William Keighley

In California during the Civil War, a Confederate patrol and a Union troop must set their differences aside in order to survive a Shoshone attack. A Confederate troop, led by Captain Lafe Barstow, is prowling the far ranges of California and Nevada in a last desperate attempt to build up an army in the West for the faltering Confederacy. Because the patrol saves a stagecoach, with Johanna Carter as one of the passengers, from an Indian attack, and is marooned on a rocky mountain, it fails in its mission but the honor of the Old South is upheld. —Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

When Prince John and the Norman Lords begin oppressing the Saxon masses in King Richard's absence in 1190s England, a Saxon lord fights back as the outlaw leader of a resistance movement. Sir Robin of Locksley, defender of downtrodden Saxons, runs afoul of Norman authority and is forced to turn outlaw. With his band of Merry Men, he robs from the rich, gives to the poor and still has time to woo the lovely Maid Marian, and foil the cruel Sir Guy of Gisbourne, and keep the nefarious Prince John off the throne. —Little Pine Weasel <kristinat@cerritos.edu> With King Richard the Lionhearted away fighting wars in the Holy Land, his brother Prince John seizes the Regency. The Normans are hard on the Saxon peasants, and when Prince John learns that Richard is being held for ransom in Vienna, he taxes them beyond all reasonable limits supposedly to pay for his release. Sir Robin of Locksley, a Saxon lord, rebels against the Prince and his principal henchman, Sir Guy of Gisbourne. Declared an outlaw, he takes up residence in Sherwood Forest and begins to surround himself with those who are loyal to King Richard: Little John, Friar Tuck, Will Scarlet and all the rest. When the Prince and Gisbourne manage to capture him by staging a archery contest, it's the beautiful Maid Marion who arranges his escape. When Robin and his men learn that Richard is in England, they protect him and ensure his evil brother is removed from power. —garykmcd In the late twelfth century, King Richard the Lionhearted of England is fighting in the Holy Crusades, leaving the Regency of the Kingdom to his trusted friend, Longchamps. When Richard is captured by Leopold of Austria, Richard's brother, the treacherous Prince John, with help from his supportive Norman barons and his primary henchman Sir Guy of Gisbourne, seizes control of the Regency. Under the guise of getting money to free Richard, John, in pillaging from the Saxon commoners, uses the money instead to fatten his own coffers in gaining control of the throne. The Saxons turn to one of their own, Sir Robin of Locksley - also known as Robin Hood - who, often recklessly, fights on their behalf against Norman authority in an effort to restore what is rightfully the Saxons until Richard's return, Richard to who Robin is loyal. As such, Robin is viewed as an outlaw by Prince John and Sir Guy. Robin's refuge is Sherwood Forest, where he recruits men to fight for what he believes is right. Generally matching Robin's happy-go-lucky temperament, that band of merry men includes Will Scarlet, John Little (renamed Little John because of his hulking physical size), and Friar Tuck. Also seeing Robin and his men as outlaws is Lady Marian Fitzswalter, a Norman and a royal ward. It isn't until Marian meets Robin and sees first hand what he is doing that she changes her allegiances. Prince John and Sir Guy hope to use what they see as the growing attraction between Robin and Marian to capture Robin and sentence him to death. Robin and Marian, the latter she believes clandestinely, work against Prince John and Sir Guy until King Richard's return, when they hope all will be right with England. But the return of King Richard, if it does happen, does not automatically restore him to the throne, especially if Prince John can crown himself king in Richard's absence. —Huggo In 1191, King Richard joined the Crusades and then he is captured by the Duke of Austria. His ambitious and evil brother Prince John takes over the throne and oppress the Saxons increasing the taxes and hanging those that cannot afford to pay. The Saxon nobleman Robin of Locksley hides in the Sherwood Forest and defends the people against the tyrannic John and his right hand Sir Guy of Gisbourne and is considered outlaw. When he meets Lady Marian, they immediately fall in love with each other. But Robin Hood and his men are hunted down by Sir Guy and the notorious Sheriff of Nottingham. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

A lawyer, whose benefactor runs a racket, goes to work for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It's the early days of the F.B.I. - federal agents working for the Department of Justice. Though they have limited powers - they don't carry weapons and have to get local police approval for arrests - that doesn't stop fresh Law School grad Eddie Buchanan from joining up, and he encourages his former roommate James "Brick" Davis (James Cagney) to do so as well. Davis, having completed law school, wants to be an honest lawyer, not a shyster, despite his ties to mobster boss McKay. He's intent on doing so, until Buchanan is gunned down trying to arrest career criminal Danny Leggett. Davis soon joins the "G-Men" as they hunt down Leggett (soon-to-be Public Enemy Number One) and his cronies Collins and Durfee, who are engaged in a crime and murder spree from New York to the midwest. —Gary Dickerson <slug@mail.utexas.edu> In New York, James 'Brick' Davis was a poor boy that the mob kingpin 'Mac' McKay paid his college tuition at the Law School without requesting anything in return but be a honest man. His best friend and roommate at college Edward "Eddie" Buchanan visits him at his office and gives an application form to the Department of Justice, since he knows Davis's business is weak because he is an honest man. When Eddie is murdered by gangster, Davis fills the application form and sends to the FBI. He is hired, travels to Washington, but soon he has relationship problems with his trainer Jeff McCord. When the chief of the Bureau, Gerard, assigns a team to hunt down Buchanan's killer, Davis wants to join the team, but he has not completed his training yet and Gerad refuses. Davis sees Jeff's sister, the nurse Kay McCord, he puts his eyes on her, but she does not pay attention to him. Meanwhile 'Mac' McKay retires from the crime life and buys a resort to work honestly for the rest of his life. Davis identifies one criminal, Danny Leggett, in an open case and the criminal is arrested by the agents. But soon the agents that are escorting him are murdered by the mobsters and Leggett flees. After a slaughter of agents, the laws change, and the G-Men are allowed to have guns to fight the organized crime. Now McCord sees that Davis is an important agent and assigns him to take down Leggett and his gangsters. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Brick Davis is a street-wise New York City lawyer who decides to join the US Department of Justice and become a G-Man after his friend Eddie Buchanan, also a G-Man, is gunned down by mobsters. Davis' schooling was actually paid by a friend, Mac McKay, a benevolent mobster who wanted to make sure that Brick didn't end up on the wrong side of the law. He hasn't been very successful as a lawyer so law enforcement seems to be the next best thing. When mobsters go on a spree of bank robberies in the US midwest, Davis is assigned to the Chicago field office. As they arrest the mobsters one by one, Davis learns that the rest of the gang is hiding out at a hotel run by his onetime friend and mentor McKay. Things come to a head when the last remaining gunman kidnaps a fellow G-Man's sister. —garykmcd