Lilia Skala

Margaret Ford (Lindsay Crouse) is a psychiatrist living in Seattle, Washington who has achieved success with her recently published book about obsessive-compulsive disorder, yet feels unfulfilled. During a session one day, her patient Billy Hahn (Steve Goldstein) tells her his life is in danger because he owes money to a criminal figure named Mike Mancuso (Joe Mantegna), and threatens suicide, brandishing a gun. Margaret persuades him to surrender the weapon to her and promises that she will help him. That night, Margaret visits a pool hall called the House of Games, where she finds and confronts Mike, who says that he is willing to forgive Billy's debt if Margaret accompanies him to a back-room poker game and identifies the tell of George (Ricky Jay), another player. She agrees, and spots George playing with his ring when he bluffs. She discloses this to Mike, who calls the bluff. However, George wins the hand and demands that Mike pay the $6,000 bet, which he is unable to do. George pulls a gun, but Margaret intervenes and offers to pay the debt with a personal check from her own bank account. She then notices that the gun is a water pistol, and realizes the entire game is a set-up to trick her out of her money. She declines to pay, but spends the rest of the night socializing with the con men. As the experience has excited her, she returns the next night and asks Mike to teach her about con games so she can write a book about the experience. Mike appears skeptical, but agrees. Mike begins to enchant Margaret by showing her simple tricks. Eventually, the two steal a hotel room and have sex for the first time. Afterward, Mike tells Margaret that all con artists take a small token from every "mark" to signify their dominance. While Mike is in the bathroom, she takes a small pocket knife from the table, believing it to belong to the man whose room they are in. Mike tells her he is late for another, large-scale con he and his associates plan to pull at the same hotel. Margaret is eager to tag along, and with seeming reluctance, Mike allows her to accompany him, posing as his wife. The con involves Mike, his partner Joey (Mike Nussbaum), and the "mark", a nameless businessman (J.T. Walsh), discovering a briefcase full of money and taking it to a hotel room. There, they discuss whether to turn it in or split it among themselves. When the "mark" withdraws to the bathroom, Margaret discovers that he is an undercover policeman, and the trick is a sting operation. She warns Mike, and they attempt to escape, but the policeman blocks their way and tries to arrest them. After a struggle, Margaret accidentally causes the policeman/businessman to fatally shoot himself. She, Mike and Joey escape to the garage, where they force Margaret to steal a car and drive past two uniformed police officers with the con men concealed in the back seat. They drive the car to a riverbank and are preparing to abandon it when they discover that the briefcase, containing $80,000 borrowed from the mafia for the con, is gone. Margaret offers to give Mike $80,000 of her own money so he can pay back the mob. Mike tells Margaret that they must split up so as not to draw any attention from the police, and claims to be going into hiding. Riddled with guilt, Margaret returns to her office and refuses to see any patients. Billy arrives in high spirits, and after a brief conversation, she spots him driving away in the same red convertible she "stole" at the hotel. She tracks him to a bar, where she sees Mike and a group including all his associates, the man posing as the occupant of the hotel room, and the undercover policeman... alive and well..., discussing the night's events - a scheme to con Margaret out of $80,000. She also learns that the pocket knife she stole from the hotel room belongs to Mike. Margaret intercepts Mike at the airport after overhearing him say he is catching a flight that night and tells him she is so worried about the police that she has withdrawn her entire life's savings. She pleads with him to start a new life with her. Mike is lured by the money, but realizes he's being tricked when she lets slip that she knew the pocket knife belonged to him, revealing that she overheard the con men's conversation. He tells her her money has already been split between them and is gone, but she pulls out the gun taken from Billy and demands that he beg for his life. Calling her bluff, Mike refuses, but Margaret shoots him in the leg. When Mike then curses her, she shoots him five more times, killing him. She calmly conceals the gun and leaves. Some time later, Margaret has returned from a vacation and is meeting her friend and colleague Dr. Littauer (Lilia Skala), having moved on from the ordeal. They talk over lunch, and Margaret seems to show no remorse for killing Mike, saying, "When you've done something unforgivable, you must forgive yourself, and that's what I've done, and it's done." When her friend is away from the table, Margaret distracts another female diner customer so she can steal a gold cigarette lighter from the woman's purse, relishing the thrill.

The film opens with "Flashdance... What a Feeling," which is a recurring theme throughout the entire film. During the opening credits 18-year-old Alexandra 'Alex' Owens (Jennifer Beals) rides her bicycle through Pittsburgh on her way to work as a welder at one of the city's steel mills. After work, Alex moonlights as a dancer at Mawby's Bar, which features dancers in a go-go atmosphere. Nick Hurley, one of the steel mill bosses, enters the bar as Alex performs a dance to "He's a Dream." Nick is intrigued by Alex. His friend tells him that she works for him at the mill. Richie, the bar's cook, wants to be go to Los Angeles to become a standup comedian. He tries out some of his material on Jeanie, one of the waitresses. At work the next day, Nick introduces himself to Alex, tells her he saw her dance and asks why a dancer would be working as a welder. She responds, "a girl's got to make a living." Their first meeting ends when Nick is called away to another area of the mill. Alex lives by herself in a converted warehouse loft with her pit bull, named Grunt. When she gets home from work, she channel surfs for something worth watching on TV. She stops on some ballet dancers performing to "Adagio for Strings" and attempts to copy their moves. It is Alex's dream to study at a local, prestigious school of dance, the Pittsburgh Dance and Repertory Company. She changes into exercise clothes, tapes her bare feet and feverously exercises to "Maniac." The song's lyrics reflect her passion to become a serious dancer. After her strenuous workout, she's exhausted. The next day Alex bikes to the Repertory building to obtain an application, but is discouraged when she finds several girls waiting for applications. The lady in the admissions office instructs them to list all their previous years of training. Alex leaves without an application and bikes to work. When Alex and Nick share an elevator ride at work, he asks her to lunch or dinner, but she tells him she doesn't have dinner with the boss. Later Alex visits Hanna Long, a retired professional dancer, who has become her mentor. Hanna encourages Alex to pursue her dream of becoming a professional ballet dancer, but Alex makes excuses for not auditioning for the Rep. After she leaves Hanna's, Alex bikes to a nearby church where she confesses to the priest that she thinks a lot about sex and she told a lie. Hanna was badgering Alex to get the application for the Rep, but she didn't want to make her friend unhappy by telling her that she didn't have the courage to go through with it. In the next scene Johnny C., who runs the Zanzibar strip club, and his not-too-bright bodyguard, Cecil, try to entice customers into his club. At a self service laundry, Alex notices that Jeanie is washing Richie's underwear, confirming that these two are a serious couple. Jeanie's father is giving her a hard time because Richie hasn't proposed. Jeanie has dreams of becoming a professional ice skater. Next, Alex and several of the dancers from Mawby's exercise with weights and use workout machines to "I Love Rock 'n' Roll." As Jeanie and Alex walk down the street, a group of African-American guys breakdance and moonwalk to music played on their jambox. Quite a crowd gathers to watch their demonstration. As the girls continue their walk, a policeman directs traffic. When Alex helps the traffic cop with his duties, it turns into a traffic signal dance, as an excerpt from Georges Bizet's "Carmen Suite No. 2: Garde montant" is heard. At dinner at Jeanie's parents house, Alex defends her friend's dream of becoming a professional ice skater even though her parents don't seem to have much confidence in their daughter's abilities. After dinner the two girls go to the ice rink where Jeanie showcases some of her skating skills. In the following scene Richie is backstage practicing some of his jokes waiting to go on while one of the dancers finishes her routine on stage. Alex and a couple of the other dancers are in the audience rooting for him. Jeanie stops her waitressing to listen. At first, Richie's jokes bomb. Only after he threatens to put cockroaches in the hamburgers does the audience warm up to his humor. At the end of his routine, he introduces Tina Tech, who dances to "Manhunt." Johnny C. visits Mawby's to recruit some of the dancers to work at the Zanzibar. When he stops Alex and squeezes her buttocks, she pours beer on his crotch. Later after work as Richie and Alex are walking through a parking lot, Johnny and Cecil stop them. After Cecil socks Richie in the nose, Nick breaks up a potentially violent payback. Afterwards, Alex thanks Nick for his help and bikes home. Nick follows her in his Porsche and asks her to dinner again. Once again she reiterates that it isnt a good idea to go out with her boss, so he kiddingly fires her and sets a date for the next evening. On their date, Alex and Nick first attend Jeanie's ice skating competition. Jeanie's parents and Richie are also there to watch her skate to "Gloria." Unfortunately, Jeanie falls a couple of times. Afterwards, Alex tries to cheer Jeanie up, but she is discouraged that she has spent so much time and practice towards something that now seems like a waste. Her father, who hasn't been very supportive of his daughter's dream, reassures her of his love. After the ice skating competition Nick and Alex decide to have pizza for dinner. They pick it up and take it back to her warehouse apartment. She immediately changes into a much more comfortable sloppy sweatshirt. Alex tells Nick about the time her father took her family to the symphony. At first, she was bored, but her father suggested that if she closed her eyes she could see the music. Before the evening is over, Nick and Alex end up in bed. The next day the two lovers walk on the railroad tracks as "Lady, Lady, Lady" is heard. They go inside an old building where Nick sees Alex spin like a ballet dancer. When he asks her to do it again, she says she was just fooling around. She explains that she has never studied dance; she's read books on ballet and watches ballet, but has never taken classes. Then she explains how she does what she does at Mawby's. She just feels the music, something clicks inside and she becomes somebody else. And she loves to get up there and disappear into the music. In the following scene, Alex dances an avant garde routine in white face makeup to "Imagination." The number has a lot to do with fantasies becoming reality. Nobody seems to understand Alex's dance except for one of the other dancers in the club, Heels. During the song Johnny C. asks Jeanie why she doesn't dance. She tells him she's been practicing. After he makes a suggestive remark about doing the horizontal mambo, he gives her a big tip. Alex attends a ballet performance of Claude Debussys "Prélude à lAprès-midi dun Faune (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Fawn)" at the Repertory with Hanna. When the ballet is over, Alex happens to see Nick with another woman. She is furious! Still in her concert dress, she rides her bike to his house, throws a rock through one of his windows, calls him a son of a bitch and retreats quickly. Back at the warehouse, her radiator has sprung a leak. While she is on her knees mopping up the water in her concert dress, Richie comes by to tell her goodbye; he's headed for L.A. When she asks about Jeanie, he admits he loves her, but he says he can't continue to cook hamburgers at Mawby's and pretend to be a comedian. The next day at the mill, Nick tries to pay for Alex's lunch at the lunch truck, but she is still very mad. She demands to know who the blond was that was with him the previous evening. He explains that it was his ex-wife. Since they have friends on the Arts Council, he takes her to the benefit once a year. Now Alex feels guilty that she broke his window. When they reconcile, the workers who are sitting around eating their lunch applaud. That evening Nick and Alex have dinner at a fancy restaurant. Alex, who is dressed in a tuxedo coat, eats her lobster with her fingers. During the meal, just as Alex puts her foot on Nick's crotch, his ex-wife, Katie, stops by their table. After a few catty remarks from Katie that are aimed at Alex, Alex takes her tux coat off to reveal she is only wearing a shirt bib and cuffs. Then she proudly announces that on her first date with Nick: "I fucked his brains out!" Later that evening, Nick and Alex talk about his marriage to Katie; she was high class, educated, from a good family and it made him feel like he had made it. But one day he realized that wasn't what he really wanted. So he started over and went after what he really wanted to do. Alex asks, "How did you do it?" Nick answers, "I took a deep breath and jumped." Their conversation gave Alex the renewed desire to pursue her dream, so the next day she goes to the Rep for an application. There she is reminded that auditions to the school are by invitation only. Nick sees her leave the building, so he goes inside and finds out about her getting an application. He immediately telephones a friend on the Arts Council asking for a favor. At Mawby's Halloween Party, the owner and his guests are dancing to "Romeo." During the party, Richie returns from L.A. Jeanie is very cool towards Richie and leaves the party with Johnny C. When Alex gets a letter from the Repertory, she's afraid to open it. Finally she musters enough courage and is ecstatic when she discovers she's been invited to audition. She runs to find Nick to break the news, who suggests they celebrate at dinner that evening. Later in the day, she bikes to Hanna's to tell her the good news. Hanna congratulates and encourages her. On an after dinner drive later that evening, Nick commits a faux pas: he says he called the restaurant the previous night and told them this was a special occasion. Alex immediately realizes that he knew she was going to be invited to audition before she received the letter. She makes him stop the car in the middle of a tunnel, gets out and walks away. He tries to make her understand that he just made a phone call to a friend. She, however, yells that she doesn't want his help. Afterward Alex needs to talk to a friend, so she calls Mawby's to talk to Jeanie. They inform her that Jeanie now works at the Zanzibar. Alex immediately heads for the nude club. Before she arrives, we see several of the nude or semi-nude girls performing to "Seduce Me Tonight." Once Alex enters the club, she spots Jeanie (clad in only high-heeled shoes and a G-string) dancing, and Alex literally drags her off the stage. When Johnny C. tries to stop her, Alex pushes him out of the way. Outside in the rain, Jeanie asks Alex why she came after her. Alex responds, "Because you're my friend." Later that evening, when Alex returns to her warehouse apartment, Nick and Grunt are waiting outside in the rain. When Alex didn't show up at work that day, Nick came to investigate. He accuses her of being scared to audition for the Rep and of using him as an excuse. Just before he leaves he says, "When you give up your dream, you die." The next day Alex bikes to Hanna's, but sadly discovers that her mentor had died the previous day. As Alex mourns the loss of her friend and mentor, she picks up a pair of Hanna's ballet slippers to take as a memento. During this and the following scene, "I'll Be There Where the Heart Is" is heard. Back at her apartment Alex continues to mourn; the song continues as she sits alone on the floor of her bathroom and wanders aimlessly around her warehouse apartment. Alex returns to Mawby's to pick up her stuff, then goes to confession. She tells the priest "I want it so much." The next scene is Alex's audition for the dance school before five stuffy judges. She puts on a recording of "Flashdance... What a Feeling," starts her dance, stops and starts again. During the slow beginning of the song, the judges seem completely unimpressed and maybe even bored, but when the tempo picks up the stodgy judges begin to loosen up. The lyrics are very germane to the plot. They sing about a dream that is hidden because of fear and about crying in a world made of steel. This dancer hears the music, closes her eyes and allows it to invade her body (like her father had suggested when he took her to the symphony). Then she is the music, she is the rhythm, and she dances as if her life depended on it. The song continues as Alex exits the building with a huge smile on her face. Waiting for her are Nick and Grunt. After Alex hugs Nick, he presents her with a bouquet of roses (like most ballerinas receive after a brilliant performance). When she takes out one rose to give to Nick, the scene freezes to end the film (we are left to speculate whether Alex was accepted into the dance school, but we are confident that she was). As the closing credits begin, "Flashdance... What a Feeling" continues, followed by "Manhunt," "Imagination," and "Maniac."

It is a typical morning in the Wetherly house. Carol is trying to get her three children (Brad, Mary Liz, and Scottie) up and ready for school. Her husband Tom and older son Brad go on a quick bike ride. Tom is rather critical of Brad, especially when his son is unable to reach the top of a steep hill. On the way home they greet an elderly neighbor, Henry Abhart, and Mike, the owner of a gas station. Mike has a special needs son, Hiroshi, who sometimes goes fishing with the Wetherlys. Carol is helping to direct a play at the elementary school. Since their California town is named Hamlin, the children are putting on "The Pied Piper of Hamelin." Mary Liz provides a piano accompaniment and Scottie plays a little crippled boy. That night, Carol is unable to sleep. She wakes Tom, worried about what to get Brad for his thirteenth birthday. Tom sleepily reminds her that it isn't for another two months. They discuss how fast Brad is growing up and Carol decides to start keeping a diary. The next afternoon, the children are watching TV in the living room. Carol is listening to the answering machine messages. There is one from her mother in Chicago. Tom is in San Francisco on a business trip. He leaves two messages; one that he will be home for dinner and another one stating that he won't be able to make it after all. The TV picture is fuzzy and Brad fusses with the antenna. The telephone rings and Carol answers but the call is apparently lost. Suddenly the program is interrupted by a special report. Bombs are falling up and down the east coast and in other locations, including nearby San Francisco. Citizens are urged to stay off the telephones as the lines must be kept open for official use. Stay tuned for a message from the White House. Just then the TV goes off completely and loud sirens are heard. A bright light is seen outside. Carol screams for the children to get on the floor and cover their eyes. After the sirens and light are gone, people begin venturing outside their homes. A child is heard crying. Everyone is asking what happened. Later most of the neighbors gather at the Abhart home. Carol leaves a note for Tom in case he comes home. Henry is a ham radio operator and has been in contact with other cities that were hit. He can't raise anyone in San Francisco at all. Carol asks if he's been able to contact Chicago but the answer is no. Attempting to be as positive as possible, Henry assures his neighbors that they are down but not out. If anyone needs food or water, the Abharts will share what they have. Henry will keep on trying to reach other cities. At the gas station, Mike is only serving his regular customers. All others, especially those who never had time for him and Hiroshi, are ordered away at gunpoint. Carol wants to pay for her gas but Mike tells her it has already been paid for many times over. Tom never turns up. Carol takes in Larry, a neighbor's child whose parents are missing. At a community meeting, the mayor, police chief, and Rev. Hollis are optimistic that help will arrive. There has been looting at the supermarket and pharmacy, but those places are now under guard. There are questions about exposure to radiation. Cathy Pitkin, a young mother and friend of the Wetherlys, is worried about the health of her baby. The doctor says that he doesn't have the equipment to measure how much radiation they've all been exposed to. Food is rationed and batteries are collected to be given out as needed. Brad catches an older boy stealing batteries and confronts him. Gradually people begin to fall ill. Each day Henry Abhart is able to reach fewer cities. But life keeps going. The children give their play. Mary Liz continues her piano lessons with Henry's wife. Then the Pitkins' baby dies. They decide to leave and find a safer place, assuring Carol that they will come back one day. The doctor also leaves. There are rumors of survivors' camps in northern Canada, but the Wetherlys decide to remain in Hamlin. Scottie falls ill and dies. Carol tears the house apart looking for his teddy bear but she can't find it. Rev. Hollis is unable to wait any longer and begins the service. Mary Liz asks her mother what sex is like, realizing that she herself will never know. Brad continues his daily visits to Henry, whose wife is now ill. He asks Brad to take over her job of checking on the neighbors. Carol has been writing in her diary but can no longer remember the date. Larry dies and then Mary Liz. The boy who was stealing batteries breaks into the Wetherly home. Brad runs him off but the boy steals his bike. Reluctantly he begins using his father's bicycle, recalling the last morning they rode together. A second community meeting is sparsely attended. Many have died. The police chief, visibly exhausted and ill, says that his men are on duty and will remain for as long as possible. Garbage pickup is suspended as they don't have the manpower. There is no longer any hope that help will arrive. Rev. Hollis urges people to bury the dead carefully as the cemetery is now full. Hiroshi's father has died and Brad brings the boy home. Carol is now showing symptoms of radiation poisoning but manages to keep going. While she is watching a bonfire at the cemetery, Brad brings word of Henry Abhart's death. After he leaves, Carol begins screaming and pulling up chunks of grass. Rev. Hollis finds her and they kiss, not from love but the sheer need of human contact. Carol and Brad decide to end their lives, taking Hiroshi with them. They close the garage door and climb into the car. Carol starts the engine, then cuts it off. She can't bring herself to go through with it. Brad also has changed his mind. It is his birthday. As a treat, Carol spreads graham crackers with jam and lights candles. Hiroshi suddenly brings her Scottie's teddy bear. She is overjoyed and asks where he found it but he can't tell her. Although they will all soon die, the mood is one of peace.

Lilies Of The Field is the story of a group of Catholic nuns who escape from the Communist held portion of Berlin and come to the United States. They have a small holding in a southwestern state where they are attempting to set up a school, hospital and chapel to serve the people of the area whose only place of worship is a mobile field chapel serviced by a priest who travels to the many small towns in the area providing masses, christenings and other services. Homer Smith, played by Poitier, is a black traveling handyman who lives on the road in his station wagon. Smith is a baptist. Smith is hired to do some small jobs for the sisters, and is eventually convinced to "Build a Schapel" for the nuns. During the course of the movie, Smith and the Mother Superior butt heads again and again over who is building the Chapel, who is providing the materials and drive. Smith is agitated with the stony hard-driving Mother Superior whose unbending nature eventually causes him to leave. The attitude of the Mother Superior is that "God" is building the chapel for them using Smith as the tool. Smith returns and begins to take a personal interest in the chapel and is determined to build it unaided. During the course of the movie his determination convinces the members of the community, believer and un-believer to contribute materials and labor to the task. The chapel is eventually completed, the Mother Superior unbends a little, the community unites and Smith hits the road with their respect and thanks, and a feeling of personal accomplishment. A movie with subtle depth, great characters and a "watch it again" appeal that is not found in many of the current (1980-to date) movies, and which the bulk of these have failed to deliver. One of the many high-lights of this film is the Gospel song: Amen sung by Portier and the nuns. Let's face it. You can watch the fated lovers on the Titanic only so many times. This movie is timeless in its appeal.