Robert Duvall

The inspiring true story of the Mighty Mites, the football team of a Fort Worth orphanage, led during the Great Depression by innovative coach Rusty Russell to the state championship.

A detective opens up a fifteen-year-old missing persons case, and begins to suspect that the missing boy was murdered, and that a local rancher was involved.

Big city lawyer Hank Palmer returns to his childhood home where his father, the towns judge, is suspected of murder.

Six shots. Five dead. But the accused man claims innocence. Ex-military investigator Jack Reacher fights for the truth but it pits him against an enemy with a knack for violence.

A couple struggles to visit all four of their divorced parents on Christmas. Brad and Kate have been together three years, in love, having fun, doing all sorts of things together with no intention of marriage or children. Christmas morning, they're on their way to Fiji, having told their two sets of divorced parents that they're off to do charity work. Through a fluke, they have no choice but to visit each of their four idiosyncratic parents. As the day progresses, Brad and Kate remember growing up, each learns more about the other, and Kate realizes that her life may not be as good as it could be. Do they know each other well enough to weather the storms families bring? —<jhailey@hotmail.com> To escape Christmas and their divorced parents with their dysfunctional families, happily unmarried Brad and Kate have been successfully pulling off the same trick for three years: a little bit of charity work in a far-off place at the end of the world is always the perfect alibi. However, not this year--and as the young couple is forced to spend Christmas with all four of their estranged parents--the ultimate Yuletide disaster is at hand. Can Brad and Kate survive not one, but four Christmases? —Nick Riganas Until now, Brad and Kate had always managed to avoid spending Christmas with their family by escaping to exotic lands to enjoy heavenly vacations. But this year, they failed. When they arrive at the airport, all the flights have been canceled. Even worse, a television news crew interviews them, revealing to their family where they are. This time, there's no way out and no excuses. Brad's father is waiting for them at his house. So is Kate's mother. And Brad's mother and Kate's father. Four family Christmases, the same day! Brad and Kate expect the worse... and they won't be disappointed. They will be spared of nothing. In between humiliations, the secrets each one of them had carefully kept from the other, the hard feelings and impossible situations, the couple will live through a day that might be the last their relationship can stand. —Happy_Evil_Dude

Lucky You - a movie based on human relationships in a place where stakes doesn't get any higher than Las Vegas - the Sin city. Drew Barrymore (Billie Offer) is a young singer with a big heart rather than raw talent from Bakersfield. Eric Bana (Huck Cheever) is an ace when it comes to playing poker. His emotions at the table seem to overshadow his mastery in playing poker. Even he is tad ahead of his father (L.C.Cheever), a legendary poker player played by Robert Duvall. The only common skill which Huck and Billie shares is an intuitive ability of reading people. However difference lies in what they do. On one hand Huck's gut feel enables him to gain advantage over his opponents at the poker table by cleverly avoiding any sort of emotional attachments and long term commitments in his personal life. While on the other hand, Billie utilizes her intuitive talents in seeking emotional truths of those around her and subsequently shares their sorrows. But when Huck and Billie meet the real game starts. If Huck has to win over Billie then he needs to play cards the way he has been living his life and lead life in a manner he has been playing cards.

Fourteen-year-old Walter Caldwell's irresponsible mother Mae sends him to live with his bachelor uncles, Hub and Garth, so that she can go on yet another husband-hunting trip. A young male spends the summer with his two great-uncles on their farm. While there, he gets to know them and learns about their past. He learns that they fought together. Along the way, they understand the meaning of family and sticking together. —RECB3 A boy named Walter is dropped by his mother Mae at his great-uncles' house. Later, Walter will find out his great-uncles' big secret, and rumors say that Hub and Garth, Walter's great-uncles, have stolen a lot of gold and money. (some say they stole it from Al Capone) Did they really steal that money or not? —Christina ^_^ Thirteen-year-old Walter has had a hard life, with his no good floozy of a mother getting together with many equally despicable men. Before going on yet another husband-hunting trip, she drops him off at the house of his great-uncles Hub and Garth. They disappeared for quite a while in their youth, and are rumored to have acquired a great fortune, which Walter's mother hopes to get her hands on if he can ingratiate himself enough to the two cantankerous men. Though reluctant to put up with him at first, Hub and Garth grow to accept Walter, and even tell him fantastic stories of what they were up to while they went missing. When his mother returns, Walter must take charge of his own life, and decide what he's going to do with it. —rmlohner

John J. is a New York City hitman aging into retirement, with a loving 40-something girlfriend who has a young daughter that he dotes on. He keeps his gangster life a secret from both of them. One night he stabs a man in line at a club and swiftly gets away with the murder. Not long after, he goes to his boss for another assignment, which will take him to Buenos Aries. After arriving in Argentina, he meets with the men who have arranged the hit, and he begins to work on the plan for murdering a corrupt general. Despite his insistence that the job be done in less than three days, the plan gets extended for a few weeks. With so much time to wander around, John becomes captivated by tango dancers at local clubs, particularly one ravishing girl named Manuela. He asks her to teach him the tango, yet she is reluctant, and encourages her sister to help him. John and Manuela have a candid conversation over coffee. She admits she is single with a 2-year-old daughter. He says he is essentially married to his girlfriend, but he has been with other women. He doubts that he would "have a chance" with her since he is so old, but she says that indeed he does. Over time, John and Manuela go out dancing and he learns more of the tango as he continues to prepare for his hit job. One evening he enjoys a nice dinner with Manuela and some of her family. John has grown to distrust the men who have set up the hit, so he pulls off the murder sooner than expected, and evades capture by both the gangsters and the police. He had agreed to meet Manuela and her daughter at a park, but he gets caught up in trying to escape the country. On the plane back to the U.S., John fantasizes of dancing the tango with Manuela. Having returned to NYC, John reunites with his girlfriend and her daughter. He later shows the little girl some tango moves. In a coda tacked on to roll under the closing credits, Manuela says in voiceover that she has provided John with a video of new tango lessons that she hopes he will enjoy.

The film begins somewhere in Canada where a young woman is driving dangerously into oncoming traffic, as she attempts to pass a semi she is clipped by another semi, which causes her to spin and stalls, then right into the path of the first semi that slams into the side of her car killing her instantly. A few weeks earlier in Chicago, Illinois, John Quincy Archibald (Denzel Washington) and his wife Denise (Kimberly Elise) are getting behind with their payments. One day after witnessing their young son Michael (Daniel E. Smith) collapse at his baseball game. After a series of tests at the hospital, John is informed by Dr. Raymond Turner (James Woods) and Rebecca Payne (Anne Heche), a hospital administrator, that Michael has an enlarged heart and will need a transplant. Because the company he works for dropped John from full-time to part-time, his health insurance has been changed, and the new policy does not cover the surgery, leaving them to raise $250,000 to get their son's name on the donor list. The family tries to raise the money (they sell everything of value they have and even try and approach TV show hosts to run special interest pieces for the family) but are only able to come up with a third of the necessary payment. The hospital uses the money to clear their current dues and demands the full $250K for the transplant procedure. The hospital tires of waiting and releases Michael; Denise shouts at John to do something, or else Michael dies. Unwilling to let his child die, John walks into the hospital ER with a handgun, gathers hostages, and sets demands: his son's name on the recipient list as soon as possible. The hostage negotiator, Lt. Frank Grimes (Robert Duvall), stands down to let John cool off. Meanwhile, John and the eleven hostages learn more about each other. They begin to understand John's situation and support him a little as he ensures each of them receives the treatment they came to the emergency room for. One of them, Miriam (Troy Byer as Troy Beyer), is pregnant, and her husband Steve (Troy Winbush) is hoping that their first child is healthy. A young hostage, Julie (Heather Wahlquist), has a broken arm, and she and her boyfriend Mitch (Shawn Hatosy) claim that a car crash caused it. Due to holes in their story, John and another hostage, Lester (Eddie Griffin), conclude that the two are lying and that Mitch beat up Julie. After a while, John agrees to release some hostages to have his son's name added to the list an hour afterward. He releases Steve, Miriam, and a hostage named Rosa (Martha Chaves) with her baby. Meanwhile, Frank and Rebeca talk to Denise and tell her that the hospital is putting Michael on the list of donors and will cover all expenses. Frank knows this is a lie and that the plan is to use Denise to misguide John into thinking that Michael is on the list when he is not. The Chicago Chief of Police, Gus Monroe (Ray Liotta) is a sadistic s.o.b. and doesn't agree with Frank's tactics (he wants to bring down the hostage taker ASAP for the TV audiences and his own personal ratings with the Mayor's office), gives a SWAT unit permission to insert a sniper into the building via an air shaft. John is shot while he is distracted talking to Denise, but he ends up receiving only a minor wound, which is treated right away. After taking the shot, the sniper's leg falls through the ceiling tiles. Outraged, John pulls him out of the air shaft and beats him up. Meanwhile, Rebecca is moved listening to John's conversation with his son and decides to put him on the list right away, which nobody else knows. Using the bound SWAT policeman as a human shield, he steps outside to the sight of dozens of policemen pointing weapons at him and a large, supportive crowd. John demands that his son be brought to the emergency room. The police agree to his demand in exchange for the SWAT sniper. Once his son arrives, John reveals to the hostages his intention to commit suicide so his heart can be used to save his son. He persuades Dr. Turner to perform the operation, and two of his hostages bear witness to a will stating his last request. John says his last goodbyes to Michael and enters the operating room. He loads a single bullet into the gun and pulls the trigger, but the safety is on. As he prepares to end his life a second time, his wife learns that an organ donor, the woman who died in a car accident, has been flown to the hospital for organ recovery. She runs to the emergency room and stops John from shooting himself, and John allows the hostages to go free. Michael is given the life-saving operation, and after watching the procedure with Denise, John is taken into police custody after the operation is a success. John became a nationwide hit. Three months later, at his trial, all of the witnesses speak on his behalf. He is later acquitted of charges of attempted murder and armed criminal action but is found guilty of kidnapping. It is never revealed what his sentence for the crime will be, but his lawyer is overheard saying that no judge will give him "more than three to five (years)" and that she will try to get it reduced to two.

What would you do if you knew that in a few days a comet would collide with Earth and humanity could be annihilated? The countdown to doomsday is underway in this end-of-the-world thriller.

Environmental toxins in the city of Woburn, Massachusetts contaminate the area's water supply and become linked to a number of deaths of local children. Cocky Boston attorney Jan Schlichtmann (John Travolta) and his small firm of personal injury lawyers are asked by Woburn resident Anne Anderson (Kathleen Quinlan) to take legal action against those responsible. Jan's partners are Kevin Conway (Tony Shalhoub), James Gordon (William H. Macy), and Bill Crowley (Zeljko Ivanek). Anne appears on air on a radio show that Jan is attending and states that her son died of Leukemia 2 years ago and Jan's firm is handling the case, and yet nobody ever gets back to her. Jan finds that Anne had been in touch with Kevin. Their town has had 12 Leukemia deaths in the last 15 years. Kevin also adds that water sample tests reveal that 2 of the town's wells were found contaminated with a known Carcinogen. The partners decide unanimously that the case will require a lot of financial resources to fight and agree to drop it. Kevin doesn't want to go to the town and refuse the case and so, Jan volunteers to go and drop the case. Jan looks at every case in terms of the value to the plaintiff and to the firm. A dead adult in his 20s is worth less than someone who is middle aged. A dead woman, less than a dead man. A single adult less than one who is married. African American less than white, and poor less than rich. The perfect client is a white working male, 40-year-old, with a family, struck down in its prime. In the parlance of personal injury law, a dead child is worth the least of all. Jan is a master at using the victim's injuries and suffering to sway the jury and extract juicy settlement offers from the defendants. Anne arranges for Jan to meet all the affected families and they all want an apology from whoever is responsible, but they don't know who it is. Jan says that his firm only gets paid if there is an award or a settlement, and hence he can only take cases where there is a defendant with very deep pockets. After originally rejecting a seemingly unprofitable case, Jan finds a major environmental issue involving groundwater contamination that has great legal potential and realizes the local tanneries could be responsible for several deadly cases of Leukemia. Jan decides to go forward against two giant corporations which own the tanneries - Beatrice Foods and W. R. Grace and Company - thinking that the case could possibly earn him millions and boost his firm's reputation. Jerry Facher (Robert Duvall) and William Cheeseman (Bruce Norris) are the lawyer for the defendants. Bringing a class action lawsuit in federal court, Jan represents families who demand an apology and a clean-up of contaminated areas. However, the case develops a life of its own and takes over the lives of Jan and his firm. Jan has to hire a Geologist (Jay Patterson) to prove that the effluents dumped by the tanneries migrated into the underground wells, and then pumped into the homes of the residents. Jan has to hire a full team of geologists and engineers to conduct the tests. The tests have to be conducted on the private property of John Riley (Dan Hedaya). Riley owns the tannery in the area. Jan interviews a lot of staff (including Al Love (James Gandolfini)) at the tanneries, but cannot find direct evidence of harmful chemicals being dumped into the environment. Al says that barrels of TriChloroEthylene or TCE were dumped at the back of the factories. Al also says that many of his family members had a history of debilitating illness which could have originated from the contaminated water. Later, Cheeseman wants Al to tell him where the barrels were dumped, but he refuses as he knows that Cheeseman now wants to eliminate the evidence of the contamination. Riley is also called for deposition, and he says that he never used TCE in his tannery. Soon Jan and his partners find themselves in a position where their professional and financial survival has been staked on the outcome of the case. James tells the partners that everybody in the firm is working on this one case. So, there is no money coming in and millions going out to pay for the tests and to prepare for the trial. They have to borrow money from banker Uncle Pete (Ned Eisenberg) to keep the firm running. Al finally decides to come clean after apologizing to Anne. He gives Jan the exact details of where the barrels of TCE were dumped. The locations are confirmed by another tannery employee Bobby Pasqueriella (Paul Ben-Victor). Jan uncovers that several barrels of TCE were dumped in an artificial lake called the "Swimming pool". As the case develops Jan knows that it is reaching the stage of settlement. Out of 780,000 cases filed each year, only 12,000 (1.5%) go to trial. Jerry reaches out to Jan and says that Jan is going after Grace and wants him to cut Beatrice out of the lawsuit. Jerry offers to cover Jan's expenses, which he refuses angrily. Jerry says that he would only harm Jan and his case against Grace. The lawyers for Beatrice and Grace are not easy to intimidate. Jan stubbornly declines settlement offers, gradually coming to believe that the case is about more than just money. He allows his pride to take over, making outrageous demands (he asks for $25 million cash, $25 million to establish a research foundation and $1.5 million per family per year for 30 years) and deciding that he must win at all costs. Pressures take their toll, with Jan and his partners going deeply into debt. Kevin mortgages every single possession he has to pay for the case, including the deeds to the houses of all 4 partners. The trial starts with Jan and his team presenting all the scientific evidence. Riley claims that he has no clue how his private property became the most polluted piece of real estate in New England. He says that he is a respectable member of the community, and he kept his tannery open and provided jobs for everyone when everybody else moved away. Judge Walter J. Skinner (John Lithgow) makes a key ruling against the plaintiffs. Skinner disallows the victims of Woburn from testifying on stand, as the case hasn't been proven yet that the poisonous chemicals ever reached the wells. Jerry convinced Skinner of the same. Skinner asks 3 questions from the jurors: whether contamination took place, when did contamination reach the wells, when did it start causing diseases in the local population. After a lengthy trial, the case is dismissed in favor of Beatrice (but Grace is convicted of contamination), after Jan turned down an offer of $20 million from Beatrice attorney Jerry Facher during jury deliberations. The plaintiffs are forced to accept a settlement with Grace (Al Eustis (Sydney Pollack) is the MD of Grace, who offer them $8 million) that barely covers the expense involved in trying the case, leaving Jan and his partners broke. The families are deeply disappointed (as they get $375,000 per family after expenses and no apology, and no promise of a clean-up), and Jan's partners dissolve their partnership, effectively breaking up the firm. Jan ends up alone, living in a small apartment and running a small-time law practice. He manages to find the last key witness to the case but lacks resources and courage to appeal the judgment. At a lunch he gets the idea that he should be looking for the people who helped the leather company clean up the mess. He finds them & passes their contact to a rival law firm to pursue the case further. The leather company is forced to settle & goes into bankruptcy. The files are archived while Jan later files for bankruptcy. A postscript reveals that the EPA, building on Jan's work on the case, later brought its own enforcement action against Beatrice and Grace, forcing them to pay millions to clean up the land and the groundwater. It takes Jan several years to settle his debts, and he now practices environmental law in New Jersey.

After his happy life spins out of control, a preacher from Texas changes his name, goes to Louisiana and starts preaching on the radio. Eulis 'Sonny' Dewey is a preacher from Texas living a happy life with his beautiful wife Jessie. Suddenly his stable world crumbles: Jessie is having an affair with young minister Horace. Sonny gets enraged and hits Horace with a softball bat, putting him into a coma. After that he leaves town, takes a new name, 'Apostle E.F.' and goes to Louisiana. There he starts to work as a mechanic for local radio station owner Elmo, and Elmo lets him preach on the radio. E.F. starts to preach everywhere: on the radio, on the streets, and with his new friend, Reverend Blackwell he starts a campaign to renovate an old church. —Anonymous After the Evangelical preacher goes on the lam for committing a heinous crime, he starts a new congregation among the poorest and most downtrodden.Despite his good deeds eventually he has to pay for his crime but he still doesn't lose his love for God or his love of preaching.

Grace King Bichon (Julia Roberts) is married to Eddie. Grace is not very close to Eddie and the couple together are not very romantic. Every morning, they discuss the tasks on the "to-do" list for that day, like they are having a business meeting. Grace tends to be absent minded and sometimes would even forget to pick their daughter Caroline from home when she is supposed to be taking her. She helps out at her parent's horse farm during the day. Their daughter Caroline loves horses. Caroline wants to ride a horse during the upcoming Grand Prix, but her grandfather Wyly insists that she is still young and needs to ride a pony. Their stable manager Hank wants to ride the horse Ransom in the upcoming Grand Prix equestrian championship, but Grace's father Wyly plans to buy a stud named Ford for $150K (& ride it himself in the event) and not enter Ransom in it, as he doesn't have a good feeling about it. Grace is upset with the decision as Hank is likely to quit if he is not allowed to enter with Ransom in the competition. Wyly wants Hank and Ransom to wait another year for their chance at the trophy. Grace discovers (while driving Caroline back home from school) that her husband, Eddie (Dennis Quaid), is having an affair with another woman. Grace returns home to find a message on the machine from Eddie saying that he would be in a client meeting till late. By 11 PM, Grace loses all patience and takes Caroline with her to look for Eddie. They find Eddie's car outside a pub. Grace was still in her nightdress. After a wildly public confrontation with Eddie and his mistress, Grace packs up their daughter Caroline "Doodlebug" Bichon (Haley Aull) and returns home to her parents' Wyly King (Robert Duvall) & Georgia King (Gena Rowlands) horse farm to regroup. Grace stays with her sister Emma Rae, who has a separate cabin at the horse farm, different to where Wyly and Georgia stay. To her surprise and dismay, everyone around her is still mired in old fashioned ideals. Wyly admonishes Grace for going around publicly in her nightdress, with Caroline in the car, bringing shame to the family. Georgia exclaims that Eddie slipped and that can happen in the happiest of marriages. Wyly also says that they are involved in a real estate deal with Eddie and his dad and cannot afford to antagonize him. Wyly wants Grace to make up with Eddie, but she refuses flatly. Wyly says that Eddie is a caring father and a good provide and that is hard to come by. Grace, usually submissive around her father, finally gets the courage to stand up to her father. Grace also doesn't allow Eddie to meet Caroline, as she says that she had kept her with Aunt Rae (Anne Shropshire), who hates Eddie to begin with. Her sister, Emma Rae (Kyra Sedgwick), who is furious at Eddie and lets him know it, is also unwilling to let Grace pretend this has come out of nowhere (Eddie was known as the Hound Dog back in college and Grace knew it), or that she did not make choices that led to her current predicament. Grace tries to convince Hank to stay back, but he is determined to leave once the event is over. Meanwhile Wyly starts to practice with Ford but is not able to get a good control of the horse. The trainer of Ford, named Jamie (Brett Cullen), feels that Wyly is controlling it too much and not letting it do its thing. Jamie tells Grace that Wyly needs to trust the horse as the horse knows what it is doing. Grace attends a society ladies meeting and learns that Eddie had sex with another friend of hers. Grace starts to reveal everyone's hidden secrets about how they all cheated with each other's spouses. Jamie has gone through a divorce himself, and Grace starts to like him. Emma encourages her to date him. Eddie, too, confronts Grace about her withdrawal from their life, and his feelings of abandonment after what started out as an affectionate, loving marriage. Eddie says that he never thought Grace would say yes to his marriage proposal. On the advice of a meddlesome neighbor, Grace invites Eddie for a dinner and serves him fish with a low intensity poisoned sauce. Just as Grace starts to understand Eddie's point that Grace stopped wanting Eddie after Caroline was born, the poison makes Eddie sick and Grace rushes him to the hospital. Georgia confronts Grace about her life falling apart but Grace pushes back saying that Georgia never did anything when Wyly cheated on her with Anne-Pritchett, many years ago. Georgia is hurt, she goes back home and locks Wyly out of the house. Eddie decides to file for divorce through his lawyer Jack. Jack encourages Eddie to fight dirty and instead he decides to back off. Emme and Grace head to a bar and get hammered. Emma leaves with a guy and Jamie offers to drop Grace back home. Grace agrees to a nightcap with Jamie. Grace agrees to have sex with Jamie but can't as she keeps picturing Eddie. Jamie accepts that Grace is not yet ready to move on from Eddie. At the equestrian event, Caroline performs on her pony Possum. She wins her category. Grace ignores Wyly and enter Hank and Ransom into the competition against Wyly and Ford. Grace also quits her father's farm and decides to complete her vet studies. Hank makes a perfect run with Ransom, but Wyly drops a bar and comes 3rd, while Hank wins. Wyly is gracious in defeat and Georgia forgives him and they reconcile. Wyly agrees to have Jamie ride Ford the following year. Grace hears that Eddie met a mean divorce lawyer and is alarmed. Grace confronts Eddie at the celebration dinner, and Eddie responds by sharing a lively dance with Grace. Eddie reconciles with Grace, but she says she wants to become someone that she herself is proud of and that she doesn't want to blow this chance away. Grace enrolls in college and starts dating Eddie again.

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

Two lonely, retired septuagenarians, an unkempt, hard-drinking Irish sea captain, and a fussy, well-mannered Cuban barber form an uneasy friendship. Frank, a retired Irish seaman, and Walter, a retired Cuban barber, are two lonely old men trapped in the emptiness of their own lives. When they meet in a park Frank is able to start a conversation after several attempts. They begin to spend time together and become friends. But because of their different characters they often quarrel with each other and finally separate after Frank misbehaves to Walter's friend Elaine. —Matthias Scheler <tron@lyssa.owl.de>

A disturbed man (Michael Douglas) whose true identity is unknown. Stuck in L.A. traffic in summer, he abandons his vehicle. D-Fens, as he is credited in the film (based on his vanity license plate), begins walking west, trying to reach his estranged wife Beth (Barbara Hershey) and daughter Adele (Joey Hope Singer). It's the girl's birthday, and he wants to be with her. Detective Prendergast (Robert Duvall) of the LAPD is on his last day before taking an early retirement. He comes upon D-Fens's abandoned car on his way to work and helps push it out of traffic. A few years back, his pushy wife made him take a safe desk job. D-Fens wants to call his wife, but short on coins, he enters a Korean convenience store. He respects the "no change without purchase" policy and tries to buy a can of Coke. He gets angry at the 85 cents asked for the soda. He fights with the Korean owner and, after grabbing a sawed-off baseball bat from the owner, and begins wrecking the store. Heading for Venice, California, D-Fens climbs a hill in "gangland,". Two young Mexican gang-members accost him. When D-Fens fails to hand over any money, they threaten him with a knife, and he counters with the bat. He injures one assailant's arm and drives the other off. he drops the bat & takes the knife. The Latino gang members vow revenge, and a carload hunting for D-Fens. D-Fens calls his ex-wife from a pay phone, threatening to show up at his daughter's birthday party. The gangsters attempt a drive-by shooting but miss D-Fens and crash their car. They open fire, hitting several surrounding bystanders, but not D-Fens. The driver crashes. D-Fens picks up a gun, shoots the one surviving gang member in the leg, and then leaves with their bag of weapons. D-Fens encounters a panhandler who harasses him for change. D-Fens finally gives him the briefcase, which only contains his lunch. D-Fens stops by Whammy Burger, only to be told that breakfast stopped being served five minutes earlier. Not a wise thing to tell the psychotic D-Fens, as he soon pulls out a sub-machine gun, threatening everyone and deciding to have lunch instead. After berating the staff for serving him a hamburger that looks nothing like the advertising posters, he leaves. He leaves and tries to place a call from a phone booth, then shoots the booth to pieces after being hassled by someone who was waiting to use the phone. Prendergast is starting to notice a pattern and believes that all incidents are tied to the same person. The Korean store owner came in to complain, and the detective heard about the bold daylight shooting attempt. He looks on an L.A. map and sees that the mysterious man in a white shirt and a tie is walking towards the ocean. Prendergast is not taken seriously. D-Fens's ex calls the police to gain protection from him, but they don't believe he's much of a threat and leave. D-Fens passes a bank where an African American man is protesting after being rejected for a loan. The man exchanges a glance with D-Fens and says, "Don't forget me," as he is escorted away by police. The increasingly disturbed D-Fens goes into an Army-Navy surplus store run by a homophobic neo-Nazi to buy more durable footwear for his trek, as his shoe sole is half rotten. While he's being fitted, police detective Torres (Rachel Ticotin) comes in asking about him. The Nazi owner stalls her and, after she leaves, tells D-Fens he knows all about his activities. The Nazi assumes D-Fens is a racist who is attacking non-whites. After being corrected about this, and as D-Fens expresses disgust at the Nazi's bigotry, the irate skinhead attempts to handcuff D-Fens to turn him over to the police. He is instead knifed and ultimately killed. D-Fens clothes himself in military-style garb and sets out with a rocket launcher. He cuts through a nearby golf course and is accosted by two elderly golfers. After berating them for wasting such lovely green space on a silly game, he shoots up their golf cart, causing one to have a heart attack and die. D-Fens encounters a road repair crew who are not working and accuses them of doing unnecessary repairs to justify their budget. He pulls out the rocket launcher but struggles to use it, until a boy explains how it works. D-Fens accidentally fires the launcher, blowing up the construction site. D-Fens eventually reaches his former home, but his ex-wife leaves just in time. Prendergast, who has put the whole puzzle together by finally figuring out that the guy causing the mayhem is the one with the license plate D-FENS, he finds the address & reaches his mother. They find that D-Fens real name is William Foster & he was recently fired from the defense plant & is divorced from his wife who won't let him see his daughter as he has a bit of temper. Pendergast rushes to the wife's address with his friend, Detective Torres. Having turned in his weapon (it's his last day before retirement), Prendergast is unarmed. D-Fens shoots Torres, wounding her slightly, and the older detective grabs her weapon and chases D-Fens onto a fishing pier. Prendergast has a final confrontation with D-Fens where he correctly concludes that William planned to shoot his ex-wife & daughter & then turn the gun on himself and kill himself. Adele is happy to see him, but Beth wants him to leave. Prendergast arrives and distracts Foster long enough for Beth to throw his gun into the ocean. Prendergast holds Foster at gunpoint and urges him to surrender, acknowledging his complaints about social inequalities but not accepting them as an excuse for his rampage. With nothing left for him, Foster tricks Prendergast into shooting him dead. Having asserted himself, Prendergast decides to hold off retirement.

The story of the Apache chief and his armed resistance to the U.S. Government's subjugation of his people. On December 5, 1886, Geronimo surrendered to a detachment of US cavalry on the border between Arizona and Mexico. Barely more than 30 men remained of his once proud following. This was preceded by a five-year struggle between the rebellious Apache chief and his white adversaries. Those who were commissioned by the state to hunt down and kill Geronimo were themselves merely the henchmen of a misguided policy. Young Lieutenant Charles Gatewood and his superior, General Crook, are well aware of this-Geronimo's defeat is a bitter victory for them. —ZDF The Apache Indians have reluctantly agreed to settle on a US Government approved reservation. Not all the Apaches are able to adapt to the life of corn farmers. One in particular, Geronimo, is restless. Pushed over the edge by broken promises and necessary actions by the government, Geronimo and thirty or so other warriors form an attack team which humiliates the government by evading capture, while reclaiming what is rightfully theirs. —Rob Hartill

Horton Foote's story of a teen-aged boy in the Depression who finds work on an eccentric's sugar plantation and learns life's surprising lessons from the team of convicts who also work there. In 1902 Texas, thirteen-year-old Horace goes to work on old Soll's farm to earn enough money to buy a headstone for his father's grave. Unfortunately for Horace, Soll's senility, ill health, and obsession with the convict labor he uses to work the farm, make it unlikely that Horace will ever be paid the twelve dollars and fifty cents Soll owes him for six months work. —JeanneArmintrout@juno.com

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.

Under a dystopian religious tyranny, most women cannot conceive children. Those young women who can live in a form of sexual slavery to provide children for influential families. In a future dystopian land (formerly the United States of America), the story tells of Kate, a "handmaid". Kate is a criminal, guilty of the crime of trying to escape and sentenced to become a Handmaid. Handmaids' sole function is to bear the children of influential men whose wives (like most women) have been rendered infertile due to pollution. After rigorous group training by "Aunt" Lydia ("Aunts" train and discipline handmaids) in the proper way to behave, Kate is assigned as Handmaid to the Commander. Kate is attracted to Nick, the Commander's chauffeur. At the same time, a resistance movement begins to challenge the regime. —Reid Gagle (updated by R.M. Sieger) In the not-too-distant future, the USA has become the Republic of Gilead. It is a tyrannically run state that brutally suppresses all opposition, whose policies are based primarily on the Old Testament and which downgrades women in particular to mere child bearers and deprives them of all rights. Former librarian Kate therefore tries to flee Gilead with her husband and their daughter. However, she is intercepted at the border and ends up as a "servant" of the state in the household of Commander Fred, one of the leading military officers in Gilead, and his wife Serena. They need Kate primarily for the purpose of procreation and henceforth call her "Offred". However, when she learns that Fred is incapable of procreating, Kate sees her position in jeopardy, as her predecessors have also been solely blamed for her failure to conceive. In her situation, Kate believes the best strategy is to maintain a good relationship with both the commander and his wife, especially as they both have ways of finding out where their daughter is. Through the commander's chauffeur, Nick, Kate hopes to escape, but must continue to be obedient. Her situation becomes untenable over time, and when she sees how her friends treat servants who do not fulfill their duties, she wants to act as quickly as possible. —Arte Following a coup, America is a country still at war with itself and ruled by a repressive Bible-inspired regime. Past pollution means only 1% of women can bear children, and anyone committing a crime and found to be a potential mother is put into an institution run by "Aunts" to be indoctrinated. One such young woman is Kate, who is turned over to Fred, a high ranking member of the security forces, to attempt to procreate. Kate then becomes known as "Offred" (for property "of Fred"). Serena, Fred's wife, is jealous and vicious. The state's grip seems to be tightening but Kate still has her own mind and she finds some other people who are prepared to resist. —Jeremy Perkins {J-26} (updated by R.M. Sieger)

A police veteran and his rookie partner fight Los Angeles gangs. A confident young cop is shown the ropes by a veteran partner in the dangerous gang-controlled barrios of L.A. about to explode in violence in this look at the gang culture enforced by the colors that members wear. —Keith Loh <loh@sfu.ca> A tough, experienced Los Angeles police officer is paired with an over-confident younger officer in a taut police drama. The story takes place in the gang infested areas of Los Angeles' inner city where the colors gang members wear show gang affiliation. —robsturner@earthlink.net

A trio of robbers, two brothers and their twisted genius leader, invade a lightship, but don't reckon on the crew fighting back. Just when US Coast Guard captain Miller takes his teenage son Alex to his lightship off the coast of Virginia, Calvin Caspary and two criminal accomplices, on the run for the police, decide to hijack it. What the crazy trio didn't count on is that this small crew doesn't just keep taking it lying low, they will put up a fight. Alex hides dad's gun and wrestles his his war past and courage. —KGF Vissers The US Coast Guard Captain Miller brings his estranged teenage son Alex on board of his anchored lightship and introduces him to the crew. When they see a boat with three men adrift, the crew brings them to the boat. The leader Calvin Caspary introduces the deranged brothers Eddie and Gene to Captain Miller and his crew and soon they overtake the command of the lightship. Alex and the crew is in larger number and wants to resist but Captain Miller has a trauma from his past and wants to protect his men. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The movie follows Roy Hobbs, a talented baseball player. Talent got him to the edge of glory, fate took him to the well of despair and love sent him to where he was meant to be.

In 1948, Reverend Desmond Spellacy is a young Roman Catholic monsignor in the Los Angeles Archdiocese. His older brother Tom is a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. Des is skillful at developing church projects while keeping down costs. He sometimes cuts a corner, overlooking the shady side of construction mogul Jack Amsterdam, a lay Catholic who uses his ties to Des for the congregation's benefit but mainly for his own. One day, Lois Fazenda, a young woman, is found murdered in a vacant lot, her body cut in two. Tom and his partner Frank Crotty are in charge of the case. Fazenda is labeled "the Virgin Tramp" by the press for apparently being both a Catholic and a prostitute, turning it into a sensational case. Tom's investigation leads him to Brenda Samuels, a madam. Tom was acquainted with Brenda years earlier while working as a bagman for Amsterdam, whose corruption extends to the local prostitution ring. Brenda called the police to report the death of a Catholic priest who was having sex with one of her prostitutes. While there, Brenda reproaches Tom for doing nothing for her while she was sent to prison for running one of Jack's whorehouses. Tom later believes that Fazenda appeared in a stag film and obtains a copy. He and Frank notice that a girl in the movie was at Brenda's brothel when they came to retrieve the philandering priest. Tom wants Brenda's help with tracking down the girl. Frank spots her days later when she is being taken to jail after a roundup. They learn that Fazenda was a favorite of Leland Standard, a pornographic movie director, because of her tattoo. Standard did his filming in a deserted army post in El Segundo. At lunch with his brother, Tom provokes Amsterdam with secret facts about Amsterdam's dark side, which makes Des uncomfortable. Des tells the Cardinal that the church needs to cut ties with Amsterdam for good. Des discusses "getting rid of Jack" with his cronies, who remind him that it would not be easily done. Sonny, a corrupt City Council member and mortician, proposes that they give Jack a salutation dinner. Des organizes a Catholic "layman of the year" banquet for Amsterdam as a gesture of appreciation before ending the church's relationship with him. Furious, Tom walks up to Amsterdam at the banquet and pulls off his sash while shouting, "Were you wearing this when you were banging Lois Fazenda?" Jack attacks Tom, and they scream at each other. Tom goes to Standard's "studio" and finds the floor and a bathtub covered with dried blood. He also finds Chinese food, which the medical examiner had found in her stomach. Tom and Frank look for Standard but learn that he had been killed in a car accident twelve hours after the murder. Tom wants to drag in Amsterdam for questioning to humiliate him in public, but Frank talks him out of it. Tom starts digging around and discovers that Fazenda was having sex with community leaders. Amsterdam's lawyer Dan Campion warns the Monsignor that Tom should lay off unless they want it revealed publicly that Des also knew Fazenda. She met Des only once in passing, whereas she had a sexual relationship with both Amsterdam and Campion. But the fact that Des had any kind of involvement in such a lurid case could permanently stain his reputation with the church. Tom will not be talked out of it. His determination becomes complete when Brenda is found dead, an apparent suicide. He decides to have Amsterdam picked up and taken to headquarters, which leads to Des being treated the same way. His rising career curtailed, Des asks to be relocated to a remote parish in the desert, the same place to which his mentor in the diocese, Monsignor Fargo, was exiled. Years later, in 1962, Tom visits Des, who is now dying. Tom feels that everything is his fault, but Des calls him his salvation, tells him that he is at peace, and absolves his brother of all blame. He shows Tom the plot where they will be buried together.

If you are a representative of the production house, please share the details of the film with

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

Mike Locken, who works for a private security firm affiliated with the C.I.A., is betrayed by his partner and left apparently crippled for life. Mike Locken is one of the principal members of a group of freelance spies. A significant portion of their work is for the C.I.A., and while he's on a case for them, one of his friends turns on him and shoots him in the elbow and knee. His assignment, to protect someone, goes down in flames. He is nearly crippled, but with braces is able to become mobile again. For revenge as much as anything else, Mike goes after his ex-friend.

This sequel continues the saga of two generations of power in the Corleone family, depicting the roots and rise of a young Don Vito, and the ascension of Michael as the new Don.

Grizzled racist cop Eddie Ryan is suspended from the force after a suspect falls off a roof while escaping arrest. Then Eddie's partner Gigi Caputo turns up dead in Brooklyn with his throat cut. Eddie vows to clean up the streets.

An ex-bounty hunter reluctantly helps a wealthy landowner and his henchmen track down a Mexican revolutionary leader. Joe Kidd (Clint Eastwood) is a former bounty hunter and all-around tough-guy in the American southwest. When a band of Mexicans find their U.S. land claims denied and all relevant records destroyed in a courthouse fire, they turn to force-of-arms. Luis Chama (John Saxon) is their charismatic leader, spouting revolutionary rhetoric and demanding land reform. A wealthy landowner with interests in the disputed area, Frank Harlan (Robert Duvall), decides to settle things his own way. He hires a band of killers and wants Joe Kidd to help them track Chama. Initially, Kidd wants to avoid any involvement, until Chama makes the mistake of stealing Kidd's horses and terrorizing his friends. —Tad Dibbern <DIBBERN_D@a1.mscf.upenn.edu>

In the 21st century, sexual intercourse and reproduction are prohibited, whereas use of mind-altering drugs is mandatory to enforce compliance among the citizens and to ensure their ability to conduct dangerous and demanding tasks. Emotions, coitus, and the concept of family are taboo. Everyone is clad in identical uniforms and has shaven heads to emphasize equality, except the police androids (who wear black) and robed monks. Instead of names, people have designations with three arbitrary letters (referred to as the "prefix") and four digits, shown on an identity badge worn at all times. At their jobs in central video control centers, SEN 5241 and LUH 3417 keep surveillance on the city. LUH has a male roommate, THX 1138, who works in a factory producing android police officers. At the beginning of the story, THX leaves the job while the loudspeakers urge the workers to "increase safety" - and congratulate them for only losing 195 workers in the last period - to the competing factory's 242. On the way home, he stops at a confession booth in a row of many, and mumbles prayers about "party" and "masses", under the portrait of "OMM 0000". A soothing voice greets THX, and OMM ends every confession with a parting salutation: "You are a true believer, blessings of the State, blessings of the masses. Work hard, increase production, prevent accidents and be happy". At home, THX takes his drugs and watches holobroadcasts while engaging with a masturbatory device. LUH secretly substitutes pills in her possession for THX's medications, whereupon THX eventually suffers physical discomfort (vomiting) along with mental/emotional changes (confusion). The drug substitution also leads to LUH and THX becoming involved romantically, resulting in the two engaging in intercourse. THX later is confronted by SEN, who arranges THX as his new roommate, but THX files a complaint against SEN for the illegal housing mate change. Without drugs in his system, THX falters during a critical and hazardous phase of his job, and a control center engages a "mind lock" on THX which raises the level of danger. After the release of the mind lock, THX makes the necessary correction to that work phase. THX and LUH are arrested. THX enjoys a brief reunion with LUH, disrupted shortly after she reveals her pregnancy. At THX's trial, THX is sentenced to prison, alongside SEN. Most of the prisoners seem uninterested in escape, but eventually THX and SEN find an exit and they are later joined by hologram SRT 5752, who starred in the holobroadcasts. During the escape, THX and SRT are separated from SEN. Chased by the police robots, THX and SRT are trapped in a control center, from which THX learns that LUH has been "consumed", and her name has been reassigned to fetus 66691 in a growth chamber. SEN eventually escapes to an area reserved for the monks of OMM, where a lone monk notices that SEN has no identification badge. SEN attacks him and later wanders into a child-rearing area, strikes up a conversation with children, and sits aimlessly until police androids apprehend him. THX and SRT steal two cars, but SRT crashes his into a concrete pillar. Pursued by two police androids on motorcycles, THX flees to the limits of the city and escapes into a ventilation shaft. The police androids pursue him on motorcycles along the ventilation shaft to an escape ladder, but are ordered by Central Command to cease pursuit, on grounds that the expense of his capture exceeds their budget by 6%. The city is then revealed to be entirely underground, and THX has escaped onto the surface, where he then witnesses the sun setting.

Young tomboy Mattie Ross (Kim Darby) loves her father. But when this father gets killed by a tramp called Tom Chaney (Jeff Corey), she is determined to see him hang. She goes to Fort Smith and discovers that Tom Chaney has fled in the Indian territory, where only a marshall can get him. A marshall who has true grit, in order to vanquish not only Chaney, but also the group of outlaws he has connected with, led by the notorious bandit Ned Pepper (Robert Duvall) and including Moon (Dennis Hopper) and Quincy (Jeremy Slate). So Mattie finds the toughest marshall of the West : the one-eyed Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn (John Wayne), who's never known a dry day in his life, and hires him - with $100 - to go after Chaney and Pepper. Rooster soon pairs with young Texican La Boeuf (Glen Campbell) who also looks for Chaney as he had killed a Texas-senator before murdering Mattie's father. Mattie and La Boeuf are soon at odds, as the latest doesn't want her to join the chase, but Mattie hangs on and Rooster lets her come with them. Strong-headed Mattie, fast talking La Boeuf and sharp Rooster engage themselves in a battle of wits and, at the same time, on Chaney's tracks. After an ambush where Moon and Quincy are killed, Mattie gets face to face with Chaney and wounds him before being kidnapped by Ned Pepper. Ned forces Rooster and La Boeuf to withdraw and leaves Mattie with Chaney as a hostage. But La Boeuf comes back and captures Chaney. Mattie and La Boeuf witness the last fight between Ned Pepper and three of his men on one side, Rooster all alone on the other. They all charge on their horses and Rooster kills three men and injures Pepper before his horse (Bo) is killed under him. He desperately tries to get his gun as the dying Ned comes closer. At the very last moment, La Boeuf fires from the hill he stands on with Mattie and shoots Ned before Rooster gets killed. Chaney then escapes and hits La Boeuf on the head with a big stone, only to get shot again by Mattie. With the gunfire, she falls in a pit where a deadly snake threatens her. Rooster arrives at that moment, kills Chaney who was still trying to hurt Mattie and goes down the pit to save Mattie. The snake bites her and Rooster's unable to go up the pit with the unconscious Mattie. La Boeuf wakes up just a little while to pull them out with a horse and a rope, before falling dead. Rooster leaves him on the field and kills his horse under him to bring Mattie to a doctor. At the end of the movie, Mattie is back to her ranch where she heals slowly. Rooster comes and visits her. She shows him the cemetery where her father rests and she offers him, as he has no family, to rest beside her after his death. He takes on the offer with a joke and departs, jumping over a fence and yelling: "Come and see a fat old man sometime!"

Lt. Frank Bullitt, a hard-bitten police detective, is assigned to protect the star witness in a Congressional investigation but he soon ends up dead.

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