Sheree North

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

Charley Varrick (Walter Matthau), an innocent looking husband, and his wife plan a small bank robbery in a small bank with a younger friend. But it goes wrong, it turns bloody, the wife dies. Then, wrong again, the amount is far far more than expected. Charley realizes it's the mob's money. They have now the police AND the mob looking for them. The difference is that even if you give the money back to the mob, they kill you... Charley Varrick (Walter Matthau), an innocent looking husband, and his wife plan a small bank robbery in a small bank with a younger friend. But it goes wrong, it turns bloody, the wife dies. Then, wrong again, the amount is far far more than expected. Charley realizes it's the mob's money. They have now the police AND the mob looking for them. The difference is that even if you give the money back to the mob, they kill you...

In the middle of the night in San Francisco, a group of six people wearing plastic masks pose as a maintenance crew in order to infiltrate the Century Furniture Factory. With silent efficiency, they kidnap factory manager John Bishop (Johnny Haymer), knock out guard George Morgan, and force Bishop to open the office vault, wherein lies their target: $4 million worth of heroin. Upon leaving, they blow up the building gate. Soon after, detective Lt. Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) and his partner, Lt. Jack Pecora (Gerald S. O'Loughlin), are called in to investigate and find Bishop dead at his desk. Tibbs begins by questioning Morgan, who was knocked out, about why the robbers would have blown up the gate when they could have made their escape without opening the gate. Assistant manager William Martin (Graham Jarvis) is also questioned, but has no idea why anyone would have killed Bishop, who has no obvious enemies. Upon returning to their office, the police learn that Bishop was shot with two guns, execution-style; that the robbers entered from outside a window five stories high; and that they had only four minutes after tripping the alarms to exit the building. Meanwhile, corporate executives Bob Alford (Fred Beir) and Zach Mills (John Lasell), the leaders of the drug syndicate that supplied Bishop with the heroin, speak to their colleagues in Istanbul and Paris. Using code, they inform them that the heroin has been stolen and Bishop killed. At home that night, Tibbs is bantering with his wife Valerie (Barbara McNair) and their children, Andy and Ginny, when he receives an anonymous phone call asking him to walk alone along a city street at a certain hour. Instructing Pecora to come after him in 30 minutes, Tibbs does as he is told and is soon ushered into an apartment where the robbers have gathered. Leader Juan Mendoza (Raul Julia) introduces Rev. Dave Thomas (Billy 'Green' Bush), Annie Sekido, Charlie Blossom, Stacy Baker and Joe Peralez, who admit they robbed the factory but insist that they did not murder Bishop. The vigilante group, each member of which has lost a loved one to drug addiction or overdose, wants to destroy "the organization." When they ask for Tibbs's help, pointing out that they deliberately blew up the gate in order to tip off the authorities, he refuses, stating that he cannot risk his career by banding with criminals without the knowledge of the police force. When he returns to Pecora, however, Tibbs says nothing about the group. That night, narcotics captain Grayson shoots himself, causing the men in the station to assume he was corrupt. After Bishop's wife lies to the police that she drove her husband to the factory the night of his murder, Tibbs realizes that she is being pressured not to admit that he was kidnapped. He arranges to meet Dave, Annie and Juan on a ferry, where he reluctantly acknowledges that they are not the killers and agrees to work with them, as long as they do not make a move without his approval. Tibbs re-questions Morgan, and when the guard refuses to admit that another car came in after the robbers broke in, Tibbs takes him in for further questioning. On way to the station, however, a car drives by and the passenger shoots Morgan, killing him before he can talk. Back at the station, Pecora wonders why Tibbs did not take him along to interrogate Morgan, but Tibbs deflects his questions and visits Morgan's widow Gloria to question her. She reveals that Morgan was rich, suggesting that Bishop was paying him off. Later, two toughs beat up Joe and offer him half a million dollars to meet them at Washington Square with information about where the heroin is hidden. Joe tells Juan, who urges him to meet the thugs in order to glean more information about them. Meanwhile, Pecora suggests that Tibbs call in the narcotics squad to help with the case, but Tibbs manages to hold him off. Joe goes to the designated meeting place and, while Juan and Annie watch nervously, a car arrives and takes him away. He shows the thugs a sample of the heroin and asks for $5 million, and in response, they threaten his life and order him to meet them that night. Annie, fearful for her friends, informs Tibbs, who instructs her to convince them that they must include him in their dealings, for their own safety. They arrange for Annie to call the station and anonymously tip off Pecora to the meeting point that night. As she hangs up the phone, however, the thugs follow her, and despite her efforts to elude them, they trap her in her car. Meanwhile, Jessop, the head of the narcotics division, assigns four men to help Tibbs and Pecora that night. The undercover police tail Joe, but when no one shows up at the meeting place, Tibbs is excoriated for wasting their time. Soon, Tibbs hears that Annie's dead body has been found, and meets the remaining five men to tell them that, because Annie was tortured to inform on them, they have been exposed and must flee. Tibbs and Pecora then question Martin again and, upon running through the complex alarm system with him, deduce that the murderers must have had an outside accomplice. Soon after, Tibbs learns from Dave that Joe's apartment is being watched by the thugs, and Tibbs rushes there, arriving just as the thugs run over Joe with their car. Although Tibbs arrests one of the men, the severely injured Joe blames the policeman for failing to protect him. When Jessop arrives at the hospital to question Joe, he learns of Tibbs's involvement, and soon Tibbs is called in to his superior, Capt. Stacy, and suspended for withholding information from the department. As Tibbs leaves, Jessop caustically informs him that Grayson killed himself not because he was corrupt but because he was dying of leukemia. Tibbs, unwilling to abandon the surviving vigilantes, asks his friend, the lawyer Sgt. Leo Chassman, for help in investigating Century. Chassman learns that the company has myriad "dummy" corporations as stockholders, and informs Tibbs about its complex financial workings. Meanwhile, Juan calls his friend Benjy, a small-time dealer, and offers to exchange the heroin for half a million dollars, on a crowded street. As Juan has hoped, Benjy arranges for the transfer with Alford and Mills, who arrive on the street to supervise the transaction. Just as Benjy and Juan swap bags, Charlie grabs the bag of heroin and runs off. While Tibbs's men, whom Juan has informed about the meeting, arrest Benjy, the organization's men chase Charlie into the unfinished subway system, followed by Tibbs. Together, Charlie and Tibbs shoot some of the thugs, and when the police arrive to finish the job, Tibbs runs off so they will not know he has been involved. He goes to Gloria's house and there casually reveals that he knows, based on the fact that Chassman's research has revealed that she is a major, wealthy stockholder in Century, who worked as a drug runner for the organization and facilitated Bishop's murder by tripping the alarms for the killers. After letting Pecora into the house, Tibbs advises Gloria to identify her bosses before they kill her, then uncovers a stash of heroin hidden inside a cut of beef in her refrigerator. Trapped, Gloria admits that Alford and Mills were behind the murder. The two men are arrested, but as they are being transported to testify, a sniper shoots them both before they can talk. Realizing that the organization will continue its dirty dealings, the reinstated Tibbs accepts a ride home from Pecora.

One day in Desert Hole, New Mexico, bumbling train station attendant Homer Flagg impulsively hops a passing train, hoping it will take him to an exciting new life in New York. Instead, Homer is chased off the train by an MP and jumps into an abandoned automobile near the tracks. Oblivious to a sign on the front grille identifying the car as radioactive, Homer drives off toward the Los Alamos nuclear test site and ends up at a gas station. When Homer finally notices the sign, he faints, and the next day, his imminent death from radiation poisoning is announced in newspapers across the country. In New York, Morning Chronicle reporter Wally Cook convinces her wary publisher, Oliver Stone, that Homer's terminal illness would be great fodder for a series of articles and talks him into inviting Homer to spend his last days in New York at the paper's expense. Homer, meanwhile, learns from his incompetent doctor, Steve Harris, that he was misdiagnosed and is not dying after all. Homer is unhappy about the news, as the railroad was about to give him $300 to go to New York, and reluctantly returns to the depot. There, Homer meets Wally as she is disembarking, and when she tells him about The Chronicle's offer, cannot bring himself to admit he is healthy. Homer races to Steve's office and begs him not to send his amended medical report to the railroad, but Steve refuses until Wally shows up and enchants him. Steve then insists on accompanying Homer to New York, and on the plane there, knocks Homer out with some pills and flirts shamelessly with an unreceptive Wally. In New York, Homer receives a hero's welcome and is put up at the Park Ritz Hotel, where he begins ordering room service, a new wardrobe and other expensive amenities. Steve cautions Homer to act sick, but Homer has a difficult time suppressing his excitement during highly publicized appearances at Yankee Stadium and the Wonderland Ballroom. There, while Steve tries to romance Wally, Homer dances a wild jitterbug after a waiter slips him some vodka and champagne, then collapses on the floor. The next day, at the hotel, Steve ministers to a hungover Homer, whose guilt at deceiving Wally and the world is starting to take its toll. To please Steve, Homer agrees to tell Wally that Steve loves her and wants to marry her, even though he is in love with her, too. When Wally shows up and admits to Homer that she is going to talk to the governor about erecting a statue in his honor, Homer protests that he is unworthy. Seeing his opportunity, Homer then tells Wally how much Steve loves her, but Wally insists that she loves Homer and wants to marry him. Swept up in the moment, Homer agrees and later rejects Steve's angry suggestion that he tell Wally the truth to ensure that she is marrying him for love. Just before the ceremony, however, Homer overhears Wally confess to Steve that she actually loves him but wants to make Homer's last days happy. At the altar, Homer refuses to say "I do" and runs back to the hotel to pack. When Wally, Oliver and the mayor demand to see him, Homer hangs from a chandelier and pretends he is a fighter pilot, hoping to convince them that he has gone insane. His act works, but Wally is so filled with pity that she talks Oliver into paying to have the top radiation sickness experts flown to New York. Wally distracts Steve, who has stipulated that only he be allowed to treat Homer, long enough to kidnap Homer and take him to the hospital where the foreign doctors are to examine him. To prevent the examination, Steve tries to knock Homer out, but is himself knocked out. When the unconscious Steve is mistaken for Homer and wheeled in to be X-rayed, Homer dons different disguises and impersonates each of the three doctors separately in an attempt to fool them into diagnosing radiation sickness. The doctors deduce Homer's scheme, however, and inform Oliver that he is as healthy as a horse. Unaware they have been exposed, Steve comes up with the idea to publicly "cure" Homer, and the two begin to celebrate their cleverness. Wally arrives unexpectedly at the hotel, however, and reveals that she is on to them. Though relieved that Homer is well, Wally demands that he fake committing suicide, then slip out of town. As directed by Wally, Homer leaves a suicide note in his hotel room and goes with Steve and a camera-wielding Wally to "drown" himself in the river. The note is soon found by some Boy Rangers, who notify the fire department and Oliver. Determined to see Wally's scheme succeed, the mayor, Oliver and his "sluggers" race to the river to cajole the frightened Homer into jumping before the fire department arrives to save him. Homer instead falls into the river, crashing through his rescue rowboat. The rowboat sinks, and later, after Homer's grand public funeral, Homer and Steve, who has married Wally, undertake the jobs assigned to them by the mayor--street cleaning.