Susan Clark

In Miami, Florida, although he often forgets how to drive, Dibley (Gabe Kaplan), a man with "recurring amnesia," drives his friends, Charlie Swaboda (Alex Karras) and Walter (Robert Klein), to their psychiatric appointments. Swaboda has a "parental fixation" and brings his mother with them, unaware that "Mrs. Swaboda," is invisible to everyone else. Mild-mannered Walter is a schizophrenic with two additional personalities: "Rocky" is a belligerent gangster, and "Kitty" is modeled after actress Bette Davis. As they drive home from the appointment, road construction detours them to an unfamiliar part of town. Dibley runs over an enormous pothole and his car breaks in half. He declares that the city is responsible for damages, since the pothole destroyed his car. Dibley, Swaboda and Walter go to City Hall, looking to get reimbursed $650 for the cost of the car. However, a clerk declares the city is not liable for damages because the men did not file a complaint about the pothole prior to the accident. At home, Dibley tells his girl friend, Carol (Susan Clark), about the incident, but they realize he has no recourse. Later, as they watch a war movie, the film's naval bombardment inspires Dibley. The next morning, he tells Walter and Swaboda that they will take the money the city owes them. The mayor (Arthur Rosenberg) plans to host a luncheon at his home, and Dibley wants to threaten the mayor with a naval bombardment. Carol reluctantly agrees to help, on the proviso that she can call it off if the situation looks too dangerous. Their first step is to get a cannon from the local armory. Only soldiers are allowed inside, so they go to a costume store to obtain National Guard uniforms. Dibley cannot be the point person because he constantly forgets what he is doing, and Swaboda will only go if he can bring his mother, so Walter is chosen. When he walks into the armory, the "Rocky" personality takes over, and claims to be General MacArthur. The flustered assistant ushers Walter into an office, then gets his colonel. However, when Colonel Brogan (Al Kiggins) meets Walter, the "Kitty" personality has taken over, and the plan fails. Later, Dibley and Carol see a flatbed truck hauling a tank. They follow the vehicle to the docks, where several cannons are behind locked gates. When the dock workers break for lunch, Dibley approaches Randall Kendall (Peter Bonerz), the crane operator. Dibley claims to be a top secret government agent and convinces Kendall that the shipping company is committing treason by secretly sending arms to the Soviet Union. Dibley insists he needs a cannon for proof and Kendall offers to help. Next, Carol, Dibley, Walter and Swaboda go to a used car lot to get a vehicle to transport the cannon. Dibley plans to take a Jeep for a long test drive and return it after their mission is complete. They get into a Jeep and drive toward the exit. However, a police car is parked outside, so Dibley re-parks the Jeep on the car lot. A salesman walks over, assumes they just drove in to sell their car, and offers $1,500 in cash. They accept the money and the salesman walks away. Another salesman comes over and offers to sell them the Jeep for $1,500. They give him the cash and drive away. Dibley coordinates with Kendall, who worries about the other dockworkers, so Dibley devises a plan to distract them. The next day, Dibley rents a boat, speeds to the waterfront, and plays loud music to attract attention. He announces that Carol is a stripper and the dockworkers rush to see her undress. Meanwhile, Swaboda and Walter drive the Jeep to the front gates and Kendall's crane lowers the cannon over the fence. As Walter and Swaboda drive away, Carol falls overboard and the dockworkers turn back to work. Back at Dibley's home, Carol is frustrated and wet. She heads inside while the guys go to lunch. At a restaurant, "The Boss" (Alex Rocco) and two of his thugs, Knuckles (John DiSanti) and New Yorker (Bobby Ramsen), discuss their plan to rob an armored car and realize they need a diversion for the police. Dibley, Walter, and Swaboda sit at the table behind the robbers and discuss their plan to load the cannon onto the inter-island ferry, cruise to the mayor's mansion, threaten a naval bombardment, and get their money. As they leave, Dibley realizes that he forgot his shoes. As he crawls under the table to retrieve them, Dibley overhears the Boss say the cops will rush to the mayor's luncheon to stop the "bombardment," and it will be the perfect diversion for the armored car theft. When Dibley tells the others, Carol wants to go to the police. However, Dibley is determined to execute his plan and stop the armored car theft. Dibley insists they have everything under control, including Coast Guard uniforms for the men, and a nun's habit for Carol. Dibley, Walter and Swaboda drive the cannon to the waterfront, commandeer the ferry, and tell the captain that it is quarantined because of possible yellow fever contamination. Dibley insists the mayor wants to personally view the ferry and orders the captain to speed to the mayor's mansion. When the ferry anchors outside the mansion, Dibley aims the cannon and telephones the mayor. The mayor offers half a million dollars, but Dibley only wants the $650 plus expenses, and explains the pothole situation. Sensing a political opportunity, the mayor offers to pay out of his own pocket if Dibley does not tell anyone about the bombardment and lets everyone believe the mayor heard of the situation and stepped forward to solve it. Dibley agrees and tells the mayor to put the money in a bag and hand it to a roller-skating nun at the docks. He informs the ferry boat captain that the mayor determined the ferry is not contaminated and they return to the docks. When the mayor arrives with the money, Carol waves at Dibley, Walter and Swaboda as they speed away. Carol informs the mayor about the armored car heist, and he insists on helping. The Boss and his men detour the armored car to a construction site, and drop a wrecking ball on the vehicle to open it. The Jeep races toward them, so the Boss and his men get in the armored car and drive off. A chase ensues involving the Jeep, the mayor's car, and an additional police vehicle. Dibley eventually pulls in front of the armored car, planning to stop it with the cannon. However, he suddenly forgets how to drive and stops. Walter's "Rocky" personality emerges, grabs a shell, loads the cannon and fires. It misses the truck, but creates a huge pothole that the truck crashes into. Police capture the robbers, and the mayor thanks Dibley and his friends for their help. Later, the four friends are driving in their new car. They approach a huge pothole and the others react, but Dibley smoothly avoids it. He pulls to a stop in front of the hole and claims he is cured. However, instead of driving forward, Dibley reverses into the pothole. As they get out and look at the destroyed car, Dibley insists that this time they will not bother with City Hall, he has a better idea. Dressed in naval uniforms, they plan to commandeer a ship.

Columbia Airlines' Flight 409 is a red-eye Boeing 747-100 en route from Washington Dulles International Airport to Los Angeles International Airport. One of the passengers on board is a teenage girl named Janice Abbott (Linda Blair) who is sceduled to have a kidney transplant in L.A. and she is being wheeled onto the plane on a stretcher. Another passenger is the actress Gloria Swanson (herself) going to L.A. for another movie deal. Barney (Sid Ceasar) and Bill (Norman Fell) are two gambling friends whom are planning just another good time in California. Also on board are two nuns named Sister Beatrice (Martha Scott) and Sister Ruth (Helen Reddy) whom take pitty on the ailing Janice and Sister Ruth borrows a guitar and sings a song for Janice and the rest of the passengers. Meanwhile, Scott Freeman (Dana Andrews) is a businessman living in Santa Fe, New Mexico with an urgent sales meeting in Boise, Idaho. Failure to make this meeting threatens half his sales commissions for the coming year. He is en route in his private Beechcraft Baron. However, an occluded storm front has the entire West Coast socked in, with Los Angeles reporting zero visibility. That not only affects the Columbia flight but also precludes Freeman making his meeting in Boise. Both flights are diverted to Salt Lake City International Airport. Freeman's small plane and the giant Boeing 747 enter Salt Lake's entry pattern. Air traffic control assigns the jumbo to enter the pattern first at a low altitude of 10,000 feet, followed by the Beechcraft. As Columbia 409 is making its final approach, the co-pilot and First Officer Urias (Roy Thinnes) feels a vibration on one of the adjacent panels and rises to check it out. Freeman, anxious about his missed meeting, makes a call to the Salt Lake Tower asking about the delay. The tower confirms that he is second to land after the big jet. Freeman suddenly suffers a massive heart attack. As he grabs his chest, the Baron falls out of the pattern and descends into the approach of Columbia 409. The Beechcraft impacts the flight deck just above the co-pilot seat. Freeman is instantly killed by the impact as his small plane explodes. First Officer Urias, still standing, is instantly blown from the cockpit. Navigator and Flight Engineer Julio (Erik Estrada) is struck on the head by debris and killed. Captain Stacey (Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.) is struck in the face by debris and is blinded. The impact knocks a male flight attendant from the upper lounge down to the cabin below. Nancy Pryor (Karen Black), the head flight attendant, rushes up to the flight deck to find Urias gone, Julio dead, and Stacey badly maimed. Fortunately, the captain is able to engage the autopilot and the altitude hold switch to keep the aircraft in the air before losing consciousness. Nancy informs the Salt Lake control tower that the crew is dead or badly injured and that there is no one to fly the plane. She is told to stay on the same radio frequency. Nancy gives the assessment of the damage as a large hole on the starboard side of the flight deck that wiped out most of the instrument gauges over the engineer station. Joe Patroni (George Kennedy), Columbia's Vice President of Operations, is apprised of Flight 409's situation. He seeks the advice of Captain Al Murdoch (Charlton Heston), Columbia's chief flight instructor, who also happens to be Nancy Pryor's former lover. Patroni takes a personal intrest in Flight 409 because his wife (Susan Clark) is on board the plane with their eldest son. Patroni and Murdoch take the airline's executive jet to Salt Lake City. En route, they communicate with Nancy, who is still in the cockpit in the pilot's seat. While the autopilot is keeping the aircraft in level flight, it is inoperable for turns. Something has to be done, as the jet is heading into the Wasatch Mountains. After successfully guiding Nancy by radio on how to perform the turn, radio communications are interrupted and the Salt Lake tower is unable to restore contact. With the low-flying plane unable to turn, leaking fuel, and dodging the peaks of the Wasatch Mountains, an air-to-air rescue attempt is undertaken from a jet-powered HH-53 Super Jolly Green Giant helicopter flown by the USAF Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service. While the pilot is preparing to be released on a tether, it becomes apparent that Flight 409 is heading straight into the side of a mountain. With radio communications still out, Nancy flies the plane unaided. The badly wounded Captain Stacey is able to give a cryptic clue regarding the decrease in airspeed during a climb in altitude. Nancy realizes that she must accelerate the engines to be able to climb over the mountain and successfully does so. After Flight 409 has leveled off, the pilot is released on a tow line from the helicopter towards the stricken airliner. Just as Nancy is helping him in, the release cord from his harness becomes caught in the jagged metal surrounding the hole in the cockpit. As he climbs in, his harness is released from the tether and he falls to his death. The only other person on the helicopter who can land a 747 is Captain Murdock. He is tethered to the rear of the helicopter, lowered to the jet and successfully enters it through the hole in the cockpit. Despite the controls being smashed and with serious damage to the landing breaks, he then lands the plane safely at Salt Lake City Airport, where the flight attendants successfully conduct an emergency evacuation of the passengers via the inflatable slides on the left side of the 747. Patroni is reunited with his wife and son, and Nancy and Captain Murdock walk away from the damaged plane.

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

In 1857, con man Quincy Drew and his black friend Jason O'Rourke swindle slave owners into buying Jason, who's a free man, and later share the profits when Jason escapes captivity. Quincy Drew and his black friend Jason O'Rourke have pulled off every dodge known for conning a well-heeled sucker, but it wasn't until they hit on the old skin game that they started to clean up. The game is simple. Jason, though born a free man in New Jersey, poses as Quincy's slave as the pair ride through Missouri and Kansas in 1857. Quincy picks a likely mark in each town, sells Jason to him for top money and rides out of town. Then Quincy and Jason get back together on the road to another town, because if Jason can't just run off after dark, Quincy finds a way to spring him loose. —Anonymous

A Mexican-American sheriff (Burt Lancaster) must resort to violence against a powerful rancher (Frank Tanner, played by Jon Cypher) in order to get just compensation for the pregnant Indian widow of a wrongly killed black man. The town constable, Bob Valdez (Burt Lancaster), is forced to kill someone accused by Frank Tanner of being a murderer. Valdez asks Tanner for monetary help for the man's wife, but he is ridiculed and almost killed by Tanner's henchmen. Valdez recovers and summons up his days in the U.S. Cavalry in order to fight them. Valdez wounds one of the henchmen and sends him back to Tanner with the message, "Valdez is coming."

There's a disruption in the life of Deputy sheriff Walt Coogan (Clint Eastwood) as a crack tracker and ladies' man when he is ordered as punishment for his inability to follow orders to travel from his home state Arizona to bring back bail jumper Ringerman (Don Stroud) from jail in New York City. When Coogan arrives in New York he is met by bureaucratic red tape because Ringerman is in the hospital recovering from a dose of LSD and not cleared to travel. Furthermore Coogan can get no cooperation from overworked Police Detective and department supervisor Lt. McElroy (Lee J. Cobb) who tells Coogan to wait for the autocratic machinery to function. Coogan takes matters into his own hands and breaks Ringerman out of the Bellevue prison hospital. Ringerman's girlfriend is at the hospital and takes a message to Ringerman's friend Pushie. Coogan is waylaid at the heliport when he answers a page. He is struck in the head from behind by Pushie who is accompanied by the lovely and elusive Linny Raven (Tisha Sterling). Pushie, in bright green corduroys and a red sweater, is seen by Coogan before the second blow knocks him out. Linty then steals his gun and gives it to Ringerman and they escape after Linny urges Ringerman to shoot Coogan but Pushie advises they beat it. Lt. McElroy orders Coogan to leave town and his boss sends him a telegram taking him off the case. Coogan refuses to give up and is confident he can track Ringerman down. He earlier met lovely parole officer Julie (Susan Clark), a naive case worker who is taken by Coogan's persuasive charms. Coogan asks and finds that Linny is one of Julie's patients and manages to access her file and track down the young girl. Coogan convinces the exotic Linny to take him to Ringerman. She instead leads him to Pushie at his pool hall and the group of toughs in the pool hall engage in a brawl with Coogan. Several get badly injured and the rest escape when they hear the police sirens. Coogan Is confronted by Pushie and although Coogan has been badly beaten he gets up and thrashes Pushie before leaving the pool hall. McElroy arrives, notices Pushie's clothing and finds Coogan's hat laying in the midst of the chaos. Coogan goes back to Linny's and kicks the door down and knocks her around until she leads him to Ringerman. Ringerman empties Coogan's pistol in hysterical shooting and then jumps on his motorcycle to escape. He runs into another motorcycle and the two riders are knocked to the ground while he restarts his bike and leaves. Coogan appropriates the second motor cycle and gives chase throughout the park, up and sown trails and staircases. Eventually Coogan rides into Ringerman and they crash on the lawn. Ringerman runs away but at the edge of the park he encounters a patrol car and turns and runs back into the park where he is tackled and arrested by Coogan. Lt. McElroy arrives and Coogan agrees to go through the required administrative process to get Ringerman's release into his custody. Coogan bids farewell to McElroy and then Julie on the heliport and flies off with Ringerman. Coogan then shares a cigarette with his prisoner showing some compassion that he did not display for a captured prisoner at the start of the movie.