Rock Hudson

Set in the fictional English village of St. Mary Mead, home of Miss Jane Marple (Angela Lansbury), in 1953. The movie opens with a black-and-white scene from a movie being played at the local community house titled 'Meeting at Midnight' where a detective in the movie assembles a group of people together at a quait country mansion to root out them for the murder of the wealthy owner. The film breaks which depresses the local audience, until Miss Marple reveals, according to her natural skill of observation, who the murderer in the movie is. Meanwhile, a big Hollywood production company arrives to film a costume movie about Mary, Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I with two famous movie stars, Marina Rudd (Elizabeth Taylor) and Lola Brewster (Kim Novak). Marina and Lola are old rivals who hate each other. Marina, who is making a much heralded comeback after a prolonged "illness" and retirement, when she, in reality, has had a nervous breakdown, and her husband, Jason Rudd (Rock Hudson), who is directing the movie they are making, arrive with their entourage. When she learns that Lola will be in the movie as well, she becomes enraged and vents her anger. Lola and her husband, Martin N. "Marty" Fenn (Tony Curtis), who is producing the movie they are making, then arrive at the gathering. Excitement runs high in St. Mary Mead, as the locals have been invited to a reception held by the movie company in a manor house, Gossington Hall, to meet the celebrities. Lola and Marina come face to face at the reception and exchange some potent and comical insults, nasty one-liners, as they smile and pose for the cameras. The two square off in a series of hilarious and cleverly written and performed cat-fights throughout the movie. After her initial exchange with Lola at the reception, she is cornered by a gushing, devoted fan, Heather Babcock (Maureen Bennett), who bores her with a long and detailed story about having actually met Marina in person during World War II. After recounting the meeting they had all those years ago, when she arose from her sickbed to go and meet the glamorous star, Babcock drinks a cocktail that was made for Marina and quickly dies from poisoning. The incident is unfortunate for Marina's mental state, and she is beside herself. Everyone is certain Heather was the intended murder victim. Once filming begins on the movie, Marina discovers that apart from threatening notes made up of newspaper clippings, her cup of coffee on the set has also been spiked with poison, sending her into fits of terror. A police detective from Scotland Yard arrives to investigate the case. Inspector Dermot Craddock (Bernard Fox) is baffled as he tries to uncover who is behind the attempt on the life of the actress and the subsequent murder of the innocent woman. The suspected are Ella Zielinsky (Geraldine Chaplin), Jason's production assistant who is secretly having an affair with him and would like Marina out of the way, and the hot-headed actress Lola Brewster. Inspector Craddock even suspects Marty Fenn may have have something to do with the attempt on Marina's life since he is Lola's blindly loyal husband. Inspector Craddock then meets with Marina who tells him about reciving the death threats against her in the form of two notes delivered recently and claims not to know who is behind them. When Inspector Craddock questions Jason about the notes, he clearly acts somewhat suprised as if hearing about it for the first time, and he calmly tells the inspector that he wanted to keep the threats on his wife a secret as not to bring on bad publicity for the Hollywood studio. Inspector Craddock asks his aunt, the renowned amateur detective Miss Jane Marple, who injured her foot at the reception and is confined to her home, for assistance. The main suspect, Ella Zielinsky, is later killed by a lethal nose spray after going to a pay phone in the village, where she called the murderer and threatened to expose them. At the climax, Miss Marple, now back on her feet, visits Gossington Hall, where Marina and Jason are staying, and views where Heather Babcock's death occurred. Working from information received from her cleaning woman, Cherry Baker (Wendy Morgan), who was working as a waitress the day of the murder, the determined elderly sleuth begins to piece together the events of the fatal reception and solves the mystery: Marina herself is the murderer. In the film's denouement, Miss Marple explains to Jason Rudd and Inspector Craddock about the two murders that have occurred. Heather Babcock's story was Marina's initial motive. Ten years earlier, Miss Babcock suffered from German measles; a rather harmless disease to most adults, but problematic for a pregnant woman. Heather Babcock innocently infected Marina when she met her during World War II during a stage performance. Marina was about a month pregnant at the time; the disease caused her child to be born with mental retardation. Upon hearing the unknowing Heather cheerfully tell this story, Marina was overcome with rage and poisoned Heather without thinking. She then spread the idea that she was the intended victim in order to throw off suspicion from herself, delivering death threats and poisoning her own coffee at the studio. Ella, who made phone calls to various suspects from the town's pay phone, accidentally guessed correctly, apparently prompting Marina to murder her as well. Miss Marple also deducts that Jason Rudd knew about Marina's murderous secret after Inspector Craddock told him the other day about the death threat notes that Marina received. Jason saw right through the charade as he realized that Marina fabricated everything because she never told him about the death threat notes, and thus decided to protect her. Jason, Marina's devoted husband, confesses to Miss Marple that he actually administered a dosage of poison just last night to save her from prosecution. However, when they enter Marina's room, they see that Marina is now dead. However, Marina didn't touch the hot chocolate Jason made for her and rather poisoned herself. As Marina is now dead, she will not be brought to justice. On that note, both Miss Marple and Inspector Craddock depart from Gossington Hall as the end credits role.

Two men who have been friends since childhood find themselves on opposite ends of the law. After a train robbery committed in New Mexico, a small gang sets-out to divide the loot. However, a disagreement over the shares causes one gang member, Billy Massey, to take the whole loot and run toward the Mexican border. The sheriff of Cumbres, Chuck Jarvis, learns of the train holdup and organizes a posse. Unfortunately, gang member Billy Massey is a very close childhood friend of the sheriff. No matter how disappointed the sheriff is, he's determined to do his duty and apprehend Billy. Local district attorney P. J. Wilson is a law-and-order hardliner with higher political aspirations. He demands the sheriff recover the railroad property immediately or else there will be consequences. Sheriff Chuck Jarvis hires a few Indian trackers and sets-out to find Billy. However, Billy's former gang members are also looking for him to recover the loot. Billy doubles-back to Cumbres and goes to the sheriff's house. While the sheriff's wife, Kate, serves Billy supper, the sheriff arrives and, after a short tense moment, persuades Billy to surrender and face a fair trial. With Billy in custody, sheriff Chuck Jarvis sends for the district judge and hires a lawyer for Billy. But strict district attorney P. J. Wilson is determined to hang Billy, no matter what. Now the sheriff has the double problem of protecting Billy's life from the lynching mob instigated by Wilson and from Billy's old gang members who are heading to town to kill Billy. —nufs68

Arthur Hamilton (John Randolph) is a middle-aged man whose life has lost purpose. He is disengaged at his job as a banker, while the love with his wife has dwindled. Through a friend who he thought had died years earlier, Hamilton is approached by a secret organization, known simply as the "Company," which offers wealthy people a second chance at life. The Company, in the person of Mr. Ruby (Jeff Corey), interviews Hamilton, then shows him a film of him attacking a girl after he'd unknowingly consumed drugged food & drink offered him by the Company. They threaten to blackmail Hamilton forcing him to sign on, foreshadowing the unfortunate consequences of accepting the Company's assistance. Hamilton's death is staged to make it look as if he perished in a hotel fire with a corpse left disguised as him. Through extensive plastic surgery and psychoanalysis, Hamilton is transformed into Tony Wilson (Rock Hudson). He is provided with a new home, a new identity (as Wilson), new friends and a devoted manservant. The details of his new existence suggest that there was once a real Tony Wilson, but what became of him is a mystery. Wilson copes with his new world. Relocated to a fancy home in Malibu, California, where he is an already established artist, he commences a relationship with a young woman named Nora Marcus (Salome Jens) and for a time he is happy but soon becomes troubled by the emotional confusion of his new identity, as well as by the exuberance of renewing his youth. At a dinner party he hosts for neighbors, Wilson drinks himself into a stupor and begins to babble about his former life as Hamilton. It turns out that his neighbors are "reborns" like himself, sent to keep an eye on his adjustment. Nora is actually an agent of the Company and her attentions to Wilson are designed merely to ensure his cooperation. In violation of Company policy, Wilson, posing as an old friend of her husband's, visits his former wife (Frances Reid) in his new persona. He learns that his marriage had failed because he was distracted by the pursuit of career and material possessions, the very things in life that others made him believe were important. Wilson returns to the Company and announces a desire to start again with yet another identity. The Company offers to accommodate him, but asks if he would first provide the names of some past acquaintances who might like to be "reborn." He refuses since he now knows of the drawbacks to being "reborn" and also doesn't want to delay the Company's procedure for a new identity for himself. While awaiting his reassignment, Wilson encounters Charlie Evans (Murray Hamilton), the friend who had originally recruited him into the Company. Evans was also "reborn" and likewise could not make a go of his new life. Together, they speculate on the reason for their failure to adjust, attributing it to the fact that they allowed others, including the Company, to make life choices for them. This realization comes too late. Wilson/Hamilton is suddenly strapped to a gurney and as he is wheeled down the hallway, a priest reads him his last rites. He is eventually wheeled into a small room where he learns that failed reborns are not actually provided with new identities but instead become the cadavers used to fake new clients' deaths.

Roger Willoughby (Rock Hudson) arrives late to his work because a lady has occupied his parking space. He tries to move her car but he only succeeds in getting a parking fine by a police officer (James Westerfield), who doesn't believe his weird story. Roger is a fishing tools expert and shop assistant who has even written a book about the sport. He teaches Major Phipps (Roscoe Karns) how to use a rodding cane at the department store where he works in, at Abercrombie and Fitch, in the fishing sports department. Roger gives him advice which he has heard from somebody else. Roger's customers, Abigail Page (Paula Prentiss) and Isolde 'Easy' Mueller (Maria Perschy), want Roger to participate on the fishing competition in lake C..... Easy is a public relations officer, and Abigail is an important person of the community. Roger will compete against Major Phipps. However, Rock tries to get out of the idea, as he has not idea about fishing. His boss, William Cadwalader (John McGiver) pushes him to win the competition. Abigail and Easy are both interested in Roger, although they realise fast that he has no idea about fishing. They pay John Screaming Eagle (Norman Alden) not to say anything about Roger being useless with fish. John is also a small conman. He isn't unable to put up even his net. Roger's boss pushes Roger to go, so he can't say no. Both girls watch him doing stupid things, and during a lunch together they laugh about a caterpillar which fell onto his salad, and his eating it subsequently. Abby helps Roger, explaining things for him. For example, she recommends him to use a scooter, but it ends up being driven by a bear. Also, when she tries to teach him how to drive a boat to go to the location of the catch, he ends up almost drowning and inside a safety balloon-like trousers, which he doesn't recommend his boss for selling. Roger can't even swim, but Abigail is attracted to him anyway. The frist time Abigail makes him use a fishing cane, he catches a fish. Roger feels disgusted by the slimmy fish. He loses his catch and pushes her into the water. He catches another fish with his baggy clothes after falling to the river. Roger is made to hold a fish for hours as part of his training. Easy tells them that another champion, Filroy from Chicago, is going to compete, so that he can quit. However, Roger knows that he can't say his boss that, so the girls plot to put one of his arms in plaster so that he will have an excuse not to participate. They put the plaster after he has seen her breasts due to the heavy rain. The girls go to meet Filroy, but he is with a broken arm in a plaster, so they can't have Roger hurt at the same time. So now they need to take the plaster out. Roger waits for the call of his girlfriend. Abigail asks for a pill at night as she is interested in him. No surprise, she tries to entice a kiss from him, but he says he has no time. She takes a pill and falls asleep in Roger's room. Furthermore, nobody tells him that Tex Connors (Charlene Holt) is about to arrive the following morning. When she arrives the day of the contest, she sees Easy trying to get Roger out of a stuck sleeping bag. He says that he was trying to try the new equipment. Tex also sees Abigail going out of Roger's room so she almost splits up with him. To win, Roger reads his own book. The book is useless for him. Screaming Eagle watches him as he fishes a fish without even noticing it. Roger is also lucky the second day, when he catches one falling from a tree: a fish commits suicide when the thread gets tangled on a tree brunch. After that, he decides to kiss Abigail, but she pronounces it of poor quality. The third day, the bear scares him causing him to catch another fish. He wins the competition and promises himself never to fish again. He doesn't want to celebrate his win with his boss. A weeping Abigail tells him to "come out" and tell the truth. Mr Bagley (Regis Toomey) and Mr Skaggs (Forrest Lewis), the organizers, hear his confession. He renounces because a bear helped him. Major Phipps has won and Cadwalader fires Roger. Abigail has left. Easy doesn't want to tell him where she is, but he pays to Screaming Eagle to tell him and take him there. Abigail tells him to go away, but she doesn't really want so. A storm is about to break in. Roger finally splits up with Tex. It starts raining, so he gets into her huge sleeping bag. Major Phipps gives Cadwalader an idea: to annouce that if Roger could win with the right equipment, anybody can. It rains so much that Abigail's sleeping bag floats by with them both deeply sleeping on it. Cadwalader even gives a pay rise to Roger. Roger kisses Abigail. CONCLUSION A sepia-coloured scene: Marcia (Kathie Brown) tells John (unnamed) that he doesn't need to kiss her as the film has already finished.

When a hypochondriac believes he is dying, he makes plans for his wife--which she discovers and misunderstands. At one of his many visits to his doctor, hypochondriac George Kimball mistakes a dying man's diagnosis for his own and believes that he only has about two more weeks to live. Wanting to take care of his wife Judy, he doesn't tell her and tries to find her a new husband. When he finally does tell her, she quickly finds out he's not dying at all (while he doesn't), and she believes it's just a lame excuse to hide an affair, so she decides to leave him. —Leon Wolters <wolters@strw.LeidenUniv.nl> Judy Kimball quietly humors her husband George's chronic hypochondria. On his latest visit to his GP, he is told he's one of the doctor's healthiest patients. But when George overhears Dr. Morrissey talking to George's cardiologist about another patient's terminal heart problem, George assumes they're talking about him. He doesn't plan to tell Judy the news, but decides to use his remaining time to find her a replacement husband. —Huggo

A series of misunderstandings leaves an advertising executive with a campaign for a product which has not yet been invented, while he romances his rival in the guise of its inventor. Jerry Webster and Carol Templeton are both in the advertising business, but for different agencies. Annoyed by Jerry's methods of using alcohol and women to ensure contracts for his agency, Carol tries to get him thrown out of his profession. To avoid this Jerry bribes the girl who would testify against him by starring her in a TV commercial for a product named VIP that he's just made up. By accident these commercials are broadcast, and to keep his job, Jerry must come up with VIP for which he enlists the help of Doctor Linus Tyler. Carol goes to see the Doctor to try to get the VIP account, but because she and Jerry have never met, she mistakes Jerry for the Doctor. Jerry takes advantage of this situation to win her. —Leon Wolters <wolters@strw.LeidenUniv.nl> A series of misunderstandings between Carol Templeton and Jerry Webster, representatives of two different advertising agencies, leads to a campaign for a product VIP, which doesn't exist. Meanwhile, Jerry romances Carol, although she does not realize who he is. —Huggo In New York, Madison Avenue is the center of the advertising world, divided into workers and drones like a beehive. Carol Templeton is a professional that has just arrived from Omaha, Nebraska, to work in the Bracket, McGalpin and Gaines Advertising, expecting to be a winner through hard work. The unethical Jerry Webster works in the Ramsey and Son and entertains his clients with sexy women, bribes, and booze to ensure contracts for his agency. When the Southern J. Paxton Miller comes to New York to close the contract of the Cera Miller account, Carol prepares a presentation to the old man. However, Jerry wins the account by taking Miller to a nightclub with strippers, booze and a party later in his penthouse with the strippers, led by Rebel Davis. Carol is upset and goes to the advertising council to throw Jerry out of the advertising business. However, Jerry lures Rebel, who is to testify against him, offering the position of VIP girl in TV commercials for the new product VIP. Then he asks the team to not broadcast but only file the footage, since VIP doesn't actually exist. However, insecure Peter 'Pete' Ramsey, who has inherited the Ramsey and Son, orders a massive advertising campaign broadcasting the commercials to show himself off to his employees. In order to save his job and the agency, Jerry hires Doctor Linus Tyler, who is a lonely man, to develop VIP. Meanwhile, Carol decides to take the VIP account for her agency and she visits Dr. Tyler. However, she meets Jerry instead and believes that he is the famous scientist awarded with the Nobel Prize. Now Carol wants to convince Dr. Tyler to come to her agency and the cynical Jerry uses the situation to seduce Carol. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Jan Morrow (Doris Day) is an interior decorator in New York City. She lives alone and claims to be happy when questioned on that subject by her drunken housekeeper, Alma (Thelma Ritter). The only irritant in her life is the party line that she shares with Brad Allen (Rock Hudson), a Broadway composer and playboy who lives in a nearby apartment building. She cannot obtain a private phone line for her business, which she runs from home, because the telephone company has been overwhelmed by recent demand for new phone lines. Jan and Brad, who have only ever "met" on the telephone, develop a feud over the use of the party line. Brad constantly uses the phone to chat with one young woman after another, singing to each of them an "original" love song supposedly written just for her, though he only changes the name or language he sings in. Jan needs the line for work and tries to make him more considerate. Brad suggests that the single Jan is jealous of his popularity and has a problem in 'the bedroom department.' He charms the telephone inspector who is sent to investigate Jan's complaint. Later, Brad and Jan agree to share the phone line on alternate half hours. One of Jan's clients is millionaire Jonathan Forbes (Tony Randall), who repeatedly asks her to marry him. She refuses. Unknown to Jan, Jonathan is also Brad's old college buddy and his current Broadway financier. Jonathan makes Brad aware of his latest love interest and Brad realizes this must be his feuding partner. He is intrigued. One evening in a nightclub, Brad sees Jan dancing and learns who she is. Attracted to her, he fakes a Texas accent and invents a new persona: Rex Stetson, a wealthy Texan rancher. He succeeds in wooing Jan, in part because he has Brad make insinuations that he can then work to Rex's favor. For example, Brad suggests Rex will stop by his hotel room on their date and try to seduce her; when Rex does this but only shows Jan the view, she thinks he is a perfect gentleman. When Jan brags to Brad about this, he suggests Rex may be gay. This leads Jan to question Rex about his attraction to her, thereby allowing him to kiss her. Jonathan uses a private eye to find out who Jan is dating. After discovering the truth about Brad's masquerade, he forces Brad to put Jan in a taxi and send her home. Brad is to leave New York and go to Jonathan's cabin in Connecticut to complete his new songs. However, Brad double crosses him by inviting Jan to join him. Once there, kissing ensues until Rex leaves to fetch logs for the fire and Jan stumbles upon a copy of Rex's sheet music. She plunks the melody on the nearby piano and recognizes Brad's 'inspiration' song. She confronts Brad and asks to be taken home by Jonathan, who has just arrived at the cabin to break up his thieving friend. In New York, Jonathan is less in love with Jan because she cries so much over Brad. He is pleased to learn that the playboy has fallen in love, while conversely Jan will have nothing to do with Brad. Brad turns to Alma for advice. Alma, pleased to meet Brad after listening in on the party line for so long, suggests he hire Jan to decorate his apartment so they will be forced to collaborate while drinking Brad under the table in the meantime. Jan only concedes so that her employer will not lose the commission. Brad leaves all the design decisions up to Jan, telling her only to design a place that she would want to live in herself. Still resentful, Jan decorates Brad's apartment in the most gaudy decor she can muster. Horrified by what he finds, Brad storms into Jan's apartment and carries her in her pajamas through the street back to his gaudy apartment to explain herself. Brad mentions all the changes he has made to end his bachelor lifestyle because he thought they were getting married. Her face lights up and, as he leaves in anger, she uses one of his "playboy" remote control switches to lock the door. She flips another switch and the player piano pounds out a honky-tonk version of Brad's standard love song. He turns around, their eyes meet, and they embrace. Some time later, Brad goes to tell Jonathan that he is going to be a father, only to be pulled by Dr. Maxwell (an obstetrician) and Nurse Resnick into their office for an examination, when he says that he is going to have a baby.

In the early 1920s, Jordan "Bick" Benedict (Rock Hudson), the head of the rich Benedict ranching family in Texas, goes to Maryland to buy a stud horse, War Winds. There he meets and courts the 18-year-old socialite Leslie Lynnton (Elizabeth Taylor), who becomes his wife after a whirlwind romance. They return to Texas to start their life together on the family ranch, Reata, which is owned and run by Luz (Mercedes McCambridge), Bick's older and grumpy sister. Leslie doesn't get along with Luz for Luz scorns Leslie's wealthy background while Leslie thinks that Luz is rude. Jett Rink (James Dean) is a local ranch hand who works for Luz and hopes to find his fortune by leaving Texas; he also has a secret love for Leslie despite the fact that she is married to his boss. One day during a cattle roundup, Luz expresses her hostility for Leslie by cruelly digging in her spurs while riding Leslie's beloved horse, War Winds. Luz dies after War Winds bucks her off, and as part of her will, Jett is given a small plot of land within the 595,000-acre Benedict ranch. Bick tries to buy back the land, but Jett refuses. Jett keeps the fenced off waterhole as his home and names the property Little Reata. A few years later, Leslie eventually gives birth to twins, Jordan "Jordy" Benedict III and Judy Benedict, and a younger daughter named Luz II (Carroll Baker). One day, Jett discovers oil in a footprint left by Leslie and develops an oil drilling well on his property. Bick is annoyed with Jett's prospecting and tries to deny him access to his land. Finally, Jett hits his first gusher, he drives into the Benedict yard (covered in crude oil) proclaiming in front of the entire family that he will be richer than the Benedicts. After Jett makes a rude sexual remark to Leslie, Bick and Jett have a fist fight. Shortly after, in the 1930s, Jett starts an oil drilling company, named 'JetTexas' that makes him enormously wealthy. But Bick resists the lure of drilling for oil on his much larger part of the cattle ranch, preferring to remain a rancher to maintain the legacy of his family's original business. During the 1940s, tensions in the Benedict household revolve around how the parents want to bring up their grown-up children. Bick stubbornly insists that Jordy must succeed him and run the ranch, just like his father and grandfather before him, but Jordy wants to be a doctor. Leslie wants Judy to attend finishing school in Switzerland, but Judy loves the ranch and wants to stay in Texas for her education (and to her high school boyfriend). After World War II breaks out, Jett visits the Benedicts and tries to convince Bick to allow oil production on his land to help the war effort. Bick finally realizes there is no one to take over the ranch after him and concedes. During this visit, Luz II, now a teen-aged girl, starts flirting with Jett. Once oil production starts, the wealthy Benedict family becomes even wealthier, depicted by the addition of a swimming pool next to the house. Jordy gets married to a young Mexican American woman and they have a son. Judy gets married to her long-term high school boyfriend and they too have a son. The Benedict/Rink rivalry continues however, and it comes to a head when the Benedicts find out that Luz II and the much older Jett Rink have been dating. At a huge gala Jett organizes in his own honor, an irate Jordy tries to fight him, after realizing he and his Mexican American wife, Juana (Elsa Cárdenas), were invited just so Jett's employees could turn Juana away. Jett has his goons hold Jordy and punches him out in front of the crowd. Fed up, Bick then takes Jett to a kitchen room, about to fight him, but realizes that Jett is now just a drunken shell of a man, who has only his money. He tells him, "You're not even worth hitting. You're all through," and leaves, but not before symbolically and quite noisily caving in Rink's wine cellar shelves domino style. The party ends when Jett, completely drunk, slumps down in front of everyone before his big speech. Luz II sees him afterwards, once everyone has left the ballroom, and discovers that he is a lonely, pathetic wreck who can only repeat how much he still loves Leslie. The Benedicts, all except Jordy, drive down an empty road to a diner. An altercation develops between the racist diner owner Sarge (Mickey Simpson), a Mexican family that just walked in who have no dollars but pesos, and Bick who intervenes on behalf of the Mexican family. A fist fight ensues when Bick stands up for the immigrant family against the racist Sarge, leaving Bick the loser who collapses over a table of pies. Sarge throws them out of the diner saying that it is his free right to refuse service to people he does not like, including paying customers. In the final scene back at the ranch, Bick watches his two grandchildren playing in a crib with Leslie and reflects on his life and family. Leslie tells Bick that, after watching him lose the fight in the diner, she finally respects him and considers the Benedict family a success.

Cary Scott is an affluent widow in the town of Stoningham, in suburban New England, whose social life revolves around the weekend visits of her college-age son and daughter, her best friend's country-club activities, and a few men vying for her affection. Feeling stuck in a rut, she becomes interested in Ron Kirby, her arborist. He is an intelligent, down-to-earth, and respectful, yet passionate, younger man, and she discovers he is content with his simple life outside the materialistic society in which they live. Ron introduces Cary to his friends, who seem to have no need for wealth or status, and their exuberance provides a welcome contrast to her staid existence. Ron and Cary fall in love, and Ron proposes. Cary accepts, but she has concerns about the viability of their relationship, due to their different ages, classes, and lifestyles. These concerns are magnified when she tells her children and friends about the engagement and is met with a solid wall of disapproval, and, eventually, she breaks up with Ron. Particularly influential in her change of mind are her children's protestations against Cary's plan to sell the family home and move to Ron's tree nursery, as they will not want to visit her there. After spending most of the Christmas season alone, Cary misses her life with Ron, but she thinks she has missed her opportunity for happiness because she mistakenly believes Ron is seeing another woman. On Christmas, her daughter announces she will be getting married soon and her son says that, since he is likely going to study abroad and then work overseas, they should start thinking about selling their house, which is too big for just Cary. She is overwhelmed by how pointless her sacrifice was, and her spirits are not lifted when her children give her a television set to fill her empty life. Cary goes to see a doctor about recurrent headaches she has started having, and he suggests they are being caused by her body punishing her for ending her relationship with Ron. Leaving the appointment, she runs into one of Ron's friends, and in the course of their conversation she learns that Ron is still single. She goes to his property, but then changes her mind and leaves. Ron sees her from a precipice and excitedly, though unsuccessfully, tries to get her attention. The ground collapses out from under him, and he falls off the cliff. That night, Ron's friend tells Cary about the accident, and she hurries over to his house. She decides she no longer wants to allow other people to dictate how she lives her life and settles in to nurse Ron back to health. When Ron regains consciousness, Cary tells him that she has come home.

A rich playboy whose recklessness inadvertently causes the death of a prominent doctor tries to make amends to his widow, and falls for her in the process. When churlish, spoiled rich man Bob Merrick foolishly wrecks his speed boat, the rescue team resuscitates him with equipment that's therefore unavailable to aid a local hero, Dr. Wayne Phillips, who dies as a result. Phillips had helped many people, and when Merrick learns Phillips' secret, to give selflessly and in secret, he tries it in a ham-handed way. The result further alienates Phillips' widow, Helen, with whom Merrick has fallen in love. Merrick's persistence causes another tragedy, and he must remake his life, including going back to medical school, in an attempt to make amends and win her love. —<jhailey@hotmail.com>

At a stagecoach stop, Ben Warren (Rock Hudson) is reunited with his beautiful Southern belle fiancée Jennifer (Donna Reed). They dine with several fellow passengers, Frank Slayton (Philip Carey) and his friend Tom "Jess" Burgess (Leo Gordon). After a stagecoach holdup, Slayton's notorious outlaw gang shoot Warren and leave him for dead and head off with his fiancée. Warren follows, and although none of the townspeople he comes across are prepared to help, he manages to recruit two men who have sworn revenge on the ruthless Slayton. One is Jess Burgess (Leo Gordon), gang member who had objected to this planned kidnapping and was bound, and abandoned to die in the desert. The other is Johash (Pat Hogan), an Indian with an equally personal grudge---his sister was abducted and murdered by Slayton under identical circumstances. Johash follows Warren and Jess secretly. He catches up with the two and joins their small posse. One of the gang, Curly (Bob Herron), tells Jennifer that her Ben is alive and following them. He tries to help her escape but this fails, and they kill him for it. Warren and Jess come across Slayton's jealous Mexican girlfriend who wants to get even. Overnight, Slayton sends a note he wants to trade Jess for Jennifer. Jess thinks it's worth a try, but it turns out to be a ruse. Just as Jennifer is free and reunited with Warren, Slayton kills former partner Jess. She begs her fiancé not to pursue the gang further, but he wants revenge. Just a few miles short of the Mexican border, his gang is forced to take shelter at an old pueblo where Johash's deadly skill with a sniper rifle cuts off the gang's escape route, as three more gang members fatally discover. Warren places the only available water in an open space and challenges Slayton to come and get it. But he uses his girlfriend as a hostage, threatening to shoot her. Slayton reaches his horse and rides away alone as Johash picks off the other gang members with a rifle. Slayton runs out of ammunition, and Warren eventually wins a lengthy fistfight that begins at the top of a steep hill and slowly and dangerously progresses to ground level. After the fight, Slayton finds Ben's pistol and is about to kill him when Slayton falls over with Johash's knife in his back. Warren's experiences during the American Civil War had made him basically a pacifist. But thanks to Johash, he is able to keep his own hands basically clean; and he and fiancé Jennifer Ballard are re-united.

When a town boss confiscates homesteaders' supplies after gold is discovered nearby, a tough cowboy risks his life to try and get it to them. Two men with questionable pasts, Glyn McLyntock and his friend Cole, lead a wagon-train load of homesteaders from Missouri to the Oregon territory. They establish a settlement outside of Portland and as winter nears, it is necessary for McLyntock and Cole to rescue and deliver food and supplies being held in Portland by corrupt officials. On the trip back to the settlement, up river and over a mountain, Cole engineers a mutiny to divert the supplies to a gold mining camp for a handsome profit. —Herman Seifer <alagain@aol.com> Glyn McLyntock has taken a job leading settlers west. He is helped by Emerson Cole, a man with a shady past whom McLyntock saves from a lynching. The homesteaders set up home a few days from Portland, but when McLyntock goes to collect their winter supplies he finds a town gone gold crazy. Can he get the food back to the settlers, and can he still count on Cole? —Jeremy Perkins {J-26}

In 1876, cowboy Lin McAdam and his good friend, Frankie "High Spade" Wilson, travel to Dodge City, Kansas to participate in the Centennial Rifle Shoot, which is being held on the Fourth of July. Lin knows that his sharpshooting brother, Dutch Henry Brown, whom he suspects murdered their father, will also be in the contest, as first prize is a rare Winchester '73 rifle. Soon after their mutual arrivals in Dodge City, Lin and Dutch Henry are stopped from killing each other by the town's famous marshal, Wyatt Earp. Later, Lin narrowly defeats his brother in the rifle contest, but Dutch Henry and his friends ambush Lin and steal the Winchester. Two days later, a penniless Dutch Henry loses the rifle in a poker game to Joe Lamont, an Indian trader. Lamont is later killed by Young Bull, an Indian chief whom Lamont had hoped to cheat with defective guns and rifles. Meanwhile, Lin learns from Jack Riker, a saloon keeper, that Dutch Henry is headed for Tascosa to meet up with Waco Johnny Dean, an outlaw. That night on the trail, Lin and High Spade run into a U.S. Cavalry unit, led by Sgt. Wilkes, which has been surrounded by Young Bull's warriors. The Indians attack the next morning, but they are repelled when Lin shoots and kills Young Bull. After Lin and High Spade leave, Wilkes discovers the rare Winchester by the dead Indian chief and gives it to Steve Miller, the cowardly fiance of Lola Manners, a dance hall girl. Steve and Lola then travel to Tascosa, where they accept the hospitality of the Jameson family. Waco Johnny and his men soon arrive at the Jameson home, with a posse in hot pursuit, and the outlaw uses Lola as a hostage when Steve refuses to give him the Winchester. Waco Johnny kills Steve in a gunfight, then escapes from the farmhouse with Lola and the rifle and heads for Dutch Henry's hideout in the nearby mountains. Dutch Henry quickly recognizes the Winchester and demands it back. The outlaws then plan a bank robbery, only to have Lin and High Spade arrive in Tascosa that same day. Lin kills Waco Johnny just as Dutch Henry and his men are leaving the bank, and Lola is shot and wounded in the ensuing gunfight. Lin takes off alone after his brother, who heads back toward his mountain hideout. Though he is trapped below Dutch Henry, Lin torments his brother by calling him by his given name, Matthew McAdam, then manages to sneak behind him as he reloads the Winchester. Lin then shoots and kills Dutch Henry, finally avenging their father's death. Later, Lin returns to Tascosa with the Winchester, where his return is welcomed with open arms by both Lola and High Spade.