Richard Bradford

In 1934, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson (Laurence Fishburne) is released from Sing Sing and returns to Harlem, where mobster Dutch Schultz (Tim Roth) asserts his control of the lucrative numbers game. Schultz begrudgingly reports to Mafia boss Charles "Lucky" Luciano (Andy Garcia), who pays bribes to special prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey (William Atherton) to protect his business. Reuniting with his cousin "Illinois" Gordon (Chi McBride), Bumpy returns to the employ of Harlem crime boss Madame Queen (Cicely Tyson), whose business is threatened by Schultz. Bumpy is introduced to Francine (Vanessa Williams), a friend of Illinois' girlfriend Mary (Loretta Devine). Schultz's meeting with the Queen ends in a standoff when he presents her with a rival's testicles. Walking Francine home from a club, Bumpy charms her with his poetry. Madame Queen is attacked by Schultz's men, led by black enforcer Bub Hewlett (Clarence Williams III), but Bumpy and fellow mobster Whispers (Paul Benjamin) repel the assassins and rescue her. At a meeting of the Commission, Schultz states his determination to take over Harlem. After robbing Schultz's operation with Illinois, Bumpy is chastised by Madame Queen for making his own decisions. Schultz then hires two hit men, the Salke brothers, to kill Bumpy, and has his police contact, NYPD Captain Foley (Richard Bradford), arrange for Madame Queen's arrest. At a party, a 17-year-old named Tyrone asks Bumpy for a job, and Francine struggles to reconcile her feelings for Bumpy with his criminal ways. The Salkes break into Bumpy's home, killing his guards, but Bumpy ambushes them and kills one while a terrified Francine shoots the other dead. Illinois is beaten and robbed by Foley and his officers, while Madame Queen is arrested for illegal gambling. Taking over her operation, Bumpy enlists Tyrone as a runner, and ignores the Queen's orders to avoid violence. By May 1935, he is locked in an all-out war with Schultz. His wealth and power grow, as does the body count, including Tyrone. Bumpy's attempt to comfort Tyrone's mother at his funeral is rejected. At an ice cream parlor with Francine, Bumpy realizes his banana split has been poisoned. When the shop owner reveals that Bumpy's associate Vallie ordered him to hire the new teenage employee responsible, Bumpy forces the boy to eat the poisoned ice cream despite his attempts to apologize. Whispers then kills Vallie with a razor. Bumpy confronts Schultz at the Cotton Club with Vallie's severed finger, demanding he cease his Harlem operations, but Schultz refuses. Disguised as truck drivers, Bumpy and Illinois deliver a bomb to one of Schultz's illicit breweries, narrowly escaping before the warehouse explodes. Illinois returns home to find Schultz had Mary killed in retaliation. Threatened by Dewey to end the bloodshed in Harlem, Luciano invites Bumpy and Schultz to a meeting, against both their wills. Visiting Madame Queen in prison, Bumpy is rebuked for inciting a gang war. Finding she can no longer accept who he is, Francine leaves him, and Illinois drunkenly confronts him over the innocent lives lost. Illinois is abducted and tortured by Foley, to Hewlett's disgust, but refuses to betray his cousin. At Luciano's meeting, Bumpy and Schultz refuse to settle their dispute. After finding Illinois' corpse left as a message, Bumpy slits Foley's throat while he's with a black prostitute, but spares Hewlett's life and offers him a partnership. Bumpy accepts an alliance with Luciano, and Luciano's driver - on Bumpy's orders - informs Schultz that Bumpy will be meeting with Luciano's accountant. Schultz and his men burst in but find only the accountant, whom Schultz kills. At a restaurant, Schultz's long-suffering henchman Lulu (Ed O'Ross) shoots him in the bathroom, and Schultz calmly returns to his table before dying. Meeting Luciano outside for payment, Lulu is shot dead. With Dutch eliminated and the gang war settled, Dewey - having received an enormous bribe from Bumpy, delivered by Hewlett - warns Luciano to stay away from Harlem. Hewlett and Bumpy part ways, and Bumpy arrives at Illinois' funeral. After exchanging looks with Francine and Madame Queen, Bumpy walks out into the rain alone.

Freddy Gale is a seedy jeweller who has sworn to kill the drunk driver who killed his little girl. After his daughter died in a hit and run, Freddy Gale has waited six years for John Booth, the man responsible, to be released from prison. On the day of release, Gale visits Booth and announces that he will kill him in one week. Booth uses his time to try and make peace with himself and his entourage, and even finds romance. Gale, whose life is spiraling down because of his obsession towards Booth, will bring himself on the very edge of sanity. At the end of the week, both men will find themselves on a collision course with each other. Freddy Gale's life was never the same after his little girl was killed in a hit and run accident. With his life descending into debauchery and deep personal loathing, Freddy is a man full of hatred for he and the very man who took his daughter's life. That man is John Booth, the one who was behind the wheel that served his sentence. A changed man with regret, John is ready to piece his life together. But Freddy has different plans and gives John one week before fate intervenes. As both men are headed for a dreadful date, they're forced to confront the demons of their past. —mystic80

An Internal Affairs agent becomes obsessed with bringing down a cop who has managed to maintain a spotless reputation despite being involved in a web of corruption. Keen young Raymond Avila joins the Internal Affairs Department of the Los Angeles police. He and partner Amy Wallace are soon looking closely at the activities of cop Dennis Peck whose financial holdings start to suggest something shady. Indeed Peck is involved in any number of dubious or downright criminal activities. He is also devious, a womaniser, and a clever manipulator, and he starts to turn his attention on Avila. —Jeremy Perkins {J-26} Earnest Raymond Avilla has just begun his assignment in the LAPD's Internal Affairs Division (IAD) partnered with capable and bright Amy Wallace, the IAD arguably the most hated division by the non-IAD officers in its members being seen as opportunistic in getting ahead in the force investigating their "brothers". To show that he is above board, Raymond agrees as his and Amy's first case as partners that of Van Stretch, Raymond wanting to seem impartial despite he and Van going back to their days together in the academy. Although there does seem to be improper conduct by Van, Raymond begins to believe a bigger, more dangerous fish is Van's partner Dennis Peck, who outwardly is seen as the model officer by the force's highers-up. What Raymond sees in Dennis is a bright officer too content in his relatively low position within the force, he who is able to live beyond his means, especially in having to pay alimony and child support to several ex-wives. In reality, Dennis is not only a womanizer and chronic philanderer in still fooling around with other women despite again being married, but is a master manipulator in working every situation to his benefit and often illegal end goals, that manipulation often of crime scenes and of his fellow officers, including Van and by association Van's occasionally battered wife, Penny Stretch. What ensues is a game of cat and mouse between Raymond and Dennis which becomes personal in both sides using the other's family - Dennis' wife Heather Peck and Raymond's contemporary art gallery curator wife Kathleen Avilla - to achieve their respective end goals, which may be more dangerous for Raymond and Kathleen as Dennis has and will kill to protect his way of life. —Huggo

An F.B.I. Agent works to uncover an All-American family as Soviet sleeper Agents, and gets caught up in friendship with their unaware son. Roy Parmenter is a veteran FBI agent who has spent the last 20 years trying to find the Russian agent who killed his partner whom he calls Scuba. When a couple of deep cover Russian agents are killed Parmenter thinks Scuba is the one doing it. The Russians who have received word from Scuba that if they want him to stop, they have to pay him. So they send a veteran Russian agent, Karpov to stop him. Parmenter was tasked with performing background checks on people applying for certain things requiring security clearance and when he comes across Jeffrey Grant who's applying to the Air Force Academy, he discovers that his parents' info is false. He also learns of Karpov coming into the country and suspects that he is here to stop Scuba and that Karpov went to the city where Jeffrey and his family live, so he decides to keep an eye on Jeffrey and his family. —rcs0411@yahoo.com Roy Parmenter is an FBI agent in San Diego; 20 years ago his partner was killed by a Soviet spy, nicknamed Scuba, still at large. Scuba is now trying to extort the Soviets; to prove he's serious, he's killing their agents one by one, including "sleepers," agents under deep cover awaiting orders. Roy interviews a high school lad, Jeff Grant, an applicant to the Air Force Academy. In a routine background check, Roy discovers that Jeff's parents are sleepers. He must see if Jeff is also a spy, confront the parents yet protect them, and catch his nemesis. Meanwhile, the Soviets have sent their own spy-catcher, the loner Karpov, to reel in Scuba. Alliances shift; it's cat and mouse. —<jhailey@hotmail.com>

The accidental breakdown of an irrigation valve launches a hot confrontation between the mainly Latino farmers in a tiny New Mexico town and the real estate developers and politicians determined to acquire their land for a golf resort. In the tiny town of Milagro, New Mexico, where the local water is a premium resource, shady developer Ladd Devine has conceived a glitzy resort that will ultimately siphon off all the water from the neighboring crop-fields. When handyman and farmer Joe Mondragon accidentally breaks a water valve reserved for major companies, he inadvertently sets off a small-scale water-rights war between the farmers and the developers. —Jwelch5742 Milagro is a poor, drought-stricken New Mexico village populated largely by Mexican-Americans. The only economic activity of any note is the development of the partially state-funded Miracle Valley Recreation Area which will consist of among other items a ski resort and a golf course. It is being developed by rich out-of-town white people, namely the [Ladd] Devine Land Development Company, for rich out-of-town white people. Milagro resident, handyman Joe Mondragon, who just wants to earn money to support his family, can't even get a job with Devine working on this development. In frustration, Joe kicks and breaks a sluice on an irrigation ditch that is diverting all the water of the region to Devine's development, that break which ends up flooding a small field owned by Joe. It is a former beanfield his legacy as passed down to him by his father, and which is located in the middle of the recreation development area, Joe the one resident who did not sell. In this act, Joe comes up with the idea of "stealing" the water to do with the field as it was intended, namely to plant a crop of beans. With that stealing of water caught up in state bureaucracy, Joe's act of public mischief draws the battle lines largely by race and by pro versus anti-Miracle Valley development, with the beanfield itself the physical symbol of the battle. While some necessarily need to straddle the line, such as Chicano Sheriff Bernabe Montoya, others may not be as one-sided in the matter as they appear on the surface. —Huggo In Milagro, a small town in the American Southwest, Ladd Devine plans to build a major new resort development. While activist Ruby Archuleta and lawyer/newspaper editor Charlie Bloom realize that this will result in the eventual displacement of the local Hispanic farmers, they cannot arouse much opposition because of the short term opportunities offered by construction jobs. But when Joe Mondragon illegally diverts water to irrigate his bean field, the local people support him because of their resentment of water use laws that favor the rich like Devine. When the Governor sends in ruthless troubleshooter Kyril Montana to settle things quickly before the lucrative development is cancelled, a small war threatens to erupt. —Reid Gagle

The Untouchables is a larger-than-life depiction of Al Capone, the mob warlord who ruled Prohibition-era Chicago, and Eliot Ness, the law enforcer who vowed to bring him down.

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

When an idealistic American writer disappears during the Chilean coup d'état in September 1973, his wife and father try to find him. In September1973, in Chile, the American journalist Charles Horman arrives in Valparaiso with his friend Terry Simon to meet his wife Beth and bring her back to New York with him. However, they are surprised by the military coup d'état sponsored by the US Government to replace President Salvador Allende and Charles is arrested by the military force. His father Ed Horman, a conservative businessman from New York, arrives in Chile to seek out his missing son with Beth. He goes to the American Consulate to meet the Consul that promises the best efforts to find Charles while the skeptical Beth does not trust on the word of the American authorities. The nationalism and confidence of Ed in his government changes when he finds the truth about what happened with his beloved son. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil September, 1973. Liberal minded young American couple Charles and Beth Horman - he a writer and translator - live in Santiago, Chile, they who chose Chile because of the comfort they felt in a country matching their own values. Charlie's father back in New York, Ed Horman, a conservative devout Christian Scientist, sees his son, and thus by association Beth, as flaky, directionless and irresponsible. Charlie and Beth's American friend Terry Simon, in the country solely for a visit, and Charlie are caught in Viña del Mar the day the right wing military overthrows the elected left wing government in a coup. At the hotel where Charlie and Terry end up for the night, they encounter US military and government officials. Because of the coup, Charlie and Terry decide to take notes of what they see, including that of the "unofficial" American presence in Viña. The day after the start of the coup, Charlie is taking Terry to the airport so that she can get out of the country, when they, learning that the airport is closed, are advised by American freelance reporter Kate Newman to take refuge at a large, American friendly hotel with lots of public visibility because of word that the military is taking away anyone for any reason, many of those who will end up missing never to be seen again, largely nationals but sometimes foreigners. Charlie leaves Terry at a hotel so that he can go home to retrieve Beth. Beth, however, is caught stranded away from home after curfew, and when she is able to get home the following morning, she learns from a neighbor that the soldiers had been to their house, with eyewitnesses later telling Beth that they saw Charlie being taken away. Two weeks later, Ed makes his way to Santiago to help Beth locate Charlie, Ed who had contacted his local politicians for diplomatic assistance in the matter. In Santiago, Charlie's case is largely handled by US Consul Phil Putnam, and US Naval officer Captain Ray Tower. Ed and Beth are often at odds with each other despite their common goal of finding what happened to Charlie: Ed wants Putnam, Tower and any other US official to use whatever clout they may have to assist him, Beth and Charlie - US citizens - while Beth doesn't trust them, especially Tower, for good reason. In the process of the Hormans' investigation, Ed may get a clearer picture of his son, who he would admit he really did not know. As Ed and Beth increasingly seem to be getting the runaround by those who are purportedly trying to help them, they may, with the assistance of others, get closer and closer to the truth, which may turn the world of patriotic Ed on its head forever. —Huggo In 1973, U.S. businessman Ed Horman arrives in Chile to look for his son, Charles, a politically left-leaning journalist who disappeared during a military coup. Charles' wife, Beth, has been looking for some time, but her requests for help from the U.S. consulate have thus far produced few results. As Ed and Beth try to figure out what really happened to Charles, Ed realizes that the American officials may know more than they're telling. —Jwelch5742 Based on the real-life experiences of Ed Horman, this is the story of an American father of conservative background who comes to a South American country to search for his missing son, a journalist. Ed joins with his daughter-in-law Beth, who like her husband is politically polarized from the father, in prying through the bureaucracy and dangerous political intrigue in search of their son and husband. Little by little, the father comes to realize that his own beloved government is not telling him the truth. —Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>

In this sequel to American Graffiti (1973), set over the four consecutive New Year's Eves from 1964 to 1967, depict scenes from each of these years, intertwined concurrently with one another as though events happen simultaneously. The audience is protected from confusion by the conceit of a distinct cinematic style for each section. Northern California, New Years Eve, 1964. John Milner (Paul LeMat) is now a drag racer. He and his fellow competitors are racing each other for the right to race against the car made by a national racing team known as "The Factory". He gets to meet his old school friends Steve Bolander (Ron Howard) and Laurie Henderson (Cindy Williams) who now are married. Terry 'The Toad' Fields (Charles Martin Smith) also turns up having joined the U.S. Marines and is with his fiancée Debbie Dunham (Candy Clark). John also meets Carol (Mackenzie Phillips) who has dropped out of high school and is now a hippie drifting around the country in defiance of her parents' rules. While John deals with his manager wanting him to win the upcoming championship after he loses his latest match, he has other complications when Teensa (Mary Kay Place) a former high school girlfriend, leaves behind a non-English speaking foreign exchange student named Eva (Anna Bjorn) who is from Iceland; John attempts to woo her despite the language barrier. South Vietnam, New Years Eve, 1965. (Note: all of these sequences are shot hand-held on grainy super 16 mm film designed to resemble war reporters' footage.) Terry Fields is serving his tour of duty and sets out trying to wound himself so he can get sent home and be reunited with Debbie, but had a lot of bad luck trying to do so. After an attempt to shoot himself causes an all-out artillery and airstrike against his location, he deals with his commanding officer, the pompous Major Creech, who is trying to impress a visiting U.S. Senator.... both of whom appear indifferent to the troops' living conditions and low morale caused by the frequent and unseen enemy ambushes and harassing attacks. Terry is partnered with Little Joe Young (Bo Hopkins), the former gang leader of the Pharaohs back home who deal with a naïve and newbie helicopter pilot, named Lance Sinclair (John Lansing), who seems eager for action, but soon realizes the brutality of the war. San Francisco, California. New Years Eve, 1966. (Note: these sequences echo Woodstock (1970) using split screens and multiple angles of the same event simultaneously on screen.) Free-spirited Debbie "Deb" Dunham has turned from drinking Old Harper whiskey to smoking marijuana and has given up her platinum blonde persona for a hippie/groupie persona and is now living in a commune with several other hippies including Carol, who has renamed herself 'Rainbow'. Deb and her boyfriend are pulled over in their car where he gets arrested for marijuana possession by a motorcycle cop, who is former drag racer Bob Falfa (Harrison Ford). As Deb sets about to get bail for her boyfriend, she embarks on a strange and surreal journey through the city from the strip club where she formerly worked, to the commune, and to a gun-tooting pimp to get the money. As soon as Deb posts her boyfriend's bail, she, Rainbow, and another hippie, named Moonflower, set out to get access to a strange country-western band that Deb joins on her mystical journey of self-discovery. Modesto, California, New Years Eve, 1967. Steve and Laurie Bolander deal with their crumbling marriage. They have money problems, and Laurie wants to help by getting a job, which the sexist and traditional-minded Steve is absolutely against. He says that a mother's place is in the home and will not talk about it anymore. An angry Laurie storms out and goes to her younger brother Andy's apartment. (Note: Laurie's twin brother Curt is said to be living in Canada as a draft dodger.) Andy lures Laurie to an anti-war demonstration at a local college campus. Steve sets out to find Laurie, and he too gets caught up in the protest which leads into a full-out riot. (Note: these sequences attempt to memorialize the late 1960s with the scenes that re-create the sense and style with references to Haight-Ashbury, the campus peace movement, the beginnings of the modern woman's liberation movement, and the accompanying social revolt.) One character burns his draft card triggering the rioting... showing a younger audience what so many Americans had done on the television news ten years before the movie's release. More scenes afterward show both Steve and Laurie's reactions to the police brutality on the campus demonstrations with billy clubs during the protest. In 1964, John beats everyone, but wrecks his car in the last race. With only a few minutes to make repairs, all of the other teams help John and his team make the repairs and get to the starting line before having to forfeit. He beats the Factory car and is told by their owner that he has what it takes to go pro. Also, with the help of a groundskeeper acting as a translator for Eva, he manages to tell her how he feels toward her before she leaves. The segment ends with John driving his trademark yellow Deuce at night along a lonely highway toward another vehicle's headlights, and is never seen going further... hinting that the crash was in that vicinity. In 1965, when Terry and Joe's chopper is shot down behind enemy lines and Joe ends up dead from a sniper's bullet to his chest, Terry and the pilot Sinclair are rescued, but Terry becomes alienated with Major Creech who downplays the events to please the visiting Senator. Later that night, Creech is cutting a cake made for him and his officers that was presented by Terry. Terry runs to the latrine he is assigned to clean when the cake is cut. Instead of the cake blowing up (as the viewer is led to believe would happen), the latrine blows up. Terry fakes his death in the explosion in which he is declared missing in action. In a gag sequence, the feces from the latrine rains on top of both Major Creech and the Senator who angrily declares, "this is a dirty war!" In the final scene, Sinclair meets with Terry in the jungle and gives him the supplies he needs, as Terry sets off to hide out in Europe, free from his war duty, but never return to the USA. (It is never revealed what happened to Terry afterward, if he really did escape from Vietnam.) In 1966, Deb goes to a local band to see if they will give her boyfriend a tryout. Newt (Scott Glenn), the leader of the group, is reluctant to do so, but Debbie, Rainbow, and Moonflower tag along to their next gig at a country bar in order to keep trying to convince Newt. He finally does, but he also begins falling for her. At the gig, Newt puts Debbie in the band as a tambourine player. While performing, she sees her boyfriend at the club dancing erotically with another woman. Debbie jumps off the stage and confronts him. The confrontation eventually leads to a huge bar fight. At the end of the night, Debbie has dumped her boyfriend and is asked to join the band permanently, which he does. She and Newt also begin a relationship. In 1967, Steve and Laurie and all their friends are arrested. When the police begin to abuse Laurie, Steve loses it and begins punching out the cops. He is quickly joined by all of the other arrested protesters and Steve, Laurie, Andy, and his girlfriend escape custody. Back home, Steve tells Laurie that he has changed his mind and she can get a job. As in the original film, the audience is given final still images of the main cast and what became of them: John Milner was killed by a drunk driver in December 1964. Terry Fields was reported missing in action near An Loc in December 1965. Steve Bolander is an insurance agent in Modesto, California. Laurie Bolander is head of a consumer group. Debbie Dunham is a country western singer living in Oklahoma.

Due to the lack of men after the Civil War, a western town allows a young bachelorette who lives alone to save a thief from hanging by marrying him. They must deal with his old gang, the Sheriff, the railroad, a gold mine, and each other. Texas, shortly after the Civil War. Henry Moon is an outlaw, on the run from the law. He is captured trying to escape to Mexico and taken back to town to be hanged. The town has a special law that a condemned man can walk free if one of the single women of the town offer to marry him. Henry is in luck - at the last moment Julia Tate offers to marry him, and pretty soon they are married. However, Henry soon discovers that Julia's motives are purely business-orientated - she needs someone to work the mine on her property. This makes for a very cold marriage. —grantss Henry Moon is captured for a capital offense by a posse when his horse quits while trying to escape to Mexico. He finds that there is a post-Civil War law in the small town that any single or widowed woman can save him from the gallows by marrying him. Julia Tate needs a man to help her work her mine and marries him. The sheriff makes it very clear to Moon what the consequences of his leaving Julia will be. The two begin to try to form a relationship based on necessity in which they have nothing in common. —John Vogel <jlvogel@comcast.net>

In a small Norwegian town, Catherine Stockmann, the wife of Dr. Thomas "Tom" Stockmann, prepares to entertain prominent members of the community, including the People's Daily Messenger newspaper editors, Hovstad and Billing. Tom returns home with his two young sons, Morten and Ejlif, as well as his friend, Captain Forster, who is included among the dinner guests. Before the event begins, Tom's brother, Peter Stockmann, arrives for a routine medical examination. As the town's judge and mayor, Peter also serves as chairman of Kirsten Springs, the community's new tourist destination and the foundation of its economy. Tom, who is the Springs' medical examiner, has recently conducted a study of the water and is awaiting its results; Peter is pleased to learn that Hovstad and Billing will publish Tom's findings before the summer season to promote tourism. Hovstad credits Tom with originating the plan to capitalize on the town's natural resources, but Peter claims that he alone had the wherewithal to establish the business and leaves the house in anger. As guests sit down to dinner, the Stockmann's eldest child, Petra, runs to the table with mail for her father. After reviewing the letter's report in his office, Tom returns to his family and friends with terrible news: Kirsten Springs is polluted with bacteria from a nearby tannery owned by his eccentric father-in-law, Morten Kiil. Before construction began, Tom warned that it was unsafe to build a pipeline so close to a mill that dumps waste into a nearby river, but Peter prioritized cost reduction and expediency. Although the town's water is now contaminated, Tom is convinced that conditions can change for the better with a new waterworks system. Placing the report and his article in an envelope, Tom has his maid, Randine, deliver the findings to Peter. Meanwhile, Hovstad and Billing insist on including the story in the following day's newspaper, even though the official report is in Peter's possession. Later that evening, Tom receives a reply from Peter, but tucks the report away before Catherine can see it. In the morning, her father, Morten Kiil, visits the Stockmann home, skeptical about Tom's findings. Later that day at a tavern, Tom meets Hovstad, who intends to portray the story as a scandal involving the town's corrupt bureaucrats. Just then, the People's Daily Messenger publisher, Mr. Aslaksen, joins the table and promises to galvanize the community with a public demonstration, but Hovstad suspects Peter Stockmann will try to cover up his brother's findings and turn the town against him. Upholding Peter's integrity, Tom gives Hovstad the report in good faith, promising that it is fit for print once he has discussed the data with his brother. Back at the Stockmann home, Peter antagonizes Tom and declares that the decontamination plan will cost 300,000 kroner. Peter appeals for Tom's "discretion" in revealing his findings, but Tom warns that the danger to human life could reach epic proportions if the truth is suppressed. He also reveals that Hovstad and Billing are preparing to print the report. Threatening Tom's career and family, Peter orders his brother to publicly denounce the article and endorse the Kirsten Springs board. Tom later visits the People's Daily Messenger and consents to the publication of his report. When he leaves, publisher Aslaksen suggests a moderate approach toward the article, since it could create a backlash against the newspaper. Shortly thereafter, Peter arrives at the office, claiming he will tax poor and middle-class townspeople to pay for the new waterworks, even though Kirsten Springs is a privately owned corporation. Peter claims that his brother fabricated the report to defy authority, and Aslaksen fears the town's economy will collapse under the new taxation. As Peter procures an alternate "report," the publisher agrees to cover up Tom's findings to save the town from financial ruin. Just then, Tom returns to the office and Peter hides to conceal his arrangement with the newspaper. When Tom sees his brother's walking stick, he realizes his allies have been swayed. He retrieves his report and insists on leading a town meeting the next day. By the time of the gathering, however, the townspeople have already been biased in favor of Peter's false report. The mayor declares that his brother is a threat to democracy, and promises that the springs will bring prosperity to rich and poor members of the community. When Peter argues that his brother should not have the right to read his report, Aslaksen calls for a vote. Realizing the town has turned against him, Tom declines to present his data. Instead, he warns that democracy is not foolproof, since the decisions of the majority can ultimately be wrong. As the crowd responds with rage, Aslaksen reads a motion to proclaim Tom an "Enemy of the People." With the exception of Captain Forster, all citizens agree to deny the doctor's civil rights. Upon returning home in a snowstorm, the Stockmanns are greeted with stones thrown through their windows and an eviction notice. Tom plans to move his family to the U.S. on Forster's ship, but Catherine does not want to leave. Meanwhile, Petra is dismissed from school for being a "radical." Just then, Peter arrives with news that Tom has lost his job, but he can re-establish his career by retracting the report. Tom also learns that his father-in-law, Morten Kiil, has spent the day amassing Kirsten Springs stock for half its original value. Noting that Morten is capitalizing on the repercussions of Tom's report, Peter threatens to punish his brother as a conspirator, but Tom refuses to give in. Sometime later, Morten visits his son-in-law with a fist full of Kirsten Springs bonds. Reminding Tom that the Kiil family has owned the polluting tannery for generations, Morten declares that he used Catherine's inheritance to purchase Kirsten Springs shares. In Morten's blackmail scheme, Tom must accept the bonds to retain his family's wealth. In doing so, however, he will own an enormous stake in Kirsten Springs, and is therefore obligated to recant his report to protect his investment. As Morten leaves, Hovstad and Aslaksen arrive to suggest a new approach to the crisis. Since Morten bought the Kirsten Springs bonds in the Stockmann family name, the People's Daily Messenger can publish articles that convey Tom as a hero, showing townspeople that he purchased the stock to implement his changes. In return, Hovstad requests payment from Tom to cover the newspaper's financial loses. Realizing that the only way to clear his name is to become corrupt, Tom declares that the community is as poisoned as its water. After chasing Hovstad and Aslaksen from his home, Tom announces that the family will stay put and fight for the truth. While the Stockmanns cover their broken windows, a barrage of rocks are hurled through the windows of Tom's office.

The citizens of a small Texas town become worried and panicked when a local bad boy escapes prison and heads for his hometown. Most everyone in town thinks that Sheriff Calder is merely a puppet of rich oil-man Val Rogers. When it is learned that local baddie Bubber Reeves has escaped prison, Rogers' son is concerned because he is having an affair with Reeves' wife. It seems many others in town feel they may have reasons to fear Reeves. Calder's aim is to bring Reeves in alive, unharmed. Calder will have to oppose the powerful Rogers on one hand and mob violence on the other, in his quest for justice. —Buxx Banner <bux572@aol.com> When the troublemaker Charlie "Bubber" Reeves breaks the prison with a dangerous inmate, his partner kills a driver on the road and Bubber takes the blame. The tycoon Val Rogers rules his small hometown, but Sheriff Calder keeps his independence from the powerful man. Jason 'Jake' Rogers, who is the son of Val Rogers and Bubber's friend, has a love affair with Bubber's wife Anna Reeves and he is concerned with the reaction of his former friend. While the local vigilantes organize a manhunt, Calder believes in Bubber's innocence and asks Anna to meet Bubber with Jake and convince her husband to surrender to him. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil A native of Tarl, Texas, Bubber Reeves is one of two that has just escaped from prison together, for Bubber two years into his almost completed sentence. While not a model citizen, Bubber was in prison for a crime he didn't commit. Many that know Bubber, including Tarl County Sheriff Calder and most residents of town, believe Bubber will head back to Tarl as his wife, Anna Reeves, still lives there. Calder, a farmer at heart who is biding his time in the job, which he hates, until he can afford to go back to being a farmer, was appointed on the pull of Val Rogers, the wealthiest and most powerful man in town. As such, Calder is caught in the middle, as most believe he is in Val's back pocket in doing what Val asks of him. Val is arguably the only person in town that doesn't know that his son, Jake Rogers, who has not been able to live up to family expectations, is having an affair with Anna, the two and Bubber friends since childhood, and Jake and Anna who had dated before she married Bubber. In that vein, Anna does truly love both in different ways. As the people in town await Bubber's return, including his parents, his mother in particular who loves him but blames herself for the way he turned out, the moral decay of the town in general is highlighted, many who have their own view of what should happen to Bubber and how to achieve it to their satisfaction against what they perceive will happen in part on their view of Calder. That moral decay is only heightened as many mistakenly believe Bubber the perpetrator in the murder of a traveling salesman. —Huggo