Sam Wanamaker

An accountant with super bad luck is sent in search of a missing boss's daughter, also an incredibly unlucky person. The daughter of a wealthy businessman has disappeared in Mexico, and all the efforts to find her have been unsuccessful. A psychologist, knowing that the girl has ultra bad luck, persuades her father to send to Mexico one of his employees, an accountant also cursed with super bad luck, to find her. Perhaps he will be lucky, and his bad luck could help to find the unlucky girl... —Luis Carvacho <lcarvach@lascar.puc.cl>

After declaring that he intends to rid the world of all nuclear weapons, Superman must defeat Lex Luthor`s Nuclear Man, who fights him around the world and even in outer space.

The life of super-yuppie J.C. is thrown into turmoil when she inherits a baby from a distant relative. J.C. Wiatt is a successful New York business woman known around town as the "tiger lady." She gets news of an inheritance from a relative from another country and off the bat she suspects it's money. Well it's not money, it's a baby girl. At first she doesn't accept until the lady that gives the baby to her has to catch her flight. J.C. is now stuck with an annoying baby girl. Her boyfriend doesn't like the idea of a baby living with them and he leaves her. J.C. has enough of it and takes her to meet a family ready to adopt her. She leaves but hears the baby cry while walking away and has to go back. The baby is too attached to her now and won't let her go. Later, her baby gets into mischief which causes her to get fired. Now, she sets her eyes on an old two story cottage in Vermont to get out of the New York life. When she arrives, the house needs more help than originally thought. She gets bored one snowy day and decides to make apple sauce. Her baby loves it and she decides to sell it. Pretty soon everyone wants some of the baby apple sauce. J.C. hits it big and falls in love with a local veterinarian. Was this fate or destiny?

A former FBI agent turned small-town sheriff agrees to help the FBI chief infiltrate the Chicago mafia when the FBI chief's son is killed by them. Small-town lawman Sheriff Mark Kaminski, a dishonoured agent kicked out of the FBI for excessive brutality, agrees to lend an old friend a hand. But to infiltrate Luigi Patrovita's powerful Chicago mafia, the tough officer will need all the help he can get. As revenge fuels the suicide mission, Mark, now posing as the mysterious Joseph P. Brenner, must use every trick in the book to force his way through the crime organisation and tear it apart from the inside. For the sake of his friend, Mark takes the law into his own hands in this deadly unofficial assignment. However, how far can the intruder go without blowing his cover? —Nick Riganas Mark Kaminski is kicked out of the FBI for his rough treatment of a suspect. He winds up as the sheriff of a small town in North Carolina. FBI Chief Harry Shannon, whose son Blair Shannon has been killed by a mobster named Luigi Patrovita, enlists Kaminski in a personal vendetta with a promise of reinstatement into the FBI if Patrovita is taken down. To accomplish this, Kaminski must go undercover and join Patrovita's gang. —Dave Gan <longbow@bigfoot.com>

A 1920s mail pilot and a rich man's daughter crash-land on a mountain full of hungry wolves.

When Judy was 8 years old, her life's desire was to have a big house, nice clothes, 2 closets, a live-in maid, and a professional man for a husband. Judy Benjamin (Goldie Hawn), a 28-year-old Hebrew woman from a sheltered wealthy upbringing whose lifelong dream is to "marry a professional man,". Judy marries Yale Goodman (Albert Brooks) in an elaborate ceremony, and it seems that all Judy's dreams are coming true. Judy is a blonde who is more worried about the color of the upholstery, and the matching carpets in her house, than any practical matters. Even her parents do not take her seriously. Judy and Yale have planned to visit Jamaica for their Honeymoon. Judy's new husband dies on their wedding night during sex. Yale was a lawyer and was handling a divorce case even on the evening of the wedding. Judy is 28 years old and even her parents know that she is trained for nothing (Judy used to work as a secretary as her dad's office as only he would give her a job). Judy's mother Harriet asks her to start dating again to find another man to look after her. Her parents are worried that Judy will spend the rest of her life living with them. From the age of 2, she has always had a boyfriend, who looked out for her. She has already been married twice. Judy leaves her parent's house without telling anyone. Judy checks into a motel and ponders what to do if she is not going to be married. Adrift, Judy tells her story on a radio call-in show. On the call, Judy talks to an Army recruiter who says that he knows what Judy needs and asks for a meeting. Judt meets Army recruiter, SFC James Ballard (Harry Dean Stanton) the next day, who leads her to believe military life will provide the "family" she seeks. He pitches the service as a glamorous getaway, comparing it to a spa vacation with Condos and private rooms with yachts. James says that 89,000 women are currently serving in the army and serving their country. The recruiter says that the job pays $458/month, a job of her choice, food, housing, medical and 30 days of paid vacation. James also adds that a woman with Judy's educational background could easily land an assignment in Europe and promises to get her into the best physical shape of her life. Judy decides to sign up for the army. But Judy has a rude awakening upon arriving at basic training at Fort Biloxi. She falls asleep on the bus and is rudely awakened by the drill instructor who makes her do 20 push-ups. She wants to quit almost immediately as she has to sleep in one room with 20 strangers, no drapes, and dirty linen, but is astonished to find out, contrary to the assertions of her recruiting sergeant, that she cannot leave and that she has to serve a full 3 years. Private Wanda Winter (P. J. Soles) is a class favorite and does everything by the book. Private Gianelli (Toni Kalem) is the rebel, her only other choice was to go to jail. Colonel Clay Thornbush (Robert Webber) is the CO of the base. Captain Doreen Lewis gets Judy to clean all the bathrooms, when she complains about unsanitary conditions. She tries to escape at night but gets caught in the barbed wire. Army regulations and the continual disapproval of both Captain Doreen Lewis (Eileen Brennan) and SFC L. C. Ross (Hal Williams), the drill sergeant, frustrate Judy. Her parents Theodore Benjamin (Sam Wanamaker) and Harriet Benjamin (Barbara Barrie) arrive at Fort Biloxi to take her home. They think it is bad for their social status and Theodore says she is incapable of making her own decisions. Benjamin decides to stay and finish basic training, which she does with distinction after a war games exercise in which her squad exposes an affair between a member of her training platoon (Private Einter) and a rival company officer Captain William Woodbridge (Craig T. Nelson) (with whom Lewis was also having an affair) and takes the both of them hostage. Lewis is livid that she was made a fool and orders the entire company to clean up the barracks. In response, Judy gets into Lewis's bathroom and fill her shower head with a blue dye. Lewis attends the graduation ceremony, looking like Smurf. Upon completion of basic training, Judy and her friends spend the weekend on leave in New Orleans, where she meets Henri Tremont (Armand Assante), a French doctor there for a medical conference. After a brief romance, Henri returns to Paris and Judy begins training with an elite paratrooper unit, the Thornbirds. Judy quickly discovers she was chosen for paratrooper training because the unit's commander finds her attractive. After the other trainees have jumped from the plane, he attempts to sexually assault her. When Judy refuses to comply, he attempts to have her transferred far from Biloxi as soon as possible. Rather than accept what she sees as an undesirable post in Greenland or Guam, Judy negotiates (with a threat of reporting sexual assault attempt) an assignment to SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe) in Belgium and meets up with Henri again on a visit to Paris. He proposes marriage and she accepts, but when Captain Lewis, who is also posted to the same base in Belgium, discovers that Henri is a communist, Judy is forced to choose between the Army and love. Benjamin chooses Henri and gets engaged. But then Henri reveals his childish, controlling nature. He tries to "remake" Judy, and also insists she sign a prenuptial agreement (in French) to protect his centuries-old family home. Finally, when Henri sleeps with the house maid and also makes it obvious that he hasn't gotten over his ex-girlfriend Clare, Judy has a change of heart. On her wedding day, in the middle of the ceremony, she realizes she is on the verge of a huge mistake. Judy abandons Henri at the altar and heads off into the unknown, empowered by her newfound freedom and excited about what may lie ahead.

Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger Prince Kassim (Damien Thomas) is transformed during his coronation as Caliph of the city and kingdom of Charak (1) into a baboon by his stepmother, the witch Queen Zenobia (Margaret Whiting), who wants the throne for her own son, Rafi (Kurt Christian). The Prince's sister, Princess Farah (Jane Seymour), seeks the help of her betrothed, Sinbad (Patrick Wayne), whilst Rafi, disguised as a merchant, tries to kill Sinbad and his crew (one, Aboo Seer (David Sterne) is poisoned) with the aid of three weapon-wielding ghouls (2) (created as stop-motion models, like most of the non-human cast, by Ray Harryhausen) brought from the depths of the earth by his mother's magic: Sinbad crushingly destroys these using falling logs. A discussion the following morning on Sinbads ship between the Princess, her uncle Balsora (Bruno Barnaby), Sinbad and his crew members Hassan (Nadim Sawalha) and Maroof (Salami Coker) discovers that the only possible saviour of Prince Kassim is the Greek sage Melanthius (Patrick Troughton), who lives on the rock-and-reef-ringed fog-bound island of Cascar (3). Zenobia however, having followed Balsora to confront him, learns of their plans. Sinbad and the Princess set sail for Cascar with the enchanted Prince, who astounds the crew by being able to write and play chess. Zenobia, fearing Melanthius may well be able to cure Kassim, decides to follow on a compact bronze boat with Rafi, rowed by their servant, the Minaton (4) (stand-in Peter Mayhew), a colossal bronze minotaur-automaton made by Rafi and animated by Zenobias magic. Balsora's guard on Zenobia, Zabid (Bernard Kay), is capsized and then skewered by the Minaton during their escape. On Cascar, after a brief encounter with rock-tossing inhabitants, Sinbad persuades Melanthius and his daughter Dione (Taryn Power) of the reality of Prince Kassim's condition, and to help: Melanthius reveals that the only cure will be to journey to the land of the former Arimaspi (5) at Hyperborea, a green valley in the polar regions maintained by the Arimaspi's powers, captured in the pyramidal Shrine of the Four Elements there to which he fortunately has the key, map and sailing directions. Speed is of the essence, as not only must Prince Kassim be crowned before seven moons have passed or renounce the Caliphate, but he will also gradually lose his remaining human abilities. However Kassim is befriended by Dione, who brings him fruit and practices writing with him. Zenobia, having been delayed by her boat being damaged when approaching Cascar, transforms herself by means of a magic potion into a seagull to fly to Sinbads ship, and there resumes her human form in miniature to spy out Melanthius plans. Spotted by Kassim, and caught by Melanthius, she learns of the trip to the lands of the Arimaspi, and is able to memorize the map, but when Melanthius uses some of the magic potion on a wasp (6), which grows to a giant size and attacks him, she is able to reclaim the potion vial, escape in seagull form, and return to her own boat. However there is now insufficient potion to effect the reverse transformation, and she retains a seagull's foot. The giant wasp is killed by Sinbad using a thrown dagger. Approaching the icebound polar regions, Sinbad passes by the ice-tunnel to the Arimaspi valley as being too small for his ship, and instead conducts his team on a journey by foot across the ice-pack (with Kassim in his cage on a sled), interrupted by a fight with a giant walrus, in which one crew member falls through the ice and another is stomped flat, to reach the outer part of the warm lands of Hyperborea, where they all relax. By this time Kassim has reverted almost wholly to animal nature, and only responds to Dione. Here the group encounters a giant Troglodyte, who shows them the way to the valley of the Arimaspi pyramid-shrine, and opens the valleys great gates for them. Meanwhile Zenobia, Rafi and the Minaton with their smaller boat have been able to take the ice-tunnel via a ruined temple directly to the shrine, where Zenobia forces an entrance using magic: however a falling stone block destroys the Minaton. Sinbad's party arrives at the now-failing shrine, where giant icicles crash down, and in a fight the baboon Kassim kills Rafi by rolling him down stairs to break his neck. Melanthius successfully restores Prince Kassim to human form by passing him in a gold cage through the fall of light from the Aurora Borealis, "the gift of the winter Apollo", within the shrine. However Zenobia vaporizes herself and possesses the body of a sabre-toothed tiger (smilodon), the guardian of the shrine, which mauls and kills the Troglodyte and Maroof before it is slain by Sinbad, firstly transfixing it with a gaff-spear originally used by the Minaton, and then using a scimitar for the coup de grace. The party escapes the collapsing shrine, which, with the whole of Hyperborea, now becomes covered in snow, and returns to Charak, where Kassim is duly installed as Caliph: he becomes enamoured of Dione, and gives his blessing to Sinbad and Princess Farah. The appearance of Zenobia's eyes at the end may mean all is not yet over Notes (1) This spelling is used on the original storyboard reproduced p185 in 'The Art of Ray Harryhausen', by Ray Harryhausen and Tony Dalton, 2006, Billboard Books, New York (2) Ibid. In the storyboard these are called 'nightmare figures' and 'zomboids' (and numbered as four, and illustrated as five, even though three eventually appear): Ray Harryhausen however refers to them consistently as 'ghouls' thereafter (3) Spelling uncertain: however, historically, 'Cascar' is the name given by Marco Polo to Kashgar, a city on the Silk Road (4) This spelling is that used by Ray Harryhausen: the original model is illustrated also p185 in 'The Art of Ray Harryhausen' (5) Historically, the Arimaspi were a legendary people of northern Scythia. The tales of their struggles with the gold-guarding griffins in the Hyperborean lands near the cave of Boreas, the North Wind, originate in a lost work by Aristeas. (6) That the insect is a wasp is confirmed by the survival of the original model: 'The Art of Ray Harryhausen' p 208

U.S. Agent Novak and Scotland Yard Officer Thompson go undercover to infiltrate a counterfeit organization. Policemen Novak & Thompson go undercover to infiltrate a gang of counterfeiters. Standard cross and double-cross crime story with plenty of London location work. —Allen Dace <a.w.dace@maff.gov.uk> American detective Peter Nowak is sent to Great Britain to track down an important international counterfeiter. Detective Peter Nowak and his colleague, Scotland Yard Officer Arthur Thompson, go undercover to expose a gang of counterfeiters. —Tango Papa

In West Berlin in the early 1960s, at the height of the Cold War, Alec Leamas is a spy in charge of British Intelligence operations in the city. However, his operatives have been hunted down and killed by Mundt, the head of East German counter-espionage. Leamas himself is present at Checkpoint Charlie near the Berlin Wall when he witnesses the last of his agents, Karl Riemeck, being killed as he attempts to escape to the West. Leamas is recalled to London by Control, the head of the "Circus" (slang for MI6, the British Intelligence service). Control makes little secret of the fact that he sees Leamas' career as over, however he is willing to keep him on for one last operation: to destroy Mundt, something which Leamas is only too happy to do. Leamas is later seen apparently out of the service and unemployed. He gets a job at a reference library and starts an affair with Nan Perry, another librarian and a member of the British communist party. Leamas gives the impression of a bitter, broken man and an alcoholic. He later assaults a grocer and spends time in prison. After his release from jail, Leamas is approached by a man called Ashe who claims to be part of a charity that supports ex-convicts. Leamas is quick to realise that Ashe and his associate Carlton are East German agents who want him to defect and provide information. Still a heavy drinker and desperate for money, he agrees. Leamas later visits George Smiley, another leading official in the "Circus", and there he meets Control who briefs him on what he is to tell the Germans. Leamas' defection is part of a long-term plan hatched by the British that will lead the East Germans to believe that Mundt is a traitor and will be executed by his own side. Travelling on a false passport, Leamas goes to Holland where he meets Peters, an East German Intelligence official. Leamas tells Peters about what he knows about the "Circus" and specifically about Operation "Rolling Stone" during which he made payments into Danish and Finnish banks under a false name. The money was later taken out by a "business partner", actually an agent working behind the Iron Curtain. Leamas later reads a newspaper article which shows that he is wanted by the police in England. He has no choice now but to agree to actually go to East Germany itself and is taken there by Peters. Leamas arrives at a compound where he meets Fiedler, Mundt's deputy in counter-espionage. It's well known that there is little love lost between Mundt, an ex-Nazi, and Fiedler, who is a Jew. Fiedler questions Leamas further about "Rolling Stone" and suggests that it was all about secret payments to a spy even higher up in the East German government than Karl Riemeck, who worked for the Presidium of the East German Communist Party. Leamas himself rejects this theory on the grounds that, as head of British Intelligence operations in Germany, he would have been told about all the agents working there. Meanwhile in London, Leamas' girlfriend Nan Perry is visited by George Smiley who claims to be a friend of Leamas. She is later invited to East Germany as part of an exchange program between the British and East German Communist Parties. One night, Fiedler and Leamas return to the compound where they are arrested by Mundt himself. However, Fiedler has already reported his own findings to the Presidium and Mundt is himself later arrested as a spy for the British. A secret tribunal is convened to determine Mundt's guilt. At the hearing, Fiedler outlines his case: in 1959, Mundt was part of a trading mission in London, a cover for intelligence work. He killed a man and escaped under the noses of the authorities. Fiedler claims that his escape was too easy and that he only got away when he agreed to supply information to the British, for which he was paid. Fiedler also points out that Karl Riemeck, a proven spy, rose high in the East German civil service thanks to Mundt, thus enabling them to gain access to secrets. When Riemeck came under suspicion, Mundt had him killed to protect himself. Another point is that the money from the bank accounts set up by Leamas in Helsinki and Copenhagen was withdrawn at times when Mundt is known to have been in those cities. When Leamas is asked to give evidence he again rejects the idea that Mundt was a spy for Britain because he - Leamas - would have been told. In answer to Mundt's lawyer, he denies ever meeting George Smiley. Mundt's lawyer, Karden, claims Leamas was set up by his boss, Control, to defect in order to frame Mundt and get him executed. He further reveals that Mundt's agents actually followed Leamas during his last days in London and that, although he gave them the slip, it was in the neighbourhood of George Smiley's residence. Leamas' girlfriend, Nan Perry, then appears in the court, having been lured to East Germany. Without knowing exactly what is going on, she is quizzed over her involvement. It's revealed that she now owns the lease on her rented flat due to an anonymous benefactor and that she was visited there by George Smiley. Karden persuades the court that Leamas did meet Smiley before he left London and set in motion a plan to discredit Mundt. In an attempt to try and get Nan out of trouble, Leamas quickly steps forward and admits that Karden is right about the British plan. Mundt is cleared and Fiedler and Leamas are arrested. Although Leamas hoped to get her released, Nan is also taken into custody. Leamas is taken back to his cell, but later hears the door being unlocked. Making his way out of the building to a back exit he meets Mundt. Nan is also there waiting next to a car. Mundt gives Leamas instructions on how to get to East Berlin and meet a contact who will get him over the Wall. His escape will give Mundt extra excuses to purge Fiedler and his associates and have them executed. During the journey by car, Leamas tells a confused Nan what's really been going on, the truth that he himself has only just realised: Mundt is a spy for the British and Fiedler was closing in on him. Rather than just have Fiedler killed, Smiley and Control decided to discredit him and his evidence as well. Leamas was used to make Fiedler's case and Nan to undermine it. Thus Fiedler will die for trying to incriminate a senior intelligence officer and Mundt will be able to resume his work as a double agent. When Nan berates him for causing the execution of Fiedler who was guilty of nothing, Leamas tells her that London needs Mundt in order to protect the West and the freedoms people like her take for granted: "What the hell do you think spies are? Moral philosophers measuring everything they do against the word of God or Karl Marx? They're not. They're just a bunch of seedy, squalid bastards like me. Little men, drunkards, queers, hen-pecked husbands, civil servants playing cowboys and Indians to brighten their rotten little lives. Do you think they sit like monks in a cell, balancing right against wrong? Yesterday I would've killed Mundt because I thought him evil and an enemy, but not today. Today he's evil and my friend. London needs him. They need him so that the great moronic masses you admire so much can sleep soundly in their flea-bitten beds again. They need him for the safety of ordinary crummy people like you and me." He also points out that her own Communist beliefs have their own share of evils: "There's a few million bodies on that path." In East Berlin, Leamas and Nan meet a contact who directs them to a section of the Wall over which they can escape to the West. But as they climb over it, the contact takes aim with a rifle and kills Nan, who now knows too much about Mundt to be kept alive. A shocked Leamas sees Nan collapse to the bottom of the Wall on the Eastern side. At that moment, Smiley himself calls from the Western side for Leamas to hurry and get over the Wall. Leamas instead climbs back down to the East German side and goes to Nan's lifeless body where he himself is shot dead.

In the 16th-century Ukraine, the Polish overlords and Ukrainian cossacks fight for control of the land but frequent Turkish invasions force them to unite against the common Turkish foe. A "Romeo and Juliet" story that takes place in the late 16 c. Ukraine. Taras has settled into comfortable farm life after years of adventures and swashbuckling with his cossack companions. Though not wealthy, he is able to send his son Andrii away to a Polish school. At this time the Poles are overlords of Ukraine and the origin of the cossacks is struggle of the Ukrainian serfs to free themselves and their land of Polish domination. Toward this end Taras hopes that his son will be educated in the ways of the enemy. Instead, Andrii falls in love with the daughter of a Polish nobleman, setting the stage for a clash between love, family honor, and a struggle for national identity. —Anonymous The Cossacks of Eastern Europe join the Poles to rid the Turks from the Steps of Europe. In return for their aid, the Poles agree to give control of the Steps to the Cossacks. After the battle, however, the Poles back out of their agreement and force the Cossacks into the hills. Taras Bulba, a Cossack Colonel, raises his son, Andrei Bulba to learn the ways of the Poles so he can one day defeat them in battle. In his learning process, however, Andrei falls in love with the daughter of a Polish Nobleman. This twist causes Andrei Bulba to choose between the love of the Cossacks, and the love of a woman, and causes Taras Bulba to choose between the love of his son, and the love of the Cossacks. —Anonymous