Paul Fix

In New Mexico, looking for his son's murderer, Ben Kane takes a deputy marshal's job and runs into young Billy Young who's on the lam. A peace-loving man named Ben Kane takes a job as deputy marshal of Lordsburg, in the old West. Kane is no lawman, but he accepts the badge because he has an old score to settle with the town's chief trouble-maker. Once on the job, Kane must also deal with a young sharpshooter named Billy Young and a sharp and sassy saloon dancer, Lily. —Dan Navarro <daneldorado@yahoo.com>

After an 11-year absence, a buffalo hunter returns home with lots of money in his saddlebags only to be robbed at gunpoint by a trio of no-good town citizens, prompting an eventual revenge quest. Jonas Trapp falls in love with the beautiful Jessie, a wealthy girl out of his humble class. Against the wishes of her snobbish aunt, she marries him, later faking a pregnancy to win her aunt's consent. But Jonas tires of living off of his wife's family, and eventually deserts her to become a buffalo hunter. 11 years later, with his self-made fortune ($17,000), he sets out to return home, only to be set upon by two marauders (a drunk and a sadistic hustler), for some reason in the company of a banker who manages to save Jonas's life but steals his money. Severely beaten and branded, Jonas is left for dead. Rescued by a farmer who nurses him back to health, Jonas becomes consumed by the desire for revenge. As fate would have it, all three men live close to Jonas' former home. Matters quickly get worse when Jonas reunites with his wife, only to discover that she is now engaged to the banker, one of the men upon whom Jonas now seeks vengeance. —phillindholm (updated by R.M. Sieger)

In the Broken Saloon at El Dorado, two old friends meet up again. Sheriff J.P. Harrah (Robert Mitchum) greets Cole Thornton (John Wayne) with a pointed rifle.They've both been friends since before and during the American Civil War. But J.P has heard his friend now works for Bart Jason (Edward Asner). Thornton admits that Jason has offered him good money, but he doesn't know what he has to do to earn it. J.P explains "Jason showed up here around the end of the Civil War with a pocketful of money and nobody could find out where he got it, but everybody else around here was broke. Having money, he started to grow, but now he needs more water. There's only one place to get it; trouble is, somebody was there ahead of him, about 20 years ahead--his name is Kevin MacDonald (R. G. Armstrong). MacDonald has four boys and a girl. The whole family have worked real hard. Hung together through the rough times; now things were looking up, MacDonald was not ready to sell, so he's holding out and Jason was pushing, and now I'm standing right in the middle." Saloon owner Maudie (Charlene Holt) walks in and throws her arms around Cole. She bursts out laughing when she realizes that her old flame and her current one are friends. Cole gave her a stake some time earlier to help her sort out her money problems when her gambling husband was killed. Thornton goes off to Jason's ranch to tell him that he's not going to work for him. Warned that Thornton has gone to Jason's, MacDonald has left his youngest boy Luke (Johnny Crawford) out on the hills to do a man's job and look out. But whilst keeping watch, he falls asleep and when he wakes up he jumps and shoots down at Thornton. Instinctively, Thornton shoots him down. Thornton rides to him and is upset to see the boy's age. He tries to make him feel comfortable but Luke is in agony. While Cole has his back turned to him, Luke pulls out his gun and kills himself. Thornton takes the body to Luke's father's place and explains what happened. Luke's sister, Joey (Michele Carey), a tomboyish, wildcat in buckskin pants doesn't believe him and tries to kill him. Her brother stops her and her father asks her to get in the house. But, she angrily rides off. Macdonald thanks Cole for returning his boy but Cole feels guilty and rides off. On his way back, Joey ambushes Cole at a creek, dropping him with a rifle bullet. He manages to get back on his horse and escapes to Maudie's place, where Doc Miller (Paul Fix) treats him. The bullet is lodged dangerously close to his spine, but the elderly doctor says he's not equipped to deal with it and to find a better surgeon for the bullet's removal. After a short time,Thornton leaves El Dorado, much to Maudie's disappointment. Several months later, Cole arrives in a town near the Mexican border and has dinner a the local cantina. A young man nicknamed Mississippi (James Caan) enters and confronts one of four men sitting at a dinner table, reminding him if he remembers him or if he remembers the black hat he is wearing? Mississippi's closest friend, mentor and father figure was accused of cheating at cards two year earlier and was killed. He says he caught up with the man's other three companions and he killed them all. He asks the last of the murderers to stand up. Mississippi isn't wearing a gun; instead, he kills the man with a knife. As one of the men tries to shoot him,Cole shoots his hand and steps in. One of the men sitting at the table is Nelse Macleod (Christopher George), a dark thin-faced man with a scar down the left side of his eye and cheek. Along with Cole and J.P., he's one of the most dangerous gunslingers in the territory. Cole discovers that he's the latest gunslinger that Bart Jason has offered good money to work for him. Not only that, but he also tells him that J.P. won't be a threat because he's been an alcoholic for months. Cole and Mississippi get ready to walk out of the cantina, but Cole stops him. He knows Macleod will have some men waiting for them to shoot and he tells him to call the men off. Mississippi, feeling grateful that he's saved his life twice, joins him for a meal. Cole soon finds out that Mississippi cannot shoot at all. He stops off at an old gunsmith friend's and gets him a shotgun to use. Cole and Mississippi arrive in El Dorado and stop off at Maudie's to find out if any strangers have been hanging around. She says no and she tells him the full extent of J.P's alcoholism. Cole goes over to the sheriff's office with Mississippi and finds Bull (Arthur Hunnicutt) on guard outside--who has been trying to keep law and order all on his own for the last few months. Cole goes inside to wake up J.P., who's asleep in the cell. He throws some water over him to wake him up. J.P punches him and and Cole knocks him out with a pan to his head. Mississippi makes some special drink in order to keep him off the booze. With the black-looking mixture in his system, any alcohol J.P drinks afterwards will just make him feel sick. The next afternoon, Bart Jason arrives in town and waits in the saloon for Nelse Macleod to turn up. At the same time, the Macdonald family arrive for their weekly town shopping. Bull goes off to keep an eye on the Macdonald's and tells Colt he'll blow on his trumpet if there's any trouble. Later at night, J.P. gets up, looking for some alcohol. Cole tells him they've got rid of it all. J.P. goes over to the saloon to get a bottle of whiskey and Bart and Macleod start laughing at him. He walks back in shame. Gunshots are heard and Bull blows the trumpet. Cole and Mississippi run out and find one of Macdonald's boys wounded. Cole, J.P., Mississippi and Bull search the town for the gunmen responsible. A woman comes to the window and tells Mississippi that she saw a few men take off down the street towards he church. A gunfight breaks out and two of the men are killed but the man with the limp gets away. They follow him into Jason's saloon. J.P. is angry from the humiliation he had earlier and he wants to prove what he's made of. Everyone denies seeing a man enter but the pianist looks nervous. J.P. tells him to get out of the way and begins firing his rifle at the piano. The gunman comes out from hiding and starts shooting but J.P kills him. The barman goes for a gun but J.P. shoots the top of the bar and a load of wooden splinters go through his hand. J.P. approaches the men who were laughing at him earlier. He hits one man in the stomach with the rifle and whacks Jason over the face. He's ready to shoot him but Cole intervenes. J.P. calms down and arrests him. As they are taking him to jail, Mississippi sees someone pointing a gun at them from the stable and goes to check it out. He grabs the person and sees it's a woman, in fact Joey, who was trying to get a shot at Bart for revenge. He takes her over to the jail to confirm her identity. She asks J.P. if Jason will get what he deserves. He says it's up to the judge. She thanks them for what they've done and leaves. Cole and Mississippi walk around the town on night-watch and some of Jason's men come riding along. Mississippi dives into the street right in front of the horses' hooves. The horses jump over him and he shoots one of the men. J.P. comes running out of the office and takes a bullet in the leg. As Cole tends to his wound inside, he asks Mississippi why he dove under the horses and he tells him that you can't shoot properly while your horse is jumping in the air and an horse won't step on a person. The doctors are in the office removing the bullet from J.P's leg. They tell Cole that it would be a good idea for him to have the bullet removed from his back. Cole tells them if he survives all the trouble with Jason's men, he'll have it taken care of. J.P. is feeling restless and frustrated and trying to control his need to drink. He comes up with the idea to lock themselves away in the office with some food and water until the U.S. marshal arrives to pick Jason up. Bull recommends that he cleans himself up if they're going to be confined together. While J.P. takes a bath, Joey and Maudie bring some things around for them to last them until the marshal's arrival. Cole gets angry with her and tells her that it's best for her to stay away because Jason's men might use her to get Jason back from them. Later at night, a friend of Maudie's arrives with a note from Maudie saying that Macleod's men have been hanging around her place and that she's heard that they've got something planned. Cole and Mississippi go over to to the saloon but a gunman starts shooting at them. They chase him through the saloon, out to the back door. Two men tell them the person went out the back door. Mississippi luckily recognizes the men as Milt and Pedro and remembers the incident from their previous encounter. Cole asks if him anyone's waiting outside for them. Milt says no but Cole tells him to walk out. Milt doesn't want to but Cole shoots him in the arm and tells him to go. Milt says he lied, there's somebody out there. Cole shoots him in the leg. With no choice, Milt runs out of the doors shouting not to shoot but he is gunned down. Cole tells Pedro to go next but as he is trying to force him out the doors, he starts suffering with the numbness down his arm again. He falls to the floor in pain. Pedro goes for his gun but Mississippi kills him but he is knocked out from behind. Mississippi and Maudie go to the office through the back door to tell them what's happened. Macleod has Cole and wants to trade him for Jason. J.P. reluctantly agrees. He frees Jason and he, Cole, Bull and Mississippi flee town and hide out at his place. Bull is suspicious that Macleod let them get out of town too easily. Joey turns up to tell them that her brother Saul has been kidnapped by Jason and he will only be returned if the Macdonald ranch is handed over to him. With Bull's age, Mississippi's poor shooting skills, and Cole and J.P's crippled condition, the odds are stacked against them. Cole realizes he can still use a rifle with one hand, so they hatch a plan. They ride back into town. Cole drives a wagon to the front of the saloon to confront Macleod, who has Jason and a few men at his side; while a few of the other men keep watch over Saul in the saloon. J.P., Mississippi and Bull go through the back door to get behind them. Bull fires an arrow into the back of one of Macleod's men and blows his bugle, which distracts Macleod long enough for Cole to jump from the wagon and gun him down. J.P. and Mississippi handle the rest of the men inside. Jason goes to grab one of Macleod's guns to kill Cole but Joey is hiding in the distance and shoots him first.. Cole thanks her for saving his life. He walks over to Macleod as he lays dying. He says to him "You never gave me a chance at all did you?" Cole replies "No, I didn't. You're too good to give a chance to," leaving Macleod to die with his pride intact. The story ends as Cole has his leg wrapped up from scattershot from Mississippi who accidentally caught him with his shotgun during the gunfight. Mississippi goes off to talk to Joey, Cole goes off to see Maudie, and J.P. and Bull have a drink while J.P. tells him he needs him as his deputy. The story ends with Cole and J.P. both now limping down the street as Cole prepares to leave town and J.P. has gained his self respect back.

Ranch owner Katie Elder's four sons determine to avenge the murder of their father and the swindling of their mother. The Elder boys return to Clearwater, Texas for their Mother's funeral. John, the eldest, is a well-known gunfighter and trouble follows him wherever he goes. The boys try to get their ranch back from the town's gunsmith who won it from their father in a card game, after which he was murdered. Troubles come, however, just because they carry the Elder name. —anonymous

In Texas, a woman and her young daughter head down to another town where the girl's irresponsible, hotheaded and immature father has just been released from prison on parole. With her infant daughter Margaret Rose in tow, Georgette Thomas pulls up stakes from Tyler, Texas to head to Columbus, Texas to be reunited with her husband, Henry Thomas, who has just been released from prison on parole. Columbus is Henry's hometown. Margaret Rose has never met her father. Henry is not yet ready for this reunion as he is an irresponsible soul, who has problems looking after himself, let alone a wife and infant daughter. People in Columbus are doing whatever they can to help Henry, people such as Slim, the Deputy Sheriff who has known Henry since they were kids, and the Tillmans, who have given him a place to live as well as a job to do chores around their house. However, Henry is reluctant to give up songwriting and performing with his rockabilly band, the honky-tonks where he plays the environments which exacerbated his previous life problems. Henry has the unrealistic belief that he will become the next Elvis Presley. Beyond these issues, the biggest obstacle in the Thomases becoming a happy, united family may be Miss Kate Dawson, the judgmental woman who raised Henry. Miss Kate, who still acts as his unofficial voice of reason and who believes the only right path for Henry is to go back to school, believes that Henry has never made a good decision on his own. —Huggo Henry Thomas is out on parole in a small Texan town and, in the evenings, he is the lead singer in a band. He is being pressured by his foster mother to give up his singing and go back to school. His wife, Georgette, and young daughter unexpectedly come to town to live with him. However Henry's hot temper leads him into knife fights, and jeopardizes his parole. —Will Gilbert

The titles appear as a young child babbles while picking through childhood mementos found in a cigar box. An adult woman is recalling formative events of her childhood in the small Alabama town of Macomb, that was "a tired old town even in 1932" when she "first knew it." They had recently been told they "had nothing to fear but fear itself," which refers to FDR's inaugural address of March 1933. She was six years old that summer. Jean Louise "Scout" Finch (Mary Badham), wearing bib overalls and her hair in bangs, greets Walter Cunningham, a farmer who is dropping off some hickory nuts. She summons her father Atticus (Gregory Peck) to thank him. When Mr. Cunningham leaves, Atticus explains that he is embarrassed to have to pay for "some legal work" in this way. Their cook Calpurnia (Estelle Evans) wants Scout's older brother Jem (Phillip Alford) to come in for breakfast, but he is sulking in his treehouse because Atticus says he is "too old to play football for the Methodists." Miss Maudie (Rosemary Murphy) across the street assures them that he is respected as a very skilled lawyer. In the collard patch of their neighbor they discover a boy a little older than Scout. He is Dill (John Mosna), staying with his Aunt Stephanie for the summer. They tell him about the neighbor two houses away they have never seen. Jem describes him as a homicidal maniac of frightening appearance. Dill's Aunt Stephanie (Alice Ghostly) adds to the story. At 5:00 o'clock they walk to meet Atticus, returning home, and pass by elderly Mrs. Dubose, who rails at them from her porch. Atticus handles her with his customary grace and sensitivity. That evening, Atticus listens to Scout read aloud. When she asks about Boo Radley, Atticus reminds her that he has told them "to leave those poor people alone." They reminisce about her mother, who died when Scout was two and Jem was six. Judge Taylor (Paul Fix) comes to ask Atticus to defend in a problematic case involving a man named Tom Robinson. He is relieved and grateful when Atticus agrees to. The next day, Dill dares Jem to go up to the Radley's porch. Jem can't avoid it when Scout, rolling in a loose tire, ends up at the foot of their steps. Dill suggests they all go to the courthouse to see where Boo Radley had been locked up. They end up looking in to the preliminary hearing concerning Tom Robinson. Tom is a black man who has been accused of raping and beating a young white woman, Mayella Ewell. Bob Ewell (James Anderson), the girl's father, confronts Atticus in the hallway. He tells Atticus he is concerned that "people are saying you believed Tom Robinson's story agin ourn." He becomes quite hostile, but Atticus remains calm, and cold. At night, Dill prompts Jem to look in a back window of the Radley house. The shadow of a man in a baggy shirt looms over Jem, and the shadow of his hand reaches out to touch Jem. When Jem cowers in fright, the man quietly withdraws. The children flee. Jem's overalls get caught in the chickenwire fence, and he has to leave them. Dill is called home, and he says, "See you next summer." When Jem goes back to get his pants, Scout hears a gunshot, but Jem returns safely. They go around to the street to find the neighbors in an uproar because Mr. Radley had fired to frighten "a prowler." Atticus calmly says the excitement is over. On her first day of school, Scout feels very awkward wearing a dress. She has a rough first day, and gets in a fight with young Walter Cunningham, Jr. Jem breaks up the fight and invites Walter to have lunch at their house. Jem learns that Walter has his own gun, and hunts rabbits and squirrels with his dad for food. Atticus tells of getting his first gun, when his father told him it was "sin to shoot a mockingbird," because it does no harm, but only sings. Scout is appalled when Walter drowns his plate in syrup, but Calpurnia gives her a lecture on hospitality. That evening, when she complains about school, Atticus teaches her about empathy and compromise. Jem spots a rabid dog wandering down their street, approaching their house. Calpurnia takes the children inside and calls Atticus, who shows up with the local sheriff, Heck Tate (Frank Overton). Tate has a hunting rifle but doesn't believe he can make the shot. He asks Atticus to shoot the dog; Atticus is reluctant but takes up the rifle when Tate insists. After removing his glasses, Atticus shoots the dog dead with one shot, much to the astonishment of Jem. Tate starts to tell Jem and Scout that Atticus is the best shot in the county but Atticus stops him and leaves with the sheriff. Both children ask to go with Atticus when he visits Tom Robinson's wife, Helen. Waiting in the car, Scout falls asleep, but Jem is frightened when drunken Bob Ewell lurches against the window, and calls Atticus "nigger lover." Atticus reassures Jem, "He's all bluff," and says that he wished he could keep the ugly things in this world away from them, but knows that is not possible. When he drives Calpurnia home, Jem waits nervously, listening to the spooky night sounds. Scout continues to have fights at school, because people denigrate Atticus for defending a Negro. He explains that he has to defend Tom Robinson, or he could not hold his head up in town. He tells her she must not fight, no matter what people say. In a hole in a tree in front of the Radley's, the children find two carved figures that look just like them. Mr. Radley appears and cements up the hole. That night, Jem shows Scout a cigar box filled with all sorts of little gifts that he had found in the tree. He tells her how the night he went back to get his "britches" he had found them "folded across the fence." When summer comes, Dill returns, and Tom Robinson's trial is due to start soon. He has spent the year in the Abbotsville jail, because the Sheriff thought he would be safer there. Now he is back at the town jail, and Heck Tate expects trouble. Atticus takes a reading light, and leaves. Jem wants to check on him, and he and Scout and Dill walk downtown. Atticus is reading in a chair on the jail porch. Suddenly, numerous cars arrive, and men with rifles approach. The children push their way forward. Jem refuses when Atticus tells them to go home. There is an impasse, until Scout recognizes Mr. Cunningham, and politely and in and empathetic tone, speaks to him about the legal work Atticus is doing for him. Something in Scout's tone makes Cunningham look ashamed and he gets the mob to leave with him. Next morning, crowds arrive to attend the trial, and the children go down to the courthouse. They are able to find a place with Rev. Sykes (Bill Walker) in the gallery, with all the black people who have turned out for the trial. In the Sheriff's testimony Atticus establishes that Mayella Ewell (Collin Wilcox) was badly beaten on the right side of her face and had finger marks all around her neck. Bob Ewell testifies that he returned from one of his fields to hear Mayella screaming, and that he saw who did it. Ewell gets up to leave and Atticus has to tell him to remain for his questions. He asks why no doctor was called, and gets Ewell to write his name. The judge points out that this shows he is left handed. Ewell feels tricked. Mayella testifies that she asked Tom to "bust up" a chifforobe (a piece of furniture like a wardrobe) in the yard, and that when she went in to get him a nickel he followed her and attacked her. Atticus asks her if her father got riled when he drank, and asks if he had ever beaten her. Mayella is extremely uncomfortable, and her testimony is inconsistent. When Tom (Brock Peters) stands to be identified, Atticus asks him to catch a small drinking glass he tosses to him. Atticus tells Tom to try catching it with his left hand, to which Tom replies he can't; his left arm is crippled because he caught in a cotton gin when he was twelve. When he asks Mayella how Tom could have done what she claims, she breaks down and rails at Atticus and the jury, saying she wants the man guilty of beating her punished. She then refuses to say anymore and is taken back to her father. The prosecutor rests, and Atticus calls Tom Robinson to the stand. Tom is dignified and articulate, but increasingly uncomfortable. He testifies that he busted up a chifforobe for Mayella "way last spring . . . way over a year ago," and refused the nickel she offered. After that he did lots of favors that she asked him to do, until one day she got him in the house and grabbed him and told him to kiss her. Bob Ewell "cussed at her from the window" and said he "was gonna kill her." In cross examination, the prosecutor (William Windom) gets Tom to admit he is "strong enough to choke the breath out of a woman and sling her to the floor." He scoffs at Tom's helpfulness and says: "You felt sorry for her? A white woman?" After the prosecutor has spoken his closing argument, Atticus is allowed to give his. Atticus points out the lack of evidence, the fact that no doctor examined Mayella and that Mayella was beaten by someone left handed. He says that he has pity for Mayella, "a victim of cruel poverty and ignorance," but cannot let her put a man's life at stake to cover her guilt at breaking the social code. In the gallery, Jem watches the proceedings, mesmerized. He asks the Reverend how long the jury has been out deciding the verdict. The Reverend tells them it's been nearly two hours when the jury returns, bringing back a verdict of guilty. The judge dismisses them and leaves, slamming his door. Atticus tells Tom that he had told Helen they would "probably lose this one." All the white people leave the court. The blacks in the gallery watch Atticus gather his papers. Gradually, they all stand out of respect. Rev. Sykes says, "Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your fathers passin'." Back at home, Miss Maudie tells a disconsolate Jem that his father is one of those "men in this world who are born to do our unpleasant jobs for us." Sheriff Tate arrives and talks with Atticus, who then reports that Tom has been killed. A deputy had shot at him and had "missed his aim" when Tom "broke loose and ran . . . like a crazy man." He says that on appeal they would have had "more than a good chance." Jem insists on accompanying Atticus to go tell Tom's family. Bob Ewell arrives and spits at Atticus, who calmly wipes his face and leaves. In October, Scout wears a ham costume in a school pageant; she is dressed as a large ham. She wears it walking home with Jem after dark because she couldn't find her overalls after the performance was over. In a small grove they often walk through as a shortcut, they are attacked by an unseen assailant. Jem yells loudly and is thrown to the ground, unconscious. The attacker grabs Scout. Another man in a baggy shirt arrives and there is a struggle with their attacker. Scout cannot see well from inside her costume, but she hears a loud grunt and sees the man in the baggy shirt carrying Jem to their house. Scout wriggles out of her ham costume and gets home finding Jem is unconscious, with a badly broken arm. Atticus runs out of the house yelling for Scout and she runs into his arms sobbing and babbling about what happened. After a doctor has come to take care of Jem, Sheriff Tate investigates the scene where the kids were attacked and reports that Bob Ewell has been killed with "a kitchen knife." He asks Scout to tell him what happened. She only has limited detail but says she was saved from Ewell by a man she couldn't see very well. Just then, Scout sees the man who rescued them behind Jem's door, and realizes it is Boo Radley (Robert Duvall). He recoils slightly when Atticus gently pulls the door away from him, allowing Scout to see his face. She takes him by the hand, and invites him to "say goodnight to Jem." When he hesitates to touch Jem, she reassures him that he "can pet him," since he is asleep. Boo strokes Jem's head gently. Scout and Boo go out to their front porch, sitting quietly while Atticus discusses the incident with Tate. Atticus, thinking Jem wielded the knife, begins to consider a case of self defense involving Jem, when the sheriff corrects him. He says decisively: "Bob Ewell fell on his knife." He implies that Boo must have killed Bob Ewell. He says he feels Boo did a civic duty "to do his utmost to prevent a crime from being committed," and that to "drag him into the limelight" would be "a sin." Scout agrees-- that it would be like shooting a mockingbird. Atticus shakes Boo's hand, and says, "Thank you, Arthur, for my children." Scout walks Boo back to his front door.

A locksmith gets caught up in a bank robbery. There's $200,000 in a Los Angeles safety-deposit box that mobster Willis Trent would like to have, so he gets two-timing, double-dealing Flo Randall to get the box number for him. He offers locksmith Tommy Dancer $5,000 to make the key but Tommy refuses. Trent threatens to harm Tommy's girl friend, Betty Turner, and Tommy gives in and goes to the bank. In a few nerve-racking minutes, Tommy makes the key and pockets the $200,000 for himself. Trent sends word that he has kidnapped Betty and the ransom is $200,000. —Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net> The mobster Willis Trent is informed by one of his gangsters that the locksmith Tommy Dancer is efficient and fast in his work. Willis befriends Tommy in a bowling alley and invites him to open a trunk at his home. Tommy accepts the job and is then also invited to Willis' party, where he meets the wealthy Betty Turner. Later Tommy and Betty go back to his place and Betty forgets her fur stole when she goes home. The next morning, Tommy returns the fur to Betty and they go on another date that night. Willis offers five thousand dollars to Tommy to make the keys of the safe deposit box no. 315 in the Hollywood Bank that belongs to the rival criminal and head of gambling Paul De Camp and has two hundred thousand dollars of illegal money. Tommy turns down the offer, but Willis threatens to harm Betty's face to achieve his goal. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Captain Tom Wilder (John Wayne), an American Merchant Mariner, is taken prisoner after his ship is seized by the Chinese Communists. After two years in prison, he is helped to escape with both bribery and by disguising himself as a Soviet army officer. A large Chinese man Big Han (Mike Mazurki) transports Wilder to Chiku Shan village without divulging why he was broken out of prison. The village leader, Mr. Tso (Paul Fix), tells Wilder he has been recruited to transport nearly 200 Chiku Shan residents out of Red China to freedom in the British port of Hong Kong. For the task, Captain Wilder must pilot a stolen, wood-burning, flat-bottomed 19th Century stern-wheel riverboat. He will need to utilize his detailed memory of the China coast to draw a chart and navigate using an unreliable magnetic compass, and without a chronometer. Finally, he must rely upon the villagers' determination and resources to escape. The villagers have been planning their escape for more than a year, gradually raising the harbor channel's bottom with stones in order to trap the local Red Chinese patrol boat once it has been lured inside. Sinking sampans loaded with rocks at the channel mouth will cause the patrol boat to run aground while the village escapes. The villagers have also been secretly accumulating arms, ranging from Browning machine guns to Mosin-Nagant rifles and Nagant revolvers. Their plan is complicated by having to bring along the large Communist Feng family so they will not be blamed for allowing the mass escape. The villagers include the riverboat's Chief Engineer, a U.S. Navy-trained marine engineer named Tack (Henry Nakamura), who helps steal the steamboat. Tack and Wilder bring the stern wheeler to Chiku Shan village where it is loaded with furnace firewood, boiler water, and all their provisions; it is re-christened with the village's name. Wilder meets and is attracted to a tough and determined American woman named Cathy Grainger (Lauren Bacall), whose father is a medical missionary in the village. Dr. Grainger was recently executed by the Red Chinese following unsuccessful surgery on a political commissar. To prevent her staying behind, Wilder tells Cathy about her father's death just before the villagers leave Chiku Shan, though she refuses to believe him. Following their plan, the villagers lure the patrol boat into the harbor and trap it there. They flee down the coast in the stolen ferryboat, bluffing their way past a People's Liberation Army Navy destroyer. They disappear into a fog bank, hiding by day in shoreline reed marshes and sailing south only at night. The Fengs attempt to sabotage the escape, first by poisoning the food and water supply, then attempting and failing to take over Chiku Shan during a heavy storm. Cathy eventually comes to terms with her attraction to the gruff Captain Wilder. A shortage of firewood, drinking water, and boiler water compels the Chiku Shan to pull into the Graveyard of Ships at Honghai Bay. Captain Wilder orders the wrecks stripped of wood and water siphoned from various depressions and abandoned tanks for both the boiler and for drinking water. A loose heavy timber suddenly plows through the stern wheel while mooring the steamboat, snapping two of the paddle blades. Wilder is forced to stay in the Graveyard longer than planned in order to make repairs. At the same time, Cathy goes ashore and returns after learning of her father's fate. The Fengs are put ashore, only to be taken back aboard when the pursuing Red Chinese destroyer begins shelling the Graveyard from a distance. It launches power boats to search for the ferry in the shallow harbor. Chiku Shan makes a run for it into a marshy estuary, and disappears. Because smoke would reveal their position, the villagers both pole and tow the riverboat through miles of marshlands until reaching the open sea beyond the destroyer's search area. Tack fires up the boiler, and the steamboat proceeds to Hong Kong with the refugees. Their triumphant arrival is hailed by the steam whistles and ship sirens of every vessel in the harbor.

At a state mental institution, Korean War veteran and patient Dublin O'Malley treasures a photograph of Valerie St. Denis, a trapeze artist in the Clyde Beatty Circus, with whom he had a relationship years before when he was a circus ringmaster. His refusal to discuss his obsession with Valerie leads the parole board to consider Dublin uncooperative, and after consideration, they proclaim him "schizophrenic and possibly homicidal." Realizing that his release will not be granted, Dublin escapes and kills a man to fake his own death. Then, in the town where the Beatty Circus is performing, Dublin secretly contacts the alcoholic clown, Twitchy, who recalls a drinking spree in which Dublin was saved from the lions by the circus owner and animal trainer, Clyde Beatty. Although Twitchy is unaware of it, Dublin has been haunted for years by the laughter of the circus people at his predicament and seeks revenge on Clyde for making him look foolish. Using knowledge of Twitchy's involvement in a woman's accidental death years before, Dublin blackmails him into causing a series of accidents to disrupt the circus. Later, the circus manager, Frank Wallace, suspects sabotage, noting that the results of the accidents--financial loss and the employees' fear of a jinx--are destroying the company. After Clyde is almost killed when a restraining rope in the lion cage breaks, Frank asks for help from Mickey Spillane, the writer of the "Mike Hammer" detective books. Soon after, Dublin gets himself rehired as ringmaster, although Frank fears trouble between Dublin and Valerie's possessive husband Armand. When Valerie sees Dublin for the first time after many years and introduces her five-year-old daughter Nellie, she asks him not to mention their past to Armand, whom she met and married after Dublin left the circus. However, while pretending to be friendly, Dublin makes double-edged comments and, after shooting and developing photographs of the St. Denis family, remarks how Nellie's nose is different than either of her parents. Although Valerie becomes uneasy, Armand is oblivious to Dublin's remarks, so Dublin takes out his frustration by tormenting a caged tiger. Frank and Clyde allow Paul Martin, who claims to be a magazine journalist, to travel with the company to do a series of articles on the circus. Later, Paul, who is really a police detective investigating the accidents at Spillane's request, finds proof from a lab test that the accidents were rigged, as the rope in the lion cage was burned apart with film developer. However, after several days, the culprit still eludes Paul, so Spillane, inspired by his own detective books, suggests that they consider the person who seems least guilty. They begin to watch Dublin, although he appeared on the scene after problems began. When Armand's rigging fails during a performance and the artist almost falls to his death, Clyde is surprised that Twitchy was the last person to check the rigging, as the clown, who is a former aerialist, should have easily spotted any problems. Meanwhile, a remorseful Twitchy wants to confess to Frank, but Dublin drowns him in a horse trough, making his death appear to be the result of inebriation. However, Frank, Spillane and Paul question whether someone else was behind his death and the other accidents, despite Dublin's efforts to frame the dead Twitchy. Later, Paul receives a telegram from authorities describing Dublin as an escaped homicidal maniac and Spillane searches the killer's trailer. Caught in the act by Dublin, Spillane is blinded by the killer's flashgun and restrained with a curtain cord. Paul arrives in time to prevent Dublin from pouring acid in Spillane's eyes, but Dublin escapes to the St. Denises' trailer. There he proclaims his unique and abiding affection to Valerie, but as soon as Armand shows up, Dublin flees to the animal tent and frees the tiger from its cage. After running to a train that has stopped nearby, he hops aboard a freight car, laughing maniacally at his easy escape. While others search for Dublin, Clyde tries unsuccessfully to maneuver the tiger back into its cage, but when it instead heads for the train and jumps into the freight car, he shuts it inside for safekeeping. Before Clyde and the others can stop it, the train departs, but they can hear Dublin's anguished cries as the tiger kills him.

At a remote ranch in the desert of New Mexico, homesteader Angie Lowe (Geraldine Page) and her six year-old son Johnny (Lee Aaker) come upon a stranger (John Wayne) drinking water from their river, carrying only a saddle and a rifle. The man tells them only his last name, Lane, and that he is part Apache and was exploring Indian Territory as a US Army Cavalry scout. His horse was stolen a few days earlier, and offers US Army scrip in exchange for one of her horses. Angie tells Lane that her ranch hand had quit recently and hadn't had a chance to break one of her two horses for riding, so Lane offers to break the horse himself. He also asks where her husband is, and she says he is hunting in the mountains and should be back soon. Johnny watches with fascination as Lane takes one of the horses, and saddles and rides the bucking and untamed animal with ease. Lane also offers to do a few chores around the ranch, including sharpening an axe blade and chopping firewood. Lane deduces by the neglected work around the ranch that her husband has not been at the ranch for some time, a fact she is forced to admit. When night falls and the weather grows inclement, Angie offers to put Lane up in her home on a floor bed in the corner. Angie discovers that the butt of his rifle is inscribed to "Hondo" Lane, a name she knows to belong to a criminal, and she pulls a pistol on him and fires, but there is no cartridge in the first chamber. She had left it empty so that Johnny wouldn't shoot it accidentally. Hondo returns to his Cavalry post, leaving Angie and Johnny alone at the ranch, where he meets up with his scout sidekick Buffalo Baker (Ward Bond) and reports to his commanding officer that the Chiricauhua Apache lodges in the area are banding together and attacking settlers. At the ranch, Angie and Johnny are surrounded by menacing Apaches led by Chief Vittorio (Michael Pate) and his sub-chief, Silva (Rodolfo Acosta). Angie is not nervous as she has always let them water their horses at her ranch and they had never hurt her. On this occasion, they threaten and grab Angie. Johnny emerges from the house with the loaded pistol and shoots at Silva, hitting and breaking his weapon. Vittorio is impressed by Johnny's bravery, and makes him an Apache blood brother by cutting Johhny's thumb with a knife and giving him an Apache name. Vittorio wonders where Angie's husband is, and she tells him that he will return soon. Vittorio tells her that the boy needs a father to guide him, and unless her husband returns soon, she must take an Apache husband. A night or two later in a saloon, Hondo calls a friend from his poker game, but one of the poker party objects. He and Hondo get into a fight, and Hondo beats the man up badly, driving him out the door. Buffalo Baker tells Hondo the man called himself "Ed Lowe" (Leo Gordon), and Hondo suspects he might be Angie's missing husband. Feeling guilty, he leaves the fort to return Angie's horse back to her. Seeking revenge for the bar beating, Lowe and an accomplice follow Hondo through the desert as he makes his way back to Angie's ranch. Hondo camps near a river but leaves it when he detects three Indians stalking him nearby. Lowe enters the camp and he and his friend are attacked by two Indians. The friend is killed, but Hondo shoots and kills an Apache about to kill Lowe. Lowe is briefly grateful but turns his gun on Hondo in retaliation for the bar beating. Hondo defends himself, killing Lowe. Hondo finds a photo of Johnny alongside Lowe's body, confirming that Lowe is Johnny's father and Angie's husband. Continuing towards Lowe's ranch, Hondo runs into an Apache party, who pursue Hondo through the desert. He kills several but they eventually capture him. They take Hondo to the top of a nearby mesa when Vittorio appears. They stake him out and begin to torture and prepare to kill him because he is an Army scout. An Indian shows Vittorio the picture of Johnny from Hondo's saddlebag, and Vittoria thinks Hondo is Angie's husband. He orders the Indians to untie him and declares that he must fight Silva for honor, as he is one of Angie's potential suitors. Hondo and Silva fight using knives. Silva wounds Hondo in the shoulder, but Hondo pins Silva to the ground. Hondo puts his knife to Silva's throat, but Vittoria steps forward and Hondo spares Silva's life, temporarily buying his own life in return. Vittorio takes Hondo to Angie's ranch, and when Vittoria asks if Hondo is her husband, she lies, saving Hondo. The Chief warns Hondo to raise Johnny in the Apache way and leaves them. While Hondo recuperates from his wounds, he shows her the picture of Johnny that he tells her he took from Lowe's body. She asks if he died well, and Hondo pauses before saying that he had. Over the next few weeks, Hondo and Angie grow closer. Hondo and Angie express their growing love for each other. Hondo attempts to reveal the truth of her husband's death, but is interrupted by Vittorio's sudden appearance. Vittorio tells them that the pony soldiers will soon return. He asks Hondo not to join them and to keep the Indian's location a secret. Hondo promises to do the first but not the latter, and Vittoria shows respect for Hondo's truthfulness. Angie tells him she loves him, and they cement their relationship with a kiss. The Army arrives at the ranch, commanded by an ambitious, inexperienced young Lt. McKay (Tom Irish) and accompanied by scouts Baker and Lennie (James Arness). McKay is determined to take all the settlers in the area back to the Army post to protect them and defend the territory against Apache attacks. Lennie reveals that he discovered Lowe's body and matched the horse tracks to Hondo's horse. He wants Hondo's Winchester rifle in exchange for keeping quiet about how Hondo bushwhacked Lowe. Angie overhears Lennie's demands. Hondo prepares to leave, but before he goes, he tells her the truth about her husband's death. Hondo is also intent on telling Johnny, but she persuades him not to, telling Hondo she didn't love her husband any longer and had grown tired of his womanizing and gambling. She says it would be an unkind thing to tell the boy about the true nature of his father's death and that the secret won't follow them to Hondo's ranch in California. Hondo responds to her emotional plea with an Indian word that seals a squaw-seeking ceremony, "Varlabania", which he tells her means "forever". The Army leaves to move further on into Apache territory and as promised Hondo refuses to go with them but tells them where Vittorio and his party are. The Army returns after being ambushed by the Apaches, suffering heavy casualties including wounds to Lt. McKay. Vittorio had been killed, causing the Apaches to retreat so they can regroup and select a new chief. Hondo leads the Cavalry and settlers back towards the fort, taking Angie and Johnny with them. The group is attacked by the Apaches, now led by Silva, but the group circles their wagons. They escape the encirclement twice but the Apaches continue their pursuit. Hondo loses his mount and is attacked by Silva, but Honda kills him, retrieving Lt. McKay's uniform shirt from his body. The Indians retreat again to choose a replacement chief. Lt. McKay says the General Crook will be arriving in the territory with a large force to pursue the Apache. Hondo sadly notes the end of the Apache "way of life."

In 1883, an American merchant ship's captain is searching for a treasure in diamonds from a sunken Dutch ship in the vicinity of a volcanic island in the Dutch East Indies. The Dutch East Indies, at the end of the nineteenth century. An adventurous captain of an American merchant vessel is looking for a sunken Dutch vessel containing 10,000 precious diamonds. Unfortunately, he's not the only one and then there's also that volcano on the nearby island of Krakatau, waiting to explode in its historical, disastrous eruption... —Homme A. Piest <piest@pobox.leidenuniv.nl>

John Vickers joins Custer's cavalry regiment seeking private revenge. John Vickers finally tracks down one of the three men who killed his true love. Before he dies, the miscreant admits that his accomplices joined the cavalry. Vickers, a former officer himself, does likewise, after saving pretty Molly Quade from rowdy Sergeant O'Hara, who sets out to harass the new recruit. After incidents during a battle with the Sioux, Vickers is pretty sure O'Hara is one of his men. But can he reconcile his desire for vengeance with loyalty to the Army? —Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>

In 1818 Alabama, French settlers are pitted against greedy land-grabber Blake Randolph but Kentucky militiaman John Breen, who's smitten with French gal Fleurette De Marchand, comes to the settlers' aid. Following Napoleon's Waterloo defeat and the exile of his officers and their families from France, the U.S.Congress, in 1817, granted four townships in the Alabama territory to the exiles. Led by Colonel Georges Geraud and General Paul DeMarchand, the struggling settlers have made a thriving community, called Demopolis, by the summer of 1819. On a shopping trip to Mobile, Fleurette DeMarchand, the General's daughter, meets John Breen, a Kentucky rifleman, who detours his regiment through Demopolis to court her. But Fleurette, despite her wish to marry for love, must bow to the needs of her fellow exiles, who are at the mercy of the rich and wealthy Blake Randolph, and who wants her as his bride. But John Breen has no intention of allowing that to happen, resigns from his regiment, and takes up the fight against Randolph and his hirelings. —Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net> In Alabama in 1818, Kentucky militiaman John Breen falls in love with a French exile and discovers a plot to steal the land her fellow exiles plan to settle on. —Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>

During the 1860s in the South Pacific, Capt. Ralls, skipper of the Red Witch, has a series of adventures involving sunken gold bullion, pearls, natives, an unscrupulous ship owner and a giant octopus. Captain Ralls fights Dutch shipping magnate Mayrant Sidneye for the woman he loves, Angelique Desaix, and for a fortune in gold aboard the Red Witch. —Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>

Cavalry officer John Drum attempts to track down outlaw Whit Lacey, but finds he must join forces with Lacey to fight a Sioux war party. In the 1870s, fugitive outlaw Johnny Drum is confronted by Sheriff Sam Borden inside a general store. Drum shoots the sheriff in front of customers Lin Conner and Julie Ann McCabe. The two women are saloon dancers and Julie happens to be the girlfriend of another wanted outlaw, Whit Lacey. He's wanted for raiding Eben Martin's mining operations. After escaping the town, Drum takes to the trail where he's followed by the sheriff deputies and their posse. He manages to elude them but he's attacked by a band of Sioux. Fortunately, Drum is aided in the ensuing firefight by bandit Whit Lacey who happened by. The two outlaws become friends and partners. They plan various robbery schemes. Lacey needs the money to move to California with his sweetheart, Julie Ann McCabe. Unknown to Lacey, Drum actually is an undercover army officer who only pretended to kill the town sheriff in order to create a cover story in his quest to find and apprehend Lacey. Eventually, Lacey finds out the truth about Drum but allows him to leave their hideout unharmed. Later, Drum and the town's deputies capture Lacey and take him to the nearest army fort. They want Lacey tried but some angry citizens at the fort want to lynch him, despite Drum's fierce opposition. The lynching is interrupted by a major Sioux attack on the fort. Now, they all have to forget their differences and defend the fort until reinforcements arrive. Drum and Lacey find themselves fighting, once more, side by side. —nufs68

In 1871 Dakota, two crooked businessmen oppose the local wheat farmers and the railroad development to control the town of Fargo. In 1871, professional gambler John Devlin elopes with Sandra "Sandy" Poli, daughter of Marko Poli, an immigrant who has risen to railroad tycoon. Sandy, knowing that the railroad is to be extended into Dakota, plans to use their $20,000 nest egg to buy land options to sell to the railroad at a profit. On the stage trip to Ft. Abercrombie, their fellow passengers are Jim Bender and Bigtree Collins, who practically own the town of Fargo, and Devlin is aware that they are prepared to protect the little empire: trying to drive out the farmers by burning their property, destroying their wheat, and blaming the devastation on the Indians. Continuing their journey north on the river aboard the "River Bird', Sandy and John meet irascible old seafarer Captain Bounce. Two of Bender's henchmen, Slagin and Carp, board the boat and relieve John of his $20,000 at gunpoint. Captain Bounce, chasing the robber's dinghy, wrecks his boat on a sandbar. At Fargo, the land wars begin and John teams with the wheat farmers against the Bender gang. Several attempts are made on his life and Collins tries to frame him for murder. —Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net> John Devlin helps Dakota wheat farmers save their land from swindling entrepeneurs who hope to make a fortune selling it to the railroad for its right-of-way. —Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>

A cowboy competes with a gambling tycoon on the Barbary Coast for the hand of a beautiful dance-hall queen. Duke falls for Flaxen in the Barbary Coast in turn-of-the-century San Francisco. He loses money to crooked gambler Tito, goes home and PL: learns to gamble, and returns. After he makes a fortune he opens his own place with Flaxen as the entertainer. The 1906 quake destroys his place. —Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu> Montana cowboy Duke Fergus travels to 1906 San Francisco to collect a debt from Tito Morell who runs a place on the dodgy Barbary Coast. Though he heads home after losing the money to Morell's card-sharping, Duke takes a crash course on card play and returns with all his savings ready to take on Morell and start up his own place. A lot of this is due to Morell's woman Flaxen whom Duke has fallen for. The earth may soon be moving for him in quite dramatic ways. —Jeremy Perkins {J-26}

During WW2, the U.S. Navy implements a new idea of forming construction battalions that also are fighting units, in case of Japanese attack. Construction workers in World War II in the Pacific are needed to build military sites, but the work is dangerous and they doubt the ability of the Navy to protect them. After a series of attacks by the Japanese, something new is tried, Construction Battalions (CBs=Seabees). The new CBs have to both build and be ready to fight. —John Vogel <jlvogel@comcast.net>

A man known to be a mute is suspected of committing a murder, as he was noticed at the scene. However, witnesses saw and heard him talking as he was leaving the scene of the crime. The police must determine if he is the actual killer or if he is being framed.