Lee Marvin

Operation Eagle Claw, in Apr 1980, is the American operation to rescue American hostages being held at the U.S. embassy to Tehran. The operation is being aborted after a fatal helicopter crash, with the U.S. Delta Force evacuating to their C-130 transports. Among them is Major Scott McCoy (Chuck Norris), who, against orders, rescues his wounded comrade Pete Peterson (William Wallace) from the burning helicopter before the team finally evacuates. Peterson was trapped under the burning debris of a jeep. McCoy put his own life and limb on the line to lift the jeep, extract Peterson and carry him to the C-130 transport all by himself. Colonel Nick was worried about the entire squadron and wanted to lift off but holds the transport long enough for McCoy to bring Peterson back. McCoy expresses his disgust for the politicians and military hierarchy that forced the mission to launch despite the risks, and announces he is resigning his commission. McCoy says that for 5 years he saw people planning missions in Vietnam and soldiers dying on the ground as a result of it. Overall, 8 members of the special forces were killed and 13 wounded in the disastrous operation. Five years later, a group of Lebanese terrorists armed with a Colt M1911, PM-63 machine pistol and AK-47s hijack American Travelways Boeing 707 (ATW) Flight 282 that is on a flight from Cairo, Egypt to Athens, Greece to Rome, Italy and then to New York City. The flight is currently in Athens and going to Rome. The flight has couples Harry Goldman (Joey Bishop) and Sylvia (Lainie Kazan), Ben Kaplan (Martin Balsam) and Edie, and Robert Levine (Jerry Lazarus) and Debra (Susan Strasberg). Debra is travelling with her daughter Ellen (Natalie Roth). A flight mechanic had stowed the weapons on-board before the flight departed and the hijackers retrieved them after the flight took off from Athens. Taking all passengers and crew hostage, the group, the pro-Khomeini New World Revolutionary Organization, led by Abdul Rifai (Robert Forster) and Mustafa (David Menachem), forces Captain Roger Campbell (Bo Svenson) and his crew to fly the plane to Beirut (they force the cockpit to be opened by threatening to blow up the plane with a grenade), Lebanon, where they make demands to the United States government that, if not met, will result in the death of the hostages. During the flight, the hijackers realize that the passengers include Hebrews from Israel on board. They collect everyone's passports and also find that the flight has 3 Marine Divers on board. Abdul separates the Marines in first class cabin and binds their hands and legs. At the hijack, the captain switched on the emergency beacon, indicating to Athen's ground control that the flight has been hijacked. The news soon reaches the Pentagon. General Woodbridge (Robert Vaughn) US general, Army Chief of Staff is in charge of the US operation. Woodbridge and the President authorize a Delta Force unit to neutralize the terrorists. The plane has over 100 Americans on board. During the crisis, the terrorists segregate the Hebrew passengers from the Americans by forcing a reluctant flight purser of German heritage named Ingrid Harding (Hanna Schygulla) to identify them. Another passenger, Catholic priest William O'Malley (George Kennedy), joins the Hebrews in solidarity. Unbeknownst to the authorities, once the plane lands in Beirut, the Hebrew hostages and O'Malley are then taken off the plane and transported to a militant-controlled area of Beirut, while a dozen additional henchmen (Jaffar (Avi Loziah), Jamil Rafai (Uri Gavriel), Salim (Adiv Gahshan)) are brought on board. The flight departs for Algiers, where the terrorists release the female hostages and children. Meanwhile Delta Force, led by Colonel Nick Alexander (Lee Marvin) is deployed to resolve the crisis. McCoy joins the task-force when he hears the news on TV. The Delta force believes that there are only 2 terrorists on board. Once the female hostages are evacuated in Algiers, they launch their assault, only to discover too late that there are additional hijackers and inadvertently alert the terrorists. Abdul kills one hostage, a US Navy diver named Tom, taking the other two US divers with them as well as dozens of male Hebrew passengers on board to Beirut. Delta Force gives chase to rescue the remaining hostages. Upon landing in Beirut, the terrorists gather their hostages and transport them to a militant-controlled area of Beirut. The pilots and two male flight attendants remain in the 707. Using a sympathetic Greek Orthodox priest Father Nicholas (Shaike Ophir), Israeli Army Intelligence prepares an operation to free the hostages. McCoy and Peterson are able to enter into Lebanon disguised as a Canadian television crew. In a prolonged campaign against the terrorists, the Delta Force bide their time to identify the terrorist leaders and locate the hostages. Once their location is discovered, Delta Force assaults the terrorist holdout, freeing the hostages and evacuating them to the airport. During the battle, McCoy, Peterson, and their team hunts down Abdul and his men, killing most of the militants before Abdul shoots Peterson, gravely injuring him. McCoy chases Abdul and tracks him down to an abandoned home. He then engages him into a vicious hand-to-hand fight, breaking Abdul's arm. As the terrorist leader prepares to shoot McCoy, he is killed after McCoy launches a rocket into his car. With the hostages and rescue teams secured, the team seizes Flight 282 by secretly infiltrating the airfield through a cotton field. Using silenced weapons, Alexander and the Delta team assassinates the terrorist guards including the last hijacker and saves the crew, ordering them to fly to Israel. The team boards the plane with all of the hostages, taking off just as McCoy is the last one to board the plane after having destroyed several terrorist jeeps on the runway with his motorcycle armament. On board the team tends to the wounded passengers and Pete who is now dying. After having confirmed that the hostages are safe and on route home, Pete says his farewells to McCoy before succumbing to his wounds. In the main cabin the ex-hostages and Delta commandos join together in a rousing rendition of "America the Beautiful", not knowing about Pete's death. In Israel, the Boeing 707 lands safely and the hostages are greeted by their families, while Delta Force disembarks with Peterson's body in tow to their C-130. The team concludes their operation and departs for the United States in the middle of celebrations by the people.

Moscow, USSR. In the opening scene, three young people are seen ice skating on the frozen pond in Gorky Park. Three days later, Soviet militsiya officer Arkady Renko (William Hurt) investigates the discovery of their bodies a short distance from the skating rink. All have been shot in the chest and mouth; their faces and fingerprints have been completely removed with surgical instruments. Renko is left anxious and paranoid when the KGB refuse to take over the investigation. Renko enlists the help of Professor Andreev (Ian McDiarmid) to reconstruct their faces. During his investigation, Renko crosses paths with William Kirwill (Brian Dennehy), a New York police detective who is in the Soviet Union investigating the disappearance of his brother James. At a weekend getaway at the dacha of Chief Prosecutor Iamskoy (Ian Bannen), Renko also makes the acquaintance of the American sable importer Jack Osborne (Lee Marvin) and his girlfriend Irina Asanova (Joanna Pacua). Renko is eventually able to piece together the victims' identities: James Kirwill, and two young Russians who were friends of Irina. He discovers that the three were busy constructing a chest for Osborne. Renko's suspicion of Osborne mounts over time, during their polite but tense conversations in social settings. When Irina is attacked by a KGB officer who attempts to inject her with a fatal overdose of drugs, Renko saves her. Nursing her back to health in his apartment, they begin an affair. Kirwill finally locates the barn where the three victims were building Osborne's chest. It was designed to smuggle six sables out of the country and to break the Soviet monopoly on their fur, potentially earning Osborne millions of dollars. Irina stubbornly continues to believe that her two friends are alive. Osborne had promised to smuggle them out of Soviet Union in return for their work; he tells Irina that they were successfully freed. Renko confronts her with Prof. Andreev's reconstructed head of one of her friends, forcing her to realize that they have been murdered by Osborne. She confesses the full details of the plot to him and then runs away. Renko and Kirwill go to Andreev's to retrieve the second reconstructed head, but a KGB agent emerges with it in a box. They follow him, and Renko is crushed to find they are back at Iamskoy's dacha. They watch from a distance as Osborne and Iamskoy supervise the destruction of the head by the KGB agent. To Kirwill's horror, it is his brother's head. Renko confronts Iamskoy in a bath house. Iamskoy cordially admits that he kept Renko on the case because Osborne was unwilling to pay a high enough price to smuggle out the sables. Renko's investigation was intended to frighten Osborne into paying more. He offers to cut Renko in on Osborne's kickback. Renko reveals that he has recorded the conversation, and Iamskoy jumps up and wrestles Renko for the gun. In the ensuing struggle, Renko's gun goes off and kills Iamskoy. Osborne flees to Stockholm, Sweden. The KGB allows Renko to travel there to supervise an exchange. He is to receive the sables from Osborne, whereupon everyone will be allowed to walk away. Renko is shown into a bedroom where Irina is waiting for him. She confesses that she fled to Osborne, who has worked her freedom into the deal for the sables. She promises Renko that his freedom can also be part of the deal. Disgusted by her treachery, Renko tells Irina she has blood on her hands. He meets with Kirwill and the two assume that as soon as the exchange is complete, the KGB will kill Irina, Renko and Osborne all at once. The next morning, at a remote farm, Renko and the KGB agents approach Osborne. They come across the corpse of Kirwill; tied to a tree with his intestines hanging out. Renko is devastated; Osborne then loudly announces that he gutted Kirwill after he killed his dogs. Osborne throws six dead sables onto the field and asks the men to lower their weapons. Renko realizes that neither side will let the other live. When Osborne shoots a man, Renko grabs Irina and runs for cover in the woods. Pribluda then kills the other man before Osborne kills Pribluda in a stand off. Osborne tries to shoot Renko in the woods. Renko finds more live sables in their cages. Irina emerges from the woods and Osborne threatens to kill her if Renko does not surrender. When Renko emerges to give up, Irina shoots Osborne. Renko, too, shoots Osborne before Irina fires multiple rounds, killing him. She asks Renko to go away with her, but Renko reveals he agreed to do the hit on Osborne in return for Irina's safety and freedom from Soviet Union, and that she'd be hunted down and killed if Renko did not return to Moscow. As Irina runs off to freedom in Sweden, Renko frees all of the sables, which run off into the woods as we hear Irina's voice repeat Renko's promise that they will meet again one day.

One day, three farm boys come upon a wounded outlaw named Harry Spikes. They take him to one of the boys' barn, nurse him back to health, shield him from a sheriff's posse, and let him go on his way. Later, to escape the tyrannical discipline of their parents, the three boys run away from home in search of adventure and excitement. In the first town they come to, they bungle a bank robbery, and shoot and kill a state senator by accident. Then, with the law in hot pursuit, they flee across the Texas border into Mexico. Upon arriving there, they happily reunite with Harry Spikes. He takes the boys under his wing, teaches them the outlaw's trade, and the four of them cross the border back into Texas. After careful preparation, they attempt a bank robbery that goes horribly wrong. Tragically, the boys discover that Harry Spikes is not the genuine hero that they thought he was. Lee Marvin, Gary Grimes, Ron Howard, and Charles Martin Smith star in this thrilling Western tale that examines the tragic consequences of hero worship and the loss of youthful innocence.

Two unlikely prospector partners share the same wife in a California gold rush mining town. A Michigan farmer and a prospector form a partnership in the California gold country. Their adventures include buying and sharing a wife, hijacking a stage, kidnaping six prostitutes, and turning their mining camp into a boomtown. Along the way there is plenty of drinking, gambling, and singing. They even find time to do some creative gold mining. —David J. Kiseleski <davidk269@aol.com>

During World War II, the fate of the world depends on 12 American military prisoners who are offered parole if they complete a suicide mission in Nazi Germany just before D-Day.

Lee Marvin plays Walker, a man who loses his share of $93,000 when he's double-crossed on a heist. His old pal Mal Reese (John Vernon) filled him with bullet holes and left him to rot, presuming he was dead or would die soon anyway. Reese needed all the money to pay back his debts to the Organization. Walker's wife also came along for the ride, but she didn't know what was going to happen. The job took place at the dark and dreary old prison, Alcatraz, where money pick-ups are made. After being shot up, Walker apparently made it out alive. During this sequence, and throughout the film, there are flashbacks to provide the backstory. They help convey Walker's thoughts and feelings, even if it seems like he doesn't have them anymore. He is portrayed as austere, terse, and slightly aloof. Now all Walker wants to do is get his money back. At the inception of this storyline we see Walker stomping down a corridor, his footsteps loud, repetitive, pounding. Walker is fiercely determined, a man on a mission. Walker does a lot of walking throughout the movie, going from one place to another until he finds justice. That's the only thing on his mind. Shots of his wife getting out of bed, going out, and coming back home play while the pounding of his footsteps overshadow it. Since his wife is the person closest to him, and because she had an affair with Reese, Walker goes straight for her first. As the sound of footsteps come to a halt, we see Walker uninhibitedly barge in his wife's front door with a gun in hand, knock her down, and head right for the bedroom-blasting away several rounds at the bed. Reese wasn't there as he'd hoped. Now it's up to Walker to hunt down Reese through his connections. Reese is a top man in the syndicate this time around, so getting to him is not easy. Walker enlists the help of his wife's sister (Angie Dickinson). Since Reese wouldn't give him the cash, Walker disposes of him and move to the next guy in line. The bill gets passed down. Walker simply holds the whole Organization accountable. He won't relent until his gets the money. It all comes down to Walker going back to the place that haunts his memory: Alcatraz. That's where his money will be dropped. Once again, an act of treachery is in the works. Walker is set up to be hit by a sniper. He observes the drop-off point from overhead, waits it out, and makes the men believe he didn't show up. At the last moment, all you see is Walker dissipate into the darkness like a ghost. The ending doesn't fill in the blanks. Will he retrieve the money? Has this all been a dream from the beginning when he was left to die? The answers are left up to the viewer.

In the final years of the Mexican Revolution, American rancher J.W. Grant (Ralph Bellamy) hires four men, who are all experts in their respective fields, to rescue his kidnapped wife, Maria (Claudia Cardinale), from Jesus Raza (Jack Palance), a former revolutionary leader-turned-bandit. Grant has withdrawn $100,000 in gold coins from his local bank. Henry "Rico" Fardan (Lee Marvin) is a weapons specialist, Bill Dolworth (Burt Lancaster) is an explosives expert, Hans Ehrengard (Robert Ryan) is the horse wrangler, and Jake Sharp (Woody Strode) is a traditional Apache scout, skilled with a bow and arrow. Grant gathers the Rico, Hans and Sharp on his private train and explains that a week ago Raza kidnapped his wife. Grant says that Raza is the bloodiest cut-throat in Mexico. Raza has kept Maria in the middle of the desert in his fortress. The fortress (situated in the Painted Mountains in Mexico) is covered by the desert for 100 miles in every direction, and it would take a battalion a month just to find him. Raza's men know every geological detail of the terrain. Raza has 150 soldiers. Grant offers $1000 per person in advance and $9000 per person if they bring Maria back. Grant says that he has arranged the ransom money of $100,000, but still is not sure if he will get Maria back alive. Rico says that he needs a weapons specialist for the mission and suggests Bill. Bill is in jail for being an adulterer with married women and Rico bails him out for $700. Fardan and Dolworth, having both fought under the command of Pancho Villa, have a high regard for Raza as a soldier. But as cynical professionals, they have no qualms about killing him. They cannot believe that Raza would kidnap a woman, but Grant has the ransom note to prove it. Grant married Maria 4 years ago. A few days ago, she went riding across the border, as she was from Mexico and perhaps missed it. By the time she was found missing, the ransom note arrived. After entering Mexico, the professional track a group of Mexican bandits who confront them in a narrow mountain canyon the next day. The bandits open fire, but Rico was well prepared and had already asked Sharp and Hans to take positions in the surrounding cliffs. They easily dispatch the bandits and take their supplies. Bill wants to shoot the horses as they don't have food and water to feed them, but Hans argues to set them free instead. Bill tells Rico that they are 3 days ride away from Coyote pass, where the Mexican rebels buried 2 million dollars in Spanish Gold. Bill wants Rico to abandon their quest and to go for the gold, but Rico refuses. Rico sends Bill ahead to scout for dangers and he follows with Hans and Sharp. Bill is captured by 3 bandits who rob him and hang him upside down. Rico reaches the location and through signals (an upside down cross) he determines that Bill is in danger. These bandits were colleagues of the ones killed earlier and had found the riderless horses. The bandits prepare to kill Bill, but Rico intervenes. The bandits are killed, and Bill rescued. They realize that this narrow canyon between the mountain, where Bill was captured, is a perfect escape route for them on their way to the US. They know that Raza will take the same route and decide to rig it with explosives. Close to Raza's fortress, the professionals witness soldiers on a government train being massacred by Raza's small army. Raza's men sabotage the rails to stop the train. After a brutal fight, they kill all the surviving Government soldiers and reinstall the rails. The officers of the government are hanged and lynched. Bill explains that the soldiers on the train were Colorados, expert marksmen and expert at torture. A few years ago, they burned and looted a town with 3000 people. When they were done, only 40 were left. Rico's wife was one of the lucky 40. She was stripped naked and made to run through the cactus till her skin peeled off and she died. They follow the captured train to the end of the line. After the bandits leave, they take the train before moving on to the camp, where they observe Raza and his followers - including a female soldier, Chiquita (Maria Gomez) (who had once been in a relationship with Dolworth). They find that the camp has milk, supplied by the goat-keeper. Grant's 2nd in command Ortega (Joe De Santis) had told them that the goat-keeper Eduardo Padillia is a friend and will do anything to help. Eduardo recognizes Oretga's medallion presented by Rico and agrees to help. Eduardo confirms the location of Maria inside the camp. Rico plans an elaborate attack on the camp to provide an escape route with Maria. He hopes to convince Raza and his troops that they are being attacked by the Mexican government, and as they take defensive positions, Rico will escape with Maria. At nightfall, Fardan infiltrates the camp, but he is stopped from killing Raza in his quarters; after witnessing the beautiful Maria, Grant's kidnapped wife, about to willingly make love with Raza, Dolworth is forced to conclude that they have been duped. After bringing Maria back to the train, a shootout starts because it has been retaken by the bandits. These bandits are colleagues of the ones killed earlier by the Professionals. They had taken Hans hostage. The bandits surrender when Rico realizes that they are afraid to hit Maria. Rico drives the train away. Pursued by Raza and his men, the professionals are forced to take refuge in nearby canyon lands. That night, Maria reveals that they haven't rescued Grant's "kidnapped wife" but rather, Raza's lover - that Grant had bought her in an arranged marriage (when Grant bought her father's ranch in Mexico), from which she escaped at the earliest opportunity to return to her true love in Mexico. The following day, Maria hops on a horse and rides off through the narrow canyons to rejoin Raza, but Dolworth sets off explosives he had planted in the canyon walls, which collapse and close off the canyon, preventing her escape. That night Maria tries to seduce Bill to allow her to escape, but he refuses. She appeals to Rico and Bill saying that they served the revolution for 6 years loyally and that Raza speaks very highly of them. Yet, Rico says that he is bound by his promise to Grant. As Raza and his remaining men close in, Dolworth volunteers to stay behind to allow the other professionals to escape with Maria. In the ensuing fight, Raza is wounded and captured, and Dolworth is almost killed by a dying Chiquita, whose pistol has run out of bullets. Bill and Raza catch up with Rico just before the US border. Grant and his men meet the professionals (with Raza and Maria) at the US border. The wealthy rancher tells Fardan that their contract has been satisfactorily concluded. He then orders one of his men to kill the wounded Raza. But before he can fire, Dolworth shoots the guns from his hand. The other professionals step in to protect Maria and Raza. They collect the wounded Raza, laying him on the back of a horse-drawn wagon with Maria at the reins, and send both back to Mexico. Grant angrily turns to Fardan and declares him to be a dishonorable man. Rico retorts that while Rico was born that way, but Grant became that way all by himself. The professionals then ride off, following the wagon across the border to Mexico.

A young schoolteacher turns into an outlaw to avenge her murdered father. Cat(herine) Ballou's family farm is being threatened by the railroad. She sends for Kid Shelleen, finding him to be the drunkest gunfighter in the west. When her father is killed by the railroad magnate's gunman, she vows to fight on. Shelleen manages to ride sideways in several scenes, while minstrels sing the ballad of Cat Ballou in between scenes. —John Vogel <jlvogel@comcast.net> When hired gun Tim Strawn kills her rancher father, Cat Ballou becomes an outlaw set on vengeance. Enlisting the help of washed-up gunslinger Kid Shelleen as well as the handsome bandit Clay Boone, Cat strikes back at the land development company that employed Strawn and eventually targets the assassin himself. —Jwelch5742 1894. Prim and proper innocent Catherine Ballou has just returned to her hometown of Wolf City, Wyoming, to begin her working life as a schoolteacher. She learns that an unknown someone is conspiring to force her father, Frankie Ballou, off his ranch in the name of development, that person or people having hired "muscle" in the form of vicious, tin-nosed Tim Strawn. Frankie and his sole ranch hand, a mild-mannered Cherokee named Jackson Two-Bears, are ill-equipped to defend the ranch. As such, Cat takes it upon herself to fortify themselves in the form of convicted cattle rustler Clay Boone - who, in his assistance, has the ulterior motive of wanting to get into Cat's bed - and Clay's associate, "Uncle" Jed, who both may be of little help in admitting that they have never fired a gun in their crimes. So into whose basket Cat places most of her eggs is another hired gun she sees advertised on a poster, Kid Shelleen, who, after her $50 payment to him with her merchandise sight unseen, she learns is not all he is advertised to be. Cat's mission changing from protection to retaliation leads her into her own life of crime. What happens in this situation is affected by the Kid's own unspoken history, most specifically with Strawn. —Huggo

A varied group of passengers boarding a ship bound for pre-WWII Germany represents a microcosm of early-1930s society. In 1933, an ocean liner belonging to a second-rate German company is making a 26-day voyage from Veracruz, Mexico to Bremerhaven, Germany. Along the way it will stop in Cuba to pick up a large group of Spanish farm laborers who are being shipped home and will be housed like cattle in steerage. It will also pick up La Condesa, a Spanish countess. It will stop in Tenerife, where the farm workers will disembark and La Condesa will be sent to a German-run prison for her "traitorous" activities in Cuba. This voyage will be the last of three for the ship's doctor, Willi Schumann, who has a serious heart ailment and thought he could find some meaning to his life through this job. Willi and La Condesa fall in love, but the ship's Captain Thiele, Willi's closest friend on board, believes that drug-addicted La Condesa is only using him to get her fixes. Willi and La Condesa must figure out if they have a future after the voyage, as Willi has a wife and sons back in Bremerhaven. The other passengers include: Mary Treadwell, a middle-aged American divorcée who is trying to recapture her youth; Tenny, a middle-aged American ex-baseball player who laments that he never made it big in the game; young American couple David and Jenny, who are in love but must overcome differences in social standing and life outlooks; Rieber, a middle-aged German Nazi sympathizer who is traveling with a young female companion and lords his beliefs over the other German passengers, who are either absorbed in their own lives or just don't care to notice what's happening in Germany with the Nazis; and Lowenthal and Glocken, a German Jew and a German dwarf who are "paired" as the outsiders among those in first class. Their encounters, plus those with a rambunctious pair of children, two German teenagers who are coming into their sexual being but having problems overcoming issues they face, and a troupe of gypsy entertainers whose women are pimped out by their leader, make for an interesting voyage. —Huggo Passengers on a ship traveling from Mexico to Europe in the 1930s represent society at large in that era. The crew is German, including the ship's doctor who falls in love with one of the passengers, La Contessa. A young American woman, Jenny, is traveling with the man she loves, David. Jenny is fascinated and puzzled by just who some of the other passengers are. The once-famous Mary Treadwell gets much of her attention. —Dale O'Connor <daleoc@interaccess.com>

In an ideal society on a picturesque South Seas isle, diverse people live in harmony until an outsider disrupts the balance. In an ideal society on a picturesque South Sea island, people of several races and backgrounds live together in harmony. John Wayne is a WWII hero, who worked hard to own a shipping company and finds his true love. She is as strong a woman as he is a man. An adventure and love story. 'Guns' Donovan prefers carousing with his pals Doc Dedham and 'Boats' Gilhooley, until Dedham's high-society daughter Amelia shows up in their South Seas paradise. —Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>

The film begins in 1910 when a successful aging U.S. senator Ransom Stoddard (James Stewart) and his wife of twenty-five years Hallie (Vera Miles) return to the small western town Shinbone, where they met, to attend the funeral of Tom Doniphon (John Wayne) a man known in the town as a good man but undistinguished. When a young local reporter presses Stoddard for an interview about why he has come to the funeral of a nobody like Doniphon, Stoddard begins a story that relates the history of the film in flashback. Stoddard tells us how when he came to the town as young newly-graduated attorney at law he was bullied by a local tough outlaw named Liberty Valence (Lee Marvin), a gunman employed by the local cattle cartel directed to keep the town in line so that the barons could monopolize the local resources to insure their beef industry. He first meets Valance when the stagecoach he is travelling in is ambushed by the outlaw and his companions.Stoddard tries to stop him from robbing a woman but he is knocked out.When Valance discovers he is a law graduate,he whips him several times,before he and his friends wander off into the night.Early the next morning,Doniphon and his friend Pompey (Woody Strode) take the unconscious Stoddard into Shinbone to rest up at Hallie's place where she runs a steakhouse.Bumbling and cowardly marshal,Link Appleyard (Andy Devine) arrives and is horrified to find out that they want him to capture Valance.He tries his best to come up with excuses about how the jurisdiction prevents him from doing anything about it,which is what the residents have come to expect from him. On one boisterous night,newspaper publisher Dutton Peabody leaves his office and runs into Appleyard who is petrified because he knows Valance is in town.Peabody goes to the restaurant for dinner,where Stoddard is helping out in the kitchen as a way of earning his keep.While he's washing the dishes,he's reading up on a law book about the marshal's jurisdiction and how he can get Valance.He finds some useful information and asks Hallie to read the good news,but she feels embarrassed as she can't read.Appleyard sneaks into the kitchen through the back door,nervously trying to keep out of Valance's way.He asks for a steak and sits down with Stoppard who tells him that he has he power to arrest Valance when he sees him,much to his dismay.Hallie asks Stoppard if he would be willing to teach her to read and he's happy to. Doniphon arrives all dressed up, with a cactus rose to see Hallie and isn't too happy to see her getting friendly with Stoddard.Pompy plants the rose for her,while Doniphon goes to sit with Peabody while he waits for his steak order.Valance and his men enter and as soon as Appleyard hears him,he rushes out of the back door.The outlaws remove three men from their table and sit down for dinner.Stoddard comes out from the kitchen with Doniphon's meal and sees them.Valance laughs at him.As Stoddard tries to ignore him and walk passed him,Valance trips him up.Doniphon tells Valance to pick his steak up.To avoid a showdown,Stoddard angrily picks it up and Valance and his men leave.Stoddard realises that Doniphon was right.A gun is the only way to deal with people like Valance.But he's disgusted that Doniphon was going to kill him over a steak and hates the idea that he fought his fight for him.Doniphon tells him Valance will be back for him at some point.He either better get a gun or get out of town.Stoddard says he's staying and he's not going to get a gun.Doniphon tells Hallie he's leaving town for a while to do some horse trading. Stoddard teaches the people in the town how to read,and about history.He explains to them about the upcoming election and how important it is.Doniphon arrives with news about Valance.He's been recruiting gunmen for the big ranchers and has killed some people.They tried to bushwhack Doniphon but he killed one of them and got away.Doniphon reckons they'll arrive in town by the day of the election.He tells Hallie to go home and be safe but she tells him that he doesn't own her.He leaves and Stoddard tells her that Doniphon is only trying to protect her.He goes off on a wagon and Peabody tells her that Stoddard has a gun that he's given him and he's been practicing with it to try and prepare for a showdown with Valance.Hallie tells Doniphon about this and he goes after him.After catching up with him,he takes him to his ranch and tells him that Hallie's his girl,and shows him the extension that he is having done on his home ready to settle down with her.Stoddard says there's nothing going on between them but Doniphon can tell she's starting to develop feelings for him.He also reckons Stoddard's bluffing about going up against Valance but Stoddard's adamant that he fully intends to.However he proves that despite practicing,he still cannot use a gun at all.Doniphon tries to teach him.He tells him to put some paint cans up on a fence and shoots them,the final one covering Stoddard in paint.Stoddard is angry at him humiliating him as Doniphon laughs.But he explains that's the kind of behaviour to expect from Valance.Stoddard punches him in the jaw and goes off. On the day of the elections,Stoddard nominates Doniphon for the first delegate but he refuses.He already has his future planned with Hallie.Doniphon nominates Stoddard.Valance arrives and threatens the townsfolk to nominate him.If they don't,he'll get hold of them when they're alone.But they still refuse to vote for him.The only people that nominate him are his two sidekicks.Stoddard gets a lot of votes but Peabody gets the most.Valance confronts Stoddard.Doniphon tries to intervene but Valance tells him he's been hiding behind his gun long enough.He orders Stoddard to either get out of town or face him in the street.If he stays and hides,he'll go and get him.As he leaves,Doniphon tells Stoddard it would be best to leave. Later that night,Peabody gets drunk in his office whilst writing the newspaper headlines.He goes off to the saloon to get some more alchohol.When he returns to his office and lights up the room,he finds Valance and his men waiting for him.They wreck his office and beat him to near death.As they go off to the saloon after firing gunshots in the street,Stoddard goes over to see Peabody.He tells Appleyard to go and tell Valance he'll be waiting for him in the street,while he goes off to get his gun from Hallie's. He fires and Valance dies. A wounded Stoddard returns to Hallie who confides that she did not want him to leave. Doniphon comes in and sees Hallie and Stoddard together and apologizes to Hallie that he did not arrive in time to help. Doniphon returns drunken to his place where he torches it and would be content to die if Pompy did not rescue him from the burning house. When Stoddard is unanimously elected to a political career so he may clear the land of other outlaws, he defers, but then Doniphon comes forth to tell him that on that fateful night Valence fell due to a shot Doniphon fired from him across the street. When Stoddards ethical issues rise and he moves to tell the world the truth, Doniphon convinces him to keep the truth a secret and take a leading role to change the ways of the old West. Doniphon tells Stoddard that Hallie is Stoddard's girl now and since he taught her how to read and write, he needs to give her something to read and write about. Stoddard goes on to a stellar career making sweeping changes in the way the land is governed and Doniphon fades away. As Stoddard finishes his story, the reporter destroys his notes and insists that the myth of the West is more important to sustain than the sterilized truth, although the truth has freed the demons Stoddard and Hallie have carried with them since their time with Doniphon. Stoddard returns to Doniphon's casket to leave with Hallie and notices a cactus rose on top of the casket. On the train ride back to the east, Stoddard asks Hallie if she would mind returning back to Shinbone to settle down and retire. Hallie says she would love to as her heart has always been there. Stoddard asks Hallie who placed the cactus rose on Doniphon's casket. Hallie says she did.

A lone cowboy, Ben Stride (Randolph Scott) in the driving rain walks into a camp where two men sit around a fire. He complains that his horse was eaten by Chirakawa Indians as he recounts the story of a robbery of a Wells Fargo station and a killing by seven gunmen back in Silver Springs where he was sheriff. When one of the two men asks if he has found any of the culprits Stride looks at them and says that he has found two as he immediately dispatches the cowboys. As Stride continues to track down the other men responsible for the robbery and killing, he encounters John Greer (Walter Reed) and his wife in a wagon heading for Flora Vista where the criminals are believed to have fled. Stride helps the couple out and accompanies them for a while when they encounter Bill Masters (Lee Marvin) and his partner who are aware of the robbery and killing, and it comes out that it was Stride's wife who was killed by the criminals. Masters is not one of the criminals Strides seeks but someone who has been jailed by Stride in the past and the former sheriff views him suspiciously. It becomes clear that as they group approaches their destination Stride will have to have to shoot it out with the bad men who have killed his wife, and Masters, although not responsible for any crime thus far states clearly to Stride that he intends to obtain the Wells Fargo money for himself but as they near Flora Vista where the crooks are holed up an interesting detail comes out that links John Greer and his wife to Stride's fate.

Europe 1944: Fragile Fox is a company of American G.I.s based in a Belgian town near the front line. They are led by Captain Erskine Cooney (Eddie Albert), a man who appears to be better at handling red tape than military strategy. Cooney is a natural coward who freezes under fire and cannot bring himself to send more men into battle to reinforce those already under attack. When Lieutenant Joe Costa (Jack Palance) sends a squad to take a pillbox, Cooney agrees to provide covering fire but freezes at the critical moment leading to the slaughter of Costa's squad, and the death of Lt. Ned Lathrop, another company officer who had attempted to rescue the squad. The increasing and unnecessary loss of life is causing morale problems among the troops and trying the patience of Platoon Leader Lt. Joe Costa, a bold and brave fighter and a natural leader of men. The Executive Officer, Lt. Harold Woodruff (William Smithers) is the "voice of reason" who tries to keep the peace between Cooney and Costa. Both Woodruff and Costa are respected by the enlisted troops. While Woodruff tries to get Cooney re-assigned to a desk job behind the lines, Costa hints at a more direct solution to the problem. It's a well-known fact that Cooney owes his position to battalion commander Lt. Col. Clyde Bartlett (Lee Marvin), a man who has known the Cooney family since he was a 14-year-old clerk in the office of Cooney's father, a top judge. The judge and his influence could be very useful to Bartlett's post-war political ambitions and it all depends on his and Cooney's war records. When Woodruff tries to appeal to Bartlett's honor and claims that Cooney is not capable of leading the unit and should be reassigned to a desk job, Bartlett dismisses him. Woodruff is promised that the war is coming to an end and it is highly unlikely that the platoon will ever see combat again. Neither Captain Erskine Cooney nor Bartlett are liked by the company: as Pfc. Bernstein (Robert Strauss) puts it: "When you salute them two, you have to apologize to your arm." When the Germans start the counter-attack known as the Battle of the Bulge, Bartlett orders Cooney to seize the town of La Nelle. Since there is no way of knowing if the Germans are there or not, Cooney overrules an all-out attack and decides that Costa should lead a reconnaissance mission. Costa agrees provided that both Cooney and Woodruff promise him to send in reinforcements if necessary. As he is about to leave, Costa warns Cooney of the consequences if he ever plays the "gutless wonder" again: "I'll shove this grenade down your throat and pull the pin!" As they approach La Nelle, the platoon comes under fire by German SS. Most of them are killed or injured. Costa and a handful of men take refuge in a farmhouse but find themselves under siege. The only survivors are Platoon Sergeant Tolliver, Private First Class Bernstein, Pfc. Ricks (James Goodwin) and Pvt, Snowden (Richard Jaeckel). When Costa calls for reinforcements, Cooney snaps, ignores the pressure from Woodruff to go in and turns to drink. A little strategy and deception enables Costa and his men to hold up but when Panzers appear he has no choice but to call a retreat. He furiously tells Woodruff over the radio to warn Cooney that he's "coming back!" In the confusion that follows the retreat, Costa becomes MIA. The rest of the men manage to get back to the main town, though another of them is killed, in addition to the many casualties during the initial move on La Nelle. The men show their contempt for Cooney: Bernstein (Robert Strauss) spits at his feet and Sergeant Tolliver (Buddy Ebsen) rejects his offer of a drink, telling him that where he comes from "We don't drink with another man unless we respect him." Bartlett appears and tells Woodruff and Cooney that they must hold their present position in spite of the German advance. Bartlett threatens to arrest Cooney if he falls back, as it would leave another company unprotected and the Germans would be able to "roll up the entire front line". When Cooney begs to be reassigned, an enraged Bartlett strikes him. Woodruff warns Bartlett that he is going to lodge a complaint with General Parsons, the Colonel's superior, over the handling of the company. With the pressure building, Cooney breaks down, telling Woodruff about having been beaten by his father in order to "make a man" out of him. Bartlett had told him that he is in command "as a favor to the judge. He's always wanted a son, now I'm trying to give him one." Feeling sorry for Cooney, Woodruff tells him to sleep it off and is about to assume command when Costa suddenly reappears, determined to kill Cooney. As they argue, they are told that the town is being overrun by Germans and that the surviving members of Costa's squad are cut off. Costa takes it on himself to save his men. Costa grabs a Bazooka and bravely disables a tank, only to have his arm crushed by its treads. A handful of men, including Woodruff and Sergeant Tolliver, take refuge in a basement. Private Bernstein is injured and, being a Hebrew, is unlikely to have his POW rights respected by the attacking SS. They try to get out but their way is blocked, and a drunken and erratic Cooney insists they are "holding for Bartlett". Cooney orders the men to surrender and just as he steps out of the basement to do so he is met by a severely injured Costa, his grievously mangled and bloody arm dangling uselessly. It is clear that Costa is gravely wounded and, as he collapses to the ground in front of Cooney, he appeals to God to give him enough strength to kill Cooney. Cooney mockingly kicks the gun away from him. With Costa dead, Cooney suggests that the rest of them surrender even though they have not been discovered. At that moment Woodruff warns him that he will shoot him if he does. When Cooney does make a move, Woodruff kills him. Feeling remorse, Woodruff instructs Tolliver to place him under arrest, but Tolliver and the other GIs reject his command. Each man, except Snowden, steps forward and shoots Cooney to prevent Woodruff from taking the blame. Snowden returns to report that the town is empty and American reinforcements are arriving with the Germans in full retreat. Bartlett finds the men and demands to speak to Cooney; the men point to his body. The men then intervene before Woodruff can confess and inform the Colonel that Cooney was killed by the Germans, but Bartlett senses immediately that they are covering for Woodruff. He dismisses the men and gets a moment along with Woodruff. Bartlett, who has always hated Cooney, contemptuously kicks him over, remarking "So the old judge wanted a son, huh? Looks like he had to lose one to get one." He gives Woodruff a field promotion to captain and tells him to forget about the threatened complaint to General Parsons; but he then announces that he is going to nominate Cooney for the Distinguished Service Cross. Outraged that a coward should be honored in this way, Woodruff openly accuses Bartlett of manipulating the whole thing in order to get rid of Cooney, who was a liability, and get favors with his powerful father. Bartlett remarks that Woodruff has too much to lose if he makes the whole affair public, and leaves after promising to get a medal for Costa too. As he leaves Woodruff decides to do the right thing to honor Costa, and calls the commanding general, Gen. Parsons, on the radio to file a full report.

Callow, rich Ensign Willis Seward "Willie" Keith (Robert Francis) reports for duty aboard the Caine, his first assignment. Homeported in Pearl Harbor, he is disappointed to find the Caine to be a small, battle-scarred destroyer-minesweeper. Its gruff captain, Lieutenant Commander William H. DeVriess (Tom Tully), has almost completely discarded discipline, and the crew has become slovenly and superficially undisciplined - although their performance is excellent. Keith has already met the executive officer, Lieutenant Stephen Maryk (Van Johnson), and is introduced to the communications officer, Lieutenant Thomas Keefer (Fred MacMurray), a novelist in civilian life. Keith has an opportunity to transfer off the ship for a more glamorous command, but decides to stay aboard. However, Keith remains frustrated with the ship's lack of discipline, despite his own shortcomings. The captain is soon replaced by Lieutenant Commander Phillip Queeg (Humphrey Bogart), a no-nonsense career veteran and graduate of the United States Naval Academy. He quickly attempts to re-instill discipline into the crew but soon displays erratic behavior. He regularly clicks a pair of steel ball bearings in his hands. At first, Keith is elated to have a strict commander. The next day, the Caine is assigned to tow a target for gunnery practice. Queeg is distracted berating Keith and Keefer over a crewman's appearance after giving an order to turn, and he cuts off the helmsman's attempt to warn him that they are turning back on their own towline. After the Caine continues in a circle and cuts the towline, Queeg tries to cover up his responsibility for the incident. Other incidents serve to undermine Queeg's authority. When strawberries go missing from the officers' mess, the captain-once again clicking the bearings-goes to absurd lengths to hunt down the culprit. Despite being told by one of his officers that the mess staff had eaten the fruit, Queeg insists on believing otherwise. He relates a story to Maryk and Keefer of when he, as an ensign, was commended for unmasking a cheese thief. Under enemy fire, Queeg abandons escorting a group of landing craft during an amphibious assault long before they reach the fiercely defended shore, instead dropping a yellow dye marker in the water and leaving the landing craft to fend for themselves, much to the crew's disgust. Afterward, Queeg speaks to his officers, not explicitly apologizing, but bending enough to ask for their support. His disgruntled subordinates do not respond. Keefer begins trying to convince Maryk that he should relieve Queeg on the basis of mental illness under Article 184 of Navy Regulations. At first Maryk displays loyalty to Queeg, even threatening Keefer with a charge of insubordination. Maryk begins keeping a journal, documenting Queeg's behavior. Keefer convinces Maryk and Keith to join him in presenting the case to Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr.. While aboard Halsey's flagship, Keefer realizes that Queeg's documented actions could be interpreted as reasonable attempts to instill discipline, leaving the officers open to a charge of conspiring to mutiny. When Halsey's aide tells the Caine officers that Halsey will see them, Keefer talks Maryk and Keith out of making the complaint. Matters come to a head during a violent typhoon. Maryk urgently recommends that they steer into the waves and take on ballast, but Queeg refuses to deviate from the fleet-ordered heading and declines Maryk's request for ballast. He fears that it would foul the fuel lines with salt water. When Queeg appears to become paralyzed in action, Maryk relieves him, with Keith's support. Upon returning to port, Maryk and Keith face a court-martial for mutiny. After questioning them and Keefer, Lieutenant Barney Greenwald (José Ferrer) reluctantly accepts the job of Maryk's defense counsel, which a number of other lawyers have already turned down. The proceedings do not go well, as Keefer has carefully covered himself and denies any complicity. Navy psychiatrist Dr. Dixon (Whit Bissell) testifies that Queeg is not mentally ill, but when Queeg is called to testify, he exhibits paranoid behavior and begins to click the ball bearings together in his hand under Greenwald's tough cross-examination. Maryk is acquitted, and Keith is spared any charges. The Caine officers celebrate the trial's results at a hotel. Keefer shows up, telling Maryk privately he did not have the guts not to. Greenwald appears and clears his "guilty conscience". Apparently drunk, he berates the officers for not appreciating the years of danger and hardship endured by Queeg, a career navy man. He lambastes Maryk, Keith, and finally Keefer, for not supporting their captain when he most needed it. Under his attack, Maryk and Keith admit that if they had given Queeg the support he had asked for, he might not have "frozen" during the typhoon. Greenwald turns to Keefer, denouncing him as the real "author" of the mutiny, who "hated the Navy" and manipulated the others while keeping his own hands officially clean. The lawyer exposes Keefer's double-dealing to the other officers, throws a glassful of champagne in his face and tells Keefer that if he wishes to do anything about the drink in the face, the two could fight outside. Keefer does not respond to the challenge and the other officers depart, leaving him alone in the room. A few days later, Keith has received his promotion to Lieutenant, junior grade and reports to his new ship. He is surprised to find he is serving again under DeVriess, who has been promoted to Commander. DeVriess lets Keith know that he will start with a clean slate.

An honest detective's investigation into a corrupt cop's suicide triggers a series of murders meant to keep police malfeasance from being exposed.

A former spy moves to Arizona to join a gold robbery, but when he gets there decides that it's not for him and tries to change his life. Having been a spy for Quantrill's raiders during the Civil War, Jeff Travis thinks he's a wanted man and flees to Prescott, Arizona where he runs into Jules Mourret, who knows of his past. He takes a job on the stage line from which Mourret is trying to steal gold. When Mourret's men kill a friend of his, he sets out to get Mourret and his men. When his plan to have another gang get Mourret fails, he goes after them himself. —Maurice VanAuken <mvanauken@a1access.net>

At a stagecoach stop, Ben Warren (Rock Hudson) is reunited with his beautiful Southern belle fiancée Jennifer (Donna Reed). They dine with several fellow passengers, Frank Slayton (Philip Carey) and his friend Tom "Jess" Burgess (Leo Gordon). After a stagecoach holdup, Slayton's notorious outlaw gang shoot Warren and leave him for dead and head off with his fiancée. Warren follows, and although none of the townspeople he comes across are prepared to help, he manages to recruit two men who have sworn revenge on the ruthless Slayton. One is Jess Burgess (Leo Gordon), gang member who had objected to this planned kidnapping and was bound, and abandoned to die in the desert. The other is Johash (Pat Hogan), an Indian with an equally personal grudge---his sister was abducted and murdered by Slayton under identical circumstances. Johash follows Warren and Jess secretly. He catches up with the two and joins their small posse. One of the gang, Curly (Bob Herron), tells Jennifer that her Ben is alive and following them. He tries to help her escape but this fails, and they kill him for it. Warren and Jess come across Slayton's jealous Mexican girlfriend who wants to get even. Overnight, Slayton sends a note he wants to trade Jess for Jennifer. Jess thinks it's worth a try, but it turns out to be a ruse. Just as Jennifer is free and reunited with Warren, Slayton kills former partner Jess. She begs her fiancé not to pursue the gang further, but he wants revenge. Just a few miles short of the Mexican border, his gang is forced to take shelter at an old pueblo where Johash's deadly skill with a sniper rifle cuts off the gang's escape route, as three more gang members fatally discover. Warren places the only available water in an open space and challenges Slayton to come and get it. But he uses his girlfriend as a hostage, threatening to shoot her. Slayton reaches his horse and rides away alone as Johash picks off the other gang members with a rifle. Slayton runs out of ammunition, and Warren eventually wins a lengthy fistfight that begins at the top of a steep hill and slowly and dangerously progresses to ground level. After the fight, Slayton finds Ben's pistol and is about to kill him when Slayton falls over with Johash's knife in his back. Warren's experiences during the American Civil War had made him basically a pacifist. But thanks to Johash, he is able to keep his own hands basically clean; and he and fiancé Jennifer Ballard are re-united.

A Confederate Major and his troops are falsely led to believe the Civil War is not over, and become wanted men after they attack a Union Army wagon train in Nevada. In 1865, a troop of Confederate soldiers led by Major Matt Stewart attacks the wagon of gold escorted by Union cavalry and the soldiers are killed. The only wounded survivor says that the war ended one month ago, and the group decides to take the gold and meet their liaison that knew that the war ended but did not inform the troop. The harsh Rolph Bainter kills the greedy man and the soldiers flee in his wagon driven by Major Stewart. When they meet a posse chasing them, Stewart gives wrong information to misguide the group, but they have an accident with the wagon and lose the horses. They decide to stop a stagecoach and force the driver to transport them, but the posse returns and they are trapped in the station with the passenger. They realize that the men are not deputies and have no intention to bring them to justice but take the stolen gold.