William Hopper

An opening narration explains a panorama of a space station and attendant space craft under construction. It goes on to explain the station is used for both observation and construction of spaceships for the conquest of space. Opening scene On board the space station, the crew watches a transport ship approach the station. Barny Merritt (Eric Fleming) complains to his father, General Merrit (Walter Brooke) that he has been onboard the station known as the Wheel for a year without any leave, he requests he return to Earth on the approaching spacecraft. General Merrit denies the request On the rocket being constructed an accident occurs when Roy Cooper (William Redfield) becomes paralyzed while working with high tension cabling. The crewman is taken back to the wheel and is checked out after recovering. The doctor is satisfied he will recover in time. He confides with Capt Merritt that Cooper is suffering from space fatigue, and needs to be returned to Earth. In the rec area Cooper talks about the selection process that got them to on the Mars flight, Sgt Siegle argues that they may just be guinea pigs, and the real crew has not been selected. The six selected crewmen go to the mess hall. Their meal consists of various flavored tablets and water At dinner Sgt Mahoney (Mickey Shaughnessy) explains some of the history of General Merritt, and how his son is an ingrate. Suddenly the wheel is rocked by a concussion. It is reported a meteor hit the installation. Gen Merritt co-ordinates the stabilization of the wheel while damage control crews seal the leak Later, the cargo rocket arrives and begins transferring passengers including Dr George Fenton (William Hopper) The doctor meets Fenton. The space craft being assembled is a mystery. General Merritt thinks the ship is to go to the Moon, but is puzzled why it has wings. Fenton reveals the true destination of the ship is actually Mars. The general is furious about the change. He wanted to go to the Moon as a test run of the ships systems although he considers the mission dangerous, but accepts the command anyway. His son, hearing of the new mission requests his transfer be stopped. He wants to go to Mars with his father. The crew who have been building the ship are going to crew. Unfortunately their numbers have to be whittled down from the original 6 to 3. Merritt asks Siegle (Phil Foster), Imoto (Benson Fong) and Andre Fodor (Ross Martin) to seriously consider their options. The General thinks the mission is poorly thought out and doesnt hesitate to tell the potential volunteers. Imoto with an impassioned speech about the worlds need to find more resources agrees to go. Mahoney then volunteers, but is rejected by the general as being too old. Sanella and Siegle ultimately agree to go. Later the crew watch a tv broadcast from Earth, a special bulletin interrupts the show to announce the official launch of the ship to Mars. Then each of the crew receives a private message from a family member, Fodors mother speaking from Vienna wisher her son the best. Sgt Seigles girlfriend speaks next. She announcers her undying love for Seigle A few hours later the ship launches without incident and begins the year long voyage to Mars The crew settles in, but they soon realize Mahoney has stowed aboard the ship. He is badly injured because of no acceleration chair; however he will survive his injuries. Gen Merritt expresses doubts to his son about mans role in space. As strong Christian he searches the Bible for answers, but finds little comfort in the passages he locates. Later in the flight, an external camera fails Siegle and Fodor are ordered to go outside and make repairs. While working on the camera a huge asteroid comes up on the ship from behind. The two men scramble to attach their safety lines as Merrit undertake an emergency maneuver to save the ship. Assuming the danger has passed the two men continue their work. Suddenly they see a series of flashes and pinging sounds around them. Before they realize the danger Fodor is hit by a micro meteor, screams and drifts away from the ship dead. Siegle is ordered to return to the ship leaving Fodor drifting in space. After some discussion the General decides to go outside and perform a space burial for Fodor. After reading passages from the Bible, he gently pushes the body away from the ship. As the voyage progresses the Generals actions become more erratic. During a routine report to Earth he snaps and begins screaming about the sacrilege of the voyage what an abomination the whole venture is. Capt Merritt reports that the General has been suffering very bad headaches and lack of sleep. Finally reaching Mars, the ship begins its landing. The General is piloting the ship at this stage, he suddenly has a vision, panicked he tries to abort the landing. Seeing the situation, his son overpowers him and completes the landing without incident. Safely down the crew wastes no time getting their suits on and exploring the planet. Imoto removes his glove and grabs a handful of soil. Letting it filter through his fingers he declares it good. He then produces some flower seeds and explains he was going to plant them. Behind them they hear huge amounts of fluid gushing from the ships engines. Merritt fears one of the pipes was ruptured during the landing Reaching the engine room Merrit finds his father is releasing the fluid, which turns out to be water. Gen Merrit fires at his son. A fight ensures in the cramped area and the General is shot and killed. Sgt Mahoney sees the end of the fight and thinks Capt Merritt shot his father intentionally and hopes a court marshal will be called for back on Earth. The crew buries the General and Imoto plants a seed on the grave. Because of the water lost, they face a critical shortage. Capt Merrit begins rationing immediately. The months drag on and the crew celebrates Christmas and moral is slumping due to a lack of water or contact with Earth. Mahoney dwelling on what he saw in the engine room; snaps and begins to believe the General might have been right and the planet along with the ship is cursed. Suddenly they see something outside and to everyone glee, its begun to snow. They set about collecting snow realizing their water shortage is now over. July comes, and it is time to prepare to leave. Imoto has spent his time collecting a large number of samples and remains convinced the planet can be agriculturally productive, especially after seeing one the seeds has germinated. An earthquake rocks the landing site, putting their intended launch time in jeopardy. The ship is now tilted incorrectly and needs to be straightened. By selectively firing the engines they believe they can shift the sand from under the ship and get it pointed correctly. The plan works seconds before they must take off. Excited Merrit fires the engines and the final scene shows the ship lifting into space

Shortly after moving to Los Angeles with his parents, 17-year-old Jim Stark (James Dean) enrolls at Dawson High School. In the opening scene, Jim is brought into the police station for public drunkenness. When his mother, father and grandmother arrive at the police station to retrieve him, conflicts in Jim's family situation are introduced as he explains to the arresting officer. His parents are often fighting. His weak-willed father (Jim Backus) often tries to defend Jim, but Jim's picky and domineering mother always wins the arguments for his father cannot find the courage to stand up to his wife. Jim feels betrayed both by this fighting and his father's lack of moral strength, causing feelings of unrest and displacement. This shows up later in the film when he repeatedly asks his father, "What do you do when you have to be a man?" The next day, while trying to conform with fellow students at the school, he becomes involved in a dispute with a local bully named Buzz Gunderson (Corey Allen). While Jim tries to deal with Buzz, he becomes friends with a shy 15-year-old boy, John, who is nicknamed Plato (Sal Mineo), who was also at the police station the night of the opening scene for shooting and killing puppies. Plato idolizes Jim as a father-figure much to Jim's concern. Plato tells Jim that his parents divorced several years ago and are never in Los Angeles. His mother lives away in her hometown and never visits, calls or writes, while his father (a wealthy business executive) is always traveling and avoids comming home, leaving only his housekeeper to look after Plato. Plato experiences many of the same problems as Jim, such as searching for meaning in life and dealing with his absent and selfish parents who "don't understand." In the school hallway, Jim meets Judy (Natalie Wood), whom he also recognizes from the police station the previous night, where she was brought in for being out alone after dark, who originally acts unimpressed by Jim, saying in a sarcastic tone, "I bet you're a real yo-yo." She is apparently the property of Buzz. Judy too has an unhappy homelife when it shows her before going to school when she deals with her unattenative and sexist father who gives all his attention to Judy's younger brother as well as ignors both Judy and his wife for he feels that women are ment only to serve him, and nothing more. That afternoon, Jim goes on a field trip with his science class to the Griffith Observatory. At the Planetarium, he watches a dramatic presentation of the violent death of the universe. After the show, he watches Buzz and his thugs slash a tire of his car for no reason, and then Buzz challenges him to a knife fight, while the gang taunts Jim as a "chicken." Jim reluctantly takes part in the fight and wins, subduing Buzz by holding his switchblade up to his neck before discarding both knifes off a railing. Both Jim and Buzz get slight injuries during the knife fight. Not to be outdone, Buzz and his thugs challenge Jim to a "Chickie Run" with Buzz and Jim racing stolen cars towards an abyss. The one who first jumps out of the car loses and is deemed a "chicken" (coward). That evening, the "game" is held with Judy and several students in attendance to watch. But the race ends in tragedy for Buzz when a strap on the sleeve of his leather jacket becomes looped over a handle on the car door, preventing him from jumping out before the car goes over the cliff. Jim runs home and tries to tell his parents what happened, but quickly becomes frustrated by their failure to understand him and storms out of the house. Jim goes to the police to find the sergeant who took his statement the previous night to tell him about the accident involving Buzz's death, but learns that the police officer is not there. Jim refuses to speak to any policeman and will speak only to the sergeant and he leaves. But Jim is spotted leaving the station by three of Buzz's friends, Crunch (Frank Mazzola), Goon (Dennis Hopper), and another one of Buzz's gang members whom is not named. Mistakenly thinking that Jim told the police about the "Chickie Run", they decide to hunt Jim down to "silence him"... permenently. Jim meets up with Judy and they go to an abandoned mansion to hide out. Plato finds them there (he was the one who told Jim about the house). There they act out a "fantasy family," with Jim as father, Judy as mother and Plato as child. However, Crunch, Goon, and the other boy soon discover them, and terrorize Plato who finally brandishes his mother's handgun that he took from the house, shooting Crunch, and at Jim, and a police officer who investigates, in a clearly unstable state. Plato runs and hides in the Observatory, which is soon besieged by the police. Jim and Judy follow him inside, and Jim convinces Plato to lend him the gun, from which he silently removes the ammunition magazine. When Plato steps out of the observatory, he becomes agitated again at the sight of the police and charges forward, brandishing his weapon. He is fatally shot by a police officer as Jim yells to the police, too late, that he had already removed the bullets. Plato was wearing Jim's jacket at the time, and as a result, Jim's parents (brought to the scene by police) think at first that Jim was shot. Mr. Stark then runs to comfort Jim, who is distraught by Plato's death. Mr. Stark promises to be a stronger father, one that his son can depend on. Thus reconciled, Jim introduces Judy to his parents and they drive off together as dawn starts to break.

Around the turn of the 20th century, during a harsh northern California winter, members of a ranching family are squabbling among themselves while the two oldest sons go hunting for a panther that is killing their livestock. A family saga: In a stunning mountain valley ranch setting near Aspen, complex and dangerous family dynamics play out against the backdrop of the first big snowstorm of winter and an enormous panther with seemingly mythical qualities which is killing cattle. An arrogant, pitiless son (Robert Mitchum) and a rigid pharisaic mother side against a moral eldest son and and a defeated alcoholic father while the youngest son tries to lay low, hoping against hope to persuade his family to allow him to marry a girl he has brought to visit. The girl however draws venomous condemnation and the two elder brothers set out in the midst of a violent snowstorm on a dangerous mission to kill the deadly panther. —Jasha While Curt Bridges tracks down the panther that killed his brother Arthur, his family argues and bickers over whether younger brother Harold should marry a much-despised neighbor girl. —Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>