Randy Quaid

It's the summer of 1963. Two young men first meet when they find work sheep-herding for the summer on Brokeback Mountain, a fictional picturesque setting in Wyoming. Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) is age 19, engaged to be married in the fall, and aspires to someday running his own ranch (following in the footsteps of his parents, who died in a car crash and left young Ennis and his brother and sister alone to fend for themselves). Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) is about the same age and dreams of becoming the greatest rodeo cowboy alive. Both feel essentially alone in the world. While sharing a cowboy's backbreaking work load, facing the toil and troubles of the weather, shortages of food and wild animal attacks, their working friendship eventually develops into something more... Breaking Joe Aguirre's (Randy Quaid) rule that one man must sleep with the sheep and one at the camp, on one night after an evening of heavy boozing and shooting the bull, they end up sharing the only tent, just to avoid freezing. The bitter cold leads to their sleeping spooned. Jack, who of the two seems more wired for attraction to other men, (and more conscious of his leanings,) initiates touching. Ennis, who is engaged to be married, seems truly naive with respect to Jack's intentions as well as his own responses, yet eventually responds to Jack, releasing his own loneliness, fear and pent-up rage into an almost violent physical passion of rough sex between them. Over the next several days, the two increasingly give in to their passion for one another, building a life-long bond. Both men eventually come to acknowledge and understand the irreversible of their bond, even if they do not both entirely accept it. When the summer ends, the two men separate and continue with their lives. Ennis marries Alma (Michelle Williams) and she soon gets pregnant and gives birth to two daughters the following year. Jack, by contrast, is still drawn to other men, and remains unmarried until he meets and after a drunken one-night stand, has a son with feisty rodeo cowgirl Lureen Newsome (Anne Hathaway). Lureen's father owns a legitimate money-making business selling farming machinery in Texas, but Jack is never accepted by Lureen's family. Searching for acceptance, approval, and unconditional love, Jack writes to Ennis. It is revealed here that the year is 1967. It has been four years since they met. They arrange to meet again. When they finally do secretly reunite in Wyoming, Ennis and Jack are overcome with emotion and passionately kiss. Ennis makes a weak attempt to be discreet, but the kiss is seen by Alma, who becomes sickened by it. One can't help but feel sorry for the two men and for Alma as well. From this point on Ennis and Jack's relationship rebuilds and develops even more deeply. Alma becomes increasingly suspicious about the men's frequent "fishing trips" up to Brokeback Mountain and eventually Alma and Ennis divorce in November 1975, with Alma getting custody of their two daughters Alma Jr. and Jenny. Jack shows up in Wyoming as soon as he hears the divorce is final, hoping to now be able to live a life ranching with Ennis. Ennis is torn, as he too longs for the idyllic life Jack describes, but he explains that if they live together, they will be killed by the locals for being "queer." This leads to an arrangement whereby Jack drives from Texas to Wyoming to meet with Ennis three or four times a year, each meeting leading to another emotional departure. By 1978, Ennis is desperately struggling to make ends meet and pay child support to his ex-wife and becoming briefly involved with a pretty waitress named Cassie Cartwright (Linda Cardellini). As a result, Ennis meets with Jack less frequently. Jack visits Mexico looking to satisfy his physical needs in seedy underground gay bars and clubs. When Jack taunts Ennis with this information in an effort to make him jealous, he ends his rant by saying "I wish I could quit you!" In 1980, Ennis gets a postcard he sent Jack returned with "deceased" marked across it. Jack is dead. When Ennis contacts Jack's wife, Lureen, she lies about Jack's death, telling Ennis he was accidentally killed by a tire iron while changing a flat, when in fact Jack was killed by a homophobic mob for being "queer," just as Ennis had said they would be. She also tells Ennis that Jack wanted his ashes spread at his favorite place, Brokeback Mountain. Ennis goes to visit Jack's childhood home, where Jack's father (Peter McRobbie) insists that Jack's ashes will be placed in the family burial plot. At Jack's mother's (Roberta Maxwell) invitation, Ennis visits Jack's room and sees two shirts, his and one of Jack's, worn by the two young men in the summer of 1963, and smeared with their blood from a fight. The shirts hang together on the same hanger, tenderly folded into one another, Jack's denim jacket with Ennis's shirt inside - united in perpetuity. Ennis takes the shirts when he leaves. Ennis moves out of town into a small trailer... alone. The place is low, bare and poorly furnished. Ennis now has nothing and no one. Jumping forward to 1983, a visit from his 19-year-old eldest daughter Alma Jr. (Kate Mara) brings happy news and a sense of hope, as she is to be married. Ennis wants only to know if her boyfriend "really" loves her. She says he does, invites Ennis to the wedding and leaves. Ennis sits, beaten down by years of hard work and alcohol - weathered, aged, and heartbroken. With him... his and Jack's shirts, still entwined, now reversed, Ennis' shirt over Jack's jacket, and a postcard with a picture of Brokeback Mountain.

The partner and nephew of an armored-truck driver tries to prevent three million dollars from being taken by a gang during a catastrophic flooding caused by a severe storm. In the small town of Huntingburg, the armored truck with three million dollars driven by Tom and his Uncle Charlie gets stuck in the flooding. They realize that the town has been evacuated since the dam does not have capacity to hold the storm. While waiting for the National Guard, they are attacked by Jim and his gang formed by Kenny, Mr. Mehlor and Ray and the clumsy Kenny kills Charlie. Tom flees with the bags of money and hides them in the cemetery. Then he is hunted down by Jim and his gang and he hides in a church. Out of the blue, he is knocked out and awakes locked in a cell. Soon he learns that the restorer Karen believed he was a looter and hit him. Sheriff Mike Collins and Deputy Wayne Bryce go to investigate Tom' story while Officer Phil takes Karen out of the town by boat. However she escapes with the boat and goes to the church. Meanwhile Tom is trapped in the cell full of water and Karen rescues him. He decides to return to the armored truck to retrieve a shotgun but he is captured by Jim and his men and learns that Charlie was part of the gang. He tries to retrieve the hidden money for the gang, but Sheriff Collins and his men have already taken it. Soon Tom learns that the Sheriff wants to keep the money for him and his men and Tom and Karen are witnesses and he teams up with Jim. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Set during a massive flood started by a dam accident in a small town, Tom (Christian Slater) is an armored truck guard who gets robbed by Jim (Morgan Freeman). Tom gets away with all the money and hides it. In a panic, he tells the sheriff about the area he hid the money in and the sheriff locks him up. Now Tom has to get to the money and keep himself alive battling the sheriff, Jim and his crew and the elements. —ShowBob <showbob@geocities.com> Young Tom helps his uncle Charlie, who is a bank armoured-truck driver. Criminal Jim leads a gang of four, they want to steal that truck with money, but the city is taken by a flood. Tom manages to hide the moneybags and everyone wants them, including local sheriff, who wants that money for himself. —Anonymous Heavy Rainfall causes a Indiana river to swell and flood the town. All inhabitants are forced by public services to leave instantly. Tom and his uncle Charlie work for a money transport firm and their assignment is to evacuate all cash from the banks along the flooding river. So, their truck is loaded with about three million Dollars. Hank tries to prevent further flooding, as he's the guy responsible for the dam up the river, but he has to open one gate in order to save the old dam from breaking. Only the police under the Sheriff's leadership stay in town to prevent looting. As the water level rises, Tom and Charlie's Truck gets stuck in the flooded road. This is the moment, Jim, an elderly thief, and his gang have been waiting for. In an attempt to get the money from the truck, Charlie gets shot and Tom swims off to save the cash bags. While trying to hide, he meets Karen, who resisted to leave the old church she has been restoring for eight months. She thinks he is a looter, and calls the cops to bring him in. But as the Sheriff finds out about that much cash in a situation like this, he radios his old pal Hank, up at the dam... —Julian Reischl <julianreischl@mac.com>

Following the approval of the food preservative he helped create that keeps perishable goods fresh for years, Clark Griswold receives the bonus that Frank Shirley promised him in the last movie. He tells his family that he and his wife Ellen are going on vacation to celebrate and reaffirm their vows. Clark's announcement that they are going to Las Vegas, however, dampens the excitement. Las Vegas is not known for being a family-friendly place, so Ellen and her teenage daughter Audrey are hesitant, but their teenage son Rusty seems more excited. When the Griswolds first arrive in Vegas, they visit Cousin Eddie, the husband of Ellen's cousin Catherine, and go to a Siegfried & Roy show. Eddie now resides with his family on a former hydrogen bomb test site in the desert north of Las Vegas. Clark is separated from the group during a guided tour of the Hoover Dam by Arty after he unintentionally causes a leak in the interior walkways and must scale the scaffolding to the top of the dam in order to escape. The following evening, they discover to their surprise that a dress for Ellen and tickets to a Wayne Newton concert have been delivered to their hotel room. They discover that Newton sent the dress when they arrive at the concert. As he sings, he visits their table and invites Ellen to join him on stage. The following day, the family consents to a "alone day" and is left on their own. Following his visit to a casino, Clark develops a gambling addiction. Rusty becomes a successful high roller after purchasing a phony ID from a Frank Sinatra impersonator. Vicki, Eddie's free-spirited exotic dancer daughter, and her friends begin to hang out with Audrey. Wayne Newton, who is attracted to Ellen, spends time with her. When Clark gambles away the family's $22,600 bank account, Ellen becomes enraged and the children leave him. Audrey and Vicki visit a strip club and Audrey secures a job as a go-go dancer, while Rusty wins four cars from four different slot machines. Since the Griswolds have helped Clark and his family so much, Eddie, who has money buried in his front yard, tries to help him. When Clark and Eddie visit a casino to retrieve their money, Clark also gambles away Eddie's money. Afterwards, he understands that he must get his family back and no longer cares about getting his money back. Clark brings his family together from the Vegas area, and they play keno to spend their final two dollars. They are seated next to an elderly man who tells Clark how happy he is with his family and suggests that he has always been lonely. In a show of compassion, Clark advises the man to spend the night with the Griswold family. The game starts after the man gladly accepts Clark's offer. Initially hopeful, the Griswolds sit in silence as they come to terms with their defeat. The man next to them abruptly announces that he has won the game. While Ellen sends Rusty for assistance, he drifts in and out of consciousness in his emotional outburst. He survives long enough to speak to Clark in a whisper. According to Clark, who is perplexed, the man said, "Take the ticket." The man is declared dead by the paramedics and casino security officers upon their arrival. Mr. Ellis was his name, and they tell the Griswolds that he would have done anything for a friend. In front of Eddie's relatives, Clark and Ellen exchange vows of marriage after winning a lot of money. In return for his generosity, Clark then gives Eddie $5,000. Rusty won four cars from the slot machines: a white Ford Aspire, a black Hummer H1, a maroon Ford Mustang, and a red Dodge Viper. The Griswolds drive home in these vehicles.

An amateur state bowling champion whose professional aspirations are prematurely dashed when he gets "Munsoned" hopes to ride a new bowling prodigy to success and riches by becoming his manager. Roy Munson was trained by his father from childhood to be the best bowler in the world. As a teenager, he manages to win the Iowa state amateur championship. Not long after this, Roy becomes a bowling hustler along with his partner Ernie McCracken. They soon go up against a group of ruffians who don't take kindly to being hustled by the pair and exact revenge by damaging Roy's bowling hand so badly that it has to be amputated leaving him with a rubber prosthetic. Being the coward that he is, Ernie runs away as Roy is being abused by the gang. No longer able to bowl as before, Roy becomes a traveling bowling equipment salesman. Eventually, he meets up with an Amish bowling prodigy named Ishmael and takes him under his wing as his manager and trainer. He manages, with difficulty, to convince Ishmael, against his conservative Amish sensibilities, to embark on a professional career. Eventually, they cross paths with Ernie McCracken at a championship bowling event that Ernie is favored to win. While Roy's career and life have landed in the toilet bowl, Ernie is still drawing huge crowds and all the babes. Ishmael injures his bowling hand just prior to the big tournament leaving it up to Roy to go up against Ernie at the big event and, hopefully, exact personnel revenge for leaving him to fend for himself against the gang they hustled years earlier. The championship match will determine whether Roy or Ernie is the best bowler. —Jane Byron Dean / edited by Hans Delbruck Roy Munson wins the Iowa amateur state bowling championship in 1979. Unfortunately, soon after he achieving that honor, his bowling hand has to be amputated after he and his partner Ernie McCracken hustle the wrong group of local bowlers and they exact revenge on Roy by severely damaging his hand while Ernie runs away like the coward that he is. Roy's hand is replaced with a rubber prosthetic. No longer able to bowl, he embarks on a career as a traveling bowling implement salesman. One fine day, he encounters an Amish bowling phenomenon named Ishmael and talks him into letting Roy be his manager and trainer. He convinces Ishmael that he can lead him to great success on the professional bowling circuit and that they'll be able to win enough money to save Ishmael's cash-strapped farming family from losing their farm. They have great success as bowling hustlers against amateur competition and eventually enter a winner-take-all pro-am tournament in Las Vegas for a one-million dollar cash prize. Ishmael injures his bowling hand just prior to the competition leaving it up to rubber-handed Roy to go up against tournament favorite Ernie McCracken, Roy's old partner, for the grand prize. Will Roy be up to the task of proving that he is the superior bowler to old friend, and nemesis, Ernie? —Kale Whorton / edited by Hans Delbruck

New York City tabloid editor Henry's faced with tough decisions while he faces several serious life challenges, and a tempting job offer. Henry Hackett is the metro editor of a New York City tabloid. He is a workaholic who loves his job, but the long hours and low pay are leading to discontent. Also, publisher Graham Keighly faces financial straits, and has Managing Editor Alicia Clark, Henry's nemesis, impose unpopular cutbacks. Henry's wife Martha, a hugely pregnant former reporter of his, is fed up because he has so little time for his family. He is therefore considering an offer from Paul Bladden to edit a paper like the New York Times, which would mean more money, shorter hours, more respectability...but might also be a bit boring for his tastes. But a hot story soon confronts Henry with tough decisions. —Reid Gagle At the tabloid, the New York Sun, its staff hustles more and uses gimmicky headlines to sell papers. The Sentinel's editor, Henry Hackett is a workaholic, but it's starting to take its toll on him. Alicia Clark is brought in to make cutbacks. Henry must struggle to keep the property successful while he's got a remount it elsewhere —Huggo

Race driver Cole Trickle is discovered by a businessman and teamed up with legendary crew chief and car-builder Harry Hogge to race for the Winston Cup at the Daytona 500.

Three thieves successfully rob a New York City bank, but making the escape from the city proves to be almost impossible. When a man dressed as a clown enters a bank and tries to rob it, no one takes him seriously at start. But as this New Yorker pulls this daring robbery with the help of his friends, it looks like leaving the bank with all the stolen money is the easy part! All they have to do now is make it out of the city and to the airport. They have plenty of time, but its not that easy as they seem to get out of one problem only to fall into another. Will they make before the cops catch up with them?

A young boy living in 1950s suburbia suspects that his parents are cannibalistic murderers. Michael Laemie (Brian Madorsky) is a young boy living in a typical 1950s suburban home... except for his bizarre and horrific nightmares, and his continued unease around his parents. Especially his father, Nick Laemie (Randy Quaid). Young Michael begins to suspect that his parents are cooking more than just hamburgers on the grill outside, but has trouble explaining his fears to his new-found friend Sheila, or to the school's social worker. —Jeff Mercer <riffer@afn.org>

The Griswold family's plans for a big family Christmas predictably turn into a big disaster. It's Christmas time and the Griswolds are preparing a big family celebration, but things never run smoothly for Clark, his wife Ellen and their two kids. Clark's perennial bad luck is aggravated by his obnoxious family guests, but he manages to keep going knowing that his Christmas bonus is due soon. —Rob Hartill / edited by Hans Delbruck Clark Wilhelm Griswold wants to have a special "Griswold Family Christmas", and after months of careful planning he invites both of his parents, both of his wife, Ellen's parents even his uncle Louis and his senile aunt Bethany. Clark even prepares his house for Christmas with over 20,000 lights and a tree. As Christmas eve comes, Clark will soon realize that a series of unfortunate events will start to unravel for him. Can Clark keep it together and understand the true meaning of Christmas? —John Wiggins After the colossal blunders in National Lampoon's Vacation (1983) and National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985), well-meaning Clark Griswold wants to have a good old-fashioned Christmas. But it takes more than good intentions to organise the ideal holiday. And this year, Clark will have to work twice as hard to create the perfect illusion. After all, no one can work miracles when unsophisticated relatives crash your party, monumentally defective electronics threaten to blow the house to smithereens, and a cinematic brush with the law jeopardises the celebration. Perhaps one thing can save the day: the Griswolds must work together. But how hard can it be to get into the spirit and host the most memorable Christmas vacation? —Nick Riganas

In a small town in Arizona, a mysterious man/spirit descends from the sky and manifests in a sports car and targets a local violent road-racing gang of motor heads, headed by a ruthless bully who'll do anything to get what he wants. Packard Walsh and his motorized gang control and terrorize an Arizona desert town where they force drivers to drag-race so they can 'win' their vehicles. After Walsh stabs the decent teenager Jamie Hankins to death for being intimate with a girl whom Walsh wants for himself, the mysterious Jake Kesey arrives, an extremely cool motor-biker with an invincible car. Jake befriends Jamie's girlfriend Keri Johnson, takes Jamie's sweet brother Billy under his wing and manages what Sheriff Loomis can not - the methodical and otherworldly elimination of Packard's criminal gang. —KGF Vissers A small desert town has been harassed for months by a gang of drag racers, but so far no one has done anything to stop them. One day, a ghostly black car shows up, challenging members of the group to race, then killing them one by one. Neither the gang nor the police can catch the car or its driver, but some investigating into the gang's past may reveal just who's behind all this. —Jean-Marc Rocher <rocher@fiberbit.net>

Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) is a food processing salesman living in Chicago, Illinois who wants to spend more time with wife Ellen (Beverly D'Angelo) and his teen children Rusty (Anthony Michael Hall) and Audrey (Dana Barron). So, he decides to lead the family on a cross-country expedition from Chicago to the Los Angeles amusement park, "Walley World", billed as "America's Favorite Family Fun Park". In the opening scene, Clark and Rusty drive to a local car dealer lot where he decides to purchase a new sports wagon for the cross-country drive. But the conniving salesman Ed (Eugene Levy), tells him that the car he ordered never arrived and scams Clark into taking in its place a more gas-guzzling, technically failing, behemoth station wagon called the Wagon Queen Family Truckster. Clark refuses to be conned, but after his old station wagon, a 1970 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser, is "accidentally" crushed by a compacter machine, Clark is left with no choice but to take the Family Truckster. At home, although Ellen tells Clark that she wants to fly to California for their two-week vacation, he insists on driving, so he can bond with his family. The next day, the family packs into their new car for the long drive to California, only to have all their luggage strapped to the top of the station wagon fall off after they back out of the garage... a bad omen of things to come. During the first day's drive, Clark and Ellen try to ease the boredom by singing old folk songs including the so-called Wally World National Anthem. Rusty and Audrey take their escape by listening to their radio Walkman's of their favorite rock group The Ramones. While stopping for gas, Clark cannot find the gas tank opening, and accidentally tears off the station wagon's license plate searching for it. Later that same day, the family arrives in St. Louis, Missouri, but after crossing the Mississippi River into the city, they get lost and end up in a rough ghetto area where some local street hoodlums steal their hubcaps and spray paint graffiti on one side of their car while giving them sham directions back to the local expressway. While driving late at night on the interstate west of St. Louis, all of the family falls asleep... including Clark driving in which their car exits the road and roars through a residential neighborhood, tearing up several yards, before stopping for the night at a local motel. Clark has planned a romantic evening at the motel with Ellen with wine and quarters for the vibrating mattress, but the mattress is loud and starts bouncing wildly. Clark pulls blankets onto the floor and they crawl under the covers, ready for sex. The kids rush in from the connecting room to investigate the noise. Rusty unplugs the bed before the kids go back to their room. On the second day of the vacation (Day 2), the family arrives in Dodge City, Kansas without further incident where Clark falls victim to another tourist trap when he insults the local bartender at a Western-themed tavern, and gets shot with a round of blanks. Back on the road, Clark is tempted by a hot young woman (Christie Brinkley) driving a flashy red 1983 Ferrari 308 GTS, with a California license place that reads LUV ME. That afternoon, the Griswolds arrive at a farm outside of Coolidge, Kansas to visit Ellen's cousin Catherine (Miriam Flynn) and her eccentric husband Eddie Johnston (Randy Quaid), and their five kids, plus one on the way, creating more tension among the Griswolds. Catherine and Eddie foist crotchety old Aunt Edna (Imogene Coca) and her vicious dog, Dinky, on the Griswolds, asking them to drop her off at her son Normy's home in Phoenix, Arizona. Eddie also asks for a loan of $500 to help him out with numerous debits he owns the local bank and many bill collectors. The kids have better experiences with Eddie and Catherine's eldest kids. Cousin Vicki (Jane Krakowski) shows Audrey her secret pot stash, while Cousin Dale (John Navin) shows Rusty his secret porn magazine collection. The next day (Day 3), the Griswolds along with Aunt Edna and Dinky drive off. During a picnic stop in Colorado, Clark has another encounter with the young woman in the red Ferrari whom is parked and dancing to pop music. The Griswolds stop for the night in a run-down, dirty campground in South Fork, Colorado where they survive another tourist trap for the night as well as deal with Edna's vicious dog. The next day (Day 4), the Griswolds and Aunt Edna pack up and leave the campground for Arizona. But while packing the car, Clark forgets to untie the nasty Dinky from the car's rear bumper before leaving. Clark does not realize his error until he is pulled over by a local motorcycle cop (James Keach) to angrily inform him of his mistake that has led to the apparent death of the dog. Nevertheless, the policeman, overcome by his own memory of his childhood dog, allows Clark to proceed on his way. During the drive, Clark again sees the young woman driving the red Ferrari while everyone else is asleep. Tempted to keep speed with her, Clark accelerates & almost has an accident. Subsequently, one of the suitcases falls off the car, which contains all of Ellen's credit cards. The next day (Day 5), the family gets lost on a back road somewhere between Utah and Arizona where while Clark and Ellen argue, they accidentally drive off the road, missing a large roadblock and get into an accident, damaging the Wagon Queen Family Truckster and stranding them near Monument Valley. Clark hikes off into the desert and spends many hours wondering aimlessly in the hot and arid desert until he finds a gas station... only to find the family there after they were rescued by some local Indians whom had a camel to tow their car to the very station. After making some half-hearted repairs, the lead redneck mechanic (Mickey Jones), who also happens to be the local sheriff, intimidates/scams Clark out of all the money he has on him (over $500 for the repairs). But they manage to get to the Grand Canyon Village to check in for the night. The next day (Day 6), the frustrated Clark realizes that in reporting Ellen's lost credit cards to their hometown bank, the bank had frozen Clark's credit cards by accident and Clark cannot convince the stuffy hotel manager (James Staley) to take a $1,000 personal check to pay for their rooms for the night. With the hotel manager distracted for a few minutes when he has to answer a ringing telephone, Clark steals all the cash in the hotel's cash register, leaves behind the $1,000 check, and flees the hotel like a Wild West bank robber, grabs the family away from the scenic sight of the Grand Canyon, and speeds away. Continuing through Arizona, they find that Aunt Edna passed away in her sleep. With little options, they decide to drive to Phoenix anyway and deliver her to her son Normy's house (with the dead Aunt Edna tied to the roof of their car). When they reach Normy's home that evening in a raging thunderstorm, they discover he is out of town, and leave Edna's rigor mortised body on a lawn chair in the backyard, over Ellen's objections. Clark concedes to Ellen's request they say a prayer for the dear departed Edna. Despite all the events and the begging of Ellen and the kids, Clark is more determined than ever to get to Walley World. They check into a motel for the night where after another argument with Ellen, Clark hangs out at the motel's bar where he has a face-to-face-encounter with the beautiful young woman from the red Ferrari and they make small talk about things. The woman beckons Clark to go skinny dipping with her in the motel's swimming pool, but upon diving in, Clark screams over his reaction to the cold pool water... thus waking up the entire motel, including Ellen, Rusty, and Audrey. When the woman takes her leave, Clark goes back to apologize to Ellen who demands that Clark repay the favor by taking him back to the pool to skinny dip with her. The next day (Day 7), the family finally arrives in Los Angeles, California and arrives at Wally World... only to find that the park is closed for the next two weeks for repairs. Clark, slipping into madness seeing all the week's struggles had been for nothing, buys a realistic-looking BB gun from a local sporting goods store, returns to Wally World, and demands to a overweight and geekish park security guard named Russ Lasky (John Candy) to take them through the park; Ellen and kids follow him, attempting to placate their father. Eventually an LAPD SWAT team arrives along with park owner Roy Walley (Eddie Bracken) and they arrest the whole family. Clark manages to talk to Roy who surprisingly understands Clark's impassioned epitome of the American Vacation, describing his own memory of a less-than-enjoyable cross-country trip he took with his own family to Florida. Roy does not file charges against the Griswolds, and lets the family enjoy the park as his guests, along with the police and SWAT team who are seen riding on the park's top roller coaster attraction in the final shot of the movie. The end credits show various still photographs of the Griswolds enjoying the rest of the vacation at all the various stops they made over the course of the movie, including a final frame of them returning to Chicago via plane... having abandoned their gas-guzzling car in California.

At a robot factory, two employees, Charlie (Randy Quaid) and Max (Kenneth McMillan), deliver ValCom 17485 (Andy Kaufman), a Companion Series robot suffering from a second level appendix laceration, to the factory warehouse C-Section. While in storage, Val is spoken to by AquaCom 89045 (Bernadette Peters) , a female Companion Series robot scheduled to be reconditioned and become a charming Companion Hostess for poolside parties and other social functions. Val responds that he was intended to be a companion and valet with no social charms. Despite their differently programmed personalities, Val and Aqua become close, and decide they are "mechanically compatible for many similar functions." On the factory floor, a Crimebuster Deluxe robot is being programmed, but when it shoots flames at a cardboard cutout of a nanny with a baby in a stroller on the shooting range, the programmers observe that the machine is still overreacting. A comedian-robot, Catskill 55602, is also delivered to C-Section. Catskill can only tell stupid one-liners, and needs a complete circuit rewashing. At night, Val decides he needs to take a field trip to study distant trees, and invites Aqua to come along as a highly intelligent companion who can help him collect, store and interpret data. Before they set off on their journey, they ask Catskill 55602 to join them. They appropriate one of the factory's trucks, and although he has never driven before, Val takes the wheel, zig-zagging along the road and crashing into road barriers as they travel. On his nightly rounds, the security guard notices the three missing robots in C-Section, and asks Charlie and Max where they were moved. When he learns of the missing robots, the factory boss (Richard B. Shull) berates Max and Charlie for keeping an eye on their charges, and gives them until tomorrow at 12 noon to retrieve them. The humans are unaware that the Crimebuster Deluxe has also overheard the boss's order, and the mis-programmed machine sets out to capture the fugitive robots. Val smashes the truck into a tree, and the next morning he and Aqua build a small robot, which they name Philco, to carry some of the supplies stored in the vehicle as they continue their journey on foot. Trailing the missing robots, Charlie and Max find the abandoned truck. Charlie notices the truck's dashboard is missing, and wonder if the robots might have stolen the truck and partially dismantled it on their own? Unable to find the robots, Max and Charlie are ready to return to the factory, but their boss sends out a helicopter to aid in the search. As they walk through the woods, Val and Aqua notice that Philco is missing. They locate him using Val's bow tie direction finder. Because searching for Philco is an energy drain, Val gives the direction finder to the small robot. Up in the air, Max again wants to turn back, until the helicopter pilot informs him that he and Charlie will be responsible for the replacement costs if they do not return with the missing robots. With night coming on, the robots seek shelter in a cave, but when Val scouts the location, he is tossed out by a bear, which he mistakenly believes to be a camel. Philco takes on the bear and scares the animal away. From the helicopter, Charlie spots movement on the ground-but he only sees the bear running away, as the robots have taken refuge in the cave. Realizing that Philco has no capacity for self-protection, Aqua asks Val to transfer her unit safety monitor to the small robot, relying on Val to protect her. Then, as Val and Aqua seek to repair their seemingly malfunctioning pleasure centers, they are interrupted by Philco and Catskill 55602. With the Crimebuster Deluxe also on their trail, the robots sneak into a small town at night, hiding behind small trees they have dug up. Back at the cave, the Crimebuster Deluxe picks up the fugitives' scent, and quickens its pace. In town, the robots raid a hardware store robot supply display for spare parts. They find a new bow tie direction finder for Val, but the store is out of energy packs. Philco pitches a fit when Val will not allow him to have a traffic control helmet, but before they leave the hardware store, Catskill 55602 takes the disputed helmet with him. Back on the street hiding behind their trees, the red light on Philco's traffic helmet gives them away to the Crimebuster Deluxe, which detains them for questioning. The Crimebuster Deluxe tells them he has informed the police and the fugitives will be picked up at 4:00 AM. It tells them not to move in the interim. However, the Crimebuster Deluxe becomes confused over whether the robots can be criminals if they are robots or robots if they are criminals? The law enforcement robot goes berserk, and hightails it out of town. The escapees come upon a party, and hide in plain sight by becoming servers. Again, however, the Crimebuster Deluxe is on the prowl. Discovering their discarded tree disguises outside of where the party is taking place, Crimebuster Deluxe literally crashes the party and destroys the building. Back in the woods, Val and Aqua have stopped communicating, but come to realize they need maximum input for efficiency. In the meantime, singing "America The Beautiful," Crimebuster Deluxe barrels through the woods, scaring the wildlife and randomly shooting at the fleeing animals. The runaway robots come upon a junkyard, promising unlimited replacement parts. However, their energy packs are running down. As the robots search the facility, they are observed by Calvin and Susan (Christopher Guest and Melanie Mayron), owners of the junkyard. Calvin welcomes the "customers" he believes will bring needed cash flow to the business, but Susan reminds him that the robot models do not come with a wallet option. Exploring the junkyard, Philco comes upon a dead robot, and attempts to warn Val and Aqua. However, Crimebuster Deluxe finds them and begins shooting bullets and flames. Susan and Calvin jump the Crimebuster and disable it. After its misguided behavior throughout their adventure, all agree that Philco is in need of a specialized purpose. Unfortunately, Susan informs Aqua and Val the only place where such enhancements can be made is back at the factory. On their way back, Aqua is again concerned about their energy packs. Val tells her that he has 34% power remaining, when in fact he only has .009%. Aqua also lies, telling Val that she has 33% instead of the .008% registering on her power meter. The four robots are spotted on the trail by Max and Charlie. Max wants to grab only the three missing robots so as not to mess up the factory inventory. As they slowly proceed, Val has a heart-to-heart talk with Philco, the first robot he ever built and programmed, wishing his "offspring" a bright future, even as he realizes their power packs will soon be drained. As his power ebbs, Val tells Aqua that he hopes the last thing erased in his circuit wash is his memory of her. In a selfless act, Catskill 55602 switches power packs with Philco. He still has 42% of his energy left because he has been telling low power jokes on their journey. As Val, Aqua and Philco resume their journey, Max and Charlie come upon the powerless carcass of Catskill 55602. "One down, two to go," says Max, but Charlie is annoyed that after chasing the robots all over hell's half acre they find this one close to the factory. Nearing the factory, Val and Aqua are pleased that they have been able to make their way back, and pleased that Philco will now have a bright future. Val wants to discuss one last human emotional phenomenon with Aqua, but their power runs out before he can raise the subject. A sad Philco continues on his journey alone, while Max and Charlie pick up the powerless remains of Val and Aqua. From the nearby woods, Philco sees his makers hauled away. Sometime later, Westland (Kathleen Freeman), the helicopter pilot, finds Max and Charlie now demoted to the motor pool at the factory working over the Crimebuster Deluxe. She asks what happened to the robots, and is told that they were circuit washed three times and sent out to new owners, but they returned each time and finally junked. Back at the junkyard, Calvin and Susan have refurbished the former fugitive robots, and given them updated wardrobes. Also, Val and Aqua have created another new, female sister robot to Philco. Back at the factory, the Crimebuster Deluxe is back on the prowl. He too, has had his circuits washed, but he has fooled Max and Charlie, and again heads out to fight crime in his old mis-programmed manner.

The origins, exploits and the ultimate fate of the Jesse James gang is told in a sympathetic portrayal of the bank robbers made up of brothers who begin their legendary bank raids because of revenge. After the American Civil War, outlaw Jesse James forms a gang comprised of himself, his brother Frank James, Cole Younger and his two brothers, Jim Younger and Bob Younger as well as Ed Miller and his brother Clell Miller. The gang is led by Jesse James and Cole Younger. The gang starts by robbing small banks and stagecoaches in the Midwest and in their home state of Missouri. Later, the gang targets bigger prizes, such as larger banks and trains. This criminal activity attracts the attention of the railroad company owners who hire the Pinkerton Detective Agency to capture the gang. When the gang kills a few Pinkerton detectives, a war of sorts starts between the Pinkerton Agency and the James-Younger gang. Sometimes caught in the middle of it are innocent civilians. In 1876, the gang is running out of banks to rob in Missouri and decides to raid a supposedly fat bank, far up North, in the state of Minnesota. But the Pinkerton Detective Agency is setting up a trap there.

Billy Hayes, a young American, faces physical and emotional brutality in a Turkish prison after being caught smuggling drugs.

The action takes place in Montana in the 1880s among the tributary streams that eventually flow together into the Missouri River, an area known as the Missouri Breaks. Tom Logan, (Jack Nicholson) is the likable leader of an amiable gang of horse thieves. They make their living stealing horses or rustling cattle from ranchers, laughing all the way, spending their money on whiskey and whores. Logan and his gang are particularly upset by the hanging of a friend by rancher David Braxton (John McLiam), an egomaniacal gay local land baron who took the law into his own hands. Braxton has horses, and a daughter, worth stealing. Logan's men pull off a daring train robbery, only to lose much of the money. The gang retaliates against Braxton by hanging his foreman Pete Marker (Richard Bradford) on the same noose. Posing as an aspiring cattle rancher, Logan buys an abandoned ranch next to Braxton's to serve as a relay station for moving stolen horses across the plains. While his men ride off across the Missouri River and north of the border to steal Canadian Mounted Police horses, Logan plants crops at their new farm and enters into a relationship with Braxton's virginal daughter, Jane (Kathleen Lloyd). He knows how to court a woman by brewing Chinese tea in the Wild West. Jane is on bad terms with her father and has taken a shine to Logan in any event, seems to be fascinated by the bad guys and demands sex, saying: "Do you want to have sexual intercourse?" while flirting with Logan. Braxton, obsessed with his rustling problem, his daughter, and avenging his friend's murder, sends for Robert E. Lee Clayton (Marlon Brando), a notorious regulator from Medicine Hat, Wyoming, who, for a price, will take care of rustlers personally, one at a time. Regulators were mercenary frontier agents famous for their ruthlessness and their ability to kill without warning from long distances with their trademark Creekmore rifles. Clayton arrives with a fancy wardrobe, a perfumed scent, an Irish brogue and a rifle with which he is deadly accurate from afar. Clayton bursts in on the funeral of the murdered foreman dressed like a western dandy in fringed leather coat and scarf, bellowing and yanking the corpse up out of the open casket to borrow a few of the ice cubes used to keep the body from decomposing as a compress for a tooth-ache. Clayton is portrayed comically, but he is a sadistic, perverse, and psychotic killer who comes across as much more lawless than the criminals he's hunting. Quickly suspicious of Logan, who doesn't strike him as much of a farmer, Clayton dons a variety of disguises to pick off Logan's gang, one by one. Impersonating a preacher "Jim Ferguson," Clayton tries to cajole Little Todd into confessing that he is part of the gang. He kills Todd by dragging him with a rope through the raging Missouri, seemingly aware of the fact that Todd cannot swim. Clayton spies on Logan with binoculars and taunts Braxton about his daughter's affair with a horse thief. Braxton attempts to discharge him but Clayton is determined to finish what he starts. He amuses himself by shooting two more of Logan's partners from a distance and then by wearing a granny dress while brutally killing Logan's closest friend, Cal (Harry Dean Stanton) with a handmade weapon. Logan knows it's kill or be killed by Clayton. He also wants vengeance against Braxton for having hired the regulator in the first place, despite his feelings for Jane. Now it's up to Logan to hunt down Clayton. One night after a campfire goes dark with Clayton serenading his horse, Logan gets his revenge catching up with him while he's asleep and then slitting his throat: "You know what woke you up? You just had your throat cut!" Logan then comes after Braxton. There's a shootout where Braxton, who everyone now believes is infirm with a stroke, pulls out a gun while he's sitting in a wheelchair and shoots the unawares Logan. Logan then shoots back killing Braxton. Logan abandons his farm and packs up to leave the area and Jane, although he acknowledges that he and Jane might renew their relationship another time, another place.

A bush pilot is hired for fifty thousand dollars to go to Mexico to free an innocent prisoner. Jay Wagner is framed by the mob and sent to prison in Mexico. His wife, Ann tries to get him out. She then turns to bush pilot Nick Colton for help. And Colton is all to eager to do it. But the men who framed Jay will do what they have to make sure he doesn't escape. —rcs0411@yahoo.com

One cold winter, at the Norfolk, Virginia Naval base, two seasoned petty officers, Navy lifers Signalman William "Badass" Buddusky (Jack Nicholson), and Gunner's Mate First Class "Mule" Mulhall (Otis Young), are assigned to escort a dishonorably discharged seaman, Lawrence M. Meadows (Dennis Quaid), to Portsmouth Military Prison near Kittery, Marines, where he will serve an eight-year sentence. When Badass jests that Meadows must have killed the base commander, the Master-at-Arms (Clifton James) explains that Meadows robbed forty dollars from the contribution box of the commander's wife's favorite charity, a polio foundation that annually awards her a plaque. Disregarding the men's stunned expressions, the chief congratulates them for getting assigned to a good detail, which allows a week to deliver Meadows and return, and warns that their careers are in jeopardy if they fail to complete the task. Neither officer is enthusiastic about their assignment, and Mule tells Badass that he hates the detail. However, Badass calculates that Portsmouth can be reached in two days and suggests privately to Mule that they rush Meadows to the prison. They can then return leisurely, spending the extra days and per diem on themselves. Upon meeting Meadows, they are surprised that he is just a cowering 18-year-old resigned to his fate, too timid to cause trouble, and on the bus to the train station, they remove his handcuffs. Later, on the train, the officers ask Meadows whether his lengthy sentence was really for stealing forty dollars, and the young man replies that he was actually caught before he was able to take the money. Badass later learns from Meadows that his only prior criminal record was a couple of arrests for shoplifting before he enlisted. Feeling sorry for him, Badass says the authorities might knock off two years for good behavior, to which Mule is skeptical, but Meadows brightens. Later, the officers discover that Meadows pilfered a candy bar at the station and, despite their lack of concern, the seaman panics and runs down the aisle. After they drag him back, he tearfully confesses that he is always stealing small things. In Washington, the sailors leave the train to allow Meadows time to calm down. Although the younger man has shown little interest in his situation, he mentions that he likes melted cheese on his hamburgers. At a restaurant, when the sandwich is served with a slab of cold cheese, Meadows meekly accepts it, but Badass insists on sending it back to the cook. Later, Badass confronts a bartender (Don McGovern) for refusing service to the underage Meadows, going so far as to pull out his gun, but Mule intervenes. Outside, Badass revels and proclaims loudly that he is a "bad ass," then buys beer from a liquor store, which they drink in a parking lot. By then they have missed their train, so they check into a hotel. There, the drinking continues, and Badass, proud of being a Signalman, demonstrates semaphore. When Meadows tells Badass that the bartender was only doing his job, Badass asks if he ever feels so enraged that he needs to get it out of his system. Meadows recalls being mad only once, when a Marine guard beat him up in the brig. He relates that the beating did not anger him, but when the guard claimed that he was Jesus Christ and told him not to forget it, Meadows became furious and hoped the chaplain would hear about it. Disturbed by Meadows' pathetic story, Badass smashes a lamp with his fist. To mollify him, Meadows asks Badass to teach him hand signals. The next day, at Badass' suggestion, they take Meadows to see his mother in Camden, New Jersey. Mule worries that he might try to escape, but Badass assures him that the kid is secretly glad to go to prison, because he is frightened of the world. Meadows' mother is not at home, and as they look inside at the slovenly manner in which she lives, Meadows says he would not know what to say to her. After returning to the train, Badass suggests that writing Meadows' mother's congressman might help, but Mule says that nothing will help Meadows. He says, they must either release him or he must live with the sentence, but then adds that they cannot release him. Although Mule feels sorry for the injustice of Meadows' sentence, he sternly tells Badass to stop thinking about the seaman's plight and recall that the Navy has been good to them. He points out that both of them are "lifers" and they have to do the job. When Badass says he wants to show the kid a good time before he is locked up, Mule counters that doing so will make his eight years harder. In the New York train station, Badass picks a fight with Marines in a men's room, and Mule and Meadows join in. Afterward they run out to the street and hail a taxi. Badass takes them to a food stand he knows that sells inexpensive but delicious Italian sausages, then introduces Meadows to Heineken beer. Badass then bets their traveling funds in a tavern darts game, winning $63, which he divides three ways. When they hear chanting, Meadows asks to investigate and they follow the sound to a meeting of young American Nichiren Shoshu Buddhists, where the followers testify that chanting changed their lives. Afterward, Meadows chants the phrase he learned, hoping that his situation will improve. The sailors proceed to an adult bookstore, where Meadows admits he is a virgin, then to a pinball arcade, where the seaman, emulating Badass, has a metal tag engraved that identifies him as a Chief Signalman. Later, at an ice rink, Mule and Badass watch paternally as Meadows skates. Claiming that chanting kept him from falling on the ice, Meadows continues to chant under his breath as they proceed to a bar, where Donna (Luana Anders), a Shoshu follower, hears and invites them to a party at her apartment. There, in clouds of marijuana smoke, Badass attempts unsuccessfully to seduce a woman with talk about the romance of the sea. A different woman questions Mule about Vietnam, and is reproachful when he says he simply goes where he is told. When Meadows confides to Donna that he is en route to prison, she suggests he take refuge in Canada with someone she knows, but he does not want to cause trouble for Mule and Badass, who are his "best friends." She then leads him to her bedroom, where, instead of offering him sex, as he hopes, she kneels before an altar and chants fervently. In a Boston diner the next day, Meadows arbitrarily sends his eggs back to the cook. The older men decide Meadows should experience sex before being incarcerated and take him to a brothel. As they wait for him, Badass explains to Mule that his marriage dissolved because his former wife wanted him to be a television repairman. Mule admits he never married but supports his mother, who is proud of his career. Upstairs, when Meadows ejaculates prematurely, the prostitute (Carol Kane) says her job is done. However, Badass and Mule pay for Meadows to have a second chance and this time he succeeds. Afterward, in the remaining time before Meadows is due at the prison, they go to a park to roast hot dogs in the snow, because Meadows suggests a picnic. After eating, Meadows chants, as Badass reminisces about his love of the sea. Badass remarks proudly on Meadows' transformation and when Mule announces they must now deliver him, Badass worries that he will not be able to survive the "sadistic" Marine guards. As they talk, Meadows slips away and, from across the park, uses semaphore to signal, "By By" then runs away. They chase him across the park and must use their combined strength to subdue him. During the rest of the trip, Badass and Mule must keep a sharp eye on the weeping Meadows, who now realizes how much his freedom means. Later, at the prison, Meadows is dragged away behind heavily barred, steel doors. The Marine in charge of admittance (Michael Moriarty), who saw scratches and bruises on Meadows that were caused when the officers apprehended him, accuses Mule and Badass of abusing the prisoner. However, when he asks if Meadows offered resistance or tried to escape, Mule and Badass state that he did not. The Marine continues to harass them and tells them that their orders to leave Norfolk had not been properly signed, but eventually permits them to leave after meak Mulhall challenges the arrogant Marine on his harassment by asking for his supervisor. Outside, Badass fumes about that disrespectful treatment and by others like him, while Mule again says how much he hates the detail. As they march off in unison, Badass talks about going to New York and Mule to Baltimore, before they report back at the base. Both hope their orders will have come through when they get back to Norfolk, Virginia.