Tony Lo Bianco

A single mother becomes embroiled in a dangerous game when she is chosen to serve on the jury in the trial of a powerful mobster.

After attackers kill her sister and nephew, a female psychologist becomes a defense witness by day and an avenger by night. An expert witness/psychologist secretly stalks her family's killers using E.S.P. While still under investigation by the police detective on the case, she falls in love with an attorney she comes to believe can lead her to the guilty parties. —Paul Maslak

An intersecting tale with a multitude of characters living lives which, in one way or another, revolve around an old apartment block scheduled to be demolished. City of Hope is a portrait of a typical middle-sized American city of the present day. The crux of the story is an old apartment block which stands in the way of a major commercial development. Joe Rinaldi is the building contractor who owns the buildings and is being pressured to torch them to permit the development to occur. His estranged son Nick soon becomes a pawn in the power politics of the city. Corrupt Mayor Baci and policeman O'Brien are determined to push the development, while idealistic city councilman Wynn soon finds himself torn between what he knows is right and what his Black constituents want. —Reid Gagle John Sayles' urban drama follows the intersecting lives of a dozen or more characters as they move through their lives, affect one another without realizing it, and do their best to survive--both within and outside of legality--in the crumbling cityscape of the ironic title. —Susan C. Mitchell <susanm@indirect.com>

Kansas City 1933.Prohibition and the mobsters rule the streets.The number one crime boss is Leon Coll (Tony Lo Bianco),but Primo Pitt (Rip Torn) is determined to be top dog.One night at a cafe,Police Lieutenant Speer (Clint Eastwood) encounters his ex-partner turned Private eye Mike Murphy (Burt Reynolds) who gets into a fight with a pair of thugs.Speer's heard rumours about some dodgy dealings going on around at Murphy's agency and is convinced that the punch up had something to do with it.The next day at his office,Murphy's secetary Addy (Jane Alexander) who he and Speer have both always liked (and is possibly the reason for their feud) tells Murphy that the two thugs were in fact Repo guys.Murphy's partner Dehl Swift (Richard Roundtree) arrives flashing his money around,and Murphy becomes suspicious that his partner is up to no good. Dehl arrives at a club where his girlfriend Ginny Lee (Irene Cara) sings and gives Leon Coll's crooked book keeper $25,000 from Primo Pitt.Pitt wants all of Coll's accounts to use as evidence against him so that he can take over the streets.Ginny Lee worries that Dehl is getting in too deep when he tells her of his plan to double cross Pitt and sell Coll his books back to him for $50,000.Later at a boxing match,Speer is on a date with Addy when Dehl arrives to meet Coll.Dehl tells Coll that his book keeper betrayed him and Pitt will have enough to bring him down. Dehl goes home and Speer follows him.When Dehl arrives he finds Ginny Lee been held hostage by Pitt and his gang.Attempting to save her,Ginny Lee manages to escape but Dehl is killed.Speer kills one of the henchmen.Pitt manages to escape without been seen but without the books he wanted.At the morgue,Speer fills Murphy in on the incident.As he leaves,Coll's men pick Murphy up and tell him about the situation with Dehl and the books and that he wants them back.But it isn't long before Pitt pays him a visit as well and tells him he has his girlfriend Caroline (Madeline Kahn) hostage and that he wants the books. Speer discovers that the bullet found in Dehl's body matches the bullet from Pitt's gun and tells Murphy he wants to know Ginny Lee's whereabouts so she can testify.But Murphy secretly meets her so he can try and find out where Dehl has hidden the books.He soon realises that he had stashed them in the locker of a boxing gym.Pitt's men arrive to try and get hold of Ginny Lee but as she escapes she is hit by a car. Now in possession of the books,Murphy plans to get Caroline back but Pitt's men and Coll's men arrive at the same time and he finds himself caught up in a shootout.Speer arrives and reluctantly takes care of the situtation.Murphy tells him about Caroline,so Speer joins him at Pitt's hideout for the exchange of the books.Pitt tells them that Caroline is been held somewhere else.Murphy tells him in that in the case with the books is also some explosives.A shootout breaks out and Speer ends up killing Pitt. Speer and Murphy extract the whereabouts of Caroline from one of the thugs - at a brothel.They set out to get her back.But at the same time,Addy is taken hostage by Coll and his men at her apartment.Speer and Murphy gate crash the brothel and beat up Pitt's remaining men and rescue Caroline.As they leave,Coll drives up with Addy and tells the pair he wants the books.Addy gets out of the car and Murphy hands Coll the case with the books and explosives.As Coll and his men drive off,the car explodes. Some time later,Ginny Lee is back singing at the club and Murphy is on a date with Caroline,while Speer is dating Addy.A fight breaks out between Murphy and a few guys and after making Speer spill his drink,Speer gets him outside for a fight.The film ends with the two squaring up to each other and trading insults.