Vincent Gardenia

A womanizing alcoholic writer, whose life seems to be falling apart at the seams, repeatedly finds himself in trouble of one sort or another with the law, ex-girlfriends, and jealous boyfriends. Zach Hutton is a womanizing, drunken writer whose life seems to be falling apart at the seams. He's still in love with his ex-wife (whose family can't stand him), writer's block is keeping him from completing his latest novel, and he repeatedly finds himself in trouble of one sort or another with the law, ex-girlfriends, and jealous boyfriends.

Thirty-seven-year-old Loretta Castorini (Cher), a Sicilian-American widow, is an accountant in Brooklyn Heights, New York, where she lives with her family: her father Cosmo (Vincent Gardenia) who is a successful plumber, her mother Rose (Olympia Dukakis), and her paternal grandfather (Feodor Chaliapin, Jr). Her boyfriend, Johnny Cammareri (Danny Aiello) proposes to her before leaving for Sicily to attend to his dying mother; she accepts, but is insistent that they carefully follow tradition as she believes her first marriage was cursed by her failure to do so, resulting in her husband's death when he was hit by a bus. They plan to marry one month later, and Johnny asks Loretta to invite his estranged younger brother Ronny (Nicolas Cage) to the wedding. Loretta returns home and informs her parents of the engagement. Cosmo dislikes Johnny and is reluctant to commit to paying for the "real" wedding Loretta insists on, while Rose is pleased that Loretta likes Johnny but does not love him; she believes that one can easily be driven crazy by a partner whom one loves. The next day, Loretta goes to see Ronny at his bakery after he refuses to speak to her on the phone. He reveals that he has a wooden prosthetic hand, and he explains that he blames Johnny for the loss of his hand and his own fiancée; Ronny became distracted while talking to Johnny as he cut bread for him, his hand was mangled in the slicer, and his fiancée left him. Loretta insists that they discuss the matter upstairs in his apartment, where she cooks for him and then tells him that she believes he is a "wolf" who cut off his own hand to escape the trap of a bad relationship. Ronny reacts furiously and passionately, kissing Loretta (who responds to his kiss) and then sweeping her up in his arms and carrying her to his bed where they make love. That evening, Rose's brother Raymond (Louis Guss) and his wife Rita (Julie Bovasso) join Rose and Cosmo for dinner, and they all wonder where Loretta is. Raymond recalls that when he was a boy and Cosmo was courting Rose, he thought that a particularly bright moon one night was somehow brought to the house by Cosmo because of his love for Rose. That night, Loretta remains at Ronny's apartment and sees such a moon; Raymond sees it as well, and it leads him and Rita to make love. The next morning, Loretta tells Ronny they can never see each other again. She slaps him when he claims to be in love with her ("Snap out of it!) and he agrees to never see her again if she will attend the opera (his other great love) with him that night. She agrees. After closing out the cash register in Raymond and Rita's store, Loretta impulsively has some long-neglected beauty treatments, including having the gray removed from her hair, and buys a glamorous evening gown. She then goes to church and confesses her infidelity. She unexpectedly sees her mother there, and Rose tells her that Cosmo is having an affair; Loretta is doubtful, but Cosmo is in fact dining with his mistress Mona (Anita Gillette) at that moment and giving her jewelry. Loretta and Ronny (wearing a tuxedo) meet at Lincoln Center, and each is impressed with the other's appearance. Loretta is deeply moved by her first opera, Puccini's La bohème. But as they leave, Loretta sees Cosmo and Mona, and she confronts her father. He sees that she is with Ronny, and he suggests that they simply agree that they didn't see each other at all, but Loretta is conflicted. Loretta then intends to return home alone, but Ronny leads her back to his apartment where he passionately and desperately persuades her into another tryst. The same night, Rose dines alone at a restaurant and sees a college professor, Perry (John Mahoney), being dramatically dumped by a female student, a similar scene having played out with a different girl the night Johnny proposed to Loretta. Rose invites Perry to dine with her, asks him why men pursue women, and then shares with him her belief that men pursue women because they fear death. Perry walks Rose home and tries to convince her to invite him in; she refuses, citing the fact that she knows herself. Later, Johnny unexpectedly returns from Sicily after his mother's "miraculous" recovery and goes to Loretta's house; Rose explains that she's not there and then asks him why men chase women. He tells her it may be because they fear death, and Rose realizes, as she had suspected before, that he is right. After this exchange he leaves, planning to return in the morning to see Loretta. In the morning, Loretta returns home in a reverie but is then distressed to learn from Rose that Johnny will be there soon. Ronny then arrives, and Rose notes their matching "love bites" and invites him for breakfast over Loretta's objections. Cosmo and his father emerge from upstairs, and the older man cajoles Cosmo into agreeing to pay for Loretta's wedding. Rose then confronts Cosmo and, after he acknowledges in response to her questioning that she has been a good wife, demands that he end his affair; he is upset but agrees and, after insistence from Rose, also agrees to go to confession, and they then affirm their love for each other. Raymond and Rita also arrive, concerned and seemingly reluctantly suspicious, to find out why Loretta didn't make the previous day's bank deposit; they are relieved to learn that she merely forgot and still has the money. When Johnny finally arrives, he breaks off the engagement, superstitiously believing that their marriage would cause his mother's death. Loretta, momentarily offended by his breaking the engagement, chastises Johnny for breaking his promise and throws the engagement ring at him. Seizing the moment, Ronny borrows the ring and asks Loretta to marry him; she accepts. To Rose's chagrin, Loretta declares that she loves Ronny. The family toasts the couple with champagne and a befuddled Johnny joins in at the grandfather's urging, as he will now be part of the family after all.

The narrator (Stanley Jones) tells of an event that once threatened the existence of the entire human race. It occurred in "the most seemingly innocent and unlikely of places", Skid Row, in New York. Three teenage girls (Michelle Weeks, Tisha Campbell-Martin, and Tichina Arnold) appear throughout the film as a Motown-singing Greek chorus. They set the scene at the unassuming Mushnick's Flower Shop ("Little Shop of Horrors"). Seymour Krelborn (Rick Moranis), the meek, clumsy employee of Mr. Mushnick (Vincent Gardenia), lives a dreary life among the other unfortunate residents of Skid Row ("Skid Row/Downtown"). Taken in by Mushnick as a young orphan, Seymour lives in a tiny room below the flower shop and is treated fairly poorly by his employer. The light of his life is his co-worker, Audrey (Ellen Greene), a fragile, battered woman stuck in an abusive relationship. The flower shop is making virtually no money, and Mr. Mushnick is on the verge of closing it for good when Audrey mentions the strange and interesting new plant Seymour has been developing, and suggests that if it is properly advertised, it might attract more business. Seymour presents the plant, a large bud surrounded by layers of leaves. Mushnick is pleasantly surprised when customers begin flocking in after seeing the little plant in the window. Seymour has no idea what kind of plant it is, but explains how he got it ("Da Doo"): While he was shopping for odd new plants, his hobby, a solar eclipse occurred. After daylight returned, the strange plant seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Seymour bought it for cheap and brought it home to examine. He shyly admits that he named it "Audrey II." The shop is doing record business until the plant begins to wither. Seymour frantically tries to nurse it back to health, though water, sunlight, fertilizer, and minerals have done no good ("Grow For Me"). When he pricks his finger on a rose thorn and draws blood, Audrey II responds vigorously. Seymour realizes what it lives on, and reluctantly gives it a few drops. Audrey II has a dramatic growth spurt and business picks up, with Seymour becoming a local celebrity ("Some Fun Now"). He does not reveal the secret behind the plant's health. Audrey's boyfriend, Orin Scrivello (Steve Martin), is a sadistic dentist with a leather jacket, motorcycle, and ducktail haircut. He adores his profession because of the constant opportunities to inflict pain on others ("Dentist!"). He enhances his pleasure through his habit of huffing nitrous oxide, or "giggle gas", for a euphoric high. Seymour and Mushnick are concerned, as Audrey often comes to work with injuries or a black eye. Orin arrives at the shop one night to pick up Audrey, and Seymour sees first hand how roughly he treats her. Audrey, meanwhile, secretly dreams of an idyllic suburban life with Seymour ("Somewhere That's Green"), but is too frightened to leave Orin. Seymour angrily paces around the empty shop at night, venting his frustrations to Audrey II, who is now roughly the size of an armchair. To Seymour's great surprise, Audrey II responds with a human voice (Levi Stubbs) and demands more food. Knowing that the plant can no longer live on mere droplets of blood (partially because it is too big, and partially because Seymour is now weak and anemic from feeding the plant from his bleeding fingers), Seymour is reluctant to provide it with bigger portions. The smooth-talking Audrey II promises Seymour money, fame, and the girl of his dreams if he continues to nourish it with human blood ("Feed Me (Git It)"). Seymour initially refuses to murder for the benefit of Audrey II, reasoning that he doesn't know anyone "who deserves to get chopped up and fed to a hungry plant." Audrey II directs him to the window, where he sees Orin assaulting Audrey across the street. Filled with rage, Seymour agrees to bring back a specific meal for the plant. The next day, Seymour goes to Orin's office with a gun in his coat pocket. The patient before him, Arthur Denton (Bill Murray) is a gleeful masochist who frustrates Orin by actually enjoying the oral torture he receives. After Denton's departure, Orin drags Seymour into his office to get the sadistic fix he had been craving. Though he wants to spare Audrey further pain and has promised Audrey II fresh blood, Seymour is terrified of shooting Orin. Conveniently, Orin dons his special gas mask, which provides him with constant nitrous oxide and increases his sadistic pleasure. The mask malfunctions and Seymour watches his nemesis asphyxiate before his eyes. Seymour drags the body back to the flower shop, where he reluctantly chops it up with an axe and feeds it piece by piece to Audrey II. Seymour is understandably shaken by the incident, and sees the police speaking with Audrey the next morning about Orin's disappearance. He tries to comfort Audrey, telling her that she had deserved a better man all along. While Audrey admits that her low self-esteem kept her tied to Orin, she feels partially responsible for his fate because she had been silently wishing him out of her life. Though he does not reveal the truth about what became of Orin, Seymour promises to stand by Audrey no matter what ("Suddenly Seymour"). Invigorated from finally winning Audrey's love, Seymour returns to the flower shop. He is confronted by Mushnick, who had seen Seymour dismembering Orin's body the night before. Mushnick assumes that Seymour's devotion to Audrey caused him to murder the cruel dentist, but does not suspect that Audrey II is involved, and knows nothing of its grisly diet. Mushnick leads Seymour upstairs at gunpoint, planning to turn him in to the police. He then offers Seymour a proposition: Seymour leaves town forever, and Mushnick keeps the money-making plant. As Audrey II coaxes Seymour to sacrifice Mushnick to clear his own name ("Suppertime"), Seymour nervously backs Mushnick into the gaping maw of the hungry plant, killing two birds with one stone. With Audrey II grown to enormous proportions, Seymour's celebrity increases ("The Meek Shall Inherit"). However, he is miserable and terrified of the plant's eating habits getting out of hand. He begins to fend off the media and turn down large sums of money, feeling guilty for his part in the secret deaths of Audrey II's meals. He finally puts his foot down, denying the plant any further feedings. He and Audrey plan to run away that night and get married, escaping Skid Row forever. However, he buckles when Audrey II seemingly agrees to accept some meat from the butcher instead of a human corpse. Seymour falls for the ruse and leaves the shop. The plant, with its fully mobile tendrils, uses the phone to call Audrey's apartment across the street, begging for water. Audrey, in her wedding dress, comes to oblige, and is amazed that the huge plant can talk. As she fetches the watering can, the plant wraps its vines around her legs and drags her into its mouth ("Suppertime II"). Seymour returns just in time to save Audrey from being devoured. Outside the shop, he explains how dangerous the plant is, and how he only kept it because he thought Audrey would cease to like him if he were no longer rich and famous. Audrey assures Seymour that she loved him from the moment she met him, and still does. They are interrupted by a salesman (James Belushi) who shares with Seymour his idea of collecting trimmings from the plant and marketing miniature Audrey IIs all over the country. Seymour deducts that this was the plant's plan all along: It was an alien that came to earth during the solar eclipse and was bent on world domination. He rushes back into the shop for a final showdown with Audrey II. The plant thwarts Seymour's efforts at killing it, and begins to taunt him as its branches destroy the building and new buds begin to bloom ("Mean Green Mother from Outer Space"). Emerging from the rubble, Seymour grabs a live electric wire and touches it to Audrey II's vine, electrocuting it and causing it to explode into nothing. Seymour and Audrey are married and arrive at their suburban dream home, just as Audrey had imagined. As they enter the front door, a baby Audrey II plant is seen in their garden, a tiny smile on its pod.

The film opens with a grand view of Los Angeles, with a news broadcast in the background detailing an increase in crime in the city. The overview of the city goes on until the end of the opening credits where we zoom in on the new house of Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) where the maid, Rosario (Silvana Gallardo), is preparing dinner. He seems to have picked up the pieces of his life to move on, as his girlfriend is KABC news/radio reporter Geri Nichols (Jill Ireland) and they both go and pick up Carol (Robin Sherwood) from the hospital and spend the day with her. Paul talks to the doctor, who says that despite her traumatic catatonia, she has begun to speak again. Her husband, Jack Toby, though not seen or mentioned, presumably divorced Carol. Paul, Geri, and Carol spend the rest of the afternoon at a carnival, where Paul offers to buy ice cream while the girls look around. While waiting in line for some ice cream, he gets mugged and his dollar bill is stolen by five gang members. At first Paul does not mind but realizes they also took his wallet. Paul manages to catch up with one of them (Jiver (Stuart K. Robinson)), but Jiver exclaims that he was not the one who took the wallet. Geri heads to do an interview with the senator while Carol and Paul go on a boat ride. The same five muggers who stole Kersey's wallet arrive at his house determined to kill him. The thugs break in, tightly bind, and gag, and then gang rape Rosario. Paul arrives home with Carol, only to get beaten unconscious when he walks in the door. Rosario tries to call the police, but the thugs hear the sound and quickly kill Rosario by bashing her head in. They then take Carol to their hideout, where one of the muggers rapes her. After the attack, she runs away from the thugs and jumps from a window, becoming impaled on the railings below. Geri arrives at the house as Paul regains consciousness and the police arrive. Lt. Mankewicz (Ben Frank) is one of the first on the scene, asking Paul about the identification of the muggers because the description was "a little vague". A short time later, Paul learns about the death of his daughter and is sent to the station to ID her. Later, Mankewicz asks Paul to view some photos at the station to jog his memory since Paul is the only witness. Paul declines by saying: "it won't do any good." The next scene is at a funeral that Paul and Geri both attend. That night, Paul pulls out a .32 caliber semi-automatic handgun he kept hidden in his closet, changes clothing, and rents a low-rent apartment in the inner city as his forward base of operations. After wandering around most of the night through the rough part of downtown L.A. Paul returns to his own house. Geri arrives the next morning and lets herself in, where she nearly discovers Paul's gun laying on a dresser. Paul quickly gets up and hides it. After Geri leaves, he calls a locksmith to have the locks on his house changed. The next night, Paul spots one of the muggers, Stomper (Kevyn Major Howard), and follows him into an abandoned hotel building as a drug deal is about to be made between his partner and two buyers. Kersey tries to be quiet as he can, but the others notice his presence when he knocks over a can. Kersey kills Stomper's partner, then orders the other two out of the room where he kills Stomper. The following evening, as he is patrolling the streets, Paul hears a scream coming from an underground parking garage where a man and a woman are being assaulted by four muggers. One of the muggers is Jiver, whom Kersey chased down the alley the day of his daughter's death. Paul opens fire on the muggers, killing two of them. Jiver is wounded, but he and the fourth mugger manage to get away. Taking a .45 caliber pistol off one of the dead muggers, Paul follows the trail of blood and manages to wound and kill Jiver at a warehouse across the street. Paul flees before the police arrive. The L.A. police quickly hear about the murders, as does the NY Police Department. Detective Frank Ochoa (Vincent Gardenia) is called by the LAPD to help. The Police Commissioner (Anthony Franciosa) thinks the vigilante killings may be done by Kersey again. Fearing that Kersey, when caught, will reveal that they let him go instead of prosecuting him, the NYPD sends Inspector Frank Ochoa to make sure that does not happen. Ochoa meets with Lt. Mankewicz, who suspects that Frank is hiding something. That night, Ochoa breaks into Geri's apartment where he meets Geri and tells her about Paul's past and recent vigilante spree. But when Geri confronts Paul, he quickly denies it, ascribing the tale to Ochoa's imagination. Paul drives Geri to work the next morning, where Ochoa is waiting. In order to keep tabs on Paul, Ochoa calls Mankiewicz and asks him to park his car near Paul's apartment (but he doesn't tell Mankiewicz about following Kersey himself). Another night later, Ochoa follows an unknowing Kersey from his house to his low-rent apartment and from there to a local square where Kersey spots the three remaining gang members who attacked him: Cutter (Laurence Fishburne), Punkcut (E. Lamont Johnson), and Nirvana (Thomas F. Duffy). Kersey follows the trio on a bus to an abandoned park, where a major drug deal goes down. Ochoa follows Kersey and sees him from a distance hiding in a bush, but decides to help Paul after detecting a spotlight heading in his direction. Ochoa warns Paul with a shot by shooting a gang member who tries to shoot Paul. Paul runs behind a tree as the gang members grab their guns and fire back. Ochoa gets shot by a hail of gunfire, but Paul manages to kill Cutter (who vainly tries to shield his head with a boom box) with a bullet through the face. Punkcut is also wounded by a gunshot to the chest, as is another gang member. Paul also shoots and kills the getaway driver and seller of the firearms, who plummets off a cliff to a fiery doom below. The final mugger, Nirvana, gets away. Paul goes over to Ochoa and asks him why he saved his life. Ochoa responds he had to side with Paul against the criminals, and tells Paul to kill Nirvana for him. Ochoa dies as the police arrive, and Paul escapes into the night. The police get the name of Ochoa's killer from a badly injured Punkcut by inflicting pain, who succumbs to his injuries and dies. A few days later, Nirvana (whose real name is revealed to be Charles Wilson) is found by the police hiding out in an apartment. Paul, monitoring the police radio frequency from an acquired radio scanner, tries to get to Nirvana to kill him before the police do. But in the apartment building hallway, Paul narrowly misses his opportunity for a kill when he gets slashed on the arm by Nirvana during a chase. Nirvana runs outside when he sees the police approaching and gets tasered, but with no effect due to the influence of PCP. He is finally arrested after stabbing several officers. Tried and found criminally insane, Charles 'Nirvana' Wilson is sent to McLarren State Hospital. Paul comes along with Geri to the hospital where she is interviewing Charles Wilson's doctor. The visit allows Paul to secretly steal a facility ID card and a white doctor's lab coat. Despite his plans for revenge to kill the last surviving thug who assaulted him, Paul has lunch with Geri the next day and proposes to her. Geri accepts. The night they plan to go to Mexico for their wedding, Paul uses his altered doctor ID and stolen lab coat to gain access to the hospital and confronts Wilson in the hospital meeting room. They have a violent fight and Kersey is stabbed repeatedly by Wilson with a scalpel. But when Wilson slams Kersey up against an electrical device, Kersey ducks the oncoming punch. Wilson's hand smashes through the machine and Kersey turns the power up, electrocuting Wilson. Donald Kay (Charles Cyphers), the head orderly on duty, witnesses Wilson's death, but sympathizes with Kersey and gives him three minutes to escape from the hospital before sounding the alarm. Geri goes to his apartment later that night and finds the scanned copy of the stolen ID. She realizes that Paul is actually the vigilante after she hears a report of Wilson's death on the radio. She puts the paper and the engagement ring on the table and drives off. Paul arrives home minutes later to an empty apartment. Five months later, Paul is at his office speaking to his clients about a party in celebration of a new architectural design. His boss Elliott Cass (Michael Prince) invites him to a party that very evening, and when Paul is asked if he's free, he answers: "What else would I be doing?" The movie ends with gunshots heard on L.A.'s skid row, implying that Paul will continue his vigilante spree undisturbed.

Following a knee injury, Joe Pendleton, a Los Angeles Rams second-string quarterback, practices with the team as the managers and coach comment repeatedly on his good form. Away from the football field, he focuses on fitness and relaxes by playing the saxophone. On Joes birthday, Max Corkle, a Rams trainer and Joes good friend, drops by his home with a cake and informs him that the coach wants Joe to start the game against the Dallas Cowboys instead of Tom Jarrett. Joe steps up his training, but while bicycling through a tunnel he is hit by a van. With saxophone in hand, Joe arrives at a way station to Heaven accompanied by The Escort, a celestial assistant who instructs Joe to board an aircraft for his final destination. Joe refuses, believing it is only a dream. Delicately, the archangel man in charge, Mr. Jordan, explains that this place represents the afterlife, but Joe is convinced that his death is a mistake. After verifying Joes status, a clerk announces that Joe isnt due to arrive until the year 2025, and The Escort, a rookie, admits that he pulled him away before the outcome of the collision. Since Joes body has already been cremated, Mr. Jordan says that in order for him to return to life, Joe must occupy the body of another man, as long as that mans death has not yet been discovered. Mr. Jordan and Joe proceed to scout for possible candidates. At the estate of Leo Farnsworth, a millionaire industrialist, they observe the scheming of his wife Julia Farnsworth and Tony Abbott, Farnsworths assistant. Julia and Abbott are having an affair, and they have left Farnsworth to drown in the bathtub after drugging him. Meanwhile, Betty Logan, a schoolteacher, arrives at the mansion to insist on meeting with Farnsworth about his refinery that will force the eviction of families in her hometown of Pagglesham, England. Joe is immediately smitten with Betty and wants to help her. Until they find a more athletic candidate, Mr. Jordan agrees to let Joe inhabit the body of Farnsworth temporarily. In the upstairs bathroom, Joe assumes his new identity, but only sees himself in the mirror. Mr. Jordan assures him that even though Joe can only see himself as the internal person of Joe Pendleton, others will see and hear him as Leo Farnsworth. Dressed in polo attire, Joe listens while Betty objects to the plans of Farnsworths Exo-Grey Industries. Upon seeing her husband alive, Julia screams hysterically, and Abbott quickly drags her away. Betty is confused by Joes lack of concern for his wifes outburst, and is also annoyed when Joe claims that he is not really Leo Farnsworth. Believing that he is taunting her, Betty angrily walks away, but warns him that she will be at the next company board meeting. While Joe studies Farnsworths business, Julia and Abbott wait nervously, unsure if he is plotting revenge for the murder. On the way to the board meeting, Joe invites reporters and Betty to join him. Everyone in the room is dumbfounded when Joe passionately compares Exo-Greys winning position to that of a football team that must protect its lead and do the right thing by not exploiting others. That evening, after Betty visits Farnsworth to compliment him on his courage in front of the board, Joe takes her out to dinner at a drivein restaurant. Inside the limousine, Joe confides that he cannot stop staring at her, and Betty admits that she sees something special in his eyes. As they are saying goodbye, Joe declares his plan to divorce Julia. With a new motivation, Joe tells The Escort that he wants to remain in Farnsworths body and get it into shape for football. That evening, despite rigging a heavy fixture above his bed, Julia and Abbott once again fail to murder Farnsworth. The following day, Max arrives at the estate and listens with skepticism while Joe explains that he wants to try out for the Rams quarterback and pay Max to be his trainer. Max is reluctant to jeopardize his reputation with the Rams by entertaining the whims of a millionaire. After initially seeming like at lunatic, Joe is finally able to persuade Max that he is really Joe Pendleton by playing the saxophone badly, as only Joe could. The estate immediately becomes a football training camp. After working out with the butlers of the mansion, Joe takes the next step by purchasing the Los Angeles Rams. During a locker room meeting, the players grumble when told that the new owner Farnsworth will be the quarterback in a scrimmage game and instructed to not hold back with him. At first, Joe receives no help from his offensive line and is repeatedly sacked. But, after requesting one chance to complete a play, he makes a successful pass and continues to display his skills for the rest of the practice, earning the respect of the players and defying the doubters on the sideline. Sometime later at the estate, Joe and Betty attend a gathering of The Ecology Club on the garden lawn. Watching from her bedroom window with Abbott, Julia still thinks that Farnsworth is plotting against them, and contemplates another murder. After strolling together on the property, Joe asks Betty to marry him. Just as Betty responds with excitement, The Escort interrupts Joe with the news that he must abandon Farnsworths body. Unsure what will happen to him, Joe asks Betty to remember what she saw in his eyes. Before she leaves, he embraces her and says, Theres nothing to be afraid of. Mr. Jordan visits to reiterate that he cannot change what is meant to be and that Joe must leave Farnsworths body, but Joe refuses, intent on playing in the Super Bowl and being with Betty. At that moment, Abbott shoots Joe from the bedroom window, and Joe tumbles into a well. No longer in Farnsworths body, Joe emerges from the well with his saxophone and has no choice but to follow Mr. Jordan back to Heaven. Farnsworths disappearance becomes front-page news, and Krim, the police detective in charge, gathers together the staff along with Max, Betty, Julia, and Abbott for questioning at the estate. Meanwhile, the Super Bowl between the Rams and the Pittsburgh Steelers is underway at the Los Angeles Coliseum, and Max is anxious to be there, so Krim lets him watch the game on television during the proceedings. Concerned for Betty, Joe is present in the room alongside Mr. Jordan. When the Rams quarterback, Tom Jarrett, is seriously hurt and taken off the field on a stretcher, Mr. Jordan transports Joe to the game. Mr. Jordan explains that it is Toms destiny to die at this time. Joe moves toward Toms body and occupies it, springing off the stretcher and onto the field. Watching this sudden recovery on television, Max realizes that it must be Joe. At the same time, the gardener runs into the room with Farnsworths jacket that he found in the well, which prompts Julia to scream that Abbott is the murderer, and he in turn points the finger at her. In overtime, Joe leads the Rams to a Super Bowl victory. During the celebration in the locker room, Mr. Jordan appears before Joe declares that Joe now has a permanent body in Tom Jarrett and he will no longer remember Joe Pendleton, or any of the events that happened, but he will now live out the rest of his life as Tom Jarrett with all of Tom's memories, while Joe's memories of his past life and all about Mr. Jordan and Heaven will be forgotten forever. Later that evening, Joe doesnt recognize the saxophone, and thinks Max has drunk too much champagne when he calls him Joe. Max finally realizes that Joe as he knows him no longer exists. As Joe/Tom exits through a stadium hallway, Betty enters looking for Max. After giving her directions, Joe/Tom wonders if they have met before. Betty says she doesnt know him, but she has a connection to football through her close friend, Leo Farnsworth. When the lights of the hallway are switched off, Joe/Tom assures Betty that theres nothing to be afraid of and guides her out the door. Betty is touched by what he said, recalling her last conversation with Farnsworth. Joe/Tom asks her out for coffee, and when Betty realizes that he is the quarterback, she says yes at once.

The true life story of Wendell Scott, the first black stock car racing driver to win an upper tier NASCAR race. This is the true story of Wendell Scott, America's first African American NASCAR driver, once he returns from WWII to find his hometown the way he left it. With seed money for a taxicab business, he learns all the county roads. With his new knowledge an opportunity presents itself with some steep consequences. After an invitation to the local race track, a race car driver is born. The ethnic boundaries are a part of everyday life in 1950's Amercan life. You become part of his fight for equality, fairness and the American dream.

Chicago, Illinois, 1929. Outside a criminal courts building, police build a scaffold and bleachers for the public hanging of Earl Williams, who has been convicted of killing a policeman. Upstairs, reporters play poker in the press room. Newspaper editor Walter Burns (Walter Matthau) calls from the Chicago Examiner, looking for reporter Hildebrand 'Hildy' Johnson (Jack Lemmon) to put him on the story, but he's not there. Walter leaves word that Hildy should immediately come to his office. Later, Hildy wanders into Walter's office at a leisurely pace and informs the editor that he's in love. Walter tells Hildy he wants him to cover the hanging the next morning and snap an illegal picture of the hanged man with a hidden camera. Minutes after the execution, an ambulance will be waiting for Hildy outside so that he can type his story in the back and beat the other newspapers to press with a morning extra. Hildy tells Walter he's quitting to get married and move to Philadelphia. He plans to take an advertising job so that he can spend time with his future wife instead of continuing as a workaholic reporter. Walter resents Hildy for betraying him, insisting that he taught Hildy everything he knows. Determined to keep Hildy in town and on the Williams story, Walter tracks down Hildy's fiancee, Peggy Grant (Susan Sarandon), an organist who works at a movie theater. Posing as Otto Fishbein, a probation officer, he tells Peggy that Hildy is on probation and cannot legally move to another city. Hildy then calls his fiancee, and, over the phone, realizes that Walter is playing a trick. Hildy explains to Peggy that Fishbein is actually Walter, and she sends him away. At the criminal courts press room, Hildy's replacement, Rudy Keppler (Jon Korkes), arrives and informs the others that Hildy has left the business. Mollie Malloy (Carol Burnett) arrives moments later, and yells at the reporters for writing lies about her, claiming she is Williams' girlfriend. Mollie confesses that she had befriended Williams but was not his girlfriend. Unlike the reporters, Mollie believes that Williams didn't intentionally kill anyone. As Mollie leaves, Hildy shows up with drinks to celebrate his new advertising job. Just then, the sheriff (Vincent Gardenia) visits the press room to hand out tickets to the hanging. Hildy accuses the sheriff and mayor of reprieving Williams twice so that the hanging would take place just before an election. The sheriff insists that Williams is a communist who is very sane and shot the policeman to make a political statement. Hildy disagrees, claiming that Williams is "just a screwball." At the jailhouse, Williams (Austin Pendleton), a diminutive, soft-spoken man, is escorted to the sheriff's office for his final psychological examination. Williams calmly explains to Dr. Eggelhofer (Martin Gabel) that he once sent a bomb to J. P. Morgan's office on Wall Street, then contradicts himself by saying he loves people and would never abuse anyone. Eggelhofer borrows the sheriff's gun to demonstrate his theory about why Williams shot at the police officer. Upstairs, Hildy's celebration is interrupted by gunshots. Sirens blare, more shots are heard, and the reporters realize Williams has escaped. Hildy gets on the phone to tell Walter the news. The editor laments that Hildy is no longer reporting, but Hildy promises he's "right on top of it." Downstairs, the sheriff tells reporters about Williams' escape, but insists he doesn't know where the prisoner got a gun. Hildy runs into Jennie (Doro Merande), the building's janitor, who overheard the incident. She tells Hildy she had better not reveal what she overheard, as the sheriff would fire her. Meanwhile, the injured Eggelhofer's stretcher falls out of an ambulance. As the stretcher speeds down the street, Eggelhofer yells repeatedly that Williams is a "fruitcake." Hildy phones Walter to tell him what he's learned from Jennie, that Eggelhofer used the sheriff's gun to reenact the crime, and Williams stole it, shot Eggelhofer, and made his escape. Hildy then informs Walter that Peggy is picking him up in 15 minutes and he can no longer follow the story. The Mayor (Harold Gould) addresses reporters in his office and tells them he has utter faith in the sheriff. After the reporters leave, the Mayor reprimands the sheriff for letting Williams get away. A man named Plunkett (Paul Benedict) arrives and delivers a reprieve for Williams, sent by the Governor. The sheriff receives a phone call that police have trapped Williams. The Mayor tells Plunkett that the reprieve is not applicable because Williams has escaped custody, but he may try to serve the reprieve again tomorrow. The Mayor then sends orders, via the sheriff, for the police to "shoot to kill," now that Williams is in their sights. Headed for a night train to Philadelphia, Hildy joins Peggy in a taxi outside the courthouse. However, when he realizes he left the wedding rings, he runs back inside. There, Hildy finds the rings moments before Williams falls through a window and points a gun at him. Hildy reminds Williams that he conducted an interview with the convict at his jail cell a few days ago. Williams then passes out, and Hildy drags him to the bathroom, draws the curtains, and calls Walter to tell him that he has Williams in his custody. Mollie shows up, and Williams emerges at the sound of her voice. Hildy sends Peggy to pick up their luggage while he finishes up some last-minute business. Hildy hides Williams inside a roll-top desk when the other reporters demand entry to the press room. The men suspect Hildy is hiding something. To cover for Hildy, Mollie claims to know where Williams is, then jumps out the window. The reporters run outside to see if she's still alive. As the room clears, Walter appears at the door. He orders a delivery truck and six large men to move the desk, with Williams inside, to the Chicago Examiner office. Hildy types up a story while Walter takes Williams' picture and sends Keppler to develop the negative. Just then, Peggy returns to find Hildy typing away with Walter at his side. Distracted, Hildy suggests Peggy go to the train station ahead of him, and she leaves, dejected. When he finishes the story, Hildy becomes frustrated with Walter's persistence and heads off to the train station. Before he can leave, however, the sheriff shows up with the other reporters, all of whom accuse Hildy of hiding something. A policeman holds Hildy, while the sheriff demands Williams' whereabouts. The sheriff finally realizes Williams is inside the desk. Police escort Williams away, and the sheriff arrests Hildy and Walter for hiding the convict. In a jail cell, Hildy blames Walter for keeping him from Peggy. In a neighboring cell, Plunkett, who has been arrested for drunkenness, overhears Walter and informs him that he has Williams' reprieve. The Mayor arrives at the jail, and Walter presents him with the reprieve, accusing him of ignoring it so that he could hang Williams before the election. The Mayor lets Walter and Hildy out, and Walter arranges for Hildy to be rushed to the train station to meet Peggy. Just before the train pulls away, Walter gives Hildy his pocket watch as a gift for service to his newspaper. After the train pulls out of the station, Walter (crafty and evil to the end) arranges for Hildy to be arrested at the next stop for stealing his watch! The film closes with a series of texts that say that some time later, Hildy returned to the Chicago Examiner to become Managing Editor. Walter retired, lecturing from time to time at the University of Chicago on the ethics of journalism. Williams, now freed, got married to Mollie, and the two run a health-food store together.