, Frady is visited by Lee Carter (Paula Prentiss), a Seattle newscaster and his former girlfriend, who tells them that she fears for her life. Lee tells Frady that someone is trying to kill her and that six other reporters at the luncheon have all died mysteriously during the past two years. Frady shrugs her off by telling her that she's just being paranoid. But a few days later, Lee is found dead in her apartment. Frady investigates and the coroner tells him that she apparently killed herself with an overdose of sleeping pills, but Frady knows different. Frady tells Rintels that there is a story brewing here about the events behind the Senator Carroll assassination, and Rintels reluctantly agrees to let Frady pursue his story. Frady meets with a former FBI agent (Kenneth Mars) who informs him that they are many methods that can be used to make someone's death look like an accident or suicide such as certain drugs which are fatal, but show up that a person's heart failed on them. Frady travels to a small fishing village in upstate Washington where one of the witnesses to Carroll's assassination died. At the local bar, a rough deputy, named Red (Earl Hindman), tries to beat up Frady, but after a long and vicious fistfight, Frady wins, knocking out Deputy Red. The sheriff, L.D. Wicker (Kelly Thorsden), appears and applauds Frady for standing up to his loathsome deputy and he is rather friendly towards him. Frady asks the sheriff for information about the dead person, claiming to be an old friend. Sheriff L.D. takes Frady to the spot where the Carroll witness died: a small creek right in front of a large dam. The sheriff explains that the man, Alan Bridges, was fishing when a dam sluice had opened up, releasing tons of water to relieve pressure on the dam as it does every few days and that that Bridges was washed away and drowned. Just then, a siren announces that the dam sluice is opening again. Suddenly, the sheriff pulls a gun on Frady... clearly intending to kill him in the same way he killed Mr. Bridges. Frady throws his fishing rod at the sheriff and tackles him where they both fall into the water. Frady and the sheriff struggle as they are swept away by the wall of water that hits both of them. Frady grabs a shore rock and makes it ashore while the sheriff is swept away and drowns. Taking Sheriff L.D.'s car, Frady goes to the sheriff's apartment to search it for evidence and finds test applications to the Parallax Corporation. Just then, Deputy Red arrives at the apartment looking for the sheriff and Frady runs. After a long and wild car case, Frady escapes from the deputy. Returning to Portland, Frady tells Rintels what happened and shows him the copies of the Parallax Corporation application tests, and that there's something big going on. But Rintels refuses to believe Frady is onto something. Frady takes the test application to a psychology lab where the attending psychoanalyst believes that the tests are for measuring one's mental state and ability to commit crimes. Frady allows a lab worker, and a former prison convict who served time for murder, to take the test. Using the alias of "Richard Paley", Frady submits the finished test result to Parallax. A few days later, Frady meets with Austin Tucker (William Daniels), a former Carroll aide, who has arrived in the country and claims that people are trying to kill him for Senator Carroll had many enemies from his past for his liberal views and work. Tucker and his aide/bodyguard take Frady out on a sailboat where he confides in Frady that there is indeed a wide conspiracy in the Carroll assassination and that Thomas Richard Lindern did not act alone and that a powerful corporation may have covered it up. Tucker shows photos that were taken of the luncheon on that day, and points to the second waiter in one of the photographs and asks Frady if he knows the man. Frady doesn't and asks why. Tucker tells Frady that it's probably nothing, but Tucker also explains that he cannot shake the feeling that the second waiter looks familiar. A few minutes later, the boat explodes from a bomb hidden in the cabin. Frady sitting on the bow of the boat jumps overboard, while Tucker and his aide, catching the full blast, are killed. Frady meets with Rintels and tells him about what happened and Rintels agrees to help Frady with his story. Using his alias, Frady checks himself into a fleabag motel in downtown Los Angeles, and a few days later a certain 'Jack Younger' (Walter McGinn), claiming to be a representative of the Parallax Corporation, contacts Frady in his room and says that his aggressiveness (as shown on the test answers) makes him valuable for certain corporations. Younger asks Frady/Richard Paley to join the corporation for the 'special projects' division. Frady goes to the Parallax offices in downtown L.A. and meets with Mr. Younger who shows him a special room where Frady is 'tested' with a series of brainwashing techniques with him being shown various photos and images of death and destruction as if to make him suitable for indoctrination. Frady becomes aware that this branch of the Parallax is a training ground for assassins. As Frady is leaving the building for the day when his 'tests' are finished, he spots the second waiter from the Tucker photo talking to some businessmen. Frady follows the second waiter/assassin outside to his car and tails him driving around the city. The assassin switches cars with another person, and obtains a briefcase which he takes to the local airport. The assassin checks himself on a plane to Chicago, and Frady checks himself on the same plane. The plane takes off, but the assassin does not board for he has apparently checked in his briefcase which has a bomb in it. On the plane, Frady sees that that assassin is nowhere to be found, and after seeing that a prominent senator on board, realizes that the plane must have a bomb on board. After trying to sneak a message on a restroom mirror, Frady anonymously passes a note on a napkin to a stewardess that a bomb is on board. The stewardess relays the news to the pilot who immediately returns the plane to Los Angeles. After everyone has disembarked, the plane explodes (off-camera). Frady returns to his seedy motel room to find Mr. Younger waiting for him and he informs Frady that Parallax have already had an offer of employment for Frady, but he immediately expresses suspicion as a background check made by Parallax on Frady showed that some of his references were false. Frady then makes up a new alias for Younger explaining that he's an alcoholic and lied on his background to land a job. Younger offers to look into it and again promises Frady that Parallax is a great opportunity for people like him, and then leaves. Realizing that it will only be a matter of time before they discover his real identity, Frady secretly mails the Parallax test papers and an audiotape he made on a mini-tape recorder of his conversation with Younger to Rintels. Along with it is a note from Frady who explains that he may be in way over his head and that if anything were to happen to him, that Rintels should publish this information about Parallax and what they do on the sidelines of recruiting assassins to kill prominent officials who threaten or get too close to the corporation's nefarious plans. Rintels listens to the tape and finally realizes that Frady is onto something big. Rintels, who practically lives in his office and orders take-out food every day from a deli across the street, orders more food as he reviews more of the papers Frady has mailed to him. Just then, the deli delivery guy arrives with Rintels' latest food order. The delivery guy is the Parallax assassin in disguise. The next morning, Rintels is found dead by his employees in his office, dead from an apparent "heart attack" after he was poisoned. The evidence is gone and the audio tape has been erased. In Los Angeles, Frady, unaware of Rintels' murder and that he is now on his own, gets his first assignment to meet with his new co-worker at a local hotel for their "assignments". Frady sneaks out of the planned meeting place and goes to Parallax's offices asking to meet with Mr. Younger, but is told that Younger is out. Frady spots the Parallax assassin and follows him into the hallways of the L.A. Convention Center. Mr. Younger is there with more Parallax businessmen/assassins where they are talking about their latest plans. Frady watches them from a distance as Mr. Younger leaves and the Parallax assassin and a few others go to the platforms above the floor of the convention hall. Frady sees that down below a dress rehearsal where Senator George Hammond (Jim Davis), a prominent California senator, is rehearsing a speech he will give that night. Frady believes that the assassin is going to shoot the senator with a rifle that he loads and lies down on the walkway above the convention hall. Then, just as Senator Hammond is planning to leave before he makes his appearance, the assassin suddenly leaves, leaving Frady in hiding on the walkway, alone and locked in the area. Suddenly, shots ring out as one of the assassins shoots and kills Hammond with a second rifle from a concealed location, just as Hammond is riding in a golf cart out of the convention hall. Everyone looks up and around for the shooter, and sees Frady.... standing on the plank way above them near the unused rifle. THEY THINK HE DID IT!!!! Frady realizes (way too late) that he's been set up! Frady hides under the plank way as three Parallax security guards/assassins show up looking for him. When police sirens are heard, the three assassins flee, leaving the door to the exit wide open. After a few minutes, Frady tries to run for the exit, when the assassin appears as a menacing silhouette in the doorway (anticipating that Frady would do just that) and guns him down. Several months later, a second seven-man congressional commission is held where the lead commissioner reports that Frady had blamed Senator Hammond for the Senator Carroll assassination and had sought revenge. (Note: it is never explained if any of both the seven-man commissions are in league with Parallax, or if they are only easily duped into believing the fabricated evidence.) The commission rules that there is no evidence of a conspiracy in the killing of Senator Hammond. Frady was the lone assassin. Case closed. The commission does not take questions from the unseen press.

It is 1831. British King William IV has appointed a new governor (Cecil Parker) for New South Wales in Australia. In full dress military redcoat and cocked hat at an arrival ceremony, he gives a brief speech that is marred by disrespectful comments from some rowdies in the crowd. A younger cousin of the governor, Charles Adare (Michael Wilding) has traveled with him from Ireland. Even before the end of the speech, Charles is approached by a local banker who offers his services. Charles admits he doesn't have a penny, yet hopes to make his fortune in Sydney. The banker says he can help anyway, so Charles agrees to meet him the next day. During the next day's appointment, a powerful local landowner named Sam Flusky (Joseph Cotton) enters the bank and the banker points him out to Charles as an example of what fortunes might be made in Australia even with a convict background. Charles asks to be introduced, as he seems to recall the last name. The banker warns him that in Australia it is not acceptable manners to ask about a person's past or convict status. Upon introduction, Flusky recognizes the name Adare, and almost immediately proposes a business deal requiring no capital when he learns that Charles is a cousin of the Governor. Flusky offers Charles a temporary loan to acquire a certain land parcel that Flusky wants but cannot purchase directly because of legal limits on land grant applications, and Charles agrees to help with the promise of a huge quick profit. Charles later tells his uncle about the plan. But when the uncle wants to know about Flusky, Attorney General Corrigan (Denis O'Dea) strongly discourages any deals, saying that Flusky is now acting within the law but is a very unsavory character with a criminal past. The Governor then orders Charles to avoid Flusky. Since he wants the easy money, Charles disobeys the uncle and accepts an invitation to dine at Flusky's home. He comes to dinner at Flusky's large and elegant home in a carriage. The driver comments on Flusky's low social prestige despite his wealth and translates a motto displayed at the entrance: "Minyago Yugilla?" means "Why Weepest Thou?" Charles walks around the house before ringing the entrance bell, overhears and witnesses things that tell him that Flusky is using him to climb in social standing because he is the Governor's relative, and also that Milly the housekeeper (Margaret Leighton) is a willful tyrant who keeps the kitchen staff under control with a whip. As other guests arrive, including Attorney General Corrigan, they are all male, as all wives invited give an excuse not to attend. And, as reported by Milly, Sam's wife is not well, and also will not attend. Halfway through the meal, Sam's wife (Ingrid Bergman) comes down the stairs in bare feet and dressed in something that is more like a nightgown than a dinner dress. She welcomes the gentlemen, and walks unsteadily to sit at the head of the table. Charles recognizes Mrs. Flusky as Lady Henrietta, an aristocratic neighbor he remembers as a child growing up in Ireland. "Hattie" was a friend of Charles's sister. He sits next to Hattie, she recognizes him, and is happy to recall events of their past. But it appears Hattie is an alcoholic and on the verge of madness. After a short while Hattie decides to go upstairs to her room, but on arriving there, she utters a terrified scream calling for Charles. Charles rushes up and finds Hattie trembling outside the door and talking about the horrible thing on the bed. Charles enters the bedroom, finds nothing, yet shoots into the fireplace and comes out comforting Hattie and saying nothing can hurt her any more. Af the guests leave, Sam expresses his displeasure at the guests' wives who snubbed his invitation, and his gratitude to Charles because he saw that Hattie had been genuinely pleased and interested to have seen him. Sam encourages Charles to come again hopes that the younger man's friendship will be able to cheer up his wife. In Sam's view, Hattie's condition is the result of isolation and of being snubbed by the social establishment, and the fact that they became different people in a different environment after the years of his imprisonment. They're now an unhappy couple who are shunned by established society. Charles agrees to try to help her regain a sense of stability. Meantime, Milly is seen giving alcohol to Hattie and spying suspiciously on Charles. Charles recalls the details of the scandal back in Ireland: Lady Henrietta, of the landed gentry and Sam Flusky, a groom on her estate eloped to England. They were pursued by her brother, and when they were found, Flusky shot him dead. As the brother was armed and had also fired a shot, Flusky was not hung but taken to Australia. Lady Henrietta followed him to Australia and waited for his seven year term to end. When Sam was released they found they had much changed during those years, and the marriage was not happy. Sam concentrated on becoming rich and being able to afford material goods for Hattie, but it wasn't enough, Hattie started to drink and lost interest in everything. In the following years, the relationship with Sam had not recovered, and had been made worse by Henrietta's increasing alcoholism. Meantime the household is run by Milly. who keeps it functioning, and keeps Lady Henrietta under control. Charles insists on completing the land deal with Flusky. This angers his cousin the governor, who expels him. As Charles has as yet no money, he turns to Sam, who invites him to move in and try to cheer up and rehabilitate Hattie, getting her to become interested in horseback riding, in clothes, and life itself. He moves in, and slowly revives the self-reliant woman that Hattie was once. One of his first successes is to convince Hattie to look at her own reflection, as in a mirror, for the first time in years. But Charles' efforts to rehabilitate Hattie conflict with Milly's aspirations of control. Milly keeps throwing up various snags to upset the recovery. Charles begins to notice this, but not Sam. At one point, Hattie becomes confident enough to try to run her own household and kitchen without Milly. However, Milly has undermined Hattie's authority with the kitchen staff. The kitchen help, used to Milly's control, disobeys, and Hattie realizes that she has no say in her own house. She locks herself in her bedroom and refuses to come out. Charles, encouraged by Sam, enters her bedroom through a balcony and convinces Hattie not to give up. When Milly is called to the bedroom to help the mistress undress for bed, she knocks and because the door is locked and Charles is there she accuses them to be in a physical relationship, despite the fact that Sam had been standing below outside and probably was aware of everything that went on in that room. In desperation, Milly arranges to expose Hattie's hidden collection of empty wine bottles from the bedroom to humiliate her in front of the servants. This last trick backfires, Milly threatens to resign and leave, and, to her surprise, she is ousted from the house. Once Milly is ousted, Hattie takes real control of the kitchen, and her recovery proceeds ever faster. One day, Charles brings in an invitation to the Governors ball, addressed to Sam and Hattie. A dress is ordered, Hattie dresses up beautifully, but at the last minute Sam refuses to go and insists that Charles escort Hattie in his place. He is feeling rejected because he bought a spectacular ruby necklace that he intends to give to Hattie, but before he gives it, Hattie and Charles comment that ruby color isn't the best match for the coloring of the dress she is wearing. At the ball, Hattie is stunning and catches the Governor's eye. Before he realizes who she is, he shows her great deference and admiration. Meantime, the reception staff has identified her invitation as a forgery. But the governor insists that she stay, including Charles, whom he had ordered expelled from the ball shortly before. Right after Hattie and Charles leave for the ball, Milly, approaches Sam at his home, and asks to be taken back. It is clear that she is in love with Sam and wants to replace Hattie. Sam listens to her long plea in a speech that insinuates in all conceivable ways that Hattie is either having an affair with Charles or in any case is humiliating Sam by appearing in public with Charles instead of her husband or failing that, that everyone will think they are in love and thus humiliate Sam even more and the results could be socially disastrous. She also works in that Charles and Hattie are of a different social class from Sam, that they have views and conventions that allow them to do things that would be considered shameful for ordinary, non-aristocratic people. At first Sam does not react, since, after all, Charles is substantially younger than Hattie, and anyway his demeanor throughout has been that of a male who is not interested in women, much too interested in clothing, and always impeccably dressed. But Milly eventually manages to make Sam enraged about the situation. Sam goes to the ball, makes a scene, humiliates Hattie, who returns home upset and weeping. Charles follows Hattie home and attempts to calm her. Hattie tearfully confesses to Charles how she deeply loves and is honor bound to Sam, because it was she who shot her own brother, not Sam, and Sam took the blame to save her from prison. Sam returns to the house, demands that Charles leave for good. Charles takes a horse but regretfully the horse stumbles and breaks a leg, forcing him to return. Sam gets a gun, kills the horse, and as he re-enters the house, in a combination of anger and accident, Charles is shot. Sam is immediately incarcerated, as his convict past demands immediate jail for any violent offense. Hattie, in an attempt to save Sam, confesses to having shot her brother, the crime that led to Sam's original conviction. But such a confession brings complications, in that Sam would be freed only if Hattie were sent back for trial. They are in a real dilemma: If Sam corroborates Hattie's confession, he goes free and she goes to jail. If he does not corroborate her confession, he goes to prison for good. The Attorney General is not being helpful, since the governor wants to jail somebody for having shot his cousin. Corrigan gives Sam 24 hours to make up his mind about what his story is. Meantime, Milly, seeing her chances to get Sam slipping away, attempts to poison Hattie. She is discovered in her plot, found to have planted a shrunken head at the bed to frighten Hattie from time to time, and ousted. Meantime Charles has recovered from the wound, and, at the critical moment, reappears to vouch that he was shot in a true accident and not in a violent act by Sam. Charles is put back on a ship to return to Ireland and is waved goodbye by the now happy Sam and Hattie.

Two college friends strangle a classmate for intellectual thrills and then invite his family and friends for dinner, with the body stuffed in a trunk they use as a buffet table.

Charlotte Newton is bored of her quiet and uneventful life. All she wants is for her sophisticated and well-traveled uncle, Charlie Oakley, to come visit them. To her surprise and happiness, a telegram announcing her uncle`s visit arrives. However, something seems to be off when he visits. When two strangers show up with questions about him, Charlotte realizes her beloved uncle Charlie may not be who she thinks he is.