Maureen Stapleton

Maggie's and Sam's former partners are in love; she wants revenge and he wants his lost love back, so they work together to break up the happy couple. Good-natured astronomer Sam is devastated when the love of his life, Linda, leaves him for a suave Frenchman named Anton. He therefore does what every other normal dumpee would do; go to New York and set up home in the abandoned building opposite his ex-girlfriend's apartment, intent on winning her back and waiting until she decides to leave her current lover. What Sam does not count on is being joined several weeks later by ultra hip tomboy Maggie, a photographer and motor-cyclist who is determined to get revenge on Anton, her ex-fiance. Hostile at first, the two of them eventually join forces in an attempt to separate the couple, and ruin Anton's life. However, complications ensue when Sam and Maggie start falling for each other. —Anonymous

After being dumped by his girlfriend, a boy runs away to California. But he ends up in heaven because he dies after trying to help a family from drowning in a river. In heaven he'll meet a beautiful girl, who has never reincarnated before. In 1952 while driving to California to start his life anew, twenty-something Mike Shea accidentally dies while doing a heroic act. Despite floundering in his life - he was having troubles holding a steady job and his supposed girlfriend was about to marry someone else - he was not ready to leave the living. In heaven, he learns that despite it being a fantastical other world existence, he still has human emotions, such as romantic love, which he feels for a "new" soul he meets named Annie Packert (i.e. she has never been among the living on Earth), who in turn loves him. He also learns that one's next life is somewhat predetermined by their stay in heaven. So when Annie is sent to Earth for her first go around as a human, Mike pleads with the man in charge at heaven, Emmett Humbird, to locate him in his next human life at least in the same country so that he can find Annie. Emmett reluctantly agrees, but only gives Mike thirty years in his next life to find her. Those next lives of Annie and Mike are as Allison Chandler and Elmo Barnett respectively. Each carries a bit of their experience with each other in heaven to their new subconscious human being, Ally's manifesting itself in an imaginary childhood friend named Mike, whereas Elmo grows up to be a drifter but one not sure for what he is looking. With Elmo receiving a little help from both Emmett and some people from his past life, will the match made in heaven find its way to Earth before the thirty year deadline? —Huggo A romantic, occasionally funny, drama about two souls who consummate their marriage literally in "Heaven". Mike Shea, in his first life dies as a young man performing a heroic rescue. Shortly after arriving in "Heaven" he meets a new soul, Annie Packert, who has never lived on Earth before. The drama centers around their separation soon after being wedded and the burning question is whether they will reunite on Earth before time runs out or whether they are fated to eternal soul-searching. —Anonymous During the 1950s, Mike Shea lives with his parents and has a normal relationship with his girlfriend. But one day, she tells him that some other man has proposed her matrimony and the worst: she has said yes. So, Mike runs away from his little town to California, with his dog. The trip is going fine, until a car accident crosses in his way. An entire family has fallen to a river and they're trapped inside their car. In an heroic gesture, Mike dives in the river and he rescues all the family members, but unfortunately he dies drowned. He goes to heaven and he meets with his aunt, who is now a talented painter. After find some known people from his life in Earth, Mike meets with a beautiful woman, Annie, a new soul which has never reincarnated before. Mike learns that he can reincarnate and return to Earth. But before that, he and Annie fall in love and get married. The problem is that Annie is very curious about Earth and some time later, she tells Mike that she wants to reincarnate in a baby. Mike's now very sad missing Annie and he wants to return to Earth and find her. He will make a deal with Emmett, a kind of angel, in which Mike will have 30 years to find Annie, otherwise each one will have an unhappy life with other people. Annie in the 1960s has become a toy designer, named Ally, married with a filmmaker. Meanwhile, Mike is a quite disorientated kid, which tries everything, like being a painter, then a soldier, just to become later a musician. Many years pass, but it seems that Mike and Annie are having some difficulties to meet each other again. —Alejandro Frias

She's a magazine writer who gives up her career for love and family. He's a playboy newspaper columnist who can't quite give up his old tricks. And if that combination doesn't give a relationship Heartburn, nothing will. An autobiographical look at the break-up of screenwriter Nora Ephron's marriage to Carl "All the President's Men" Bernstein that was also a best-selling novel. The Ephron character, Rachel Samstat (Meryl Streep), is a food writer at a New York City magazine who meets Washington, D.C. columnist Mark Forman (Jack Nicholson) at a wedding and ends up falling in love with him despite her reservations about marriage. They buy a house, have a daughter, and Rachel thinks they are living happily ever after until she discovers that Mark is having an affair while she is waddling around with a second pregnancy. —Lisa Todorovich Rachel Samstat (Meryl Streep) and Mark Forman (Jack Nicholson) meet at a mutual friend's wedding, go to bed, and get married shortly afterwards. She works in publishing in New York City, and he is a successful Washington, D.C. columnist, who is always using his friends and social life as material for his column. All goes well initially with the marriage, despite the fact they endure several months of renovation by incompetent builders on their Washington, D.C. house. A child is born, Mark proves himself a fond father, and another baby is soon on the way. Then Rachel discovers that Mark has been having an affair with one of their circle. Heavily pregnant, she briefly returns to her father's house in New York City. Mark comes after her. He says he loves her and asks her to return to him. —Tiff Banks

After receiving wedding pictures from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, entertainment attorney Walter Fielding (Tom Hanks) complains to his girl friend, concert musician Anna Crowley (Shelley Long), about his newly married scofflaw father, Walter, Sr. (Douglass Watson). His father might be starting a new life, but he stole the firm's money and ran away to Brazil, and left him and the law firm in debt. The next morning, Walter comments that his father's much younger Filipino new wife, Florinda (Tetchie Agbayani), looks underage. When Anna tells him not to be so conventional, he admits he wants a house in the suburbs, and a wife. When he asks Anna to marry him, she asks for more time to make her decision. Her first marriage to Russian music conductor, Max Beissart (Alexander Godunov), was a disaster, and she is not in a rush to marry again. Suddenly, her former husband's associate, Shatov (Yakov Smirnoff), barges into the bedroom and informs Anna that "Maestro" is returning home, and reclaiming his luxury apartment. Walter and Anna are both broke, and cannot afford to relocate elsewhere in New York City. They decide to contact their friend, real estate broker Jack Schnittman (Josh Mostel), for help. Meanwhile, Max conducts his first rehearsal back in town, and criticizes the orchestra for their mediocre performance. While jogging, Jack Schnittman proposes that Walter gather $200,000 in cash by the end of business Friday because the owners of a $1 million property are willing to sell for less. Walter is suspicious, but feels pressured, and agrees to consider the deal. At dinner, Max tells Anna his life is meaningless without her, and he wants to get back together. Anna insists she loves Walter, and Max only loves himself. Anna goes with Walter to inspect the house Jack recommended. The owner, Estelle (Maureen Stapleton), shows them the property, and explains that Israeli Intelligence arrested her longtime husband, Carlos, for being Hitler's "pool man." If Estelle can sell the property and the furnishings, she might raise enough money to pay the lawyers. Walter and Anna want time to make a decision, but Estelle claims that Carlos is facing extradition, and she must sell immediately. She offers to include an antique Lincoln car in the deal. Walter cannot resist a bargain and convinces Anna to buy the house. She sells valuables from her divorce to raise her share of the money. Walter persuades his client, a successful boy singer named Benny (Billy Lombardo), to loan him the $200,000 in cash to pay for the new house. As soon as Walter and Anna move in, their house falls apart. When the front door is stuck shut, Walter receives an electrical shock as he rings the doorbell. Upstairs, Anna tries out the four-poster bed they acquired with the house, and becomes trapped when the mattress collapses around her. When Walter knocks to get Anna's attention, the front door falls down. He turns his attention to repairing the staircase, but his hammering loosens the ceiling plaster upstairs. In the bathroom, Anna is revolted when she turns on the bathtub faucet, and gooey, rusty water spurts out. Walter assures her that all houses need maintenance, and encourages her to be more positive. As Anna hangs her clothes in the bedroom closet, the rod and shelving collapse. Outside, Walter repairs the front door. He tests it three times and goes inside, but within seconds, the door frame separates from the structure, falling to the ground. Upstairs, when Anna pulls the dumbwaiter ropes, a raccoon emerges and attacks. Walter hears Anna's screams, but as he races up the staircase, it collapses around him. Walter is convinced the house is "a lemon," and that Estelle swindled them into buying that faulty house, but Anna will not let him quit. However, a rainstorm reveals that there are several leaks in the roof. The next morning, a carpenter named Art Shirk (Joe Mantegna) arrives to do an estimate on a new staircase, and declares that the front door has dry rot. Art's plumber brother, Brad (Carmine Caridi), arrives, and insists on a $5,000 upfront check without even inspecting the house. He claims to have seen the house several years earlier, and does not expect the plumbing problems have been resolved. Later, electrical fires occur when too many appliances are used. The blender and the popcorn popper explode, and the stove doors burst open. The turkey is propelled out one window and bursts through a second floor bathroom window. As Anna and Walter pour buckets of lukewarm water in the bathtub, the rotting floor gives way, and it crashes onto the floor below. The next day, Brad Shirk's foreman, Curly (Philip Bosco), arrives with a crew that looks like a gang of Hell's Angels. Curly encourages Walter and Anna to leave while they work on the house. Walter returns to find piles of debris everywhere after the group had trashed the house even more. Since Walter was not available to sign building permits, Curly and his crew went as far as they could. He promises to return when Walter has his permits approved. The "permit man," Mr. Shrapp, agrees to return if Walter pays a cash bribe. Soon, Walter falls into a hole in the floor concealed by a throw rug. Mr. Shrapp arrives, and believes he hears Walter laughing instead of answering the door. Angered by Walter's rudeness, Mr. Shrapp rips up the permits and leaves. Anna calls Walter to be picked up at the train station, but he cannot answer the phone. She hitches a ride with a truck driver, and finds Walter stuck in the floor. When she attempts to rescue him, he plummets to the floor below. That evening, when Walter puts another log in the fireplace, the chimney comes crashing down, and snuffs out the fire. Four months later, the house is still under repair as a more competent work crew fixes all the damages and patches up the holes in the floor, walls, and ceiling. Walter complains that Curly estimated the job would be done in two weeks. However, things are looking up. A new staircase and running water in the kitchen are the latest improvements, but accidents continue to occur. At an orchestra rehearsal, Max persuades Anna to have dinner at his apartment. Although she claims she will not sleep with him, they drink too much, and in the morning, Max tells her they made love, and she is consumed with guilt. Later, Anna tells Walter that Max took orchestra members to dinner after a brilliant rehearsal. When Walter wants to know if she spent the night with Max, Anna insists he will have to trust her. They argue as Anna lies about her indiscretion. When she finally confesses, Walter spends the night downstairs. In the morning, the fight continues. Walter want to kick her out of the house and refund her money. The workers listen in as she claims the house belongs to her just as much as it belongs to him. Finally, they agree to stay together until the repairs are done, sell the house, divide the money, and split. Anna retreats to the bedroom and sobs. Later, Max makes a surprise visit, and learns that Anna and Walter have decided to break up. He suggests that Anna should rekindle their relationship, but that is not part of her plan. Max confesses they did not sleep together, but lied to sabotage her relationship with Walter. When he sees how much she actually cares for Walter, Max decides to play matchmaker. He warns that it would be a mistake for Walter to throw away his relationship with Anna. Another few days later, when the house is finally renovated and restored, Walter and Anna are confused about where to take their relationship. Walter confesses he will get over Anna's one-night stand with Max. Anna tears up as she reveals she never slept with Max. They fall into each other's arms and kiss. Anna and Walter throw a wedding in their new home and Max conducts a full orchestra as part of the entertainment. Despite the repairs to restore their new house cost more than the $200,000 in cash that they used to purchase it, Walter and Anna are finally happy and that their "money pit" of a house is finally livable and everything is great. In Rio de Janeiro, the crafty con artist Estelle and her partner-in-crime Carlos (John van Dreelen) resurface where they offer to sell a house to Walter, Sr. insisting it must be a cash deal... and the vicious cycle is about to start all over again.

In New York City, Douglas Breen (Michael Biehn), a record store salesman, types a fan letter to actress Sally Ross (Lauren Bacall). However, Douglas is upset when Sally's secretary, Belle Goldman (Maureen Stapleton), answers the letter and encloses a picture of Sally he already has. In his next letter to "Miss Ross," he chastises her secretary for signing Sally's reply, and ends his note with "All my love." Belle writes to Douglas, apologizing for sending a photograph he already has. Douglas writes back to Sally that her secretary is "snide" and should be punished. Belle reads the letter aloud, but Sally is preoccupied and does not listen. Sally is celebrating her 50th birthday and nervous about starting rehearsals for her first musical. On Sally's birthday, she joins her former husband, director Jake Berman (James Garner), for lunch and learns he has moved back to New York City while working on his new film. Sally asks about his young girl friend, Heidi (Lesley Rogers), and Jake admits they are engaged. Meanwhile, Douglas sets out a romantic dinner for two in his apartment. He is angry when his sister (Kaiulani Lee) arrives and interrupts his dinner with a "famous star." She is worried about his fantasizing, but Douglas shuts the door on her and returns to his make-believe dinner with Sally. Douglas sends another letter, inquiring if Sally has scolded her secretary. He also follows Sally to the rehearsal studio for her new play. His next letter is more personal, containing the salutation "Dear Sally" and the assertion that he and Sally will soon be lovers. Douglas is increasingly irritated with a female co-worker and plans to complain to the record store manager. However, the manager berates Douglas for his work. Douglas writes to Sally that he finally confronted his boss and can now devote all of his time to her. Belle writes back that she will not show his letters to Sally, and if he writes again, she will contact the police. Infuriated, Douglas plans to deliver his next letter personally. He writes that he no longer needs to include his name or address because Sally knows where to find him. He arrives at the rehearsal hall after Sally has left for a break. A production assistant promises to deliver the letter to Sally, and hands it to Belle. Later, Belle shows the letter to Sally and worries that Douglas Breen might be dangerous. Sally insists he is harmless and throws away the letter. That evening, Sally and her friend, David Branum (Kurt Johnson), go to a party that Jake Berman and his fiancee are also attending. Meanwhile, as Belle heads home on the subway, Douglas attacks her while she is walking through the deserted station and slashes her face. Later, Jake joins Sally at the hospital and they wonder why Belle was attacked. As Belle recovers, Sally receives an unsigned love letter from Douglas. He believes Sally is longing for him and admits that he attacked Belle so Sally could answer his letters. Sally and Jake meet with police detective Raphael Andrews (Hector Elizondo), who asks to see the previous correspondence. Sally admits they did not keep the prior letters, and the current note does not include a name or address. Detective Andrews visits Belle in the hospital and reveals that Sally's psychotic fan was her attacker. Belle can only remember that his first name is Douglas. By the time she realized he was not a normal fan, he had already stopped signing his name. Later, Douglas watches Sally leave the rehearsal studio with David Branum, who kisses her goodbye. Douglas follows David to the YMCA swimming pool. As David swims laps, Douglas dives into the pool, slices David with a knife and swims away. He writes to Sally about the incident, and warns he is losing patience with her sadistic refusal to write him. Andrews provides 24 hour police protection for Sally, noting that Douglas will now come after her directly. Douglas continues his stalking and notices Sally's police protection. Soon, the rehearsals move from the studio to the theater. Jake Berman visits Sally in her dressing room and asks why she has not called him recently. She does not want to interfere with his relationship with Heidi, and also does not want to depend on him. Sally cooks dinner for Raphael Andrews and he wants her understudy to do the preview performances, but Sally insists on appearing in them. The next day, the maid is alone in Sally's apartment when Douglas sneaks in and brutally kills her with a straight razor. He leaves a letter for Sally that starts with "Dear Bitch," and threatens to kill her. Andrews asks if Sally wants to call Jake for company, but she refuses. That night, Douglas telephones Sally and says he wants to make love to her. He asks her to speak to him because he does not want to kill her, but Sally hangs up the telephone. She calls Jake, but Heidi picks up the telephone and she does not leave a message. The next morning, the policewoman protecting Sally awakens to find the actress gone, and she realizes Sally drugged her tea the previous evening. As Sally hides at her beach house, television news reports on her disappearance. Douglas goes to a nightclub and picks up a man who resembles him. He offers to have sex with the man, lures him to a secluded spot and murders him. Douglas douses the body with gasoline and sets it on fire. He writes another letter to Sally, claiming he must atone for the pain he caused her, and he tapes the "suicide" note to a wall near the burnt corpse. Later, Jake arrives at Sally's beach house with news of Douglas's death, and they reminisce about their 15 years together. Back in New York City, Belle returns to work as Sally prepares for opening night. Jake brings flowers to Sally's dressing room, and announces he ended his relationship with Heidi and would like to try again with Sally. She accepts his proposal, and then goes on with the show. Douglas slips into the audience during the play, but leaves during the standing ovation after the final curtain. After the show, Jake leaves for the opening night party, but promises to return to pick up Sally after she changes. Almost everyone has left the theater when Douglas slips backstage. He murders Sally's costumer, then kills the stage manager and locks the theater door. Douglas surprises Sally in her dressing room and follows as she runs to the stage to escape him. He catches Sally and finally kisses her. When she struggles to get away, he wants to know why she never answered him. She insists she does not even know him, and when he tries to kiss her again, she calls him "pathetic." He demands she stop angering him and threatens her with a knife. When she continues to berate Douglas, he hugs her and begs her to love him. Sally grabs his knife and stabs her "fan" to death.

A radical American journalist becomes involved with the Communist revolution in Russia, and hopes to bring its spirit and idealism to the United States. American journalist John Reed journeys to Russia to document the Bolshevik Revolution and returns a revolutionary. His fervor for left-wing politics leads him to Louise Bryant, then married, who will become a feminist icon and activist. Politics at home become more complicated as the rift grows between reality and Reed's ideals. Bryant takes up with a cynical playwright, and Reed returns to Russia, where his health declines. —Jwelch5742 The joint lives of journalists and activists John Reed - referred to as Jack in familiar circumstances - and Louise Bryant from 1915 to 1920 are presented, the former who, at the time of the making of this movie, is the only American to be buried at the Kremlin in a place of honor. In their life together, they are sometimes friends, sometimes lovers, sometimes spouses, but always idealists who hold steadfast to their beliefs. They initially meet in Portland, Oregon in 1915 when Jack returns to his hometown on a speaking engagement, he already a well known "liberal" journalist writing about how the working class is paying the price for the elitists calling the shots in the war, with Louise the repressed wife of dentist Paul Trullinger, she who has dabbled in journalism as a means of independence from her traditional life. She is protective about her writing and how to get her point of view across, which often does not mesh even with those who may agree with that point of view. Jack and Louise attracted to each other sexually and emotionally, he asks her to return to New York with him both to be with him and to give her the freedom to write what she really wants. In New York, they associate with Jack's friends - who include among others playwright Eugene O'Neill and writer/activist Emma Goldman - who largely dismiss Louise as a lightweight, just the latest of Jack's girlfriends, and/or solely, in the minds of many of the men, a sexual being to be exploited. Despite their relationship/marriage largely at its end, Jack is able to convince Louise to travel to Russia with him in 1917 to report on and be involved with the Bolshevik Revolution, which Jack feels could be the impetus for the end of the war, and if successful, a model for the American working class. It ends up being a game changer in their lives, for Jack seeing the success of the working class, and for Louise being caught up in the fervor of true idealism coming to fruition regardless of the specific issue. The Revolution will have an impact on their lives in a different way as a possible cause of them never seeing each other again, as (1) it causes Russia to be an isolated nation, (2) the scourge of Communism, Jack who is largely seen as the face of it in the US, being something that most in the mainstream of American life would like to see eradicated, and (3) Communism in Russia not being true to the academic definition of the term and perhaps not quite what Jack or his socialist associates in the US had envisioned. Through it all, an issue in the background but one that plays an integral part of their story is Jack's poor health, something that he does little to improve or care for in his goal of forwarding his leftist ideals. Interspersed with the dramatization of Jack and Louise's life are current day interviews with real life players who knew Jack and/or Louise, or who knew of the issues with which they were dealing. —Huggo Based on the true story of Jack Reed (played by Warren Beatty) and Louise Bryant (Diane Keaton), two American socialists and writers. During WW1 they actively campaigned for and wrote about socialist causes. When the news of the Russian Revolution broke this was seen as the chance for socialism to gain a greater foothold and popularity. Reed went to Russia to see what could be learned from the revolution and took the ideas back to the US, forming the Communist Labor Party of America. Things weren't all plain-sailing though, both in the relationship between Reed and Bryant and in politics. —grantss This movie tells the true story of John Reed , a radical American journalist around the time of World War I. He soon meets Louise Bryant, a respectable married woman, who dumps her husband for Reed and becomes an important feminist and radical in her own right. After involvement with labor and political disputes in the US, they go to Russia in time for the October Revolution in 1917, when the Communists siezed power. Inspired, they return to the US, hoping to lead a similar revolution. A particularly fascinating aspect of the movie is the inclusion of interviews with "witnesses", the real-life surviving participants in the events of the movie. —Reid Gagle

An American widower and a British divorcée keep running into each other and marry. But when the marriage loses its bloom, they try to separate, yet can’t stop finding their way back together. A college professor (George Segal) and an English divorcee (Glenda Jackson) meet and marry while on a vacation in France. When the bride returns home, she finds life less than rosy as the jungle of academia unfolds and the mirth of marriage fades. —Anonymous

Three vignettes, each set in room 719 of New York's Plaza Hotel, make up this comedy. Three separate stories concerning relationship issues are presented, each largely taking place in suite 719 of the Plaza Hotel in New York City. In story one, suburban New Yorkers Sam and Karen Nash are spending the night in the hotel as their house is being painted, but more importantly for Karen because it is their twenty-"something" wedding anniversary, the hotel where they spent their honeymoon. While Karen wants to recreate the romance that she remembers of their wedding night, Sam is preoccupied with business matters. But it is other issues that highlight their fundamental differences that may demonstrate if they will make it to twenty-something plus one. In story two, womanizing Hollywood movie producer Jesse Kiplinger has exactly two hours free during his whirlwind stay in New York, which he wants to fill with a quickie. Of the many women he calls, the first to agree to meet at his suite is his old hometown flame, married Muriel Tate. Muriel, who knows what Jesse wants, he who she has not seen in fifteen years, is a bundle of nerves as she continuously second guesses herself in whether she should have come. And in story number three, there are a roomful of people in the Baroque Room of the hotel for the wedding and following reception of Borden Eisler and Mimsey Hubley, the event which is being paid for by Mimsey's penny-pinching father, Roy Hubley. What the people in the Baroque Room are unaware of is that Mimsey has locked herself in the bathroom of the hotel suite, but not saying a word to either her father or mother, Norma Hubley, as to the reason for her cold feet. As Roy and Norma try whatever they can to get Mimsey out of the bathroom while stalling the Eislers in the Baroque Room, Roy and Norma also focus on issues in their own relationship and how they raised Mimsey, which may be appropriate if they learn the reason for Mimsey's cold feet. —Huggo Film version of the Neil Simon play has three separate acts set in the same hotel suite in New York's Plaza Hotel with Walter Matthau in a triple role. In the first, Karen Nash tries to get her inattentive husband Sam's attention to spruce up their failing marriage. In the second, brash film producer Jesse Kiplinger tries to get his former one-time flame Muriel to see him for what he stands for. In the third, Roy Hubley and his wife Norma try and try to get their uncertain-of-herself daughter out of the bathroom before her approaching wedding. —Matthew Patay

A rock singer travels to a small Ohio town to make his "farewell" television performance and kiss his biggest fan before he is drafted. Conrad Birdie is the biggest rock & roll star of the 60's ever to be drafted. Aspiring chemist and song writer Albert is convinced he can make his fortune and marry his girlfriend Rosie if he gets Conrad on the Ed Sullivan show to kiss a high school girl goodbye. Albert's mother will do anything to break him up with Rosie. Kim and Hugo, the high school steadies, live in Sweet Apple, Ohio where most of the action takes place. —Lisa Grable <grable@unity.ncsu.edu> Conrad Birdie, arguably the biggest rock and roll superstar in the world, has just been drafted, which brings his legion of teen-aged female fans marching in the streets in protest. One other person not happy about Birdie being drafted is struggling songwriter Albert F. Peterson, a mama's boy of a man who was finally going to hit the big time when one of his songs was to be featured in a Birdie movie. Rosie DeLeon, Albert's long suffering secretary and fiancée of six years, pitches an idea to Ed Sullivan: have Birdie appear on his television program, The Ed Sullivan Show (1948) kissing one of his fans as a symbolic goodbye to all his fans, while he sings a yet to be written song by Albert to be called "One Last Kiss". Sullivan buys the idea. Rosie is hoping that this move will bring financial security to Albert, who will then be able to support his mama, ex-vaudevillian Mae Peterson who wanted Albert to go into show business instead of his want to become a bio-chemist, and marry her (of course if Mama allows the marriage, she who doesn't even know they're engaged). The fan chosen is Kim McAfee of Sweet Apple, Ohio. Up until being chosen as the recipient of Birdie's kiss, Kim's sole focus in life was being pinned by her boyfriend, Hugo Peabody. Birdie's presence in Sweet Apple brings up many issues which may thwart Rosie and Albert's plans, including a jealous Hugo, an exasperated Harry McAfee (Kim's father), and a ballooning line-up on the show, all these problems which Rosie and Albert try to manage. The ultimate problem may be outside of Rosie and Albert's control, except for a little assistance of some bio-chemistry hopefully to solve the problem. Regardless, Rosie, in the end, may only be able to take so much of Albert siding with Mama instead of her. —Huggo When the draft selects rock star Conrad Birdie (Pearson), his fans are devastated, but none more than struggling songwriter Albert Peterson (van Dyke), whose song Birdie was just about to record. Albert's longtime girlfriend, Rosie (Leigh), pushes Albert to write a new tune that Birdie will perform on television to a fan selected in a contest. The scheme works, with young Ohio teenager Kim McAfee (Ann-Margaret) declared the winner, but no one has counted on the jealous wrath of her boyfriend. None-too-successful songwriter Alberto Paterson hatches a plot with his secretary - and long-suffering girlfriend - to get rock-and-roll phenomenon Conrad Birdie to sing one of his songs on the Ed Sullivan show. The pop star would then symbolically sing goodbye to a young man chosen at random from the country's manhood, this being his last appearance before being drafted. Complicated to start with, things get more tricky as everyone including Alberto's clinging mother descend on the small town where the chosen man lives. Even Alberto's biological inventions come in useful. —Jeremy Perkins {J-26}

A guitar-playing drifter wanders into a small Mississippi town and inflames two troubled women. Having fled New Orleans to avoid arrest, Valentine "Snakeskin" Xavier (Val), a trouble-prone, guitar-playing drifter, wanders into a small Mississippi town aiming to go straight and lead a quiet, simple life. He gets a job in the dry goods store owned by a sexually frustrated middle-aged woman named Lady Torrance, whose sadistic elderly husband, Jabe, is dying. With an obscure past and passions of her own, Lady finds herself attracted to Val, pulsating with passion anew, as he presents an arousing antidote to her bitter marriage and small-town humdrum life. Also vying for Val's attention are the alcoholic, sex-crazed Carol Cutrere and the unhappily married Vee Talbot. Each brings her share of problems into Val's plans, himself equally tempted by these women, though he succumbs to the charms of Lady. But the jealous Jabe is friends with Sheriff Talbot, Vee's husband, and things can't possibly end well for Val and Lady. The screenplay by Meade Roberts and Tennessee Williams is based on Williams' own 1957 play, "Orpheus Descending". —pdlussier1 Having been in and out of trouble with the law from his fast living, Valentine Xavier, a drifter and musician who played primarily in New Orleans, decides to turn over a new leaf when he reaches Two Rivers County in the American deep south. With the help of the sheriff's wife Vee Talbot, Xavier is able to get a job as a clerk at Torrance Mercantile in Vee knowing that Jabe Torrance will soon be coming home from the Memphis hospital, and will likely never be able to get out of bed in the apartment above the store on his own, leaving his wife, Lady Torrance, to run the store by herself. Xavier, in his trademark snakeskin jacket, exudes a masculine sexuality, which increases business at the store by all the admiring young women of the county now frequenting it. Who lets him know in no uncertain terms that she is interested is party girl Carol Cutrere, whose fast ways has had her banned from Two Rivers, period, plus a number of other businesses outside of the county line. The one female in the county openly stating that she is not interested is Lady, despite not loving or ever having loved hard and violent Jabe, she putting any past infidelity in search of happiness behind her. The interactions between Xavier and Lady lead to them once again striving for happiness in their lives, which is interrupted by many of the men, including Sheriff Jordan Talbot, looking out for Jabe's interests, they who, as a collective, have an equally violent outlook as the answer to life's problems. —Huggo Valentine Xavier is a traveling musician who has decided to change his lifestyle and do away with haunts and nightclubs. By the will of fate, he ends up in a provincial town, where he gets a job as a salesman in Jabe Torrance's store. Between him and Lady Torrance, the wife of the owner of the store, there is sympathy. But the young and eccentric Carol Cutrere also claims the guy's heart. Under the circumstances, he will have to make a difficult choice. —Tango Papa