Matthew Robbins

Jacob, once famous but now retired seventy-year-old actor, is looking for a dog-walker for his adorable little black schnauzer, Mitzy, that he obsessively loves more than anything else in the world. Out of all the candidates he picks Daniel, seemingly the least suitable for the job, a young loser immersed in virtual games. Jacob teaches him 'the ancient art' of dog walking; the lessons are a funny, absurd mixture of memory, history, and fantasy. - Manhattan Odyssey is an unusual 'love story' between two men, a woman and a dog, if it is love story at all. It leads us from an everyday activity such as a dog walking to the liminal space of the human animal becoming either animal or human.

When her heart is stolen by a seductive stranger, a young woman is swept away to a house atop a mountain of blood-red clay: a place filled with secrets that will haunt her forever. Between desire and darkness, between mystery and madness, lies the truth behind Crimson Peak.

For the past two years, New York City has been in the grip of an epidemic: Strickler's Disease is threatening to wipe out an entire generation of the city's children. Efforts to find either a vaccine or a cure have failed. But there is some hope in the recent discovery that the common cockroach is responsible for spreading the disease. Dr. Peter Mann (Jeremy Northam), of the Center for Disease Control, enlists the aid of Dr. Susan Tyler (Mira Sorvino), a noted entomologist. She develops a new species of insect she calls the Judas Breed, genetically engineered to secrete an enzyme that poisons normal cockroaches, and die off without reproducing within 180 days. Six months later, at a press conference, Dr. Mann announces that the epidemic is officially over. Peter and Susan are now married, and hope to start a family soon. Susan still has some misgivings about manipulating the DNA of the Judas Breed, but Peter assures her they did the right thing. On a rainy night three years later, in a run-down church in a Lower Eastside neighborhood, a preacher (Pak-Kwong Ho) is attacked and flees to the roof of the building. His assailant, a tall, thin man in a long overcoat, follows. The preacher jumps onto a painter's scaffold rigged to the side of the building, to escape; the ropes break and he falls to his death in the alley below. After a few moments, his body is dragged roughly into a nearby storm drain. A ten-year-old autistic boy, Chuy (Alexander Goodwin), watches dispassionately from the apartment building across the alley where he lives with his father, Manny (Giancarlo Giannini). Chuy imitates the clicking sounds the attacker made with a pair of spoons. Repeating "funny, funny shoes" to himself, he begins to bend a scrap of wire into a small figure. Next morning Peter arrives at the church. Police officers checking on the broken scaffold have discovered a large group of illegal immigrants locked up in the basement, all infected with yellow fever. The CDC will need to set up a quarantine and investigate. As Peter and his assistant Josh (Josh Brolin) look through the seedy old church, they come across a nasty surprise in a basement passageway: Several large clumps of feces fastened to the ceiling, and hanging down from it, like stalactites. Peter is concerned, since there is a connection between the basement passageways and the subway tunnels. Josh collects a sample for analysis; later, he shows Peter one of the bizarre components found in the sample: buttons...regular buttons...from human clothing. That afternoon, Susan is working in her lab with her assistant, Remy (Alix Koromzay). They are approached by a couple of twelve-year-old boys (James Costa and Javon Barnwell). Susan has a standing offer to pay the neighborhood kids for any unusual bugs they find, and these two have brought her a number of specimens...including a very unusual one, taped up in a cornflakes box. She offers them $10 for everything; they accept it and leave. Remy leaves shortly after, by the rear exit where her bike is parked. She bumps into a tall, thin man in an overcoat in the alley, mumbles an apology and slips on past him. Susan puts on a pair of surgical gloves and extracts the bug from the cornflakes box with a pair of forceps. Large and unique, it nevertheless appears to be just a baby. She reaches to examine it with her other hand...it bites her, latching ferociously onto the web of skin between her thumb and index finger. Startled, she pulls it off roughly, jams it down onto a pin board, and stabs a large pin into it to hold it there. She takes off the gloves and is checking for damage to her hand when she notices the bug is secreting a large amount of frothy liquid...like the Judas Breed. She searches through her files on the creation of the Judas Breed...she finds a litmus test strip made from the secretions...she compares it side by side with a test strip from the new bug. They are identical. She hears glass breaking...the lamp that was shining on the baby bug has been knocked to the floor, and the nearby window is open. When she investigates, she finds the bug is gone. She gets down on the floor to search for it, unaware she's being watched...by a tall, thin intruder clinging effortlessly to the ceiling above her. When she stands up, there is a sudden gust of wind, a shadow moves...and she is alone. Peter is shaken and angry when he hears of the incident. He asks Susan to cut back on the hours she spends alone in her lab at night. Her concern, however, is the Judas Breed. If it's still alive and reproducing, there's no telling what long-term impact it could have. She convinces Peter that they need to investigate further. Next day, the boys take Peter, Susan and Remy into the subway, to the place where they found the bug. They wind up outside a locked door, marked "Private", which the boys claim wasn't locked the day they went through it. Susan gives them a picture of an ootheca, an egg sack, and asks if they've seen anything like it. They haven't...but want to know what she'll pay if they find one. Remy hustles them away, telling them their dealing days are over. Peter and Susan pick the lock on the door, and enter what looks like an abandoned locker room. Their search is interrupted by a Manhattan Transit Authority officer, Leonard (Charles Dutton), who threatens to arrest them both. Peter convinces him they are there on official CDC business, but Leonard stubbornly insists that Peter will need to come back with the proper permits before he'll let him in to look around. Peter vows to do so, and also vows he will request Leonard to be assigned as their personal escort through the maintenance grid tunnels for being so obstructive. Susan waits on the subway platform while Peter and Leonard argue, leaning against one of the pillars, tapping her foot. She notices Chuy, nearby, imitating her tapping with his spoons. When she walks over to say hello and engage him in conversation, he merely remarks, "Lace-up shoes...black...Nine West," the style, color and manufacturer of the shoes she is wearing. He goes back to sit near Manny, who operates a shoeshine stand there on the platform. She watches, interested, as Chuy continues to imitate the tapping sounds made by all the people walking by and names the shoes each is wearing. She sees some of his wire sculptures, which are really quite good, and she tells him so. He holds up the one he made most recently, that looks very much like the specimen she had in her lab the night before: "Mr. Funny Shoes", he says. Susan asks Manny why Chuy doesn't go to school...Manny simply shrugs, and responds, "He doesn't have to: he's special." The two young boys have gone back into the subway tunnels to look for an ootheca. Transients, camped on the landings in this deserted part of the subway, warn them not to go any further. "Long John," they call after the boys, "Overcoat Slim...Don't go down there, or he'll getcha!" The boys fling a few insults back at them, and ignore their advice. They find what they're looking for, in a remote part of the tunnel: an ootheca the size of a gym bag. But they find "Overcoat Slim" there, too, keeping watch. He catches first one, then the other...and kills them quickly and brutally. Susan goes to talk with an old professor/mentor, Dr. Gates (F. Murray Abraham). She tells him what's happened, and asks if he thinks it's possible some of the Judas Breed bugs survived...he tells her he thinks it's likely. "But they were engineered to die," she says, plaintively, "in the lab, they all died." "Yes, Susan, but you let them out of the lab, " he replies. She asks if he still thinks it was wrong to do what she did. He tells her three years earlier he would have called it unforgivable. But he adds kindly that now, with two healthy grandchildren probably alive only because of her work, it would be hypocritical for him to pass judgment. Late that night, Chuy is watching the deserted church from his bedroom window...He sees the tall, thin man go inside. Gathering up his spoons and his bent wire figures, he crawls out the window and goes down the fire escape. The door of the church is boarded up, but he's small enough to fit through the gaps. Inside, he hears Mr. Funny Shoes clicking away, and imitates him with his spoons. Mr. Funny Shoes answers, and Chuy responds happily. Then there are more clicks...a second Mr. Funny Shoes is in the room. Chuy continues to "talk" to both of them...but as they move in closer, flanking him on either side, his facial expression changes from delight to fear. Next morning, Remy calls Susan and tells her to meet her at a sewage treatment plant. A friend of hers who works there has found something strange. Peter reminds Susan they have the subway thing this morning; she tells Peter she'll have to meet him there after she checks on this lead. At the plant, Remy's friend produces a tray which holds the head, thorax and two sets of legs of an almost man-size insect. Remy takes pictures of the creature with her Polaroid camera, and Susan asks her to deliver the body to Dr. Gates for examination. Susan takes the pictures and goes to meet Peter at the subway. Manny discovers Chuy is missing. He remembers the boy's fascination for the church across the alley. He goes over there to look around, and sees one of Chuy's wire figures just inside the doorway. Armed with a Zippo lighter and an old-fashioned straight razor, he breaks into the church through a cellar door to look for Chuy. Leonard, Peter and Josh are making their way down through the subway access tunnels, and none of them are happy. They encounter another cluster of feces attached to the ceiling, take samples, and keep on moving. At last they find themselves on a high balcony, overlooking the old Armory Station. Leonard glances down and sees a large bug, like the one from Susan's lab. Startled and disgusted, he stamps on it, rendering it useless for identification and study. Peter is furious...he steps out onto the balcony near Leonard and they begin to argue violently. An ominous creaking sound makes them stop...the balcony beneath them collapses, and Peter and Leonard crash down to the floor below. They are not hurt, but there seems to be no way to climb back up...so Josh, who wasn't on the platform when it fell, is sent back to the upper level to bring help. Susan, waiting on the subway platform for Peter's return, has been studying the pictures that Remy took. She notices something, and starts creasing them, accordian-folding them to show certain parts of one side-by-side with another, and she realizes that the claws on the front pair of legs resemble a man's face when fitted together. She notices suddenly that it's late, and Peter has not come to meet her. She approaches the only other person on the platform, a tall, thin man in an overcoat, to ask if he has the correct time...he raises his head, and she sees it's a full-grown, man-size Judas adult! She turns to run, it unfurls its wings and flies after her, catching her and carrying her into the tunnel. Josh is still trying to find his way to the surface. He stumbles onto a nest of oothecas. A nearby Judas adult is roused, and comes after him...Josh is caught and killed as brutally as the two boys. Susan wakes up alone in an apparent cache of Judas victims--dead, partially consumed, rotting--and tries to find her way out. She falls through a manhole, and is discovered there by Manny, still looking for Chuy. Trying to find help for her, Manny stumbles onto Leonard and Peter. Together they rescue Susan from the manhole, but they are seen and pursued by a Judas adult. They are able to make it inside an old subway car, but the Judas adult also gets partly through the door. They force the door shut, cutting the Judas bug in half...still alive, the upper half falls into the car, and scuttles under a bench. Leonard shoots it, emptying a full clip from his gun into it. He reloads, and pulls it out from under the bench to examine it. Still alive, it slashes at his legs with its own lethal front legs, seriously injuring him with deep lacerations that bleed profusely. Leonard empties the second clip into it, finally killing it. But the scent of the blood attracts other Judas adults...they swarm over the car, ripping at it and buffeting it. Susan borrows Manny's razor and cuts into the dead adult, extracting its scent glands. They smear the secretions over any cracks in the windows and other openings. The Judas adults withdraw from the car, apparently fooled by the scent. Leonard tells the others that they are in a Coney Island Special car that may still be operable. It might be possible for them to escape if they can restore the power. Peter volunteers to go out and check the power line. Manny volunteers to go out and throw the track switch, which will give him a chance to search a little longer for Chuy. Leonard and Susan will start the car and pick up Peter and Manny at a point further down the track. Susan smears the secretions from the two scent glands on them to increase their chances of survival. Peter is able to find and repair the circuitry. Manny finds the track switch, and miraculously, also finds Chuy nearby. For unknown reasons, Chuy has been spared by the bugs, and apparently even believes they are his friends. He indicates as much to Manny, and shows no inclination to return with him. As Manny tries to coax Chuy to come along, a Judas adult descends from the ceiling, and tears Manny to pieces. Susan and Leonard are worried about Peter and Manny...it's been too long for them to be gone. Leonard is severely crippled because of the wounds on his legs...so Susan puts on the last of the scent from the dead adult and goes out to find them. Manny is gone...nothing left but blood and his crucifix. But Chuy is still there, terrified after witnessing the death of his father. Susan picks up Manny's crucifix, throws the track switch and takes Chuy with her to hunt for Peter. Peter has turned on the power, and the lights come on in the subway car. Leonard starts it up, but it only moves a few feet and lurches to a standstill. Peter returns to the car, but Leonard won't let him in. Leonard's wounds have begun to bleed again, and there is no more bug scent to mask the smell. The Judas adults are beginning to come back...Leonard is doomed, and he knows it. Peter reluctantly leaves him to go look for Susan. Leonard leaves the car, and heads down the track, to decoy the bugs away from the others. They swarm over him and kill him, but his sacrifice helps the others to avoid the bugs for a while, at least. The reunion of Peter, Susan and Chuy is brief. Peter persuades Susan to take Chuy and escape without him...he wants to try to wipe out the colony while he's here. If he fails, Susan will have to tell authorities what's happened and find another way to destroy them. He helps them into a dumb waiter/service elevator, and sends them up to the next level. The leader of the colony, the breeding male, crashes into the chamber at that moment, and Peter is forced to run through a tiny access tunnel into another large chamber. He slams the door behind him and looks around to see that he is in the main nursery of the colony, surrounded by thousands of oothecas and thousands more adults hanging from the ceiling beams watching over them. The chamber is half flooded with water, and there are gas pipes and valves all around. With an emergency fire ax, he cuts into several of them, venting gas into the chamber. The door bursts open, a couple of Judas adults swarm in...more are leaving their perches among the beams and flying toward him. With the ax, he strikes the metal grid to create a spark before they can reach him. On the third blow a spark ignites the gas, the chamber explodes in flame and Peter plunges into the water. Susan and Chuy have gotten out of the elevator, and they're standing in a track tunnel when they are knocked down by the explosion. Before they can recover, the breeding male, who has climbed up the elevator shaft, crashes into the tunnel at a point between them. He ignores Susan and turns to Chuy, intent on killing the boy. Susan slashes her palm with Manny's crucifix and holds it up so the male can scent the blood. The male turns and chases her instead. She hears a train coming, and runs directly toward it...at the last moment she jigs sharply to the side, and the train hits the male head on. Badly damaged, he clings onto the train, slipping partly underneath. As parts of him touch the ground they are torn away by the velocity, and at last, completely crushed and dismembered, he dies. Susan collects Chuy and they make their way up to the street. Later, they huddle in blankets on a bench outside the subway entrance. Dr. Gates approaches Susan, and tells her the fire department found no trace of the colony...nothing could have survived the fire. "How about one of us?" she asks, hopelessly. He touches her hand, and goes back to talk to the firemen. Chuy is watching as firefighters evacuate people from the subway. Something about his attitude catches Susan's attention, and she joins him at the top of the stairs. A tall man in a blanket is climbing slowly up the stairs. Chuy comments with satisfaction in his voice, "Mountain boots, size ten". The man looks up, and it is Peter. He climbs up the last few steps to them, opens his arms, and embraces them both.

In Corpus Christi, Texas, teenagers Billie Jean Davy (Helen Slater) and her younger brother Binx (Christian Slater) drive to a lake, and while they swim, a bully named Hubie Pyatt (Barry Tubb) and his gang steals Binx's motorbike. Billie Jean reports the theft to police, but Lieutenant Ringwald (Peter Coyote) tells her to wait two days for Hubie to return it on his own before he gets involved. Billie Jean goes home and finds the damaged scooter, and her brother bloody and beaten after retrieving the bike himself. Billie Jean visits Hubie at his father's surf shop, and gives him a $608 bill for damages. Hubie's father, Mr. Pyatt (Richard Bradford), agrees to give Billie Jean the money, but when he gets her alone, he gives her only $50, and tries to assault her. Binx and their neighbor Ophelia (Martha Gehman) wait outside for Billie Jean. When she takes too long, they enter the empty shop, and Binx opens the register, planning to take the money he is owed, but instead finds a gun. When Billie Jean runs into the room with Pyatt chasing after her, Binx points the gun at him and demands his sister's release. Hubie enters the shop and his father falsely accuses Billie Jean and Binx of attempted robbery, and tells Hubie to call police. Pyatt walks toward Binx and tells him the gun is not loaded. Binx checks the chamber for bullets, and the gun accidentally goes off, shooting Pyatt in the chest. The teens flee, and Billie Jean wants to go to the police, but Ophelia insists they will not believe their story. Instead, they return home, pack a few items, and go on the run, with their young neighbor, Putter (Yeardley Smith), tagging along. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Ringwald learns that Billie Jean and Binx were involved in a robbery, and blames himself for not properly handling their initial complaint. The teens listen to news of the shooting on the radio, but are not sure if Pyatt is alive. When they stop for food at a gas station, some teenagers approach Billie Jean with her picture in the newspaper and ask for her autograph. They buy the runaways some groceries, and treat them as heroes. Billie Jean and Binx are relieved to learn that Pyatt is in good condition. Billie Jean telephones Lt. Ringwald and the fugitives agree to turn themselves in, on the condition that Pyatt pay the $608 they are owed. Billie Jean agrees to meet Ringwald the following day at a shopping mall. Her photograph is posted around town, and she develops a following among her peers. Pyatt refuses to pay the money, so Ringwald donates his own $608 to make things right, and Pyatt gives Billie Jean the money, as if it came from him. At the hand-off, Pyatt continues to sexually threaten Billie Jean, and has Hubie attempt to grab her. She runs away as Hubie and Ringwald's officers chase after. Ringwald is furious with Pyatt, and tries to help the teens, but Binx points a toy gun at the Lieutenant before they drive away. On the run again, Billie Jean's legend grows. The runaways seek food and shelter in what they think is in empty mansion. While exploring, Billie Jean enters a room full of Halloween decorations, and the homeowner's son, Lloyd Muldaur (Keith Gordon), playfully sneaks up on her wearing a mask. She kicks him, and he removes the mask to reveal he is her age. Lloyd recognizes the "outlaws," and welcomes them into his home. They watch the television news and hear untrue stories being spread about them. On another channel, Billie Jean sees a movie about Joan of Arc. Lloyd regales the story of how she was a hero who sacrificed herself, and Billie Jean becomes inspired. She instructs Lloyd to get a video camera prepared so she can record a message. Billie Jean cuts off her long blonde hair in the short style of Joan of Arc, puts on a colored wet suit with the sleeves ripped off, and records a message claiming her innocence. The teens leave so they do not get Lloyd into trouble, but he suggests they use him as a hostage to get their demands met. Billie Jean sneaks her videotaped message into the police station and on television. In the video, she demands Pyatt pay her the $608 for the scooter repair claiming, "fair is fair," and her supporters begin using the phrase as a slogan. Ringwald investigates Lloyd's home and surmises the teens are working together. Lloyd's wealthy father Mr. Muldaur (Dean Stockwell) offers $10,000 for his son's safe return, but Lloyd is insulted at the bargain-basement ransom amount. Pyatt sells T-shirts and souvenirs with Billie Jean's name and image on them. While her friends are in a store, children approach Billie Jean and ask her to help their friend, Kenny, who is being abused by his father. They lead her to Kenny's home, and when Billie Jean enters, the boy's father recognizes her from the news, and sees the large group of children gathered outside his window. He allows his son to leave with Billie Jean, and she announces to her followers that Kenny will be moving in with his grandmother. As the teens drive away, a local man shoots at them, hoping to capture Billie Jean for the reward money. He chases the teenagers down city streets and shoots their tire, before his own truck flips over. The teens rest for the night and discuss going to Vermont, where Binx has long dreamed of visiting. Lloyd advises they stay in town to clear their names, and kisses Billie Jean. To prevent Ophelia and Putter from getting into trouble, Billie Jean waits until the girls are asleep, and reports their whereabouts to Ringwald. Binx, Lloyd and Billie Jean make their way to a country club and discuss stealing a vehicle, but Billie Jean does not want to commit yet another crime. However, Binx attempts to steal an automobile, and is chased by security guards. The teens become separated, and Billie Jean is offered a ride by a girl sporting her same short hairstyle. Elsewhere, Ringwald questions Ophelia and Putter at the police station, and several girls with short hair turn themselves in, claiming to be Billie Jean. Meanwhile, Billie Jean gets a series of rides from several look-alikes. She goes to an abandoned carnival where she reunites with Binx and Lloyd. Ringwald follows a lead that takes him to their hideout. While they remain hidden, Ringwald shouts out an offer to repair Binx's motorbike and drop the charges if the runaways turn themselves in. Sometime later, Billie Jean telephones the lieutenant and accepts the offer, agreeing to meet at a beach side "Billie Jean Day" event. Ringwald awaits her arrival, and is alarmed that someone has called in snipers. At the exchange, Binx disguises himself as Billie Jean, holding a toy gun to Lloyd's back, while Billie Jean hides in the crowd, wearing a wig. Billie Jean sees a brand new scooter, and confirms that the deal is legitimate. Hubie recognizes Binx, and when Binx waves his gun towards Hubie to quiet him, the snipers shoot Billie Jean's impersonator in the shoulder. Mayhem ensues. Billie Jean slips away unnoticed as she chases after the ambulance carrying her brother. When Billie Jean sees Pyatt selling souvenirs with her image on them, she removes her wig and confronts him. A crowd of onlookers and TV camera crews gather, and Pyatt agrees to give her the money. However, she realizes that Lloyd's father, not Pyatt, paid for the new scooter awaiting her brother, and refuses to accept the offer. Billie Jean insults him and reveals in front of the crowd that he tried to sexually assault her. She kicks him and throws the money in his face. A torch is knocked over and burns his display booth, but no one comes to his aid, and the fire spreads throughout the event. Sometime later, Billie Jean and Binx arrive in wintry, snow-covered Vermont. Binx (with his arm in a sling and recovering from his gunshot wound) claims that the weather is too cold as they continue to hitchhike. Binx sees a snowmobile parked nearby at the rest stop they are at and gets an idea.... implying that he and Billie Jean plan to steal it. Fade out.

As the film opens in 1962, General Douglas MacArthur (Gregory Peck) is at West Point, his alma mater. MacArthur, ramrod straight, reviews the ranks of marching cadets before delivering his poignant, bittersweet, farewell address to the Corps. The action abruptly shifts back to the tunnels of Corregidor in early 1942, where MacArthur's besieged American and Filipino troops are desperately holding out against the victorious forces of Japan. The end is near. In Washington, General George Marshall and Admiral Ernest J. King are simultaneously delivering the grim news to President Roosevelt (Dan O'Herlihy). They discuss global priorities and admit that they can't hold the Philippines. Roosevelt reluctantly decides to order MacArthur off Corregidor, knowing that he will be furious. MacArthur is ordered to board a submarine and slip away to Australia, where he can organize ongoing resistance. But MacArthur refuses to sneak away from his beloved command traveling furtively beneath the waves. He insists on boarding a PT boat, and his family insists on accompanying him on the dangerous voyage. The Japanese navy has thrown a blockade around the islands, and the heavily armed PT boats would be no match for destroyers. The pair of PT boats manage to evade the Japanese pickets and floating mines, proving that the blockade can be circumvented. Eventually arriving in Melbourne, MacArthur discovers that there is no Philippine relief expedition being organized. He addresses the adoring Australian crowds, explaining that his first priority will be the recapture of the Philippines. But he soon learns that Bataan and Corregidor have fallen, leaving 70,000 of his starving men imprisoned under unimaginable conditions. MacArthur decides to mount the defense of Australia among the jungles of New Guinea, where the battle is fought under brutal circumstances. As a result, MacArthur develops his famous island hopping strategy, bypassing Japanese strongholds through the use of Allied naval and air superiority, cutting critical supply lines and starving the isolated Japanese strong points into submission. MacArthur also develops a well-earned reputation for dramatics, self-promotion and vanity. The Allies advance steadily up the Southwest Pacific island chain over the next two years, but not without tremendous bloodshed. Ordered to Honolulu in July 1944 to meet with President Roosevelt and Admirals Leahy and Nimitz, MacArthur upstages his naval rivals with a grandiose, belated arrival. His jealous, distrustful relationship with Roosevelt is apparent. The US Navy wants to bypass the Philippines and take Taiwan first. MacArthur makes an impassioned argument that to do so would be an indelible stain on American honor. He reminds them that numerous promises have been made to the loyal people of the Philippines, including by Roosevelt himself. In the end, MacArthur's view prevails. US forces come ashore at Leyte Gulf in October 1944. In an iconic scene, MacArthur insists on going ashore right behind the second wave of troops. He steps off the landing craft into knee-deep water, wading ashore as the cameras roll. On the beach, MacArthur addresses the Filipinos by radio, exhorting them to drive the Japanese occupiers out. As the battle rages, the General receives his fifth star. He is soon taken to a prison camp where many of the brutalized, emaciated survivors of Bataan and Corregidor have been held for more than two years. Many emotional reunions follow. Back home, President Roosevelt dies in the spring of 1945. Harry Truman succeeds him and authorizes the use of two atomic weapons to bring Japan to her knees. A furious MacArthur rails against this new, impersonal brand of warfare, realizing that an era has passed. Aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, MacArthur presides over the solemn surrender ceremonies in September 1945. As Allied military governor of Japan, MacArthur institutes liberal social reforms and oversees the complete rebuilding and modernization of Japan. When the Russian military representative in Japan curtly informs MacArthur that Russia will soon commence an illegal occupation of Hokkaido Island, MacArthur just as curtly informs the Russian that the entire Soviet delegation will be thrown in jail. The occupation never occurs. MacArthur is given one last chance at military glory in June 1950 when Communist North Korean forces invade South Korea, moving swiftly and nearly pushing American and South Korean forces off the peninsula. MacArthur is appointed Supreme Commander of UN forces in Korea. He buys time until he can devise a brilliant but risk-laden amphibious landing behind North Korean lines at Inchon. The successful operation proves to be a stroke of genius. North Korean forces are virtually cut off from supplies and reinforcements and have to retreat northward in disarray. MacArthur then carries the fight into North Korea itself. Despite MacArthur's reassurances to the contrary, the Communist Chinese suddenly enter the war in huge numbers in order to bolster their sagging North Korean ally. UN forces are again pushed southward, incurring heavy casualties. MacArthur grows increasingly frustrated, chafing at political interference from Washington. Tensions between Truman and MacArthur boil over when MacArthur's insubordination in the face of direct orders threatens to undermine Truman's authority. After a stellar military career spanning more than a half-century, MacArthur is relieved of command. He returns to a hero's welcome in April 1951 while Truman's popularity plummets. MacArthur delivers a moving retirement address to a joint session of Congress. The movie then moves forward to 1962, and an increasingly frail Douglas MacArthur is bidding farewell to West Point. One last time he utters the famous words that were the hallmark of his career: Duty. Honor. Country.

The real incident took place in May of 1969. This one is about February of 1973, just west of Houston, Texas (Sugarland in actuality), Clovis Poplin is serving the remainder of his one year prison sentence in pre-release at the TDC Pre-Release Facility for petty larceny. His wife Lou Jean is also newly released from prison and comes to visit him with the intention of breaking him out because she just lost their child to foster parents that intend to adopt Baby Langston. She threatens to leave him for good if he does not go along with her plan. Clovis and Lou Jean are uneducated and not playing with a full deck; Clovis is naïve and easily manipulated and Lou Jean is beautiful, but annoying, ignorant, impulsive, and borderline sociopathic. Lou Jean is wearing Clovis' clothes underneath hers and they very easily sneak out of the facility, posing as visiting friends of Clovis' fellow prison mate, Hubie Nocker. They hitch a ride out with his parents, with his father driving on the freeway less than 25 miles an hour. A young patrol officer by the name of Maxwell Slide stops him and gives him a warning citation. Fearing that the young officer will spot them, Clovis and Lou Jean steal the elderly couple's 1956 Buick Roadmaster skidding and speeding over the Brazos River and through the town of Richmond, wrecking the car near a slough. Lou Jean pretends to be badly injured, and Patrolman Slide is kidnapped at gunpoint. Because Slide is new and inexperienced to the force, they seem to have little problem with his cooperation. Veteran police Captain Tanner is in the middle of a court hearing in Houston and the hearing immediately adjourned until later so he can get to the kidnapping. Tanner is a mannered and genteel soul who seems sympathetic to the Poplin's and Slide's dilemma, but realizes with his job he needs to stick to his principles and do the right thing. During the trip across Alternate Highway 90 and Interstate 10, the local radio station reveals Clovis to be a native of Crowley, a small town just south of Fort Worth and Lou Jean as an unemployed beautician from Sayers, a town just east of San Antonio. The Poplin's stop at a porta potty in the road so Lou Jean can relieve herself, an Exxon Humble filling station with cop cars escorting them, an Arco filling station taking a load of gold stamps, two Louisiana state troopers join in and participate, stop at a chicken stand in Pleasanton, then take Loop 1604. At a Fina gas station in Converse, Slide zooms his police car to escape the convoy of police cars so they can rest for the night. Clovis, Lou Jean, and Officer Slide hide out for the night at a used car lot near the old Loop 13 Drive In Movie Theater on Military Drive, with Slide handcuffed to the backseat of the police car and Clovis and Lou Jean staying in an RV. Captain Tanner and half the state police force are using the Harlandale ISD football stadium for the night. Captain Tanner has summoned Lou Jean's father from his home in Sayers by helicopter to make a statement to her via police radio to persuade her to turn herself in. He's an elderly man, courteous to the police officers, but just as ignorant and uneducated as Lou Jean and states on the radio that she's no good, would shoot her and Clovis if he had a chance, and that God will get her. Lou Jean does not hear this, but Slide hears it on the police radio in the car just before she comes to check on him. He assures her that he knows she's really a good person inside and comes to realize her upbringing was not a pleasant one. The next morning, an unidentified trio of leftist lunatics leave their home with intent to find Lou Jean and Clovis. They spot them at the used car lot and, acting no better than their upbringing taught them, shoot at the car's helpless occupants repeatedly. The police get wind of the incident and arrest the men, who are not the National Guard they claim to be. Tanner assures Clovis and Lou Jean that they will be left alone. But Tanner realizes he still needs to do his job. He asks the couple and baby to hide in a downtown shelter and enlists two sharpshooters to their home to kill the couple. Down the trip on Highway 90 from San Antonio to Sugarland (Del Rio in reality of this movie, except the filming location of the home and downtown was actually Floresville), Tanner dodges media, the trio in the police car are welcomed and supported by a large crowd in the fictional town of Rodrigo (probably Hondo), and they make it to the house. Clovis does not want to get out of the car and fears it's a trap, but Lou Jean pushes him to do it. Clovis is shot in the chest. The three of them drive to the Rio Grande river to cross the border, but Clovis dies at the wheel right before he can escape. After Clovis dies, Lou Jean is arrested and Officer Slide consoled by Captain Tanner for his bravery and a job well done. Lou Jean served 15 months of a 5 year prison sentence and was awarded custody by the state after getting out on parole.