Sydney Pollack

A U.N. interpreter overhears a conversation in the General Assembly Hall, learning a deadly secret that could topple a government. Now she just has to live long enough to tell it.

A successful New York attorney, Gavin Banek (Ben Affleck), is in a rush to file a power of appointment, which will prove a rich dead man (Simon Dunne) signed his foundation over to Banek's law firm. The dead man's daughter Mina Dunne (Jennifer Dundas Lowe) is opposed to Banek getting hold of the foundation as she wants to control the funds herself. Mina indicates that Banek's actions are against the spirit of what Simon would have wanted for the foundation. Banek is under pressure from his law firm partners (Stephen Delano (Sydney Pollack), Walter Arnell (Richard Jenkins)) to bag the account. Michelle (Toni Collette) is Banek's colleague at the office. Banek has a collision with another car, belonging to an insurance salesman, Doyle Gipson (Samuel L Jackson) a recovering alcoholic attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings to stay sober. Earlier in the week, Gipson was looking at an apartment in Manhattan. He also met his banker, who told him that his loan was approved. Gipson is also in a rush to a hearing to try to gain custody of his children and to prevent his estranged wife from taking them to Oregon. Banek tries to brush Gipson off with a blank check, rather than exchanging insurance information, thereby disobeying the law. Gipson refuses to accept the check and voices his desire to "do the right thing", that is, filing a police report and insurance claim. But Banek, whose car can still be driven, insists upon leaving immediately. Banek strands Gipson, telling him, "Better luck next time". After arriving to the court late, Gipson learns that it proceeded without him and that it didn't go in his favor. Gipson learns that the judge ruled against him in his absence, giving sole custody of the boys to Gipson's wife and allowing her to proceed with a plan to move to Oregon, never knowing that Gipson was about to buy a house locally and give it to his wife and children as part of his effort to make joint custody workable for everyone. Unfortunately for Banek, he dropped the crucial power of appointment file at the scene of the accident, and the judge gives him until the end of the day to re-obtain the papers and present them. Gipson, who took the papers, is in a state of dilemma on whether to return the file especially after the events of the day. On the other hand, Banek desperate to get his papers back, goes to someone skilled with computers and gets him to switch off Gipson's credit. Gipson needed credit for a loan so he could buy a house for his family. Gipson's wife Valerie (Kim Staunton) had filed for divorce, has custody of the kids Stephen (Akil Walker) & Danny (Cole Hawkins) & wants to move to Oregon, but Gipson has purchased a house in NY for her to stay along with his sons, so that he can be near them. Gipson becomes further enraged, determined to make life difficult for Banek. Gipson is distraught when he finds out his credit has been ruined and he comes close to drinking again. Determined to get back at Banek, Gipson removes several lug nuts from one of Banek's wheels, and Banek suffers some minor injuries after his car crashes on the highway. An infuriated Banek goes to the elementary school of Gipson's children and tells school officials that Gipson plans to kidnap the boys, so Gipson is arrested and jailed. His enraged wife declares her intention to move forward with taking their sons to Oregon and says that Gipson will never see them again. Meanwhile Gavin gets suspicious that his partners sent him alone to represent his firm for the custody hearing of a 107 MM $ foundation. He suspects foul play on behalf of his partners & wonders that he has even seen the rest of the files of the foundation. He tells his partners about how he lost the power of appointment for the Dunne foundation. The partners ask him to reformat the power of appointment & use the signature page from the living will of Simon Dunne to forge a new power of appointment file. Gavin activates the sprinkler system to empty the office & takes the time to study the original Dunne foundation files & discovers that the partners are paying themselves 1.5 MM $ per year out of the foundation money just to manage it. Gipson calls Banek & asks him to turn on his credit before his meeting with the banker in 1/2 hour or he will destroy the power of appointment. Banek agrees & asks his man to turn the credit back on. The credit is turned back on, but a bankruptcy filing on Gipson is missed & shows up in his records during Gipson's meeting with the banker. On this basis his loan application is refused. Though it is made clear that Banek and Gipson are radically different, they both have an angry, vengeful streak, each capable of abandoning their morals just to punish the other. Both men having a new outlook on life, concentrating on ethics and the moral implications of their actions. Banek approaches Gipson's bank & tries to co-sign the loan application so that Gipson can see his kids everyday by keeping them in NY. Banek also writes a letter to the court admitting that the power of appointment is a fake & was obtained by him & his partners when Mr Simon Dunne was of reduced mental facilities. Ultimately the two men apologize to each other, and Gipson returns the file, but it looks to be too late for both of what they were trying to do. Banek ends up using the file to force his boss to do the right thing & return the 3 MM $ he stole from Dunne's foundation till date and plans to represent Gipson pro Bono so he can get the house he wants. Banek also visits Gipson's wife to explain everything to her, knowing he owes Gipson that much. Gipson's wife and children smile at him from across the street, indicating a possible reconciliation or at the very least some kind of arrangement between the two in the future.

Police Sergeant Dutch Van Den Broek and U.S. Representative Kay Chandler lose their spouses in a plane crash, and they soon discover that their spouses were having an affair with each other. After the death of their loved ones in a tragic plane crash, Police Sergeant Dutch Van Den Broek (Harrison Ford) and U.S. Representative Kay Chandler (Dame Kristin Scott Thomas) find keys in the possessions their loved ones left behind. They realize the two had been having an affair and are determined to discover all of the details. —Andy Heitz The wife of Police Sergeant Dutch Van Den Broek (Harrison Ford) and the husband of U.S. Representative Kay Chandler (Dame Kristin Scott Thomas) are killed in a plane crash. Now Dutch discovers some anomalies in what his wife told him before she left, and discovers that she and Chandler's husband were travelling together. Dutch then goes to Chandler and tells her that he suspects that they were having an affair. He tells her that he wants to know the truth. She tells him that she doesn't, but she later joins him and they grow close. —rcs0411@yahoo.com

A chauffeurs daughter, Sabrina falls for with the Larrabees son David. To push David into an advantageous marriage instead, his brother Linus pretends to woo Sabrina himself.

Mitch McDeere (Tom Cruise), about to graduate from Harvard Law School, accepts a generous job offer from Bendini, Lambert & Locke, a boutique firm in Memphis, Tennessee. Mitch was being courted by many companies who offered a generous starting pay package, reasonable working hours, and even perks such as court-side tickets to basketball games. Exit options include a cushy Government job as a Senator, Governor, Congressman or some such. Mitch meets senior partner Oliver Lambert (Hal Holbrook) and Managing Director Royce McKnight (Jerry Hardin) at a fancy hotel room in Boston. Olver inquiries about Mitch's family and says that family stability is important for the firm. Bendini, Lambert & Locke has 41 lawyers. The firm offers 20% more than the highest offer Mitch has (Mitch offered $96,000 a year, which is equivalent to $150,000 in New York) and adds a low interest mortgage and a leased Mercedes. Mitch and his wife Abby (Jeanne Tripplehorn) move to Memphis, and he studies to pass the Tennessee bar exam. Mitch becomes friends with Lamar Quinn (Terry Kinney) and his wife Kay (Barbara Garrick) tells Abby that the firm has had zero divorces and they don't employ bachelors or females. She says that the firm encourages children because children promote stability. All the furniture and electronics at the home are installed by companies contracted by the firm. Senior partner Avery Tolar (Gene Hackman) mentors Mitch and introduces him to the firm's professional culture, which demands strict loyalty, confidentiality, and a willingness to charge exceptional fees. Mitch is seduced by the money and perks, including a house, new car, and his student loans paid off, but Abby is suspicious of the firm's interference with employees' families. The first amber flag is when 2 associates at the firm die in a boat explosion off the Cayman Islands. Mitch finds Lamar in a pensive mood at his own backyard, deeply contemplating his own future. Mitch passes the bar exam and begins working long hours, straining his marriage. Working closely with Avery, Mitch learns that most of the firm's work involves helping wealthy clients hide money in offshore shell corporations and other dubious tax-avoidance schemes. On a trip to the Cayman Islands, Mitch hears a client state that the firm's Chicago clients break people's legs. Seduced by a local woman, Mitch cheats on Abby; this encounter was arranged by the firm's security chief, Bill DeVasher (Wilford Brimley), who blackmails Mitch with photos of his tryst to keep him quiet about the firm's activities. Learning that four of the firm's associates died mysteriously, Mitch hires private investigator Eddie Lomax (Gary Busey), a former cell mate of Mitch's brother Ray, who is shot dead, which Lomax's secretary Tammy (Holly Hunter) witnesses. Mitch is approached by FBI agents who reveal that BL&L's biggest client is the Morolto crime family of the Chicago Outfit. Most of the firm is complicit in a massive tax fraud and money laundering scheme. The dead associates had learned the truth and were killed on the firm's orders, as was Lomax. The FBI warns Mitch that his house, car, and office are probably bugged, and pressures him to provide evidence against the firm and the Moroltos. The FBI informs him that every associate who has ever tried to leave The Firm ends up murdered. His life as he knows it is forever changed. He has a choice: work with the FBI and risk being discovered by The Firm, or stay with The Firm knowing that at some point he will get involved with laundering mob money and in the end go to jail when the FBI cracks The Firm. Either way he will lose his life as he knows it. Mitch agrees to cooperate in return for $1.5 million and the release of his imprisoned brother Ray (David Strathairn) (who is in prison for manslaughter). The FBI releases Ray, planning to return him to prison once Mitch hands over the incriminating files, and gives him half the money to a Swiss account Mitch has set up. Mitch confesses his one-night stand in the Caymans to Abby, who prepares to leave him. When a client complains that he was billed for several hours of extra fees, Mitch realizes that mailing clients these padded bills is mail fraud, exposing the firm to RICO charges. Mitch finds a possible way to save his career. He secretly copies the firm's billing records with help from Tammy but needs files from Avery's house in the Caymans. Avery invites Abby to come with him to the Caymans and she declines, but he reveals his work schedule has changed, threatening Mitch's plans. Telling Tammy not to inform Mitch, Abby flies to the Caymans to seduce and drug Avery. The firm's phone tap picks up Abby's warning to Tammy, and DeVasher sends his hit-men to the Caymans. After Abby copies the files, Avery tells her the firm set up the prostitute who seduced Mitch on the beach. He warns Abby to leave and is later killed by DeVasher's hit-men, staging his death as a bathtub drowning. Mitch's plans are jeopardized when a prison guard on the Moroltos' payroll alerts DeVasher after Ray is transferred to FBI custody without the usual formalities. Evading DeVasher and his thugs, Mitch meets with the Moroltos, presenting himself as a loyal attorney looking out for his clients' interests. He claims that his contact with the FBI and his copying of files were an attempt to expose the firm's illegal over-billing and asks the Moroltos for permission to turn over their billing invoices to help the FBI's case against the firm. Revealing that he has made his own copies, he assures them that as long as he is alive, any information he knows about their legal affairs is safe under attorney-client privilege. Guaranteeing Mitch's safety, the Moroltos let him give the FBI the evidence it needs to prosecute the firm. Mitch's decision to work with the Moroltos angers the FBI, but he reminds them that the evidence he has provided is enough to make a RICO case and ensure that the firm's senior members go to prison for a long time. The McDeeres return to Boston in their old car. Ray, now with Tammy, enjoys his new life in the Caymans with the money Mitch obtained for him.

When their best friends announce that they're separating, a professor and his wife discover the faults in their own marriage. When Jack and Sally announce that they're splitting up, this comes as a shock to their best friends Gabe and Judy. Maybe mostly because they also are drifting apart and are now being made aware of it. So while Jack and Sally try to go on and meet new people, the marriage of Gabe and Judy gets more and more strained, and they begin to find themselves being attracted to other people. —Leon Wolters <wolters@strw.LeidenUniv.nl> Married New York couples Gabe and Judy, and Jack and Sally are best friends. Just before they are about to go out for one of their regular evenings together, Jack and Sally casually tell Gabe and Judy that they have decided to separate. The casual nature of the announcement is not to make the news a big deal, as Jack and Sally are and will remain friends. Regardless, the news comes out of left field for Gabe and Judy, who always believed Jack and Sally were as happy as they are... or believe they are. The four continue on with their lives as friends with Jack "moving on" from Sally, Sally trying to find someone to date in retaliation while not emotionally ready to move on from Jack, Judy trying to set Sally up with who she believes is the perfect man, and Gabe continuing his work as an English professor. In the process, they all will come to some realizations about the state of their romantic lives, with outwardly passive Judy the one who always manipulates the situation usually to get what she wants. —Huggo When Jack (Pollack) and Sally (Davis, in an Oscar-nominated performance) announce that they're splitting up, this comes as a shock to their best friends Gabe (Allen) and Judy (Farrow). Maybe mostly because they also are drifting apart and are now being made aware of it. So while Jack and Sally try to go on and meet new people, the marriage of Gabe and Judy gets more and more strained, and they begin to find themselves being attracted to other people.

Rusty Sabich, a prosecutor, is seduced into an extramarital affair by a colleague. When she is found dead all the evidence points to Sabich, who must now fight for his very life.

Karen Blixen, a noted author, moves from Denmark to Nairobi with her husband but ends up falling for a British adventurer and struggling with the troubles of life in Africa.

An out-of-work actor finds success, love and frustration when he gets the role of his life...playing a woman.

Michael learns he is the subject of a criminal investigation in a newspaper`s front-page story. He confronts the writer and together they find that everything is not as it seems.

In the opening scene, Bobby Deerfield (Al Pacino), a Formula 1 race driver, stands on a race track looking at skid marks and searching for clues to a recent crash. Seeing his friend, Bertrand Modave (Steve Gadler), standing next to his Formula 1 car, Bobby repeatedly asks for a key. This is all revealed to be a dream when Bobby suddenly wakes up with a start. He turns on the bed lamp, goes to the bathroom, then returns to bed and lies awake in the dark, reliving that day at the track. Fans ask for autographs and chant the name Deerfield. His French girlfriend, Lydia (Anny Duperey), stands nearby. Bobby gets into his car and takes off with several others. One of the cars hits another and explodes. After Bobby and Lydia attend Modave's funeral, Bobby tells his pit crew that he will not get into another Formula 1 car until they figure out what happened to Modave's, because their cars are exactly the same. Later, in Paris, France, Bobby connects with his brother, Leonard (Walter McGinn), but the brothers have little to talk about. Bobby does not remember anything from their early home life in Newark, New Jersey, not even the way his Mae West impersonation always made his mother laugh. Bobby's attitude angers Leonard, who has legal papers that concern their mother's property, along with a packet of boyhood photographs. Bobby is not interested in the property, and Leonard asks if he wants to be contacted when their mother dies, then knocks Bobby's sunglasses off his face. Later, with Lydia, Bobby speculates that rabbits on the tracks may have caused the crash. He drives to a sanatorium in the alpine village of Leukerbad, Switzerland, where the surviving driver, Karl Holtzmann (Stephan Meldegg), recuperates. Staying after dinner, Bobby asks Karl about the crash, but Karl insists that Modave simply misjudged the turn. Bobby disagrees. After Karl is wheeled away, a patient named Lillian Morelli (Marthe Keller) asks Bobby if she can have his butter, and asks disjointed personal questions. The conversation turns to speed, danger and death, but when Bobby says he never thinks about those things, she concludes that racing is boring. After dinner, as they watch a magic show with other patients, Lillian wants to know if Bobby believes in magic, destiny, or God. That night, a nurse comes into Lillian's room with medications, but Lillian refuses and says that she will come to death on her own terms. Early the next morning, as Bobby prepares to leave, Lillian appears with a bag, wanting to hitch a ride to Florence, Italy. Bobby agrees to let her ride along, but Lillian continues to pick at him about his "feminine touch" on the steering wheel and speculates about his racing car being an extension of his penis. When they go through a tunnel, she tries to get Bobby to scream in the dark with her, because she wants to scream and why shouldn't he? As she screams, Lillian breaks down in tears. They stop for the night at a hotel in Bellagio, Italy. Bobby calls his mechanic in Paris, asking him to pull the steering linkages from his car and Modave's, and also to have the film of the accident ready when he gets back. At dinner, Lillian calls Bobby a "turtle" because he takes no personal risks despite his dangerous profession. She asks Bobby to hold her, and they return to her room, disrobe and get into bed, where she promptly dozes off. When Bobby strokes Lillian's hair, some of it comes out in his fingers. Next morning, as they prepare to leave, Lillian wants him to follow a hot air balloon floating in the distance above Lake Como, but Bobby refuses. Later that day, as Bobby drops Lillian off at her uncle's house in Florence, she runs inside to get a book for him. She tells him she is sorry that he didn't scream with her or chase the balloon, but she hopes he finds his rabbits. Later, Bobby finds a note in the book that Lillian has written in Italian, which translates as "Everything is sweeter when you take a chance." Back in Paris, Lydia asks Bobby about his trip and mentions that she ran into a friend who told her he had seen Bobby in Bellagio. At the garage, Bobby reviews footage of the crash. The projectionist slows down the film, then freezes a frame, but Bobby sees nothing that might provide an answer. In preparation for the upcoming 2 May 1976 Jarama, Spain, race, Bobby films a television commercial in Paris. He feels restless, however, and returns to Florence to talk with Lillian's Uncle Luigi, in hope of finding her. Luigi says that Bobby should forget about Lillian because she is too outspoken and difficult, like her mother, but if Bobby wants to see her, he should come play Bocce because Lillian always comes to watch. She does show up as Bobby and Luigi finish a game, and asks if Bobby is still "driving in circles." As Bobby and Lillian walk together, she asks him to remove his sunglasses because she hates to see herself in mirrors. He claims to wear them to avoid being recognized, but she bets a wine and cheese picnic that nobody will know him. He takes them off, and as they walk along a block with nobody noticing, Lillian smiles with satisfaction, then shouts "Bobby Deerfield!" A crowd gathers around him. Later, Bobby and Lillian picnic and she criticizes him for never having fun. As she walks away from Bobby, she comes upon the owner of the property, Carlos Del Montanaro, who tells her he'll be flying his balloon tomorrow. Rejoining Bobby, Lillian tells him a wild story about her father's death, but then says she made it up. Bobby insists she is keeping emotional distance, but Lillian says that telling a lie is better than making small talk. After they return to her apartment, Bobby and Lillian kiss and then make love. In the morning, Lillian is gone, but she has left a marked newspaper clipping about a balloon regatta in the countryside. Bobby arrives as a half-dozen large balloons are ready to lift off. Lillian is with Carlos and a couple of others. When she asks Bobby to join them, he refuses and the balloon drifts away without him. Bobby and Lydia go to Jarama, but he is distracted and Lydia notices that something is wrong. During the race, as Bobby takes the lead, he fails to make a turn and crashes. He escapes uninjured, but flames destroy his car. Back in Paris, Lydia admits to Bobby that she knows all about Lillian Morelli, and that Lillian is dying. Realizing that Bobby was unaware of Lillian's terminal condition, Lydia regrets telling him. Bobby returns to Florence. He and Lillian argue. She wants him to surprise her and stop being boring, so Bobby imitates Mae West, even though Lillian has no idea who Mae West is. She says, "It's a beginning." Bobby shows her the childhood photos his brother gave him. She asks why there are no photos of his mother. During a boat outing, Bobby tells Lillian a story about his mother's death that intrigues her, but then confesses that he made it up. Lillian laughs and appreciates the lie. As their relationship blossoms, Bobby senses doom hanging over them, especially after Lillian passes out in a shop. One day Lillian tells him she wants to go back to the sanatorium. On the way, a couple of American tourists take their picture and promise to send it to Bobby. However, he gives them his old address in Newark. He stays with Lillian in Leukerbad as she fades away. After her death, Bobby drives back to Paris.

Harry Kilmer (along with friend George Tanner) were in Japan after the war in the Pacific ended. During this time Kilmer met and fell in love with a beautiful Japanese woman named Eiko Tanaka. But for some reason Kilmer cannot fathom and which Eiko will not tell him, she will not marry him. Finally he leaves Japan and returns home to the USA where he does some police and detective work to earn a living. Tanner continues a business relationship with some very shady underworld figures in Japan (the Yakuza) and in particular with the local boss Tono. In fact he is selling guns to this mafia like organization, but on one transaction he fails to deliver. As a consequence the Yakuza kidnap Tanner's daughter and Tanner turns to Kilmer to help him try to recover his daughter safely. So Kilmer returns to Japan to do what he can for his then friend. He visits Eiko of which their mutual love is quite apparent but who will still not marry him. We also meet her brother, Ken Tanaka who once was a Yakuza himself but resigned and became a respectable swordsman instructor in the ancient tradition of Japanese warfare by the sword. Ken is a master swordsman. Ken is a strange man ("he who never smiles"), and only reluctantly helps Kilmer to rescue Tanner's daughter. He does so because of the totally Japanese concept of obligation or rather burden called "giri", a social tradition of the old world of Japan. It is by this tradition, in fact, that Ken is bound to assist Kilmer since Kilmer did in fact, save Eikos life during those terrible days after the war. It is then that Ken takes up the sword once again to actually fight (rather than teach), and joins Kilmer in the rescue. The result is a bloody battle to (successfully) rescue Tanners daughter. Unfortunately two of the Yakuza men guarding the captive are killed in the fight, so now the Yakuza, and in particular the boss Tono put a price on heads of both Kilmer and Ken. And while Kilmer can just get on a plane and fly home where the Yakuza will not bother him, Ken is a different story and will definitely die at Tonos bidding. Kilmer decides he cannot do this after what Ken has done for him. He seems to feel the "giri" himself and, in fact, feels he is obligated to Ken. They talk it over and decide there is no choice but to try to kill Tono. It is either Ken or Tono, they figure. Kilmer and Ken then undertake the most dangerous venture, to break into and attack the secure Yakuza compound where Tono hangs out along his henchmen. This could be a form of suicide especially since Japanese (and Yakuza) tradition require that Tono die by the sword and not by a gunshot (Kilmer has two or three guns but Ken only his sword). As a Yakuza Ken can only use a sword. They break in and hold the mob at bay briefly. Ken says I come (only) for Tono, but this makes little difference to the mob and a battle ensues where between Ken's master swordsmanship and Kilmer's threatening (and sometimes deadly) gunfire they succeed in wiping out this mob. (Note that the Yakuza gangsters have only swords, no guns.) At some point earlier in the movie we learn of another strange Yakuza custom concerning the custom of "giri". If the person who is obligated cannot repay his burden he may make a symbolic offering by severing the one of his small fingers (his pinkie) at the joint and giving it to the person to whom he is indebted. If the person accepts the token of forgiveness of burden then the matter is resolved. We see this ritual twice as Ken offers this "giri" to his older brother (who is actually only a brother in the Yakuza sense), but who is socially a prominent businessman and one of enough influence to have covered up the massacres. (NOTE: The following is a serious spoiler-do not read it if you plan to see the movie): Ken (much against) his Yakuza brothers will, performs this ritual and is unhappily forgiven his burden by this brother. Kilmer on the other hand learns something from the brother he could never have imagined. It turns out that the reason Eiko could never marry Kilmer is that she is married to Ken. Ken is actually her husband, not her brother. He had hid in a cave after the war and only several years later found his wife, now comfortably set up with a small tea house business bought for her by Kilmer. Thus when Ken returns this totally torn man must honor Kilmer for saving and then helping his wife because of his "giri" and so tells Kilmer that he is her brother. In the end Kilmer takes a taxi to the airport but is himself torn by his "giri" to Ken. He tells the cab driver to turn around and goes back to see Ken. Kilmer tells him he came back because there is something important he must talk to him about. This is true, but while Ken goes for tea Kilmer himself performs the ritual of severing his pinky and in the tradition, putting it in a handkerchief, offers it to a shocked, but an emotionless Ken when he returns. Kilmer asks Ken to accept his token of apology for what HE HAS DONE (to Kens life however unwittingly), and asks him to please forgive Eiko as well. Ken, of course accepts, and says the words which seem to be the traditional response "no man has a greater friend." Finally the two men with bandaged pinkies go to the airport for a final goodbye and Kilmer leaves, very emotionally, for home.

During post-WWII McCarthyism, a diametrically opposed couple come together only to find out that genuine friendship and physical attraction is not enough to overcome fundamental societal beliefs. Set in the period from the mid-1930s to the 1950s, a love story involving two markedly different people. Katie is an idealistic, uptight, Stalin-loving political activist. Hubbell is an easy-going, athletic, All American-type, and a talented writer. We see their different personalities affect their relationship and how they manage despite the differences... —grantss Opposites attract when, during their college days, Katie Morosky, a politically active Jew, meets Hubbell Gardiner, a feckless WASP. Years later, in the wake of World War II, they meet again and, despite their obvious differences, marry. Hubbell wants to be a screenwriter, so the two move to California despite Katie's objections. They prosper there, but as the Hollywood blacklist looms, Katie's activism threatens her husband's reputation. —Jwelch5742 Impossible to resist the beguiling charm of her insouciant and incredibly handsome White Anglo-Saxon Protestant classmate, Hubbell Gardiner, the impassioned Jewish secretary of the 1937 Young Communist League, Katie Morosky, finds herself, more and more, drawn to him. But, even though Katie's logic tells her that a relationship between two polar opposites is doomed to fail, instead, she lets herself get carried away in an enthusiastic romance that will eventually lead both lovers to marriage, and Joseph McCarthy's not-so-glamorous 1950s Hollywood. Now, Katie's principles and her uncompromising political views stand in the way of what should be the perfect love affair; however, life is nothing less than unpredictable. Can Hubbell and Katie turn the clock back? —Nick Riganas

The opening scene depicts an early Rocky Mountain riverside trading post bustling with activity. Indians, trappers and traders of all stripes freely mingle. A young ex-soldier named Jeremiah Johnson (Robert Redford), fleeing civilization, equips himself with the needed foodstuffs, gear and pack mule required for life as a solitary mountain man. After a short time in the high mountains, Johnson finds himself critically short on both food and basic survival skills. While comically struggling to retrieve an elusive trout from a swift mountain stream, Johnson is startled to discover a bemused Indian brave silently watching him. The brave quietly rides downstream. After failing in his attempt to kindle a warming fire in the deep snow, Johnson comes upon a dead mountain man, frozen against a tree. A note attached to the dead man's coat identifies him as Hatchet Jack and explains that he was mauled and disabled by a grizzly bear. He bequeaths his prized .50-caliber rifle to whoever finds him. Johnson uses the gun to bag his first deer. Johnson awakens the next morning to find that his horse has died in the night. He continues through the deep snows on foot, leading his pack mule. He is soon surprised by a venerable old mountain man whose bear hunt he has inadvertently spoiled. The old mountain man, Bear Claw (Will Geer), patiently teaches Johnson the ways of the mountains. While hunting elk, Johnson and Bear Claw are surrounded by a Crow Indian party, but Johnson successfully barters their way out of trouble. The leader of the Crows is the same brave who observed Johnson's abortive fishing attempt earlier. After parting with Bear Claw, Johnson comes across a cabin where an Indian band has killed several white settlers. One child survives, along with his grieving, traumatized mother who has clearly gone mad. She frantically places her equally traumatized son in Johnson's charge, apparently intent on killing herself. Since the boy is unable to speak his own name, Johnson names the boy Caleb. As their journey continues, the pair comes across another mountain man, Del Gue (Stefan Gierash), buried up to his neck in burning sand by the same Blackfoot raiding party that attacked the settler cabin. Johnson rescues him and they track down the raiding party, intent on recovering Gue's horses and weapons. Against Johnson's wishes, Gue ambushes the Blackfoot party that night, and the Indians are killed with Johnson's reluctant assistance. Del Gue scalps the dead Blackfeet. This works to Johnson's advantage when they are subsequently surrounded by Flathead Indians, who are the Crows' blood enemies. Seeing the captured Blackfoot ponies and fresh scalps and believing Johnson to be a great warrior, the Flathead chief honors Johnson by giving his daughter to him as a bride. Del Gue goes his own way, and Johnson leads his newfound family deeper into the wilderness. Despite a mute "stepson" and a wife he cannot communicate with, Johnson finds fulfillment in his new life. They build a fine cabin alongside a mountain stream before Johnson leaves to hunt for buffalo. A few days after his return, a cavalry detail arrives at the cabin looking for a mountain guide. A small wagon party has become stranded in the high country and is in danger of starving in the freezing cold. Johnson is goaded into leading the rescue attempt. Once in the high mountains, the party encounters a sacred Crow burial ground blocking a mountain pass. Johnson explains they will have to go around, adding considerable distance to the journey. The cavalry officers are skeptical, explaining that the detour could result in many dead settlers. Against his better judgement, Johnson tells the troopers to stay quiet and follow along in single file through the burial ground. It is of no use; the Indians soon know of the desecration. After locating the wagon train, Johnson parts with the white men and traverses the burial ground again, suddenly becoming spooked. He rushes back to his cabin to find his wife and stepson dead, murdered by the Crows. Johnson is wracked with guilt and grief. After some time, he tenderly places the boy and his wife in the bed, covers them, and sets fire to the cabin. Johnson tracks down the murderous group of six or seven Crow warriors and attacks their campsite, without concern for his own life. He wipes out the entire group, becoming wounded in the process. His reprisal invites a seemingly endless series of solitary attacks upon Johnson as he travels the mountains. One by one, the Crow warriors ambush him, only to die in the process. Johnson himself is wounded many times. He becomes a living legend among the Indians and the white settlers alike. During this period, Johnson crosses paths once again with both Bear Claw and Del Gue, who are aware of his predicament. They wish him well and take their leave. After months of attacks, a weary Johnson sees one more Crow warrior approaching in the distance. He warily cocks his rifle and readies for a fight. Suddenly, the Indian raises his hand in tribute and in peace. It is over. Johnson breaks into a wide grin- it is the same Crow who watched him struggle to catch a trout long ago.

During the Battle of the Bulge, an anachronistic count shelters a ragtag squad of Americans in his remote 10th Century castle hoping a battle against the advancing Germans will not lead to the destruction of the castle and all within. Toward the end of World War II, a small company of American GI's occupy an ancient castle. Their commander has an affair with the countess in resident. One guy falls in love with a Volkswagon. A baker among them moves in with another baker's wife. A group of shell shocked holy rollers wander the bombed out streets. A GI art historian tries vainly to protect the castle and its masterpieces. —Jim Sadur <jsadur@keyflux.com>

Forced to trade his valuable furs for a well-educated escaped slave, a rugged trapper vows to recover the pelts from the Indians and later the renegades that killed them. Trapper Joe is on his way to the town with all of his gain of hides of the last winter. However a group of Indians stops him and takes all of his hides, leaving him the escaped slave Joseph instead. But Joe has no use for Joseph and is determined to get his property back and follows them. Before he can do anything, the Indians are raided themselves by a group of scalphunters under the greedy Howie. Not only the hides, but also Joseph falls into their hands. Now Joe follows them alone and tries to trick the numerical superior group out of his hides. —Tom Zoerner <Tom.Zoerner@informatik.uni-erlangen.de> Robbed of his precious, hard-earned cargo of hides, the rugged fur trapper, Joe Bass, finds himself with his back to the wall, and an unwanted companion, the well-educated runaway slave, Joseph Lee, after a fateful encounter with a marauding group of Kiowa Indians. Then, something equally unexpected happens, as Jim Howie's crew of scalp-hunters ambush the very same team of pelt-stealing Indians, and snatch the furs. Now, the reluctant duo is hot on their trail, with Bass hell-bent on retrieving his property; however, this is easier said than done. Will Joe ever take back what's his? —Nick Riganas

Willie Star narrates the story about her sister Alva Star is the town flirt. Her mother uses Alva to meet the needs of the family. Legate and Alva are attracted to each other but he doesn't like the family's values. Even though he is attracted to Alva he leaves when his task is done. Alva is heartbroken and challenges her mother by getting drunk and openly flirting with her mother's boyfriend who offers to marry her and take her away from Dodson. Alva marries the boyfriend ( Charles Bronson) and "rolls him" and runs away to New Orleans to find Legate. She finds him and they are happy. She sends for her sister who subsequently tells her mother Alva's location. Alva's mother comes and dramatically reveals how Alva treated "her husband". Alva humiliated runs away contracts tuberculosis and dies.

College volunteer Alan Newell is working alone at the crisis center one evening when he receives a telephone call from suicidal caller Inga Dyson, who has swallowed a bottle of sleeping pills. Can Alan save her? Alan is a Seattle college student volunteering at a crisis center. One night when he's at the clinic alone, he takes a call from a woman who tells him that she needs to talk to someone. She informs Alan that she took a load of pills, and he secretly tries to get help. During this time, he learns more about the woman, her family life, and why she wants to die. Can he save her in time? —Pat McCurry <ccgrad97@aol.com> Alan Newell is a Seattle university student who works at a phone-in crisis clinic. Most of the calls he receives are routine, such as an unhappy barber who feels he gets no respect. But then he gets a call from Inga, a suicidal woman who claims that she has deliberately overdosed on barbiturates. Flashbacks reveal the events that have led her to attempt to take her own life: her marriage is on rocky ground after her husband learned that their child is not his. As the telephone company attempts to trace the call and the police try to locate her, Alan works desperately to keep her on the line. —garykmcd