Wendy Mcnaughton the Monte Rio Movie Theater Graphic Picture
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In 1861, Scarlett O'Hara, the headstrong sixteen-year-old daughter of wealthy Georgia plantation-owner Gerald O'Hara, is sick of hearing talk about going to war with the North. She much prefers to have beaux like Brent and Stuart Tarleton talk about the next day's barbecue at Twelve Oaks, the neighboring Wilkes plantation. When the twins reveal the "secret" that Ashley Wilkes is planning to marry his cousin Melanie Hamilton from Atlanta, Scarlett refuses to believe it because she is in love with Ashley herself. Her father later confirms the news when he returns home to Tara, the O'Hara plantation, and advises Scarlett to forget about the serious-minded Ashley, because "like should marry like." At the barbeque, Scarlett acts coquettish with all of the young men, hoping to make Ashley jealous, then, during an afternoon rest, sneaks into the library to see him. He says that he will marry Melanie because they are alike, but leads Scarlett to believe that he loves her instead of Melanie. When he leaves, Scarlett angrily throws a vase and is startled to discover Rhett Butler, a notorious rogue from Charleston, who has been lying unnoticed on a couch the entire time. She is angry at his seeming indifference to the seriousness of her feelings for Ashley and annoyed by his frank appreciation of her physical beauty. Later, when news arrives that war has broken out between the North and the South, Scarlett is stunned to see Ashley kiss Melanie goodbye as he leaves to enlist, and in a daze accepts the impulsive proposal of Melanie's brother Charles.
Just after Ashley and Melanie marry, Scarlett and Charles marry as well, delighting Melanie, who tells Scarlett that now they will truly be sisters. Some time later, Scarlett receives word that Charles has died of the measles, and she is forced to don widow's black clothing and refrain from going to the parties she loves. Her understanding mother Ellen decides to let her go to Atlanta to stay with Melanie and her Aunt Pittypat, hoping that Scarlett will feel less restless there. At an Atlanta fundraising bazaar, Scarlett is so bored watching other girls dance, that when Rhett bids for her in a dance auction, she enthusiastically leads the Virginia Reel with him, oblivious to the outrage of the shocked local matrons. Rhett, who has become a successful blockade runner, continues to see Scarlett over the next few months and brings her presents from his European trips. As the war rages, Melanie and Scarlett receive word that Ashley will be returning home on a Christmas leave. Atlanta is now suffering the privation of a long siege, but the women manage to give Ashley a small Christmas feast. Before he returns to the front, Ashley tells Scarlett that the South is losing the war and asks her to stay by the pregnant Melanie.
Melanie goes into labor as Atlantans leave the city before Northern troops arrive. When Aunt Pitty leaves for Charleston, Scarlett desperately wants to go with her, but remembers her promise to Ashley, and remains with Melanie. Because Melanie's labor is difficult and the doctor is too busy attending wounded soldiers to come to her aid, Scarlett must attend her alone. After the baby is born, Scarlett sends her maid Prissy for Rhett, who reluctantly arrives with a frightened horse and a wagon. Though he thinks that Scarlett is crazy when she insists upon returning to Tara, he risks his life to drive the women and the infant through the now-burning city. Outside Atlanta, as Rhett and Scarlett see the decimated Southern army in retreat, he feels ashamed and resolves to join them for their last stand. Scarlett is furious with him, even after he admits that he loves her and gives her a passionate kiss before leaving. When the women finally arrive at Tara, the plantation is a shambles and the house has been looted. Scarlett's mother Ellen has just died of typhoid and her father's mind is gone. Desperate for something to eat, Scarlett first tries drinking whiskey, then goes into the fields. After choking on a radish, she vows that if she lives through this she will never go hungry again. [An Intermission divides the story at this point.]
Soon Scarlett bullies her sisters and the remaining house slaves into working in the fields. After she kills a Yankee scavenger and, with Melanie's help, hides the body, the contents of his wallet provide them with some money for food. When the war ends, Ashley returns and Scarlett goes to him for advice when Pork, one of the former slaves who has remained with the family, tells her that $300 in taxes are owed on Tara. Ashley offers no solution to her problem, but admits once again that he loves her, even though he will never leave Melanie. More determined than ever to obtain the money after Jonas Wilkerson, a ruthless Yankee who was once Tara's overseer, says that he is going to buy Tara when it is auctioned off for taxes, Scarlett decides to ask Rhett for the money. With no proper clothes to wear, Scarlett and her old governess, Mammy, use material from Tara's velvet drapes for a new dress. In Atlanta, they discover that Rhett has been imprisoned by the Yankees, but has charmed his way into their good graces. Scarlett tries to pretend that everything is fine at Tara, but Rhett soon sees her roughened hands and realizes what her situation is. Because he is under arrest and his money is all in an English bank, Rhett cannot help Scarlett, so she leaves, infuriated. That same day, she runs into Frank Kennedy, her sister Suellen's beau, and sees that he has become a successful merchant. Scarlett tricks Frank into marrying her by telling him that Suellen loves someone else, and is thus able to use his money to save Tara. Scarlett then moves to Atlanta to work at Frank's shop and to make his fledgling lumber business a success. She also uses an unwitting Melanie to help make Ashley come to work at the lumber mill. One day, Scarlett is attacked by scavengers while driving her carriage near a shanty town, but is saved by Big Sam, a former Tara slave. Scarlett is not physically harmed, but that night Frank, Ashley and some of the other men band together to "clear out" the shanty. While Scarlett, Melanie and the other women wait at Melanie's house, Rhett arrives to warn them that the Yankees are planning an ambush. Melanie tells him where the men have gone, and some time later, he prevents their arrest by pretending to the Yankees that they have all been drinking with him at the notorious Belle Watling's bordello. Ashley is wounded, but Frank has died on the raid.
A few weeks later, Scarlett, who is drinking heavily, is visited by Rhett, who proposes to her and offers to give her everything she wants. Though she says that she does not love him, she agrees to marry him, and on their expensive honeymoon, he vows to spoil her to stop her nightmares of the war. A year later, Scarlett gives birth to a daughter, whom Melanie nicknames "Bonnie Blue." Though Rhett has never cared about Atlanta society, he now wants to ensure Bonnie's future. He begins to acquire respectability, and within a few years his charitable contributions and sincere devotion to Bonnie impresses even the hardest of Atlanta's matrons. Meanwhile, Scarlett still longs for Ashley and has told Rhett that she no longer wants him to share her bedroom. One day, Ashley's sister India and some other women see Scarlett and Ashley in an embrace. Though nothing improper happened, Scarlett is afraid to attend Melanie's birthday party for Ashley that night. A furious Rhett forces her to attend, though, then leaves. Melanie's open affection to her makes Scarlett ashamed, and when she returns home she sneaks into the dining room to drink. There she finds Rhett drunk and a violent quarrel erupts. After Scarlett calls Rhett a drunken fool, he grabs her and carries her upstairs, angrily telling her that this night there will not be "three in a bed." The next morning, Scarlett is happy, but when Rhett scoffs that his behavior was merely an indiscretion, her happiness turns to anger. Rhett then leaves for an extended trip to England and takes Bonnie with him.
Some months later, because Bonnie is homesick, Rhett returns to Atlanta and discovers that Scarlett is pregnant. She is happy to see Rhett, but his smirk of indifference and accusation about Ashley enrages her so that she starts to strike him and falls down the stairs. She loses the baby, and although she calls to him during her delirium, Rhett does not know and thinks that she hates him. After she recovers, he suggests that the anger and hatred stop for Bonnie's sake, and Scarlett agrees, but as they are talking, the headstrong Bonnie tries to make her pony take a jump and she falls and breaks her neck. Both are shattered by Bonnie's death, especially Rhett, who refuses to let her be buried because Bonnie was afraid of the dark. Only Melanie, to whom Rhett has always felt a closeness, convinces him to let the child go. After her talk with Rhett, Melanie, who has become pregnant despite the danger to her health, collapses and suffers a miscarriage. On her deathbed, Melanie asks Scarlett to take care of Ashley, but when Scarlett sees how much the distraught Ashley loves Melanie, she finally realizes how wrong she has been for years and knows that it is Rhett she truly loves. She rushes back home and tries to prevent him from leaving her, but he will not stay because it is too late for them. Scarlett tearfully asks him what she will do and as he leaves he answers, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." Through her sobs, Scarlett begins to think of Tara, from which she has always gained strength, and determines that she will return there and will think of a way to get Rhett back. She resolves to think about it tomorrow for, "after all, tomorrow is another day."
In August 1945, during the lavish wedding reception of his daughter Connie, Don Vito Corleone, head of a large New York crime family and "godfather" to the Italian-American community, listens to requests for favors, honoring a long-standing Sicilian tradition that a father cannot refuse a request on his daughter's wedding day. While FBI agents jot down license plate numbers of the guests, and hundreds of celebrants dance, eat and gossip in the Corleone family's Long Beach compound, Don Vito, assisted by his foster son and consigliere, Tom Hagen, listens to a plea by the undertaker Bonasera, who seeks justice for two American boys who mercilessly beat his daughter. After mildly chastising Bonasera for refusing his friendship in the past, Don Vito agrees to help in exchange for some future service. Next, Don Vito greets the amiable baker Nazorine, who seeks help in preventing the deportation of Enzo, a young apprentice baker who wants to marry Nazorine's daughter. Outside, as the family welcomes guests such as crime boss Don Emilio Barzini and Don Vito's godson, popular singer Johnny Fontane, Michael Corleone arrives at his sister's wedding with his American girl friend, Kay Adams. Michael, college educated and a decorated soldier during World War II, relates stories about Luca Brasi, a large, violent man who is unquestioningly loyal to Don Vito, but tells her "It's my family, Kay, not me." In Don Vito's study, the final supplicant is Johnny, who cries that powerful studio head Jack Woltz refuses to give him an important part in a new war movie, even though it would be a perfect, career-saving role for him. After slapping Johnny like a child and admonishing him to be a man instead of a "Hollywood finocchio," Don Vito comforts him and promises to help. Just before his father-daughter dance with Connie, Don Vito talks with his son Santino, nicknamed Sonny, and Tom, telling them that Connie's new husband, Carlo Rizzi, may have a job, but should never be privy to the family's business. Don Vito also instructs Tom to fly to Los Angeles to speak with Woltz. At Woltz's studio, when Tom politely suggests that Johnny be cast in the war film, Woltz angrily dismisses him with curses and ethnic slurs. However, after Woltz has learned that Tom is representing the Corleone family, he invites Tom to his lavish estate and apologizes for his earlier rudeness. When the men sit down to dinner after Woltz has shown Tom his beloved race horse, Khartoum, Tom again asks for the part to be given to Johnny, prompting Woltz to erupt in a rage, shouting that Johnny "ruined" a young starlet with whom Woltz had been having an affair, thus making him appear ridiculous. One morning a short time later, Woltz discovers the severed, bloody head of Khartoum in his bed, prompting him to scream in terror. Back in New York, Don Vito is approached by Sollozzo "The Turk," a ruthless, Sicilian-born gangster who owns poppy fields in Turkey. Sollozzo, who has the backing of the rival Tattaglia family, proposes that the Corleones finance his drug operations. Although Tom and Sonny have argued that narcotics are the way of the future, and Sonny tries to say so in the meeting, Don Vito refuses to risk losing his political influence by embracing the drug traffic and declines Sollozzo's offer. Later, Don Vito privately asks Luca to let it be known to the Tattaglias that Luca might be interested in leaving the Corleones. Just before Christmas, when Luca meets with Sollozzo and one of the Tattaglias, he is caught off guard, stabbed through the hand and strangled. That same evening, Fredo, Don Vito's meek, oldest son, tells him that their driver, Paulie Gatto, has called in sick. Before entering his car, Don Vito decides to buy some fruit from a vendor and is shot several times by assailants who flee before Fredo can react. Tom is kidnapped by Sollozzo that night, and later, as Michael and Kay leave the Radio City Music Hall, Kay notices a newspaper headline announcing that Don Vito has been killed. Stunned, Michael immediately calls Sonny, who relates that their father is barely alive in the hospital and insists that Michael return to the safety of the family's Long Beach compound. Late that night, Tom is released by Sollozzo, who is infuriated that Don Vito has survived the attack, and warns Tom that he and Sonny must make the narcotics deal with him and the Tattaglias. At the compound, Sonny and Tom try to insulate Michael from their discussions about the family business, knowing that Don Vito had wanted him to have a different kind of life. While arguing over whether or not to take Sollozzo's deal, they receive a package of a dead fish, a Sicilian symbol that Luca "sleeps with the fishes." Now the hot-headed Sonny insists that there will be a war between the Corleones and the Tattaglias. Sonny tells Clemenza, one of his father's lieutenants, to buy mattresses and other supplies to house their men in a safe place during the war and instructs Clemenza to kill Paulie for his part in Don Vito's ambush. A few days later, frustrated by his enforced idleness, Michael goes into New York City to have dinner with Kay. After telling her that she should go home to New Hampshire, but not saying when they will see each other again, Michael goes to visit his father. When he finds the hospital floor deserted and Don Vito's room unguarded, Michael checks to make certain that his father is alive, then calls Sonny to relate what has happened. After moving Don Vito's bed with the help of a nurse, Michael whispers in his ear, "Pop, I'm with you now." Moments later, when the baker Enzo innocently arrives to pay his respects, Michael advises him to leave because there will be trouble, but Enzo enthusiastically offers to help. Michael and Enzo then wait on the steps of the hospital. Because of their menacing appearance, when a car stops, the thugs inside see what they think are Don Vito's guards and drive off. Just then, several police cars appear, and the abusive Capt. McCluskey starts yelling at Michael for interfering, then brutally punches him in the face before Sonny, Tom and their men arrive. The next day, Sonny argues that they must hit back at Sollozzo, even though the corrupt McCluskey is his protector. Because Sollozzo is now asking for a meeting with Michael, who is regarded as a "civilian," Michael volunteers to kill both Sollozzo and McCluskey. A bemused Sonny does not want Michael involved, and Tom argues that this is business, not personal, but Michael insists that to him it is business. When Sonny learns from a police informant that the meeting will be held at Louis, an Italian restaurant in the Bronx, Clemenza arranges for a gun to be planted in the men's room, then teaches Michael how to kill at close range. At the restaurant, Sollozzo offers a truce to Michael if the family agrees to his terms. After excusing himself to go to the men's room, Michael retrieves the gun from behind the toilet, walks to the table and shoots both McCluskey and Sollozzo in the head, then coolly walks out to a waiting car. To avoid being the victim of a revenge killing by the Tattaglias, Michael is forced to leave for Sicily for an extended period without saying goodbye to Kay. When Don Vito, who is now recuperating at home, hears that Michael killed Sollozzo and McCluskey, he weeps over Michael's involvement. While Michael is in Sicily, a wave of violence envelopes the Corleones, the Tattaglias and the other members of the five New York crime families. At the same time, Michael falls in love at first sight with a beautiful Sicilian girl, Apollonia, and soon marries her. Some time later, when a pregnant Connie hysterically calls home and tells Sonny that Carlo has beaten her, Sonny, who had previously warned Carlo never again to hit his sister, impulsively races away from the compound without waiting for his bodyguards. When he stops to pay a toll on the deserted highway, he is ambushed by several henchmen who riddle his body with bullets before speeding away. That night, after Tom reveals Sonny's death to his father, Don Vito says that the killing must now end and orders no more acts of vengeance. Later, he accompanies his son's body to Bonasera's, where he tearfully asks the undertaker to repay his debt by making Sonny presentable to his mother. Shortly thereafter, Don Tommasino, Michael's protector in Sicily, tells him of Sonny's death and says that he and Apollonia must leave for their own safety. As they are about to leave, Apollonia decides to surprise Michael by driving his car. Moments after Michael sees one of his bodyguards, Fabrizio, suspiciously run away, Apollonia dies when the car explodes. In New York, Don Vito has called a meeting of representatives of the five crime families of New York and New Jersey, asking for peace. After arguments on both sides, the families reach a peace accord and agree to enter the narcotics trade. As they are driving home from the meeting, Don Vito tells Tom he finally realized at the meeting that Barzini has always been behind the Tattaglias and was responsible for everything. Some time later, Michael goes to New Hampshire, where Kay has been teaching. Although he has been home for more than a year and not contacted her, he tells her that he loves her and asks her to marry him. She is reluctant, and does not understand why Michael now works for his father, but agrees because of her feelings for him and because he assures her that within five years, the Corleone family business will be completely legitimate. Soon Michael becomes the tacit head of the family as Don Vito semi-retires. Michael plans to sell the family's olive oil business, which had been a legitimate cover for their gambling and prostitution operations, and become the sole owner of a Las Vegas casino. He sends Carlo to Las Vegas, as well as Tom, privately telling the disappointed Tom that there will be trouble at home and Tom is not a "wartime consigliere." Weeks later, on a business trip to Las Vegas, Michael is annoyed that Fredo, who was sent to Las Vegas several years before, has let himself become subservient to Moe Greene, their partner in the casino. When Greene angrily refuses to sell his interest in the casino, Fredo sides with Greene, prompting Michael to warn him never again to side with someone outside the family. One afternoon, Don Vito warns Michael about Barzini and predicts that the person who suggests a meeting with Barzini will be a traitor setting Michael up to be killed. That same afternoon, while Don Vito plays with Anthony, Michael and Kay's three-year-old son, he has a fatal heart attack in his vegetable garden. At Don Vito's funeral, Salvatore Tessio, another Corleone family lieutenant, tells Michael that Barzini would like a meeting. Tom is surprised that Sal, rather than Clemenza, is the traitor, but Michael realizes that, for an ambitious man like Sal, it is the smart move. He then reveals that the meeting will be held after the baptism of Carlo and Connie's baby, also named Michael, for whom he has agreed to be godfather. While the baptismal ceremony takes place, Barzini, Tattaglia and several other Corleone enemies are gunned down in New York and Greene is killed in Las Vegas. At the compound, Tom confronts Sal, who says to tell Michael that it was only business, and resigns himself to his fate. That afternoon, Michael confronts Carlo, promising him leniency if he will just confess that he set Sonny up to be murdered. Though terrified, Carlo believes Michael and reveals that Barzini was behind it. Moments later, thinking that he will be driven to the airport, Carlo enters a car and is strangled from behind by Clemenza. When the Corleones are packing to move to Las Vegas, an hysterical Connie rushes into Don Vito's old study and accuses Michael of murdering Carlo. Kay tries to calm her down, but when she and Michael are alone, she asks if it is true. Michael initially erupts in anger, then says that, just this one time, Kay may ask him about his business, then answers "No," and the couple embraces. This satisfies Kay until she sees Clemenza kiss Michael's ring and address him as "Don Corleone," before his lieutenant, Neri, closes the study door.
At the request of mob boss Johnny Friendly, longshoreman Terry Malloy, a former boxer, lures fellow dock worker Joey Doyle to the roof of his tenement building, purportedly to discuss their shared hobby of pigeon racing. Believing that Friendly only intends to frighten Joey out of his threat to speak to the New York State Crime Commission, Terry is stunned to see Joey topple from the building as he and his brother, Charley "the Gent," watch from across the street. As neighbors gather around Joey's body, his distraught sister Edie accuses parish priest Father Barry of hiding behind the church and not helping the neighborhood break free from the mob's grip. Listening nearby, Terry is disturbed by Edie's indictment and later joins Charley, Friendly's lawyer and accountant, at a meeting with Friendly and his lackeys. Friendly assures Terry that Joey's death was necessary to preserve his hold on the harbor, then directs dock manager Big Mac to place Terry in the top job slot the following day. The next morning, while waiting for the day's work assignment, the dock workers offer their sympathy to Joey's father Pop, who gives Joey's jacket to Kayo Dugan. Meanwhile, Terry is approached by Crime Commission representative Eddy Glover, but refuses to discuss Joey. Edie then comes down to the docks to apologize to Father Barry, but he admits that her accusation has prompted him to become more involved in the lives of the longshoremen. As the men disperse for work, Father Barry asks some of them to meet later downstairs in the church, despite being advised that Friendly does not approve of union meetings. Later, in the warehouse, Charley asks Terry to sit in on the church meeting. When Terry hesitates, Charley dismisses his brother's fears of "stooling." Despite the sparse turnout at the meeting in the church, Father Barry adamantly declares that mob control of the docks must end and demands information about Joey's murder. Several men bristle in anger upon seeing Terry at the meeting, and Kayo tells Father Barry that no one will talk out of fear that Friendly will find out. Father Barry insists the men can fight Friendly and the mob through the courts, but the men refuse to participate. Eventually, Friendly's stooges break up the meeting by hurling stones through the church windows. After Pop and Kayo are attacked outside, Father Barry presses Kayo to take action and Kayo agrees. Terry insists on walking Edie home and, on the way, she hesitatingly tells him abut her convent upbringing and ambition to teach. At home, Pop scolds Edie for walking with Terry, whom he calls a bum, and demands that she return to college. Edie responds that she must stay to find out who killed Joey. Later that day Edie is surprised to find Terry on the roof with Joey's pigeons. Terry shows her his own prize bird, then asks her if she would like to have a beer with him. At the bar, Terry tells Edie that he and Charley were placed in an orphanage after their father died, but they eventually ran away. He took up boxing and Friendly bought a percentage of him, but his career faded. Swept up among wedding party revelers at the bar, Edie and Terry dance together until they are interrupted by Glover, who serves Terry with a subpoena to the Crime Commission hearings. Edie demands to know if Friendly arranged Joey's murder, and when Terry cautions her to stop asking questions, she accuses him of still being owned by the mobster. That evening, Friendly visits Terry, who is evasive about the church meeting, then surprised when Friendly reveals that Kayo testified before the commission. Charley criticizes Terry for seeing Edie, and Friendly orders Terry back to working in the ship hold. The next day in the hold, Terry attempts to speak with Kayo, but the older man brushes him aside, calling him one of Friendly's boys. Big Mac and one of his henchmen rig a crane to slip, and a load of boxes crashes down upon Kayo, killing him in front of Terry. Outraged, Father Barry gives an impromptu eulogy for Kayo, asserting that Kayo was killed to prevent him from testifying further. After two of Friendly's henchmen begin pelting the priest with fruit and vegetables, Pop and Edie arrive and watch as Father Barry ignores the abuse and exhorts the men to believe in themselves and reject mob control. Terry furiously knocks out one of the henchmen, angering Friendly and Charley. Later, Father Barry returns Joey's jacket to Pop and Edie. That night, after Edie gives Joey's jacket to Terry, the guilt-stricken Terry tries but is unable to tell her about his part in Joey's murder. The next morning Terry seeks out Father Barry to ask for guidance as he believes he is falling in love with Edie, but is conflicted about testifying and about going against Charley. Father Barry maintains that Terry must follow his conscience and challenges him to be honest with Edie. When Terry meets Edie on the beach later, he relates the details of the night of Joey's murder, insisting that he did not know Joey would be killed, but Edie rushes away in distress. Later while tending his pigeons on the roof, Terry is visited by Glover and implies that he might be willing to testify. Their meeting is reported to Friendly, who orders Charley to straighten Terry out. That night, Charley takes Terry on a cab drive and chides him for not telling him about the subpoena. When Terry attempts to explain his confusion, Charley brusquely threatens him with a gun. Hurt, Terry reproaches his older brother for not looking after him and allowing him to become a failure and a bum by involving him with the mob. Charley gives Terry the gun and says he will stall Friendly. Terry goes to see Edie, and breaks down her apartment door when she refuses to let him in and demands to know if she cares for him. Edie tells Terry to listen to his conscience, which angers him, but the two embrace. When Terry is summoned to the street, Edie begs him not to go, then follows him. After the couple is nearly run down by a truck, they find Charley's body hung up on a meat hook on a nearby fence. Taking down his brother's body, Terry vows revenge on Friendly, and sends Edie for Father Barry. Armed, Terry hunts for Friendly at his regular bar, but Father Barry convinces him that the best way to ruin Friendly is in court and Terry throws away the gun. The next day at the hearings, Terry testifies to Friendly's involvement in Joey's death, outraging the mobster, who shouts threats at him. Back at home, Terry is scorned by the neighbors for testifying and discovers that his pigeons have been killed by a boy he once coached. Edie attempts to comfort Terry, advising him to leave, but Terry insists that he has the right to stay in his town. The next day Terry reports to work as usual, but is ignored by the men and refused work by Big Mac. In his office at the pier, Friendly, who is about to be indicted, swears vengeance on Terry. Terry confronts Friendly on the pier, declaring he is nothing without guns, and the two fall into a brutal fistfight. While Friendly's men help to thrash Terry, the dockworkers watch impassively as Edie arrives with Father Barry. Friendly orders the longshoremen to begin unloading, but the men refuse and demand that Terry be allowed to work, hoping the shipping owners will witness their refusal to obey Friendly and realize their intention to restart a clean union. Father Barry urges on the beaten Terry, who rises and defiantly stumbles down the pier and into the warehouse.
Dorothy Gale, a Kansas farm girl, lives with her Auntie Em and Uncle Henry. When Almira Gulch, who owns half the county, brings a sheriff's order to take Dorothy's little dog Toto away to have the dog destroyed, because Toto bit Miss Gulch's leg, Auntie Em and Uncle Henry refuse to go against the law, and they give the dog to Miss Gulch. However, as Miss Gulch rides away on her bicycle with Toto in her basket, the dog escapes and returns home. Realizing that Miss Gulch will come back, Dorothy runs away with Toto. They come to the wagon of the egotistical, but kindly Professor Marvel, a fortune-teller and balloonist, who tricks Dorothy into believing that her aunt has had an attack because she ran away. Dorothy rushes home greatly concerned, but a cyclone's approach causes her difficulty, and by the time she gets to the farm, Auntie Em, Uncle Henry and the three farmhands have entered the storm cellar. Inside her room, Dorothy is hit on the head by a window and knocked unconscious. When she revives, she sees through the window that the house has risen up inside the cyclone. When she sees Miss Gulch, traveling in mid-air on her bicycle, transform into a witch on a broomstick, Dorothy averts her eyes. The house comes to rest in Munchkinland, a colorful section of the Land of Oz inhabited by little people, and lands on top of the Wicked Witch of the East. Knowing that the dead witch's ruby slippers contain magic, Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, through her powers, has them placed on Dorothy's feet before the dead witch's sister, the Wicked Witch of the West, can retrieve them. The Wicked Witch vows revenge. Glinda then suggests that the wonderful Wizard of Oz can help Dorothy get back to Kansas and instructs her to take the yellow brick road to the distant Emerald City, where the Wizard resides. Along the way, Dorothy meets a friendly scarecrow who laments that he is failure because he has no brain, an emotional tin man, who longingly describes the romantic life he would lead if he only had a heart, and a seemingly ferocious lion who actually lacks courage. Dorothy suggests that they all go with her to ask the Wizard for his help. With help along the way from Glinda to battle a spell of the Wicked Witch, the four friends reach the Emerald City, where in the great hall of the Wizard, they see a terrifying apparition that identifies itself as "Oz" and lambasts Dorothy's companions for their deficiencies. When the lion faints from fright, Dorothy rebukes the Wizard for scaring him, and the Wizard agrees to grant their requests if they will first prove themselves worthy by bringing him the broomstick of the Witch of the West. As they pass through a haunted forest on their way to the witch's castle, the witch sends an army of winged monkeys, who capture Dorothy and Toto. In her castle, when the witch threatens to have Toto drowned, Dorothy offers the slippers in exchange for her dog, but the witch cannot remove them, and she remembers that the slippers will not come off as long as Dorothy is alive. As the witch ponders the proper way to kill Dorothy, Toto escapes. The dog leads Dorothy's friends to the castle, where they rescue her, but the witch's guards soon surround them. After the witch sadistically says that Dorothy will see her friends and dog die before her, she ignites the Scarecrow's arm. Dorothy tosses a bucket of water to put out the fire, and when some water splashes in the witch's face, she melts. The guards and monkeys, relieved that the witch is dead, hail Dorothy and give her the broomstick. Upon their return to Oz, the Wizard orders Dorothy and her friends to come back the next day. As they argue, Toto snoops behind a curtain and pulls it back to reveal a man manipulating levers and speaking into a microphone, who then admits to the group that he is really the "powerful" Wizard. Greatly disappointed and angry at the sham, Dorothy calls him a bad man, but he retorts that while he is a bad wizard, he is a good man. He then awards the Scarecrow a diploma, the Lion a medal and the Tin Man a testimonial, and states that where he comes from, these things are given to men who have no more brains, courage or heart than they have. Confessing that he is a balloonist and a Kansas man himself, the Wizard offers to take Dorothy back in his balloon. However, as they prepare to leave, Toto leaps from the balloon to chase a cat, and after Dorothy goes to retrieve the dog, the balloon takes off without them. Glinda then comforts Dorothy and reveals that she has always had the power to return home, but that she had to learn it for herself. Dorothy says that she has learned never to go further than her own backyard to look for her heart's desire. After Dorothy tearfully kisses and hugs her friends, Glinda tells her to click the heels of the slippers three times with her eyes closed and to think to herself, "There's no place like home." This she does, and she awakens to find Uncle Henry and Auntie Em at her bedside. Professor Marvel, having heard that Dorothy was badly injured, comes by, and she begins to tell about her journey, which Auntie Em calls a bad dream. The farmhands come in, and Dorothy remembers them as her three friends in Oz and the professor as the Wizard. When Toto climbs on the bed, Dorothy says she loves them all and that she will never leave again, and she affirms to her aunt that there is no place like home.
During World War II, Casablanca, Morocco is a waiting point for throngs of desperate refugees fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe. Exit visas, which are necessary to leave the country, are at a premium, so when two German couriers carrying letters of transit signed by General DeGaulle are murdered and the letters stolen, German Major Strasser and Louis Renault, the prefecture of police, are eager to find the documents. Strasser is particularly concerned that the letters not be sold to Victor Lazlo, the well-known Czech resistance leader, who is rumored to be on his way to Casablanca. That night, Renault and Strasser search for the killer at Rick's Café Americain, a popular nightclub run by the mysterious American expatriate Richard Blaine. Earlier, Ugarte, a shady dealer in exit visas, had asked Rick to hold the stolen letters temporarily, explaining that he has a buyer for them and with the money from their sale, he plans to leave Casablanca. Although Rick fought on the side of the loyalists in Spain, he has grown cynical, and when Renault advises him not to interfere with Ugarte's arrest, Rick replies "I stick my neck out for nobody." He makes a bet with Renault, however, that Lazlo will manage to leave Casablanca despite German efforts to stop him. After Ugarte is arrested, Lazlo and his companion, Ilsa Lund, arrive at Rick's. Ilsa recognizes Sam, the piano player, and while Lazlo makes covert contact with the underground, Ilsa insists that Sam play the song "As Time Goes By." Reluctantly, Sam agrees, and a furious Rick, who had ordered him never to play the song again, emerges from his office to stop him. Rick is taken aback when he sees Ilsa, whom he knew in Paris. Later, after the café is closed, Rick remembers his love affair with Ilsa: After a brief happy time together, the Nazis invade Paris and, worried that Rick will be in danger because of his record, Ilsa advises him to leave the city. He refuses to go without her, and she agrees to meet him at the train station. Instead of coming, though, she sends him a farewell note, and Sam and Rick leave just ahead of the Nazis. Rick's thoughts return to the present with Ilsa's arrival at the café. She tries to explain her actions, but when a drunken Rick accuses her of being a tramp, she walks out. The following day, Lazlo and Ilsa meet with Renault and, there they learn that Ugarte has been killed while in police custody. After Rick helps a young Romanian couple win enough money at roulette to allow them to leave the country, Lazlo, suspecting that Rick has the letters, asks to buy them. Rick refuses and, when Lazlo asks his reasons, suggests that he ask Ilsa. Angered when Rick allows his orchestra to accompany a rousing rendition of "La Marseillaise," Strasser orders the closing of the Café. That night, while Lazlo attends an underground meeting, Ilsa meets Rick and explains that she stayed behind in Paris because, on the day Rick left Paris she had learned that Lazlo, her husband, whom she had married in secret and thought dead, was alive. Now realizing that they still love each other, Ilsa tells Rick that he must made decisions for both of them. Meanwhile, the police break up the underground meeting, and Lazlo takes refuge at Rick's. Before he is arrested, he begs Rick to use the letters to take Ilsa away from Casablanca. The next day, Rick sells the café to his competitor Ferare, the owner of the Blue Parrot, and tricks Renault into releasing Lazlo from prison. They head for the airport, but Renault has managed to alert Strasser, who hurries after them. At the airport, Rick tells Ilsa, who thought that she would be staying with him, that she is to leave with Lazlo because she gives meaning to his work. He then tells Lazlo that he and Ilsa loved each other in Paris, and that she pretended she was still in love with him in order to get the letters. Lazlo, who understands what really happened, welcomes Rick back to the fight before he and Ilsa board the plane. Strasser arrives just as the airplane is about to take off and when he tries to delay the flight, Rick shoots him. Renault then quickly telephones the police, but instead of turning in Rick, he advises them to "round up the usual suspects," and the two men leave Casablanca for the Free French garrison at Brassaville. It is, Rick says, "the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
On a deserted beach in San Francisco, California, a tryst in the back seat of a car ends with the murder of George Wilburn. Later that morning, charges are dropped against a criminal named Hawkins because the evidence against him was obtained illegally by police inspector Harry Callahan. Although Hawkins gloats over his victory, Harry threatens continued harassment. Harry Callahan goes to the Acorn Café and orders coffee to go, unaware that a group of armed robbers are seated among the patrons. Loretta, the waitress, pours an excessive amount of sugar into the coffee, and when Harry complains, a gunfight ensues. Police surround the diner before the surviving robber can make his escape. That evening, Harry intrudes on a wedding reception hosted by Threlkis, a local crime lord. Harry blames Threlkis for the brutal murder of prostitute Linda Doker, who documented many of the mobster's secrets. Threlkis is unfazed until Harry produces an envelope, purportedly containing those documents, and the crime lord dies of a heart attack. Afterward, Harry reveals the envelope to be filled with blank pages. In the morning, police discover George Wilburn's body, noting that he was shot in the groin and in the head. Later that day, Harry is reprimanded by Captain Briggs and the police commissioner for the wedding incident. Harry argues that he rid the city of a major criminal while solving the Linda Doker case, even though he interfered with an undercover investigation. The commissioner describes Harry's methods as effective, but also "costly and destructive," and punishes him with a mandatory furlough. Meanwhile, artist Jennifer Spencer visits her catatonic sister, Elizabeth, at a mental hospital and details the murder of George Wilburn, a member of the gang that raped both sisters ten years earlier. That evening, Harry kills two of Threlkis's henchman in self-defense. The following day, Harry is visited by Detective Horace King, who dissuades the disgruntled inspector from leaving the police force, joking that his superiors need someone to complain about. Jennifer returns to her hometown of San Paulo, California, where she has been commissioned to restore an antique carousel, but she is constantly haunted by memories of her rape. In San Francisco, Hawkins and his cronies engage in a car chase with Harry, pelting his vehicle with Molotov cocktails. Harry throws one of the firebombs back at Hawkins, who loses control of his car and drives into the bay, killing all three criminals. In the morning, Harry is sent to San Paulo to conduct a background investigation on George Wilburn, with instructions that he stay away as long as possible. Shortly after arriving, Harry witnesses an armed robbery that results in the wounding of a young policeman named Bennett. Harry commandeers a tour bus filled with senior citizens and captures the perpetrator, but San Paulo police chief Lester Jannings is unimpressed with Harry's exploits and discourages his involvement with local police business. After checking into his hotel, Harry discovers a bulldog named Meathead, left for him as a gift from Detective Horace King. The next morning, Harry goes jogging with Meathead, and they almost collide with Jennifer, who angrily advises him to put the dog on a leash. While researching Wilburn at the police station, Harry meets Officer Bennett, who thanks the inspector for saving his life and offers his assistance. In the evening, Harry enters a bar, where a crude woman named Ray Parkins attempts to solicit free drinks. Harry reveals himself to be a policeman and asks for information on the murder victim. Ray and her friends laugh about Wilburn's death, and Harry leaves in disgust. The next morning, Jennifer follows a man named Kruger to a secluded beach, and fires bullets into his groin and head. At the police station, Harry notices a photograph in which Ray Parkins and George Wilburn are among a group of friends, and learns the identity of the others from Bennett. When Ray Parkins hears of Kruger's murder, she presumes Jennifer Spencer is the killer and summons Mick, the man who instigated the gang rape, back to San Paulo. Meanwhile, Harry questions Kruger's widow and her two brothers, Eddie and Carl, but they refuse to cooperate. Harry encounters Jennifer at an outdoor café and she apologizes for her harsh tone at their previous meeting. While discussing the recent murders, she suggests the killings were motivated by revenge. Although Harry approves of revenge, he cannot condone breaking the law, and Jennifer politely ends the conversation. The next morning, Mick's arrival in San Paulo coincides with Jennifer's murder of Tyrone, another member of the gang. Harry discovers the body later that day, and criticizes Lester Jannings for his department's unproductive search for the killer. That evening, Harry visits Ray Parkins, unaware that Jennifer is hiding outside. Mick threatens Harry with a gun and is placed under arrest. When the men have left, Jennifer enters the house and murders Ray. Later, Harry sees Jennifer walking along the beach and offers her a ride home. They make love, and while Jennifer sleeps, Harry searches the house and matches her car to one he noticed outside the Parkins home. Mick is released from jail and breaks into Harry's hotel room, accompanied by Mrs. Kruger's brothers, Carl and Eddie. They kill Detective Horace King, who intended to surprise Harry. After discovering Ray Parkins's body, Harry confronts Mick, Carl, and Eddie, who beat him and throw him off a pier. Jennifer drives to the Jannings home and finds another of her attackers, Alby, confined to a wheelchair. Lester Jannings explains that Alby hated himself for his part in the rape and attempted suicide by driving into a retaining wall. Although Alby survived, he lives in a vegetative state. Mick, Carl, and Eddie enter the house, abduct Jennifer and kill Jannings. Harry emerges from the water, finds Horace dead in the hotel room, and loads his Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum pistol. Meanwhile, Mick, Eddie and Carl drag Jennifer to the boardwalk and beat her. Harry appears and shoots the two brothers, while Mick uses Jennifer as a human shield. He climbs onto the rollercoaster, pulling Jennifer with him until she able to break away. Harry shoots Mick, and he falls from the rollercoaster onto the carousel, where he is impaled on a wooden merry-go-round unicorn. As the coroner removes the bodies, Jennifer assumes she is under arrest. However, when police find her murder weapon on Mick's body, Harry blames him for the killings and allows Jennifer to go free.
Early one morning, police arrive at a large house on Sunset Blvd. in Beverly Hills, where a man's body floats face down in the pool: Six months earlier, while down on his luck, screenwriter Joe C. Gillis is living at the Alto Nido apartments in Hollywood, California. Joe is served with a court order commanding him to relinquish his car or pay $290 in back payments by noon the next day. Hoping to make a quick deal, Joe meets with Paramount studio producer Sheldrake to peddle a baseball/gambling picture he has written, but is turned down. While in Sheldrake's office, Joe encounters studio reader Betty Schaefer, who pans the script as formulaic. Sheldrake then refuses him a personal loan, as does his agent. Despairing, Joe makes plans to return to Dayton, Ohio, where he worked as a newspaper copy writer. While driving down Sunset Blvd., he spots the two men who are trying to repossess his car and successfully eludes them, but then has a blowout. He coasts into the driveway of a dilapidated 1920s mansion and hides the car in an empty garage. Joe then enters the house, where stoic butler Max von Mayerling orders him upstairs to consult with "madame" immediately. Joe soon discovers that he has been mistaken for a mortician, who is due to arrive with a baby coffin for "madame's" dead pet chimpanzee. Joe recognizes the faded woman as Norma Desmond, once a famous silent movie star. When she rails against modern talking pictures, Joe tells her that he is a screenwriter. Excitedly, she announces that she is planning a return to the screen in a story she is writing about the Biblical figure Salomé. When Norma discovers Joe is a Sagittarius, she is convinced of their compatibility and hires him to edit her lengthy screenplay for $500 per week and puts him up in a room over her garage. The next day, Joe awakens to find that all his belongings have been moved from his apartment, and that Norma has settled his debts. Although he is angry at Norma for her presumption, he acquiesces because he so desperately needs a job. Joe soon learns that Norma's fragile but enormous ego is supported by the scores of fan letters she still receives, and two or three times a week, Max projects her silent pictures on her living-room movie screen. As Norma and what Joe calls "the waxworks," Hollywood old-timers Buster Keaton, Anna Q. Nilsson and H. B. Warner, are playing bridge one night, two men arrive and tow away Joe's car. To appease the distraught Joe, Norma arranges for Max to refurbish her old Isotta-Fraschini, an extravagant Italian sports car. The once reclusive Norma becomes increasingly controlling. After a rain storm soaks Joe's room, she has him moved into the bedroom adjacent to hers, where her three former husbands slept. When Joe notices that none of the bedroom doors have locks, Max explains that Norma's bouts of melancholy are often followed by suicide attempts. Joe then realizes that Max has been writing Norma's fan letters so that she will not feel completely forgotten. On New Year's Eve, Norma stages a lavish party for herself and Joe, but he flies into a rage because he feels smothered. Feeling rejected, she slaps him, and he leaves the house. At a lively party at the home of his friend, assistant director Artie Green, Joe again meets Betty, who is engaged to Artie, and is excited about one of Joe's stories. Joe asks to stay for a few weeks, and Artie agrees to put him up. When he calls Max to have his things sent over, however, Max tells him that Norma slit her wrists with his razor blade. Joe returns to the house at midnight and finds Norma weeping at her own stupidity for falling in love with him. She pulls him to her and they kiss. After Norma recovers, she has the pool filled, and announces that she has sent her script to Paramount's director of epics Cecil B. DeMille, with whom she made twelve pictures. One night, Joe sees Artie with Betty at Schwab's Pharmacy. Although Betty tells him she has nearly sold one of his stories, Joe says he has given up writing, and leaves. Norma later gets a call from Paramount, but refuses to take the call because DeMille has not called her himself. Finally, Norma visits the studio unannounced. While Norma receives the long-awaited attention she craves on DeMille's set, Max learns that the earlier call was an inquiry about her car, which the studio wants to use for a film. While on the lot, Joe sees Betty, who is busy revising his story, and agrees to collaborate with her on the script in her off-hours. Norma misinterprets DeMille's pitying kindness for a deal, and a staff of beauty experts descends on her house to ready her for the cameras. Betty and Joe, meanwhile, meet repeatedly in the late evenings, and he begins to care for her, but keeps his other life with Norma a secret. One night, Max reveals to Joe that he was once an influential Hollywood director who discovered Norma when she was sixteen and made her a star. After he became Norma's first husband, she left him, but when Hollywood abandoned her, he gave up his prosperous career to return to serve her as a butler. Eventually, Norma, suspicious that Joe is involved with another woman, finds his and Betty's script and goes into a deep depression. Meanwhile, Betty receives a telegram from Artie, who is filming in Arizona, asking her to marry him immediately. She confesses her love to Joe, and he admits he wants her, too. When he arrives home that evening, however, he catches Norma calling Betty to expose him as a kept man and giving her the Sunset Blvd. address. When Betty arrives, Joe bitterly explains that he is Norma's companion. Betty urges him to leave with her immediately, but he tells her he is bound to "a long term contract with no options" and allows her to leave. He then packs, with the intention of moving back to Ohio, and returns all of Norma's gifts. Joe then tells her that there will be no film of Salomé, that the studio only wants to rent her car, and that her fans have abandoned her. Shouting that "no one ever leaves a star," Norma shoots Joe twice in the back and once in the stomach, sending him to his death in the pool. A throng of reporters and policemen surround the house, but the police are unable to get Norma out of her bedroom, until Max directs the Paramount newsreel crew to set up their equipment at the bottom of the stairs, and tells Norma that the cameras have arrived. In a state of delusional shock, Norma descends the stairs as "Salomé" while Max tells the cameramen to start rolling. At the bottom of the stairs, Norma announces, "I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille."
During an interstellar civil war, rebels battle against an evil empire, led by Darth Vader and a villainous governor named Grand Moff Tarkin. The imperial stronghold is a planet-sized, armored space station called the Death Star, and insurgent Princess Leia Organa leads a mission to seize the battleship's blueprints, hoping to reveal its vulnerability. During the ensuing battle, Darth Vader and his military force of stormtroopers capture Leia's spaceship, but she secretly hides the Death Star plans in a robot "droid" named R2-D2, who flees the spaceship with his companion, C-3PO. Unable to recover the plans, Darth Vader discovers that an escape pod was launched during the attack, and orders the droids detained. Meanwhile, R2-D2 and C-3PO crash land on the desert planet Tatooine. Ornery C-3PO is displeased by his companion's claim that they are on an important mission, and the two droids part ways. However, they are captured by cloaked scavengers called Jawas and sold to young Luke Skywalker and his Uncle Owen. As the boy refurbishes the droids, he complains that Uncle Owen has thwarted his dream of becoming a pilot and following in the footsteps of his deceased father. Fiddling with R2-D2, Luke unwittingly activates a three dimensional projection of Princess Leia, uttering the plea: "Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope." Smitten and intrigued, Luke wonders if the message is addressed to a hermit known as "Ben" Kenobi. At dinner, Luke tells Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru about Leia's message, but Owen orders the boy to erase R2-D2's memory, and insists that Obi-Wan died alongside Luke's father. Storming away, Luke discovers that R2-D2 has escaped. The next morning, Luke and C-3PO recover the wayward droid, but are attacked by the hostile, nomadic Sand People. However, "Ben" Kenobi comes to the rescue, and admits that "Obi-Wan" is his real name. Seeking shelter at Obi-Wan's home, Luke learns that his father was a Jedi knight during the Clone Wars, and was known as the galaxy's best starfighter. Obi-Wan explains that he mentored Luke's father and makes good on an old promise, giving Luke his father's lightsaber. Since Jedis were guided by "the Force," a mystical energy that unites all living creatures in peace, the neon light sword once upheld universal justice. However, Luke's father was killed by a colleague, Darth Vader, who used his knowledge of "the Force" to betray the Jedis. As Obi-Wan activates R2-D2's message from Leia, she explains that she was on a mission to bring Obi-Wan back to her home planet of Alderaan, and adds that vital information has been hidden in R2-D2's memory system. The only person equipped to retrieve the data is her Jedi father, so the droid must be escorted to Alderaan immediately. Obi-Wan announces he will teach Luke to use "the Force," so he can be of service on the mission, but Luke insists on returning home. Meanwhile, on the Death Star, Grand Moff Tarkin announces that the galaxy's government council has been dissolved, and the Empire is one step closer to ultimate power. Back on Tatooine, Luke discovers his family murdered by stormtroopers and vows to become a Jedi. He joins Obi-Wan and the droids in their search for a pilot at the spaceport town of Mos Eisley. In a seamy tavern, they hire rugged outlaw smuggler Han Solo and his first mate, a tall, hairy Wookiee named Chewbacca. The men narrowly escape a stormtrooper attack in Han Solo's Millennium Falcon. Meanwhile, Vader tortures Leia to discover the whereabouts of the rebel base, but she remains resolute. Tarkin navigates the Death Star toward Alderaan, then orders Leia's execution and threatens to destroy her home planet unless she confesses. Although Leia claims the rebel base is on planet Dantoonine, Tarkin incinerates Alderaan. At the same moment, on the Millennium Falcon, Obi-Wan feels pain in his heart. He acknowledges a terrible tragedy, but continues Luke's lightsaber training, teaching the boy to trust his instincts and to use "the Force." When the Millennium Falcon reaches Alderaan, the planet is gone and the ship is forcibly sucked into the Death Star by its "tractor beam." Darth Vader learns that the Millennium Falcon began its journey in Tatooine and realizes it is transporting the coveted Death Star plans. Meanwhile, Obi-Wan uses "the Force" to ensure that no humans or droids are detected aboard the spaceship, but Darth Vader perceives the presence of his former Jedi master. Upon their arrival aboard the Death Star, Han Solo and Luke kill several stormtroopers, don their armor, and capture a nearby outpost. There, R2-D2 plugs into the Death Star's computer network and discovers seven locations that secure the battleship's "tractor beam." Once the locks are disabled, the Millennium Falcon can escape. Obi-Wan declares that he alone must immobilize the locks and leaves after promising Luke, "the Force will be with you… always." Just then, R2-D2 locates Princess Leia and reports that her execution is pending. Luke convinces Han Solo to join him on a rescue mission with assurances of a bountiful reward. As they release the princess, a gunfight ensues, and Leia orders her rescuers into a garbage chute to escape. There, Luke is pulled underwater by a tentacled monster, but the creature suddenly disappears when the dump walls begin to compact. Radioing C-3PO for help, Luke orders R2-D2 to shut down the "garbage mashers," and the comrades are saved. As they return to the Millennium Falcon and battle stormtroopers, Obi-Wan disables the "tractor beam" and reunites with Darth Vader, who is intent on killing his former Jedi master. However, Obi-Wan warns that the prospect for peace will become infinitely more powerful if Darth Vader succeeds. When Obi-Wan is confident that Luke can see him, and that Leia has safely boarded the Millennium Falcon, he permits Darth Vader to strike him dead, but his voice remains fixed in Luke's consciousness. The friends escape a firefight, and Leia warns that the Millennium Falcon has been fitted with a tracking device. The Death Star follows as they proceed to the rebel base on the planet Yavin. There, R2-D2's data is analyzed and soldiers are briefed that the Death Star's weak point can only be accessed by a one-man fighter jet. The pilots must navigate down a narrow trench and fire into a two-meter-wide thermal exhaust port, causing a chain reaction. As Luke mans his ship, with R2-D2 as his navigator, Han Solo ducks away with his reward money, claiming the battle is a suicide mission. Meanwhile, the Death Star comes within firing range of Yavin and the Imperial leaders anticipate their decisive victory. Rebels race toward the battleship and attempt to dodge their pursuers, including Darth Vader, who pilots a deadly imperial fighter. With many of Luke's senior comrades defeated, the boy is ordered to the front, but his rear guard is killed. The Death Star takes aim at Yavin just as Luke speeds toward its vulnerable portal. Although he uses a device to guide him, he subconsciously hears Obi-Wan's refrain, "use the Force," and turns off the computer to follow his instinct. Just then, Darth Vader directs his guns on Luke's starfighter and prepares to fire, but Han Solo suddenly appears in the Millenium Falcon and interferes, sending the villain spiraling into space. Luke's missiles successfully destroy the Death Star an instant before the battle station fires at Yavin, and peace is finally restored to the universe.
At the Sarah Siddons Society's annual banquet, imperious theater critic Addison DeWitt, playwright Lloyd Richards and his wife Karen, producer Max Fabian and legendary actress Margo Channing watch as Eve Harrington is presented with the theater's most prestigious award. Karen recalls when Eve first entered their lives: On a rainy October night, Karen arrives at the theater where Margo is starring in Lloyd's play, and is approached by Eve, who has been to every performance. Touched by the young woman's devotion to Margo, Karen brings her backstage. In Margo's dressing room, Eve describes her childhood in the Midwest and her marriage to Eddie, an Air Force radio technician who was killed in the war. Eve explains that her life changed when she happened to see Margo in a play in San Francisco, and when the production moved to New York, Eve followed. Director Bill Sampson, Margo's younger boyfriend, comes to say goodbye before leaving for Hollywood to direct a film. Eve accompanies Margo and Bill to the airport, and so endears herself to them that Margo moves Eve into her guestroom. Eve quickly makes herself indispensable as Margo's assistant, to the displeasure of Margo's maid, retired vaudevillian Birdie Coonan. Their relationship becomes strained, however, when Eve arranges a homecoming birthday party for Bill without telling Margo. The night of the party, Margo and Bill quarrel about Eve, and he chides Margo for her jealousy and insecurity about her age. The tension between them escalates as the guests begin to arrive, and Margo gets drunk and grows maudlin. Max takes Margo aside and says he has foolishly agreed to audition Addison's date, the breath-taking Miss Casswell, and Margo promises to read with her. She then asks Max to give Eve a job in his office. Meanwhile, Eve tells Karen that she would like to replace Margo's pregnant understudy, and Karen promises to speak to Max. On the day of Miss Casswell's audition, Margo shows up late and encounters Addison in the lobby of the theater. Addison tells her that Miss Casswell already read with Margo's new understudy, Eve, adding that Eve performed brilliantly. Margo argues bitterly with Lloyd and accuses Bill of rehearsing Eve on the sly. When they are alone, Bill asks Margo to marry him, as he has many times before, and when she says no, he walks out. Lloyd goes home and raves to Karen about Eve's performance, and comments that he longs to see Margo put in her place. Recalling that they are scheduled to spend the weekend in the country with Margo, Karen comes up with an idea to teach Margo a lesson, and places a call to Eve. At the end of a tense weekend, Lloyd and Karen are driving Margo to the train station when the car suddenly runs out of gas. While Lloyd sets off to find help, Margo apologizes to Karen for her recent bad behavior and Karen looks guilt-stricken. Eve goes on in Margo's role that night, with Addison and several other critics in attendance, all of them invited that afternoon. After the show, Addison goes backstage and overhears Eve making a play for Bill in her dressing room. When Bill rejects her, Addison comes in and offers to help promote her career. The next day, Addison's column sings Eve's praises and makes snide remarks about "mature" actresses playing youthful roles. Bill returns to Margo's side to comfort her. Later, Lloyd tells Karen that he would like to put his next play into production right away, with Eve as "Cora," the role that was to have been Margo's. That night, after the show, Lloyd and Karen join Bill and Margo at the Cub Room, and Bill announces that he and Margo are engaged. The waiter brings an urgent note from Eve, asking Karen to meet her in the ladies' room. Eve asks for the lead in Lloyd's new play, adding that Addison will print the truth about Margo's missed performance if her demand is not met. Karen shakily returns to the table, only to hear Margo declare that she does not want to play "Cora." On the night of the play's New Haven opening, Eve tells Addison that Lloyd is going to leave Karen and marry her. To Eve's surprise, Addison coldly vetoes her plans, saying he has uncovered her scandalous past, and that Karen told him about Eve's attempt to blackmail her. Addison tells her that she belongs to him, and Eve wretchedly submits. Back at the awards banquet, Eve gives a humble acceptance speech and promises to return to the theater after her upcoming assignment in Hollywood. After the banquet, Eve is tired and depressed, and returns to her apartment, where she finds a young woman, Phoebe, waiting in her room. Phoebe says she is the president of one of Eve's fan clubs and took the subway from Brooklyn in the hope of meeting her idol. When the doorbell rings, an exhausted Eve asks Phoebe to take care of things. Phoebe opens the door to Addison, who has brought Eve's award, which was left in the taxi, and takes it into the bedroom. Fondling the award with a determined gleam in her eye, Phoebe tries on Eve's cape and stands before the mirror, posing and bowing.
Twenty-six year old Travis Bickle applies for a job as a New York City taxicab driver. The personnel officer drills Travis with questions, and warms to him when he realizes they both served in the Marines. After Travis expresses his willingness to drive long hours, any day, in any part of the city, he is hired. Travis later writes in his diary about the poor condition of the city, the disturbing people he sees, and his new job which pays him $300 to $350 per week. At work, he picks up an older man with a prostitute and complains afterward about cleaning bodily fluids off the backseat of the cab. After working twelve hour shifts, he complains that he cannot sleep and wants a purpose in life. One day, Travis sees a campaign worker named Betsy and describes his romantic impression of her in his diary. Inside headquarters for Senator Charles Palantine's presidential campaign, Betsy and her coworker, Tom, engage in friendly conversation while Travis watches from his parked cab. Betsy becomes aware of Travis; however, when Tom goes outside to confront him, he speeds away. Later, he sits with fellow cab drivers in an all-night cafeteria, and they discuss the various acts of violence they've encountered. Travis remains distant and glares at several African American men. Sometime later, Travis asks Betsy out for coffee, and she accepts. At a diner, Travis and Betsy discuss the campaign, and she offers her impression of Travis, comparing him to lines from a song by Kris Kristofferson. Travis promptly buys the record. One evening, Travis picks up Senator Palantine. Though ignorant about political issues, Travis suggests the candidate clean up the city and expresses his support of the senator's candidacy. Later, a twelve year-old prostitute, Iris, gets into Travis' cab. No sooner is she in the cab, when her pimp, Matthew, also known as "Sport," arrives and pulls her from the car. Travis takes Betsy to a pornographic movie on their next date. She becomes agitated, storms out of the theater, and hails a cab. After numerous attempts to send her flowers, Travis calls Betsy in an attempt to reconcile, but she has no interest. As time passes, Travis grows angrier. He rushes into Palantine's campaign office, yells at Betsy, and threatens her. One evening, a passenger instructs Travis to pull over so he can watch the shadow of a woman standing by a lit window in an apartment building. The passenger explains that she is his wife and is having an affair. He tells Travis he intends to kill her. Travis listens, occasionally glancing suspiciously at the passenger in the rearview mirror. Later, at the cafeteria, Travis confides to Wizard, an older driver, that he has been having destructive thoughts. Wizard tells Travis to stop worrying and promises he will be okay. One night, Travis almost hits Iris by accident. He follows her and a friend as they walk down the street, but the girls pick up two men on the corner. Travis discusses loneliness in his diary, and states that his life needs a change. He meets with Easy Andy who sells, among other things, guns. Travis purchases an assortment of firearms and, intent on getting into shape, begins working out, eating healthier, and taking target practice. At home, he practices pulling guns out of holsters and hiding a knife in his boot. One day, Travis attends a rally for Palantine where he talks with a secret service agent who appears suspicious of his behavior. As Travis walks away, agents try to snap a picture of him, but he disappears into the crowd. At night, Travis stops at a convenience store. When a young man holds up the cashier, Travis approaches from the back of the store and shoots the thief. He then panics because he doesn't have a gun permit, but the cashier promises to cover for him and sends him away. After he leaves, the cashier beats the unconscious criminal with a metal bar. Travis watches another campaign event from his cab, but police usher him away. At home, he writes to his parents, telling them he has a top-secret government job and a girlfriend named Betsy. He later approaches Iris and arranges a deal for her services with Sport. They go into a nearby apartment building where Iris' timekeeper charges Travis for a room and waits in the hallway. Inside the room, Iris seduces Travis, but he rejects her advances. He explains that he came because he wants to help her escape. The next day, they meet for breakfast at a diner. Travis tells Iris he may have to go away for work, and he wants to give her money so she can leave Sport and her life as a prostitute. In the evening, alone with Sport, Iris expresses her unhappiness, but he manipulates her into staying. After more target practice and preparation, Travis arrives at another rally, having shaved his hair into a Mohawk. Travis approaches Palantine, but, when he reaches into his coat, the secret service men see him and spring into action. Travis escapes to his apartment where he regroups and heads back out, this time to the apartment building where Sport operates. Travis shoots Sport and enters the nearby building where Iris sees clients. In the hallway, he shoots Iris' timekeeper. Having followed Travis inside, the wounded Sport shoots him in the neck, but Travis returns fire and kills the pimp. He makes his way to Iris' room as the timekeeper, still alive, comes after him. Travis is then shot by Iris' client, but he quickly fires back and kills the man. The timekeeper attacks Travis as he crashes into Iris' room. After a struggle, he stabs the timekeeper and shoots him in the head while Iris looks on, terrified. Travis attempts to shoot himself next, but the guns are out of bullets. He collapses on the couch moments before the police enter. In the days that follow, news reports praise Travis as a hero, and Iris' parents send him a thank you letter for bringing their daughter back to them. After recovering from the incident, Travis returns to work. One night, he picks up Betsy, and they awkwardly discuss Palantine's nomination victory and Travis' brush with fame. At her destination, Betsy gets out of the cab and Travis throws the meter, giving her a free ride.
Luke Jackson is arrested for unscrewing the tops from a row of parking meters while on a drunken spree in a small Southern town. After the trial, he is sentenced to 2 years of labor on a chain gang. A loner who maintains his aloofness even while working in the blazing sun, Luke soon antagonizes another prisoner, Dragline, the acknowledged leader of the chain gang. The tension between the two men mounts until they finally have a fight in which Dragline beats Luke but is unable to make him give up. Luke's skill at poker, plus his refusal to break under pressure from the sadistic guards, win him the respect of Dragline and the admiration of the other inmates. A short time after Luke receives a farewell visit from his dying mother, a telegram arrives informing him that she is dead. Unable to bear his confinement, Luke saws a hole in the floor under his bunk and escapes; but he is captured, brutally beaten, and put in ankle chains. Undaunted, he breaks out again but is recaptured. Every effort is made to break his will, and he is bludgeoned and overworked until he begs the guards for mercy. Upon seeing Luke betray the myth of the indomitable hero, the other men treat him with contempt. Then, without warning, he escapes in a dump truck, followed by Dragline. Taking refuge in a church, Luke sends Dragline away and attempts to settle his score with God. Partly out of love for Luke, partly out of fear for his own safety, Dragline returns with the guards. Rather than surrender, Luke stands before a window and shouts his defiance until he is silenced by a bullet. The hysterical Dragline is beaten into submission and then returns to the chain gang where he perpetuates the legend of Cool Hand Luke.
In 1968, while waiting for his next assignment during the Vietnam War, Army Captain Benjamin Willard gets drunk and wrecks his hotel room in Saigon, South Vietnam. Because of his experience with reconnaissance operations, Willard is soon escorted to COMSEC Intelligence and briefed on a priority, classified mission to terminate the command of Special Forces Colonel Walter E. Kurtz, a decorated and brilliant officer who has apparently gone insane and is wanted for the murder of South Vietnamese intelligence agents. The General and Colonel at COMSEC relay that Kurtz has deserted the military and crossed into Cambodia with his own army of Montagnard Indians who regard him as a god-like figure. Although privately ambivalent about assassinating a fellow American officer, Willard accepts the mission and boards a Navy patrol boat (PBR), commanded by Chief, that will ferry him up the Nung River towards Kurtz's outpost in Cambodia. Chief's three young crew members consist of a saucier from New Orleans, LA known as Chef; champion surfer Lance Johnson from Southern California; and Clean, a teenager from the Bronx, NY. Needing an escort into the mouth of the Nung, the PBR seeks the transport assistance of the First of the Ninth, an Air Cavalry division of fighter helicopters led by Lt Colonel Kilgore. When Willard and the crew reach the Air Cavalry, the division is busy finishing up a raid on a coastal village, but Kilgore, an avid surfing fan, stops immediately upon learning that the famous Lance Johnson is present. Motivated by the surfing possibilities, Kilgore plans to transfer the PBR and its crew to an access point near the river that promises great breaking waves, but also heavy enemy artillery. The next morning at dawn, the PBR is lifted out of the water, and Willard and the crew climb aboard Kilgore's helicopter for the ride to the mouth of the Nung. As the squadron assumes attack formation, their speakers blare Richard Wagner's opera music, Ride of the Valkyries. Landing on the beach amidst enemy mortar fire, Kilgore orders his men to "surf or fight," and, as warplanes bomb the nearby jungle, he remarks, "I love the smell of napalm in the morning." With their boat back on the water, Willard and the crew continue their journey toward Cambodia. Farther upriver, while the PBR is refueled at a supply station, the crew stays to watch a raucous U.S.O. show featuring Playboy playmates. When the boat trip resumes, Willard keeps to himself, avoiding the antics of the crew, who are often under the influence of drugs, and studies Kurtz's impressive dossier. While tracing Kurtz's deviation from the U.S. military, he also begins to admire the Colonel's nerve to become a Green Beret at the ripe age of thirty-eight and his execution of unauthorized operations. Willard reads letters that Kurtz wrote to his son describing the "unjustified" murder charges against him. Along the way, Chief decides to search a Vietnamese fishing boat for illegal trafficking of military supplies. In the confusion, a jittery Clean guns down the civilians on board, and Willard shoots a wounded woman dead, so as not to delay the mission. At the Do Luoug Bridge, the last Army outpost along the river, Willard is unable to locate a commanding officer in the mayhem of nighttime gunfire, but retrieves a mail shipment for the crew as well as ammunition before continuing upriver into Cambodia. The next morning while the crew is reading letters from home, the boat is attacked by artillery fire from the jungle, and Clean is shot dead. Later, they encounter a harmless barrage of toy arrows, but the crew is tense and begins firing into the trees. Suddenly, a spear pierces Chief and kills him. While Lance buries Chief, Willard reveals to Chef the actual purpose of his visit, to kill a deranged Green Beret colonel. Although angry about the absurdity of the mission, Chef agrees to accompany Willard to his destination. As the river leads them to the entrance of Kurtz's compound, the PBR navigates slowly through a grouping of Montagnard Indians in canoes and cautiously approaches the bank where dead bodies, severed heads and pagan idols are displayed. A fanatical American photojournalist, who is a devotee of Kurtz, greets them on the riverbank and cautions them that the Indians are very protective of Kurtz. Chef stays with the boat while Willard and Lance look around the area and track down the Colonel's location. Before leaving to meet him, Willard instructs Chef to radio for an air strike if he is not back by a certain hour. The Indians handcuff Willard and lead him inside a temple. In a darkened lair surrounded by armed bodyguards, the philosophical Kurtz interrogates Willard and acknowledges the assassination orders by ridiculing Willard as an "errand boy sent by grocery clerks." While Willard is held captive in a bamboo cage, the photojournalist tries to convince him that the "genius" Kurtz has plans for Willard, otherwise he would not be alive. With no sign of Willard, Chef radios for the air strike, but soon afterwards, Chef is decapitated, and Kurtz drops the severed head into Willard's lap. Eventually, Willard is carried back to the temple and offered food, water and his freedom. Over several days, Willard remains inside the temple close to Kurtz and listens as the Colonel reminisces and lectures on topics such as horror and judgment. In case he is killed, Kurtz wants his son to know the truth of what happened and asks Willard to tell him. Willard senses that Kurtz is ready to die and decides to complete his mission. One night, as the Indians engage in a ritual slaughtering of a water buffalo, Willard covers his face in war paint and attacks Kurtz with a machete. Dying, Kurtz whispers his final words, "the horror, the horror." As Willard descends the stairs of the temple, he throws down the machete and in turn, the crowd of Indians lay down their weapons as he passes by them. Grabbing Lance's hand, Willard leads him back to the boat, and the two soldiers pull away from the compound.
Harvard University student and hockey player Oliver Barrett IV visits the Radcliffe College library and meets music major Jenny Cavilleri, who works there to help pay tuition. Despite the fact that he is from a distinguished, wealthy Boston, Massachusetts, family and she is the daughter of a poor Italian baker from Rhode Island, they are attracted to each other. After several months together, Jenny tells Oliver that she has received a scholarship to study music in Paris, France; instead of pursuing her studies, however, she accepts Oliver's proposal of marriage. Although they receive her father's blessings, Oliver's father threatens to disinherit him. Nevertheless, the young couple is married in a simple ceremony. After graduation, Oliver applies for a grant to law school, but the dean refuses to accept his financial separation from his father as evidence of his need for the money. To meet the costs of school and rent, they move into a poor section of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Jenny goes to work as a schoolteacher. When Oliver finally completes law school, they move to New York City, where he enters a prestigious law firm, and they happily plan a family. One day, Oliver is called into the office of Jenny's doctor, who tells him that Jenny is dying. Shocked and heartbroken, Oliver tries to hide the truth until he finds that Jenny already knows. The couple faces the inevitable prospect of death. Because he needs a great deal of money for medical expenses, Oliver visits his father and borrows $5,000, although he does not explain the reason for the loan or apologize for not communicating with him. Soon, Jenny is in the hospital, and dies in Oliver's arms. As Oliver leaves, his father arrives to console him, but Oliver rejects the reconciliation, walks to Central Park, and there recalls his brief life with Jenny.
At the Spade and Archer detective agency in San Francisco, Samuel Spade is interviewed by the beautiful Miss Wonderly, who wishes to hire him to find her runaway sister. Sam's partner, Miles Archer, agrees to be present when Wonderly meets Floyd Thursby, her sister's seducer, and then follow him to his hotel in hopes of finding the missing girl. Later that night, Sam learns that Miles has been shot. He calls Wonderly and learns that she has checked out of her hotel. Then Thursby is found with four bullet holes in his back and Sam is visited by Lt. Dundy and Detective Tom Polhaus, two policemen, who suspect him of murdering Thursby out of revenge for Miles's death. The following morning, Wonderly summons Sam to her new address, where she confesses that her real name is Brigid O'Shaughnessy and that the story she related the day before was completely false. Despite his doubts that she has told him the whole truth, Sam accepts her as his client. The announcement of Thursby's death draws an inquiry from a mysterious little man named Joel Cairo, who tells Sam that he is trying to recover a statue of a black falcon. When Sam denies any knowledge of the statue, Cairo pulls a gun and demands to search the office. Sam disarms Cairo, who offers the detective $5,000 to find the bird. Sam accepts the offer, and Cairo once again holds Sam at gunpoint while he searches the office. When Brigid learns of Cairo's visit, she asks Sam to set up a meeting with him and tells Cairo that she doesn't have the statue, but will in a few days. Their meeting is interrupted by the police, who have been sent by Miles's widow Iva, who is jealous because she and Sam had been having an affair. The police now begin to suspect Sam of Miles's murder, but he spins a complicated story to stop the police from arresting the three of them for questioning. Kasper Gutman, known as "The Fat Man," is also interested in the statue and summons Sam, but when Gutman refuses to explain his interests, Sam storms out. Later, Wilmer Cook, Gutman's gunman, brings Sam back to Gutman's apartment. Gutman tells Sam that after the Crusades, Charles V of Spain presented the Knights Templar with the island of Malta, requiring only the tribute of a falcon every year. The statue everyone wants is a golden, jewel-encrusted replica of a falcon that was stolen by pirates and afterward disappeared for centuries. After it reappeared in Greece, Gutman planned to buy it, but it was again stolen and he has been following its trail ever since. He offers Sam $50,000 to find it, but before Sam can accept, he passes out from doctored drinks. When he comes to, he searches the room and finds a paper announcing the arrival of a ship from Hong Kong, but at the docks, Sam finds the ship on fire. He returns to his office, where a dying man stumbles in with a package. The man is Jacoby, the captain of the Hong Kong ship, and the package contains the statue. A phone call from Brigid takes Sam on a wild goose chase, but first he checks the package and mails the claim check to himself. When Sam finally returns home, Brigid, Gutman, Cairo and Wilmer are waiting. Sam agrees to turn over the bird if Gutman will allow Wilmer to take the blame for the three murders. When Effie arrives with the package, however, it is quickly discovered that the bird is a fake. In the confusion, Wilmer escapes. After Gutman and Cairo leave, Sam calls the police and turns them all in. Brigid admits that she shot Miles, hoping to implicate Thursby. Even though he is fascinated by her dangerous beauty, Sam turns Brigid in for the murder of his partner.
On a late autumn night, a spaceship filled with foliage and fungi sits among the trees of a quiet forest. Small, squat alien creatures wander near the ship observing plants on Earth until their chests illuminate red. One alien wanders off alone, looking at the city lights below, when a brigade of trucks parks nearby and humans begin to inspect the area with flashlights. The extra-terrestrial's chest glows red, attracting the attention of the humans, and the creature runs screeching back toward its spaceship. However, the aircraft's ramp closes and the ship launches into the sky, leaving the alien behind. Meanwhile, as a group of boys play games in a suburban home, Michael instructs his younger brother, Elliott, to retrieve pizzas from the deliveryman. While outside, Elliott hears a rustling in the illuminated shed behind the house. Believing the noise to be coming from the dog, Harvey, the boy tosses a baseball inside the shed, but the ball is thrown back to him. Elliott leads the other boys and his mother, Mary, outside to show them the strange occurrence. There, they find unusual footprints, which they assume were made by coyotes. After everyone has gone to sleep, Elliott inspects the yard and nearby cornfield with a flashlight. He follows a pair of tracks into the dirt and encounters the wrinkly, blue-eyed extra-terrestrial, which screams and runs away. The next morning, Elliott rides his bicycle into the park, dropping a trail of Reese's Pieces candies behind him, but quickly returns home when he notices a man inspecting the area. During dinner, the boy insists that the alien he saw was real, despite the skepticism from his mother, brother, and younger sister, Gertie. When Elliott mentions that his absent father is in Mexico with a woman named Sally, his mother begins to cry and leaves the room. That night, Elliott sits outside on a lawn chair and the alien approaches him, dropping a handful of Reese's Pieces at his feet. Elliott uses more of the sweets to lure the creature into his bedroom, where the alien mimics Elliott's movements and watches the boy as he falls asleep. Elsewhere, a group of men use radar equipment to search the forest and find a cluster of the forgotten candies. The next day, Elliott feigns illness so he can stay home while his mother goes to work and his siblings attend school. The boy speaks to the alien and shows it his belongings. Once he retrieves food from the kitchen, Elliott draws a bath and speaks to his mother on the telephone while the alien swims in the water. After school, Elliott shows the creature to Michael and Gertie, who yell in alarm, but agree to keep the creature a secret from their mother. The alien uses its powers to levitate balls of clay into the air, mimicking the orbit of planets in the solar system, and revive a wilted flower. Although amazed, Elliott becomes concerned about beeping noises and voices of the scientists nearing the house. After Elliott and Michael leave for school, Mary hears shuffling in Elliott's closet, but the alien hides itself among the children's stuffed animals. While Elliott attends a dissection lesson in biology class, the creature drinks beer from the refrigerator at home. As the alcohol takes effect in the alien's body, their telepathic connection causes Elliott to simultaneously become intoxicated and slide out of his chair. Meanwhile, the alien reads a newspaper comic depicting spacemen attempting to contact their home planet, and watches television programs featuring flying spaceships and people using telephones. In class, Elliott frees the frogs from their jars before their classmates can dissect them. As the alien watches John Wayne kiss Maureen O'Hara in The Quiet Man, Elliott grabs his classmate and kisses her, prompting a teacher to drag him away. The alien then dismantles a Speak & Spell toy and carries various household items upstairs to the closet. Later, Gertie attempts to show the creature to her mother, but Mary is distracted putting away groceries and does not notice that it has begun to mimic the girl's educational television program. She then receives a telephone call from the school and leaves to pick up Elliott. When the boy returns home, he finds that Gertie has dressed the alien in a dress and wig, and that the creature can now speak. Elliott calls the creature "E.T.," and E.T. uses signals and its limited vocabulary to tell the children that it wishes to "phone home." That night, a man drives by the house in a van and eavesdrops on Elliott and Michael rummaging through the garage for equipment to build a radar machine. On Halloween, Elliott reminds Gertie to meet him at "the lookout" point later that evening, and covers E.T. in a sheet, pretending it is his sister dressed as a ghost. He and Michael lead E.T. up the hill to meet Gertie with his bicycle, and Elliott rides into the woods with E.T. in the front basket. After nightfall, E.T. levitates the bike into the air and they ride through the sky. Elliott then helps E.T. construct a device that will send a signal to the alien's home planet. When the children do not return home that night, Mary leaves to search for them, and a group of suited men enter the house. She finds Gertie and Michael on the streets, who inform her that Elliott is in the forest. Meanwhile, the wind pushes the gears on the machine, emitting a code out into space. Upset by the thought of E.T. leaving, Elliott cries and falls asleep among the trees. The next morning, Mary reports Elliott's disappearance to a police officer, but the boy returns home, ill and alone. Michael finds E.T., white and sickly, lying in a stream. When he brings the dying creature home and shows it to Mary, she attempts to take the children away. However, a team of scientists dressed in spacesuits enter the house and cover the premises in protective quarantine barriers. While scientists run medical tests on E.T. and Elliott and asks the family questions, Michael informs them that his brother is able to telepathically sense E.T.'s feelings, and one man tells Elliott he is glad that he found E.T. before they did. As Elliott regains strength through the night, E.T. fades, and the alien's heart eventually stops. Despite the scientists' efforts to resuscitate the creature, E.T. dies, and they pack its body in a nitrogen chamber. As Elliott says goodbye, E.T.'s chest glows red, and a nearby pot of wilting flowers blooms again. E.T. repeats "E.T. phone home," prompting Elliott to realize that the alien's companions are returning. Elliott loudly weeps to distract the doctors from noticing that E.T. is still alive, and later Mike steals a medical van, with Elliott and E.T. hiding in back. He instructs his friends to meet them at the top of the hill as Mary and Gertie chase after them in the car, the scientists trailing behind. The boys ride their bicycles through the neighborhood with E.T. perched in Elliott's basket, lifting them into the air to evade the police. As they reach the forest, E.T.'s spaceship lands in the clearing, and Mary arrives with Gertie. The girl gives E.T. a flower pot, and the alien tells her to "be good." Elliott asks his friend to stay, but E.T. hugs the boy goodbye, assuring him, "I'll be right here," before walking up the ramp. The spaceship flies away, leaving behind a rainbow in the sky.
In Sparta, Mississippi, one hot September night, the murdered body of wealthy industrialist Philip Colbert is found in an alley. Hunting for suspects, the police pick up Virgil Tibbs, a well-dressed black man, and bring him to headquarters for questioning. To the consternation of police chief Bill Gillespie, Tibbs turns out to be a top homicide detective from Philadelphia, who has been in town visiting his mother. Ordered by his superior in Philadelphia to assist with the case, Tibbs conducts the postmortem examination and thus displays his superior knowledge of criminology. Though enraged, Gillespie reluctantly acquiesces in Tibbs's findings. As the investigation gets underway, Gillespie accuses young Harvey Oberst of the murder when he catches him with the dead man's wallet, but Tibbs quickly proves that Oberst stole the wallet after he found the body. Tibbs, for his part, is so determined to establish the guilt of Eric Endicott, an influential but insolent and bigoted conservative who opposed Colbert's progressive plans for a modern factory, that he too makes a false accusation. Gradually, as Tibbs and Gillespie combine their efforts, a grudging tolerance develops between them. After Gillespie has wrongly charged his own deputy, Sam Wood, with the murder, the local tease, Delores Purdy, is dragged into the police station by her brother, who claims that she is pregnant by Wood. Upon learning about an abortionist called Mama Caleba, Tibbs visits the woman and is still with her when Delores arrives, accompanied by the actual father of her child, diner counterman Ralph Henshaw. Tibbs confronts him, and Henshaw confesses that he murdered Colbert to obtain the money for Delores' abortion. With the case closed, Gillespie drives Tibbs to the railway depot. The two men shake hands in acknowledgment of the mutual respect that has grown between them.
Seventy-year-old newspaper tycoon Charles Foster Kane dies in his palatial Florida home, Xanadu, after uttering the single word "Rosebud." While watching a newsreel summarizing the years during which Kane built a dying newspaper into a major empire, married and divorced twice, ran unsuccessfully for governor and saw the collapse of his newspaper empire during the Depression, an editor decides they have not captured the essence of the controversial newspaperman and assigns reporter Jerry Thompson to discover the meaning of Kane's last word.
Thompson first approaches Kane's second wife, singer Susan Alexander, in the Atlantic City nightclub where she now performs. After the drunken Susan orders Thompson to leave, the accommodating bartender reports her claim that she had never heard of Rosebud. Next, Thompson reads the unpublished memoirs of Wall Street financier Walter Parks Thatcher, Kane's guardian and trustee of the mining fortune left to Kane by his mother: Thatcher first meets young Kane in 1871 at his mother's Colorado boardinghouse. Learning that she has become wealthy from mining shares left her by a former boarder, she is determined that her son will be reared and educated in the East. As young Charlie plays outside with his sled, Mrs. Kane hands over management of the mine's returns to Thatcher, against her husband's wishes, then grants the financier guardianship over her son. Despite the boy's protests, he is sent away to live with Thatcher. When Kane turns twenty-five, he assumes control of the world's sixth largest private fortune, and while professing disinterest in most of his holdings, writes Thatcher that he intends to run The Inquirer, a small, New York newspaper acquired through a foreclosure. He moves into the paper's offices and with the help of his best friend, Jedidiah Leland, who acts as the drama critic, turns it into a lively, muckraking publication, which attacks slum landlords, swindlers and big business. In 1898, The Inquirer attempts to draw the United States into war with Spain. After the 1929 stock market crash, Kane relinquishes control of his empire to Thatcher's syndicate. Thompson finishes his reading of Thatcher's memoir without learning anything about Rosebud.
Thompson next questions Bernstein, formerly Kane's general editor and now chairman of the board. Bernstein describes the early days of Kane's tenure at The Inquirer: After Kane and Leland take over the publication in 1892, Kane prints a declaration of principles--that he will report the news honestly and will make the paper a champion of his readers' rights as citizens and as human beings. Leland senses the document's importance and keeps the handwritten declaration as a memorial. Six years later, when Kane acquires the top reporters from the rival paper, whose circulation The Inquirer has surpassed, Leland worries that Kane's approach to the news will also resemble his rival's. During this period, Kane begins to collect the European statues and furniture that will later crowd the rooms of Xanadu. On one European trip, Kane meets and becomes engaged to Emily Monroe Norton, the President's niece, whom he marries in 1900. After relating these events, Bernstein suggests that Rosebud was probably something that Kane lost, perhaps a woman.
Taking Bernstein's advice, Thompson visits Leland, a self-described "disagreeable old man," in the hospital where he is living out his old age. Leland claims Kane believed in nothing except himself, but suggests that Kane's story is about how he lost love because he had none to give: As Kane's empire expands, his marriage to Emily deteriorates. One night in 1915, Kane encounters Susan as she is leaving a pharmacy after purchasing a toothache remedy. Susan innocently offers to let Kane, who has been spattered by mud from a passing carriage, use her apartment to clean up. Kane is at ease with Susan, who has no idea of his importance, and when he learns that her mother wanted her to become an opera singer, requests that she sing for him. In 1916, Kane runs for governor against corrupt political boss Jim Gettys. After a successful campaign speech, Emily sends their son home alone and asks Kane to accompany her to Susan's boardinghouse, where they find Gettys with Susan. Gettys admits that he forced Susan to contact Emily and tells Kane that he will reveal their relationship unless he withdraws from the campaign. Despite the hurt that scandal will bring to his family and Susan, Kane refuses, convinced that he has the love of the electorate. He is mistaken, however, and loses the race. Leland accuses Kane of treating "the people" as if he owned them and asks to be transferred to The Inquirer's Chicago branch. After Emily divorces him, Kane marries Susan and in 1919, builds the Chicago Opera House for her. Susan's voice is very poor, however, and her debut is met with ridicule, except by The Inquirer critics. When Kane finds Leland slumped over his typewriter in a drunken stupor after beginning an unfavorable review of Susan's performance, he finishes the notice himself, retaining the negative viewpoint, but then fires his old friend.
Thompson now returns to Atlantic City to question Susan again. She insists that it was Kane's idea that she have an operatic career and describes their tempestuous life together: During a noisy quarrel with Susan, Kane receives a special delivery from Leland, returning the $25,000 check Kane sent after firing him and including the handwritten copy of the declaration of principles, which Kane burns. When Susan begs to quit, Kane insists that he will be humiliated if she leaves the stage, and forces her to continue singing until she attempts suicide. Later, they retire to Xanadu, where a bored Susan spends her days working jigsaw puzzles. Finally fed up with his overbearing attempts to orchestrate her life, Susan reproaches Kane for trying to buy her affections with jewels and other material things. He slaps her in anger, and she leaves him. Her story finished, Susan sends Thompson to talk to Raymond, the butler at Xanadu. Thompson confesses to Susan that he feels sorry for Kane, and Susan admits that she does, too.
At Xanadu, Raymond agrees to speak with Thompson for a price, then relates the events following Susan's departure: The furious Kane tears apart Susan's room, until he comes across a small glass snow globe with a tiny cabin inside. Kane picks it up, murmurs "Rosebud" and leaves the room, seemingly unaware of the servants who surround him. Still as ignorant of the significance of Kane's dying word as when he started, Thompson prepares to leave Xanadu with the other reporters and photographers. Passing through rooms where Kane's possessions are being inventoried and crated, Thompson is now convinced that even if he had learned the meaning of Rosebud, it would not have explained the man. Unnoticed among the boxes and crates is an old child's sled. As a workman throws the sled into a furnace, the word Rosebud, painted across the top, is consumed by the flames.
Ruthless killer Cody Jarrett and his gang rob a train in California. During the robbery, Cody kills the engineers, and as one of the bodies falls, it activates a steam valve, badly scalding gangster Zuckie Hommell. Together with Cody's mother and his sexy, double-dealing wife Verna, the gang hides out in the mountains. Ma lovingly fosters Cody's criminal career and is the only one who can ease the blinding headaches that periodically immobilize him. She is his ally against Big Ed Somers, who is waiting for a chance to take over the gang and get Verna for himself. Cody decides to take advantage of an approaching storm to leave the hideout. After promising to send a doctor back for Zuckie, Cody surreptitiously orders gang member Cotton Valleti to kill him. Cotton only pretends to do the deed, however, and leaves a pack of cigarettes behind with his friend. The later discovery of Zuckie's scalded and frozen body, together with Cotton's prints on the cigarette pack, provide the Treasury Department with enough clues to link the train robbery to Cody's gang. Treasury agents, led by Philip Evans, come close to catching Cody, but thanks to Ma's warning, the gang escapes. Cody now creates an alibi for the murderous train robbery, a federal offense, by confessing to a robbery in Illinois that took place at the same time. Although Evans is aware that Cody is lying, he cannot prove it, so he sends for undercover agent Hank Fallon. Under the name Vic Pardo, Hank is sent to jail, where he plans to get close to Cody. Meanwhile, Big Ed takes advantage of Cody's absence to take over the gang. At the prison, Hank saves Cody's life when Roy Parker, one of Big Ed's associates, tries to kill him. After she hears about the attempt, Ma reassures Cody that she will take care of Big Ed. Cody begs her not to try, and his fears for her safety bring on a headache. Hank helps Cody, the way Ma did, and that night Cody reveals that he plans to escape. Hank conveys the escape plans to an agent who is posing as his wife, but on the day of the break, a newly arrived inmate reveals that Ma is dead. Cody goes berserk in the prison mess hall and is taken to the dispensary. There, he uses a smuggled gun to take the doctor hostage and, together with Hank, Parker and two other convicts, makes his escape. Outside, Cody kills Parker and then heads for Bakersfield to avenge Ma's death. When Verna learns of Cody's escape, she tries to sneak away, but Cody is waiting for her. Although Verna killed Ma, she tells Cody that Big Ed shot her in the back and offers to show him how to sneak past Big Ed's defenses. Cody kills Big Ed and then he, Verna and Hank join the rest of the gang. Copying the gimmick of the Trojan Horse, Cody plans to rob a payroll by sneaking the gang into a company inside an oil tanker. Meanwhile, Hank tries to tip off the police. While pretending to fix Verna's radio, he rigs up a signal that will locate the truck for the agents and then leaves a message on a gas station washroom mirror. The police track the truck to an oil plant in San Pedro and surround the area. Cotton spots them at the same time that one of the gang recognizes Hank as an agent. Cody then takes Hank hostage, but he escapes when the police throw tear gas into the plant. During the ensuing gunfight, all the gangsters are killed except Cody, who climbs to the top of an oil tank. Now completely insane, Cody yells, "Made it Ma, top of the world!" before exploding the tank with his bullets.
On 27 September 1975, Max Schumacher, the head of the United Broadcasting System's (UBS) television news department, fires veteran newscaster and old friend Howard Beale because of his low ratings. To commiserate, Max drinks with Howard at a couple of New York City bars, and toward the end of the night, Howard drunkenly suggests that shooting himself during his broadcast might improve ratings. The equally inebriated Max jokingly adds that real-life murder and mayhem might improve the entire network's ratings. The next evening, during his broadcast, Howard announces his upcoming retirement, and since he has nothing else in his life, he will "blow his brains out" on next Tuesday's show. The comment creates a media flurry, and UBS executive Frank Hackett takes Howard off the air. The next day, Howard calls Max to apologize and ask if he can return to his show that night to say goodbye. Later, Los Angeles, California, news liaison Bill Herron shows Max and Diana Christensen, the head of UBS programming, film footage of a bank robbery taken by an African American revolutionary group, the Ecumenical Liberation Army (ELA). Herron tells them that his contact, Laureen Hobbs, a black U.S. Communist Party official, is in communication with the ELA and can supply the network with more crime footage. Though Max sees no news value in the film, Diana thinks UBS could build a new "movie of the week" around the ELA by mixing its anti-establishment crime footage with scripted stories. At a UBS stockholders' meeting, Hackett announces plans to end the independent news division's autonomy because it loses money. Discovering that his authority has been undermined, Max is outraged, and believes that Hackett purposely humiliated him. On Wednesday evening, Howard broadcasts his final show. He apologizes to his audience for his threatened suicide, and explains that he had no other recourse. Howard repeats a vulgarity several times, but Max refuses the producer's request to take his friend off the air, even though sixty-seven million people are watching the incident on live television. UBS chairman Ed Ruddy asks for Max's resignation, Howard Beale becomes a media sensation, and his rant is headlined on the front page of New York City's biggest newspapers. Calling Howard a "latter day prophet denouncing the hypocracies of our time," Diana tells Hackett she wants to put Howard back on the air, because his show rose five rating points in one night and will jump another fifteen points if he returns. She promises to make the news show a hit, and Hackett and Ruddy agree. Max is permitted to stay with UBS, and Howard's ratings go up for the next few days. When public interest begins to wane, Diana demands that Howard act more extreme. She also adds new elements to the program, including a psychic and a gossip columnist. To solidify her authority over the enterprise, Diana seduces Max. The following night, Howard tells his audience that a voice woke him up that morning and told him to report the truth. Sleeping at Max's apartment to avoid the press, Howard awakens the following morning, puts on his raincoat, and spends the day walking in the rain. When Max tells Hackett he wants to take Howard off the air because he is having an emotional breakdown, Hackett fires Max. Only minutes before Howard's show begins that evening, he walks into UBS from the rain, still dressed in his pajamas, and complains to his television audience about the ills of society. He tells them to get out of their chairs, stick their heads out their windows, and yell, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore!" Diana receives calls from UBS affiliates around the country, reporting that people are screaming out their windows. At Max's New York apartment, his daughter opens a window and watches hundreds of neighbors shouting Howard's new catchphrase. Billed as "the mad prophet of the airwaves," Howard skyrockets in the ratings. Diana travels to Los Angeles to talk with Laureen Hobbs about setting up the ELA's "political terrorism" program, called The Mao Tse Tung Hour, even though the ELA is wanted by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Later, Howard tells his audience that UBS chairman Ed Ruddy has died and now the network's owner, a conglomerate called Communication Corporation of America (CCA), will control the news content. Since few Americans read or think for themselves, and television is their only "truth," they must save themselves by turning off their television sets. After Ruddy's funeral, Max and Diana rekindle their relationship and vacation in New England for a weekend, while Max's wife, Louise Schumacher, is out of town. Diana talks incessantly about rating shares and television business, even during sex, but despite his disapproval of Diana's worldview, Max remains infatuated. When Max confesses the affair to his wife, she asks him to leave their apartment and he moves in with Diana. At the UBS affiliates convention in Los Angeles, Diana rouses the audience with the network's new ratings, while Hackett is called away from the banquet to answer a phone call from CCA CEO Arthur Jensen's office. Hackett is told to turn on a television set and watch Howard Beale inveighing against a consortium of banks that is buying CCA, and therefore UBS, for Saudi Arabian interests. Howard tells his audience to contact the White House and stop the deal. Informed that the East Coast broadcast alone has already flooded the U.S. President with telegrams, Hackett is ordered to return to New York City and have Howard Beale in Arthur Jensen's office at 10 a.m. When they arrive, Jensen takes Howard into a private boardroom, berates him for wrecking the Saudi deal, and explains that corporations, not nations, run the world. Jensen wants Howard to preach this new message to his audience. When Howard returns to the air, he stops complaining about corporate greed and national ills. His ratings plummet. Diana wants to replace Howard, but Jensen demands that he stay on the air regardless of ratings. Realizing that Diana represents the madness that has taken over modern media, Max leaves her, hoping his wife may take him back. Diana and Hackett save their ratings by hiring the ELA to assassinate Howard during his television show.
During World War II, Casablanca, Morocco is a waiting point for throngs of desperate refugees fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe. Exit visas, which are necessary to leave the country, are at a premium, so when two German couriers carrying letters of transit signed by General DeGaulle are murdered and the letters stolen, German Major Strasser and Louis Renault, the prefecture of police, are eager to find the documents. Strasser is particularly concerned that the letters not be sold to Victor Lazlo, the well-known Czech resistance leader, who is rumored to be on his way to Casablanca. That night, Renault and Strasser search for the killer at Rick's Café Americain, a popular nightclub run by the mysterious American expatriate Richard Blaine. Earlier, Ugarte, a shady dealer in exit visas, had asked Rick to hold the stolen letters temporarily, explaining that he has a buyer for them and with the money from their sale, he plans to leave Casablanca. Although Rick fought on the side of the loyalists in Spain, he has grown cynical, and when Renault advises him not to interfere with Ugarte's arrest, Rick replies "I stick my neck out for nobody." He makes a bet with Renault, however, that Lazlo will manage to leave Casablanca despite German efforts to stop him. After Ugarte is arrested, Lazlo and his companion, Ilsa Lund, arrive at Rick's. Ilsa recognizes Sam, the piano player, and while Lazlo makes covert contact with the underground, Ilsa insists that Sam play the song "As Time Goes By." Reluctantly, Sam agrees, and a furious Rick, who had ordered him never to play the song again, emerges from his office to stop him. Rick is taken aback when he sees Ilsa, whom he knew in Paris. Later, after the café is closed, Rick remembers his love affair with Ilsa: After a brief happy time together, the Nazis invade Paris and, worried that Rick will be in danger because of his record, Ilsa advises him to leave the city. He refuses to go without her, and she agrees to meet him at the train station. Instead of coming, though, she sends him a farewell note, and Sam and Rick leave just ahead of the Nazis. Rick's thoughts return to the present with Ilsa's arrival at the café. She tries to explain her actions, but when a drunken Rick accuses her of being a tramp, she walks out. The following day, Lazlo and Ilsa meet with Renault and, there they learn that Ugarte has been killed while in police custody. After Rick helps a young Romanian couple win enough money at roulette to allow them to leave the country, Lazlo, suspecting that Rick has the letters, asks to buy them. Rick refuses and, when Lazlo asks his reasons, suggests that he ask Ilsa. Angered when Rick allows his orchestra to accompany a rousing rendition of "La Marseillaise," Strasser orders the closing of the Café. That night, while Lazlo attends an underground meeting, Ilsa meets Rick and explains that she stayed behind in Paris because, on the day Rick left Paris she had learned that Lazlo, her husband, whom she had married in secret and thought dead, was alive. Now realizing that they still love each other, Ilsa tells Rick that he must made decisions for both of them. Meanwhile, the police break up the underground meeting, and Lazlo takes refuge at Rick's. Before he is arrested, he begs Rick to use the letters to take Ilsa away from Casablanca. The next day, Rick sells the café to his competitor Ferare, the owner of the Blue Parrot, and tricks Renault into releasing Lazlo from prison. They head for the airport, but Renault has managed to alert Strasser, who hurries after them. At the airport, Rick tells Ilsa, who thought that she would be staying with him, that she is to leave with Lazlo because she gives meaning to his work. He then tells Lazlo that he and Ilsa loved each other in Paris, and that she pretended she was still in love with him in order to get the letters. Lazlo, who understands what really happened, welcomes Rick back to the fight before he and Ilsa board the plane. Strasser arrives just as the airplane is about to take off and when he tries to delay the flight, Rick shoots him. Renault then quickly telephones the police, but instead of turning in Rick, he advises them to "round up the usual suspects," and the two men leave Casablanca for the Free French garrison at Brassaville. It is, Rick says, "the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
Clarice Starling, a top student at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Academy in Quantico, Virginia, is summoned by Jack Crawford of the FBI's Behavioral Science Services Department to partake in a special assignment. Crawford tells Clarice, a former student of his at the University of Virginia, that the FBI is collecting data on all imprisoned serial killers, but thus far, they have had no luck with Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a psychiatrist who ate his murder victims, earning the nickname "Hannibal the Cannibal." Clarice suspects the assignment is related to an ongoing investigation of "Buffalo Bill," a wanted serial killer who skins his female victims, but Crawford denies it. In Maryland, at the Baltimore State Forensic Hospital headed by the self-important Dr. Frederick Chilton, Clarice is warned upon arrival that Dr. Hannibal Lecter is a "pure psychopath." Eyeing her lasciviously, Dr. Chilton suggests Jack Crawford is attempting to manipulate Lecter by sending an attractive woman to question him. Clarice is led to a maximum-security corridor in the basement, where Lecter is being held in a glassed-in cell. Clarice introduces herself, and Lecter sniffs the air, guessing the type of lotion and perfume she uses. He attempts to psychoanalyze Clarice, guessing by her accent and clothing that she is from West Virginia and only one generation removed from "poor white trash." When she asks him to fill out an FBI questionnaire, he loses patience with her and sends her away. Clarice walks past a neighboring cell, where a prisoner named Miggs masturbates and throws semen in her face. Lecter overhears and calls Clarice back. Apologizing for Miggs's rudeness, he offers Clarice a clue, urging her, "Look deep within yourself." He also instructs her to look up his former client, Miss Moffet. Later, Jack Crawford tells Clarice that Lecter retaliated against Miggs by verbally tormenting him until he swallowed his own tongue. Based on Lecter's clue, Clarice finds a business called Your Self Storage, where a storage unit has been rented for the past ten years under the name Hester Moffet. There, Clarice discovers a transvestite's disembodied head inside a jar. She returns to the Baltimore State Forensic Hospital and questions Lecter again, pointing out that the name "Hester Moffet" is an anagram for "the rest of me." Lecter identifies the disembodied head as belonging to Benjamin Raspail, a former client; however, he denies killing the man, and reveals that Raspail was the victim of a fledgling killer interested in transformation. Clarice guesses the killer could be Buffalo Bill and presses for more information, but Lecter demands to be transferred to a new hospital and given a cell with a view. In exchange, he offers a complete psychological profile on Buffalo Bill. Meanwhile, in Memphis, Tennessee, Buffalo Bill kidnaps Catherine Martin, the daughter of U.S. Senator Ruth Martin. When the body of another victim is found in Clay County, West Virginia, Jack Crawford takes Clarice with him to view it. On the way there, they examine photographs of Buffalo Bill's former victims, all overweight young women missing large swaths of skin. At a funeral home, Clarice discovers a cocoon lodged in the victim's throat. The cocoon is found to be a Death's Head Moth, a rare insect indigenous to Asia. Clarice visits Lecter again, and offers him a transfer to a Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital in upstate New York and a yearly vacation at Plum Island, but only if he helps the FBI find Buffalo Bill in time to save Catherine Martin. She gives Lecter a case file, and he agrees to help in exchange for personal information about Clarice. She confesses that her mother died very young, and her father, a policeman, was killed in the line of duty when she was ten years old, leaving her orphaned. She went to live with relatives on a farm in Montana, although she ran away after two months. Turning the conversation back to Buffalo Bill, Clarice asks about the significance of the moth, which was found in Benjamin Raspail's head as well as the latest victim's, and Lecter says it is a symbol of change. Although Buffalo Bill is not a transsexual, he says it is one of many identities the killer has tried on in an effort to escape his own terrifying pathology. Meanwhile, at Buffalo Bill's house, Catherine Martin is held at the bottom of a well in the basement. Referring to her as "it," Buffalo Bill sends lotion down the well and forces her to rub it on her skin. Catherine cries and begs to see her mother, then screams in terror when she sees a fingernail embedded in the well wall. Later, Dr. Frederick Chilton visits Lecter, who is restrained inside his cell. Chilton reclines on Lecter's bed and informs him that the deal Clarice offered was bogus. Unwittingly leaving his pen behind on the bed, Chilton claims he made a legitimate deal with Senator Ruth Martin, who has offered Lecter a transfer to a Tennessee prison. Soon, Lecter is strapped to an upright stretcher, restrained with a face mask, and flown to Memphis, where he meets Ruth Martin at the airport. He informs the senator that the killer is "Louis Friend," a former lover of Benjamin Raspail. He also gives a physical description, then insults Martin by asking her if she breastfed Catherine and suggesting her nipples must tingle when her daughter is in peril. Clarice goes to the Memphis building where Lecter is being held overnight in a makeshift cell. She accuses him of using another anagram with Louis Friend, which stands for Iron Sulfide, also known as "Fool's Gold." She begs him to give her the killer's real name, but he insists Clarice has everything she needs to know in the case file. He presses her for more personal information, and she reveals the reason she ran away from the farm in Montana: One night, she woke to a frightening noise and discovered lambs being slaughtered in the barn; she tried to save them and was sent to an orphanage as punishment. In turn, Lecter describes Buffalo Bill as someone driven by a covetous nature, and explains that a person begins to covet what he or she sees every day. Later, Lecter uses the pen Dr. Chilton dropped in his cell to break free from handcuffs and attack two police guards, Lieutenant Boyle and Sergeant Pembry, murdering them and posing as a wounded Pembry to escape the building. Back in Quantico, Clarice finds Lecter's notations on a map of locations where the victims' bodies were found, describing the spots as "desperately random." Clarice recalls what he said about coveting and deduces that Buffalo Bill must have known his first victim, Fredrica Bimmel. She goes to Bimmel's home in Belvedere, Ohio, and discovers that the girl was a seamstress. She reasons that Buffalo Bill must also be a tailor creating a dress made of women's skin. She calls Crawford to share her theory, but he responds that the FBI has already identified Buffalo Bill, who goes by the names Jame Gumb and John Grant, and they are on their way to arrest him at home in Calumet City, Illinois. Despite the news, Clarice continues her investigation in Belvedere. She finds Stacy, a friend of Fredrica Bimmel's, who does not recall Fredrica having any male friends but says she often did tailoring for an older woman named Mrs. Littman. Clarice goes to Littman's house just as Crawford and a SWAT team surround the house in Calumet City and find it empty. Clarice rings the doorbell, and Buffalo Bill answers the door. He identifies himself as Jack Gordon and leads her inside. Clarice observes his odd behavior and notices a moth flying around spools of yarn. She orders him to freeze at gunpoint, but Bill flees into the basement. Clarice follows, discovers Catherine Martin in the well, and assures her she is safe. Catherine begs Clarice not to leave her alone, but Clarice goes in search of Buffalo Bill. She discovers a dress form draped in an unfinished "dress" made from human skin, resembling a woman's body. The lights are shut off and Clarice fumbles in the dark. Using infrared goggles to stalk her, Buffalo Bill creeps up behind Clarice, but she hears him cock his gun and reflexively turns and shoots him dead. Police arrive and escort Catherine Martin and Clarice outside. Sometime later, Jack Crawford watches Clarice graduate and congratulates her afterward. She is told she has a phone call, and recognizes Dr. Hannibal Lecter's voice on the line. Calling from an undisclosed tropical location, Lecter promises not to attack her, saying the world is more interesting with her in it. Just before hanging up, he claims he is "having an old friend for dinner" as he watches Dr. Frederick Chilton disembark from a small plane.
British Secret Service Agent 007 James Bond is sent to Jamaica to investigate the murder of a fellow agent and his secretary. Upon his arrival, Bond experiences attempts on his life through an automobile crash, by means of a tarantula, and by seduction by Miss Taro. Bond, aided by the American CIA agent Felix Leiter, links the murders to Dr. No, a mad scientist operating from Crab Key; and despite the natives' fear of the key because of the legend of a fire-breathing dragon, he persuades Quarrel, a black man, to transport him there and assist him in the investigation. Landing, they encounter Honey, a blonde, bikini-clad, shell-hunter; and after they are spotted by Dr. No's patrol boat, Bond persuades Honey to join them. Trying frantically to escape, they are cornered by a flamethrowing tank (the dragon of the legend), which kills Quarrel. Bond and Honey are captured and imprisoned in Dr. No's secret base, where they learn of his experiments to divert the course of rockets fired from Cape Canaveral. Bond escapes from his cell by means of a ventilator shaft and intercepts Dr. No just as he is ready to deflect another rocket. In a death struggle, Dr. No is killed, and Bond flicks every switch in the laboratory; but before the final explosion, he rescues Honey and they escape in a motor launch.
Dorothy Gale, a Kansas farm girl, lives with her Auntie Em and Uncle Henry. When Almira Gulch, who owns half the county, brings a sheriff's order to take Dorothy's little dog Toto away to have the dog destroyed, because Toto bit Miss Gulch's leg, Auntie Em and Uncle Henry refuse to go against the law, and they give the dog to Miss Gulch. However, as Miss Gulch rides away on her bicycle with Toto in her basket, the dog escapes and returns home. Realizing that Miss Gulch will come back, Dorothy runs away with Toto. They come to the wagon of the egotistical, but kindly Professor Marvel, a fortune-teller and balloonist, who tricks Dorothy into believing that her aunt has had an attack because she ran away. Dorothy rushes home greatly concerned, but a cyclone's approach causes her difficulty, and by the time she gets to the farm, Auntie Em, Uncle Henry and the three farmhands have entered the storm cellar. Inside her room, Dorothy is hit on the head by a window and knocked unconscious. When she revives, she sees through the window that the house has risen up inside the cyclone. When she sees Miss Gulch, traveling in mid-air on her bicycle, transform into a witch on a broomstick, Dorothy averts her eyes. The house comes to rest in Munchkinland, a colorful section of the Land of Oz inhabited by little people, and lands on top of the Wicked Witch of the East. Knowing that the dead witch's ruby slippers contain magic, Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, through her powers, has them placed on Dorothy's feet before the dead witch's sister, the Wicked Witch of the West, can retrieve them. The Wicked Witch vows revenge. Glinda then suggests that the wonderful Wizard of Oz can help Dorothy get back to Kansas and instructs her to take the yellow brick road to the distant Emerald City, where the Wizard resides. Along the way, Dorothy meets a friendly scarecrow who laments that he is failure because he has no brain, an emotional tin man, who longingly describes the romantic life he would lead if he only had a heart, and a seemingly ferocious lion who actually lacks courage. Dorothy suggests that they all go with her to ask the Wizard for his help. With help along the way from Glinda to battle a spell of the Wicked Witch, the four friends reach the Emerald City, where in the great hall of the Wizard, they see a terrifying apparition that identifies itself as "Oz" and lambasts Dorothy's companions for their deficiencies. When the lion faints from fright, Dorothy rebukes the Wizard for scaring him, and the Wizard agrees to grant their requests if they will first prove themselves worthy by bringing him the broomstick of the Witch of the West. As they pass through a haunted forest on their way to the witch's castle, the witch sends an army of winged monkeys, who capture Dorothy and Toto. In her castle, when the witch threatens to have Toto drowned, Dorothy offers the slippers in exchange for her dog, but the witch cannot remove them, and she remembers that the slippers will not come off as long as Dorothy is alive. As the witch ponders the proper way to kill Dorothy, Toto escapes. The dog leads Dorothy's friends to the castle, where they rescue her, but the witch's guards soon surround them. After the witch sadistically says that Dorothy will see her friends and dog die before her, she ignites the Scarecrow's arm. Dorothy tosses a bucket of water to put out the fire, and when some water splashes in the witch's face, she melts. The guards and monkeys, relieved that the witch is dead, hail Dorothy and give her the broomstick. Upon their return to Oz, the Wizard orders Dorothy and her friends to come back the next day. As they argue, Toto snoops behind a curtain and pulls it back to reveal a man manipulating levers and speaking into a microphone, who then admits to the group that he is really the "powerful" Wizard. Greatly disappointed and angry at the sham, Dorothy calls him a bad man, but he retorts that while he is a bad wizard, he is a good man. He then awards the Scarecrow a diploma, the Lion a medal and the Tin Man a testimonial, and states that where he comes from, these things are given to men who have no more brains, courage or heart than they have. Confessing that he is a balloonist and a Kansas man himself, the Wizard offers to take Dorothy back in his balloon. However, as they prepare to leave, Toto leaps from the balloon to chase a cat, and after Dorothy goes to retrieve the dog, the balloon takes off without them. Glinda then comforts Dorothy and reveals that she has always had the power to return home, but that she had to learn it for herself. Dorothy says that she has learned never to go further than her own backyard to look for her heart's desire. After Dorothy tearfully kisses and hugs her friends, Glinda tells her to click the heels of the slippers three times with her eyes closed and to think to herself, "There's no place like home." This she does, and she awakens to find Uncle Henry and Auntie Em at her bedside. Professor Marvel, having heard that Dorothy was badly injured, comes by, and she begins to tell about her journey, which Auntie Em calls a bad dream. The farmhands come in, and Dorothy remembers them as her three friends in Oz and the professor as the Wizard. When Toto climbs on the bed, Dorothy says she loves them all and that she will never leave again, and she affirms to her aunt that there is no place like home.
Early one morning, police arrive at a large house on Sunset Blvd. in Beverly Hills, where a man's body floats face down in the pool: Six months earlier, while down on his luck, screenwriter Joe C. Gillis is living at the Alto Nido apartments in Hollywood, California. Joe is served with a court order commanding him to relinquish his car or pay $290 in back payments by noon the next day. Hoping to make a quick deal, Joe meets with Paramount studio producer Sheldrake to peddle a baseball/gambling picture he has written, but is turned down. While in Sheldrake's office, Joe encounters studio reader Betty Schaefer, who pans the script as formulaic. Sheldrake then refuses him a personal loan, as does his agent. Despairing, Joe makes plans to return to Dayton, Ohio, where he worked as a newspaper copy writer. While driving down Sunset Blvd., he spots the two men who are trying to repossess his car and successfully eludes them, but then has a blowout. He coasts into the driveway of a dilapidated 1920s mansion and hides the car in an empty garage. Joe then enters the house, where stoic butler Max von Mayerling orders him upstairs to consult with "madame" immediately. Joe soon discovers that he has been mistaken for a mortician, who is due to arrive with a baby coffin for "madame's" dead pet chimpanzee. Joe recognizes the faded woman as Norma Desmond, once a famous silent movie star. When she rails against modern talking pictures, Joe tells her that he is a screenwriter. Excitedly, she announces that she is planning a return to the screen in a story she is writing about the Biblical figure Salomé. When Norma discovers Joe is a Sagittarius, she is convinced of their compatibility and hires him to edit her lengthy screenplay for $500 per week and puts him up in a room over her garage. The next day, Joe awakens to find that all his belongings have been moved from his apartment, and that Norma has settled his debts. Although he is angry at Norma for her presumption, he acquiesces because he so desperately needs a job. Joe soon learns that Norma's fragile but enormous ego is supported by the scores of fan letters she still receives, and two or three times a week, Max projects her silent pictures on her living-room movie screen. As Norma and what Joe calls "the waxworks," Hollywood old-timers Buster Keaton, Anna Q. Nilsson and H. B. Warner, are playing bridge one night, two men arrive and tow away Joe's car. To appease the distraught Joe, Norma arranges for Max to refurbish her old Isotta-Fraschini, an extravagant Italian sports car. The once reclusive Norma becomes increasingly controlling. After a rain storm soaks Joe's room, she has him moved into the bedroom adjacent to hers, where her three former husbands slept. When Joe notices that none of the bedroom doors have locks, Max explains that Norma's bouts of melancholy are often followed by suicide attempts. Joe then realizes that Max has been writing Norma's fan letters so that she will not feel completely forgotten. On New Year's Eve, Norma stages a lavish party for herself and Joe, but he flies into a rage because he feels smothered. Feeling rejected, she slaps him, and he leaves the house. At a lively party at the home of his friend, assistant director Artie Green, Joe again meets Betty, who is engaged to Artie, and is excited about one of Joe's stories. Joe asks to stay for a few weeks, and Artie agrees to put him up. When he calls Max to have his things sent over, however, Max tells him that Norma slit her wrists with his razor blade. Joe returns to the house at midnight and finds Norma weeping at her own stupidity for falling in love with him. She pulls him to her and they kiss. After Norma recovers, she has the pool filled, and announces that she has sent her script to Paramount's director of epics Cecil B. DeMille, with whom she made twelve pictures. One night, Joe sees Artie with Betty at Schwab's Pharmacy. Although Betty tells him she has nearly sold one of his stories, Joe says he has given up writing, and leaves. Norma later gets a call from Paramount, but refuses to take the call because DeMille has not called her himself. Finally, Norma visits the studio unannounced. While Norma receives the long-awaited attention she craves on DeMille's set, Max learns that the earlier call was an inquiry about her car, which the studio wants to use for a film. While on the lot, Joe sees Betty, who is busy revising his story, and agrees to collaborate with her on the script in her off-hours. Norma misinterprets DeMille's pitying kindness for a deal, and a staff of beauty experts descends on her house to ready her for the cameras. Betty and Joe, meanwhile, meet repeatedly in the late evenings, and he begins to care for her, but keeps his other life with Norma a secret. One night, Max reveals to Joe that he was once an influential Hollywood director who discovered Norma when she was sixteen and made her a star. After he became Norma's first husband, she left him, but when Hollywood abandoned her, he gave up his prosperous career to return to serve her as a butler. Eventually, Norma, suspicious that Joe is involved with another woman, finds his and Betty's script and goes into a deep depression. Meanwhile, Betty receives a telegram from Artie, who is filming in Arizona, asking her to marry him immediately. She confesses her love to Joe, and he admits he wants her, too. When he arrives home that evening, however, he catches Norma calling Betty to expose him as a kept man and giving her the Sunset Blvd. address. When Betty arrives, Joe bitterly explains that he is Norma's companion. Betty urges him to leave with her immediately, but he tells her he is bound to "a long term contract with no options" and allows her to leave. He then packs, with the intention of moving back to Ohio, and returns all of Norma's gifts. Joe then tells her that there will be no film of Salomé, that the studio only wants to rent her car, and that her fans have abandoned her. Shouting that "no one ever leaves a star," Norma shoots Joe twice in the back and once in the stomach, sending him to his death in the pool. A throng of reporters and policemen surround the house, but the police are unable to get Norma out of her bedroom, until Max directs the Paramount newsreel crew to set up their equipment at the bottom of the stairs, and tells Norma that the cameras have arrived. In a state of delusional shock, Norma descends the stairs as "Salomé" while Max tells the cameramen to start rolling. At the bottom of the stairs, Norma announces, "I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille."
In Southern California, thirty-five-year-old Jerry Maguire experiences a moral crisis over the greed and dishonesty that drive his industry, sports management. He writes a lengthy mission statement, charting out a new path for himself and other agents at his firm, Sports Management International (SMI). The manifesto goes over poorly, and Jerry learns of his firing from Bob Sugar, his protégé at the firm. When they hear that Jerry is leaving SMI, all but one of his clients choose to stay at the firm. Jerry retains only Rod Tidwell, a wide receiver for the National Football League's (NFL) Arizona Cardinals, who is looking for a new $10-million contract. On his way out of the office, Jerry announces to the SMI staff that he will launch his own firm and invites others to join him. An idealistic assistant named Dorothy Boyd takes him up on the offer. Jerry tries to win back his most high-profile client, quarterback Frank "Cush" Cushman, by visiting the young player at home. Although Cushman initially agrees to go with Jerry, he is swayed by his father to sign with Bob Sugar, instead. With his personal life also in upheaval, Jerry ends his engagement to Avery Bishop. He begins spending time outside work with Dorothy, a single mother, and her son Ray, and the two begin a romantic relationship. As Jerry struggles to establish his new business, Dorothy considers a more secure job offer that would move her to San Diego, California. Jerry urges her to stay with him and spontaneously proposes marriage. The two are wed in Dorothy's backyard. Jerry devotes himself to landing Rod Tidwell a better contract. Tensions rise between the two as Rod demands more effort from Jerry in his deal-making, and Jerry accuses Rod of playing without heart. Jerry and Dorothy fail to connect in their new marriage, and she suggests that they separate. Jerry travels to Arizona for a pivotal "Monday Night Football" game that stands to advance the Cardinals to the NFL playoffs. Rod is injured after making the game-winning touchdown. As he lies unconscious, Jerry rushes onto the field, phoning Rod's wife, Marcee, in the process. The crowd rejoices when Rod finally regains consciousness and picks himself up without the help of a trainer. Other athletes look on admiringly as Rod and Jerry embrace after the game; their close personal relationship proves that Jerry has become the kind of agent described in his mission statement. Jerry returns home to Dorothy and wins her back with a speech, which he ends by saying, "You complete me." With his marriage saved, he goes on to broker an $11.2-million renewal contract between Rod and the Arizona Cardinals, which Rod learns about during a live television interview. Afterward, Jerry notices Ray's natural ability to throw a baseball and is excited by the young boy's potential.
In 1892, in New York's Bowery, singer and femme fatale Lady Lou is mistress to saloon proprietor Gus Jordan, who is running for sheriff, but maintains a counterfeit money racket. Jordan's rival, Dan Flynn, intends to expose Jordan and win the office of sheriff, as well as Lou. When pretty runaway Sally tries to commit suicide in Gus's tavern, Lou comes to her aid, and Gus and his accomplices, Serge Stanieff and Russian Rita, give her a job picking pockets on the Barbary Coast. Later Lou visits her jailed ex-lover, Chick Clark, whom Flynn helped send to prison for stealing diamonds for Lou, and Chick demands that she remain faithful to him. Lou falls for Captain Cummings, the handsome and pious preacher of the mission next door, however, and arranges for his mortgage to be paid. A string of incidents then puts Lou in a tight spot: after Flynn tells her a new detective in town called "The Hawk" is going to expose Gus, Cummings demands to know Sally's whereabouts, but Lou swears she knows nothing of Gus's business. Chick then breaks out of jail and nearly chokes Lou, begging her to run away with him. Next, Serge answers Lou's long-standing invitation to visit her boudoir and, in Rita's presence, confesses his love for her, while giving her a diamond brooch that belongs to Rita. In a jealous rage, Rita attacks Lou with a dagger, and Lou accidentally kills her, then orders her henchman, Spider, to dispose of the body. As Lou performs that night, Chick comes to pick her up and hides in her room, while Lou gives Flynn a signal from the stage to meet her there as well. Chick shoots Flynn dead just as Cummings, who is really The Hawk, raids the saloon, arresting Serge, Gus, Spider and Chick. Cummings then escorts Lou, who insists on wearing her wrap, to the police wagon, but lifts her into a coach instead. There, he removes her diamond rings and replaces them with one of his own, telling her, "I'm gonna be your jailer for a long, long time."
Restless and dissatisfied with his life as a dishwasher in a small Texas town, young Joe Buck outfits himself in flashy cowboy dress and heads for New York City, confident that his fortune will be made by selling himself to wealthy, sex-starved Manhattan women. While traveling by bus, he recalls some of the events of his childhood--the father who abandoned his wayward mother, the endless stream of men who visited his frisky grandmother Sally, and a series of sexual encounters during adolescence, including a gang rape of both Joe and his girl friend Annie. After checking into a seedy Manhattan hotel, Joe takes to the streets and eventually picks up Cass, a rich, coarse, middle-aged blonde. Although they make love in her East Side apartment, Joe not only fails to collect a fee but ends up giving her $20 for cab fare. Later, at a cheap Broadway bar, Joe meets Ratso Rizzo, a crippled, tubercular petty thief and con artist who volunteers to work as his pimp and manager. Although the two misfits have a falling out when Ratso sends Joe to the sleazy room of Mr. O'Daniel, a homosexual, religious fanatic, they patch up their differences and agree to share Ratso's dismally cold room in a condemned building. Almost in spite of themselves, their mutual loneliness leads to genuine friendship as Ratso shares with Joe his fantasy of someday living a life of luxury in Miami Beach. Economically, their partnership meets with little success, as Joe's typical "conquests" turn out to be as unprofitable as his encounter with a timid student to whom he gives himself in a 42nd Street theater balcony, only to discover that the boy cannot pay. Their situation appears to improve when Joe meets Shirley, a chic swinger at an underground party in Greenwich Village, and earns $20 for spending a wild night with her. By now, however, winter has taken its toll on Ratso, and he can no longer walk. Determined to get the bus fare to take his friend to Florida, Joe brutally beats up an aging homosexual in a hotel room and steals his money. Ratso manages to stumble onto the bus, but dies as they reach Miami. Facing an uncertain future, Joe puts his arm around the dead body of the only true friend he ever had. Upon arriving in Miami Beach, Joe disposes of his cowboy apparel and plans to find work as a landscaper.
During World War II, Casablanca, Morocco is a waiting point for throngs of desperate refugees fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe. Exit visas, which are necessary to leave the country, are at a premium, so when two German couriers carrying letters of transit signed by General DeGaulle are murdered and the letters stolen, German Major Strasser and Louis Renault, the prefecture of police, are eager to find the documents. Strasser is particularly concerned that the letters not be sold to Victor Lazlo, the well-known Czech resistance leader, who is rumored to be on his way to Casablanca. That night, Renault and Strasser search for the killer at Rick's Café Americain, a popular nightclub run by the mysterious American expatriate Richard Blaine. Earlier, Ugarte, a shady dealer in exit visas, had asked Rick to hold the stolen letters temporarily, explaining that he has a buyer for them and with the money from their sale, he plans to leave Casablanca. Although Rick fought on the side of the loyalists in Spain, he has grown cynical, and when Renault advises him not to interfere with Ugarte's arrest, Rick replies "I stick my neck out for nobody." He makes a bet with Renault, however, that Lazlo will manage to leave Casablanca despite German efforts to stop him. After Ugarte is arrested, Lazlo and his companion, Ilsa Lund, arrive at Rick's. Ilsa recognizes Sam, the piano player, and while Lazlo makes covert contact with the underground, Ilsa insists that Sam play the song "As Time Goes By." Reluctantly, Sam agrees, and a furious Rick, who had ordered him never to play the song again, emerges from his office to stop him. Rick is taken aback when he sees Ilsa, whom he knew in Paris. Later, after the café is closed, Rick remembers his love affair with Ilsa: After a brief happy time together, the Nazis invade Paris and, worried that Rick will be in danger because of his record, Ilsa advises him to leave the city. He refuses to go without her, and she agrees to meet him at the train station. Instead of coming, though, she sends him a farewell note, and Sam and Rick leave just ahead of the Nazis. Rick's thoughts return to the present with Ilsa's arrival at the café. She tries to explain her actions, but when a drunken Rick accuses her of being a tramp, she walks out. The following day, Lazlo and Ilsa meet with Renault and, there they learn that Ugarte has been killed while in police custody. After Rick helps a young Romanian couple win enough money at roulette to allow them to leave the country, Lazlo, suspecting that Rick has the letters, asks to buy them. Rick refuses and, when Lazlo asks his reasons, suggests that he ask Ilsa. Angered when Rick allows his orchestra to accompany a rousing rendition of "La Marseillaise," Strasser orders the closing of the Café. That night, while Lazlo attends an underground meeting, Ilsa meets Rick and explains that she stayed behind in Paris because, on the day Rick left Paris she had learned that Lazlo, her husband, whom she had married in secret and thought dead, was alive. Now realizing that they still love each other, Ilsa tells Rick that he must made decisions for both of them. Meanwhile, the police break up the underground meeting, and Lazlo takes refuge at Rick's. Before he is arrested, he begs Rick to use the letters to take Ilsa away from Casablanca. The next day, Rick sells the café to his competitor Ferare, the owner of the Blue Parrot, and tricks Renault into releasing Lazlo from prison. They head for the airport, but Renault has managed to alert Strasser, who hurries after them. At the airport, Rick tells Ilsa, who thought that she would be staying with him, that she is to leave with Lazlo because she gives meaning to his work. He then tells Lazlo that he and Ilsa loved each other in Paris, and that she pretended she was still in love with him in order to get the letters. Lazlo, who understands what really happened, welcomes Rick back to the fight before he and Ilsa board the plane. Strasser arrives just as the airplane is about to take off and when he tries to delay the flight, Rick shoots him. Renault then quickly telephones the police, but instead of turning in Rick, he advises them to "round up the usual suspects," and the two men leave Casablanca for the Free French garrison at Brassaville. It is, Rick says, "the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
At the Judge Advocate General's Corps in Washington, D.C., Lieutenant Commander JoAnne Galloway asks to defend Lance Corporal Harold W. Dawson and Private First Class Louden Downey, two Marines who are being court-martialed for killing fellow platoon member William Santiago at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Although a Naval Investigative Service (NIS) agent believes Dawson and Downey killed Santiago to prevent him from naming LCpl. Dawson in an illegal shooting incident, Lt. Cdr. Galloway suspects the marines, who both have exemplary records, may have been carrying out orders for a "Code Red." Galloway's superior, Captain West, agrees to move the defendants to Washington, D.C., but refuses to assign Galloway as their counsel. Instead, rookie attorney Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee, who is known for his plea bargaining skills, is assigned to the case. Kaffee is told that Dawson fired an illegal shot over a fence into Cuban territory, and when Private First Class William Santiago threatened to expose him, Dawson, with the help of Downey, likely retaliated by stuffing a poisoned rag down his throat. An hour later, Santiago was found dead. However, both Downey and Dawson deny committing murder. Lt. Kaffee and his co-counsel, Lieutenant Sam Weinberg, meet with JoAnne Galloway, who is offended that Capt. West chose such young attorneys over her. Kaffee asserts that he will negotiate for dishonorable discharge and a shortened prison term of twelve years, but Galloway argues that Dawson and Downey may be innocent. In the months leading up to his death, Pfc. Santiago wrote many requests to be transferred out of Guantanamo Bay, to no avail. Kaffee stops Galloway, insisting that a protracted investigation would lead to questioning Colonel Nathan R. Jessep, a highly decorated marine expected to be appointed Director of Operations for the National Security Counsel. Kaffee does not want to challenge such a powerful authority. Sometime earlier, in Guantanamo Bay, Pfc. William Santiago fights nausea, dizziness, and heat exhaustion, and is beaten by his superiors for falling behind. Col. Nathan R. Jessep is alerted to a letter Santiago sent off the base, requesting to be transferred. Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Andrew Markinson suggests granting Santiago an immediate transfer, but Jessep argues they have a responsibility to train him. He tells Lieutenant Jonathan Kendrick to make sure Santiago receives a perfect score on his next progress report. After Kendrick is dismissed, Jessep warns Markinson never to question his orders in front of another officer again. Back in Washington, D.C., JoAnne Galloway learns that Santiago was declared dead by a physician, Dr. Stone, at 1 a.m. on August 6th, with the cause of death "undetermined." Two hours later, however, Dr. Stone claimed he was poisoned. Galloway suggests to Kaffee that Dawson and Downey may have been executing a "Code Red." Kaffee meets with prisoners Dawson and Downey, who explain that "Code Reds" are disciplinary actions carried out by one's fellow marines. They admit to breaking into Santiago's room on the night of his death and binding and gagging him as part of a "Code Red"; however, the rag they used was not poisoned and they only intended to shave his head, but stopped short when they saw blood dripping from his mouth. They called an ambulance, but were arrested on suspicion of murder. They vehemently maintain their innocence, and claim to have stuck by their code: "Unit, corps, god, country." Later, prosecuting attorney Captain Jack Ross negotiates a plea bargain with Kaffee. Ross asserts that Dawson and Downey are obviously guilty, especially since Lt. Jonathan Kendrick gave orders to the platoon on August 6th, warning them not to touch Santiago. Capt. Ross agrees to Kaffee's proposed plea deal. That evening, Kaffee admits to Sam Weinberg that he found Ross's defense of Lt. Kendrick suspicious. Galloway joins Kaffee and Weinberg on a visit to Guantanamo Bay, where they examine William Santiago's barracks room and speak with Col. Jessep, who refuses to answer Galloway's questions about the practice of "Code Reds." He claims Santiago was set to be transferred off the base the morning of his death, but when Kaffee requests a copy of Santiago's transfer order, Jessep flies into a rage and demands that Kaffee ask "nicely." Back in Washington, D.C., Galloway gets permission from Pfc. Louden Downey's next of kin, Aunt Ginny Miller, to represent him as private counsel. To Kaffee's dismay, she joins him in questioning Dawson and Downey, who admit that Lt. Kendrick ordered the "Code Red" on Santiago, shortly after giving contradictory orders to their platoon to stay away from Santiago. Although Kaffee recommends they accept the plea deal, Dawson and Downey maintain they were carrying out orders, and refuse to plead guilty. Kaffee, who worries he will not live up to the reputation of his father, a former attorney general, reluctantly agrees to go to trial. At the court-martial, Galloway is impressed by Kaffee's ability to engage the jury. Dr. Stone testifies that Santiago died from lactic acidosis poisoning, but Kaffee provides evidence that Santiago likely had an undiagnosed coronary condition that could have caused his lungs to bleed, ruling out poison as the only possible cause of death. That night, Lt. Col. Matthew Andrew Markinson, who was reported missing after Kaffee and Galloway's visit to Guantanamo Bay, appears in the backseat of Kaffee's car. Markinson reveals that Col. Jessep never gave a transfer order for Santiago; instead, he originated the "Code Red" that Kendrick ordered Dawson and Downey to carry out. When Lt. Kendrick is called to the witness stand, however, he denies the existence of "Code Reds." Although Markinson is set to testify, he commits suicide, leaving behind a note of apology to Santiago's parents. The simple-minded Downey is caught lying when he testifies, and Kaffee loses hope that they might win. Remaining optimistic, Galloway encourages him to subpoena Col. Jessep. Kaffee resists the idea at first, but later decides that Jessep's pride will be his downfall, and, if provoked, he will admit to ordering the "Code Red." On the day of Jessep's questioning, Galloway warns Kaffee to be careful, since he could jeopardize his career by defaming him. Nevertheless, Kaffee presses Jessep on the stand, and points out that, despite Jessep's claims that Santiago was due to leave Guantanamo Bay at 6 a.m. on August 6th, his belongings were not packed and he had made no phone calls as of 1 a.m. Kaffee succeeds in riling Jessep into a confession that he did, in fact, order a "Code Red" on Santiago. Jessep insists his actions were in the interest of national security, but the judge has him arrested by military police. Dawson and Downey are found not guilty of murder. However, they are dishonorably discharged for Conduct Unbecoming a United States Marine. Downey is incredulous, but Dawson is struck by the realization that they failed to live up to their code by not fighting for Santiago. As Dawson leaves the courtroom, Kaffee contends that he still has honor, and Dawson responds by saluting him.
Dr. Otternschlag, a resident at the Grand Hotel, Berlin's most expensive hotel, observes that life at the hotel is "always the same. People come--people go, nothing ever happens." Guests check in, share parts of their lives with one another and then leave. One such guest is Grusinskaya, a beautiful Russian ballet dancer who knows that her popularity is waning and complains that everything in her life has become "threadbare." Grusinskaya's stay at the hotel becomes greatly affected by her acquaintance with Baron Felix Benvenuto Frihern Von Gaigern, a charming hotel thief who plans to steal her pearls. Another guest, ailing bookkeeper Otto Kringelein, has been told that he has only a short time to live and is intent on spending his last days in the grandest style possible. Kringelein's intentions, however, are thwarted by the presence of his inimical boss, textile magnate General Director Preysing, who is in Berlin to make an important business deal. When the baron meets Flaemmchen, Preysing's stenographer, they flirt and make make plans to attend the hotel dance together. The baron then goes to his room, where he waits for Grusinskaya to depart for the theater. The baron enters Grusinskaya's room through her balcony and quickly finds the pearls, but is forced to hide when he hears someone at the door. Grusinskaya, who has returned from the theater after refusing to perform, calls Pimenov, the ballet master, and learns that her presence was missed by no one. Left alone, the depressed Grusinskaya is about to kill herself when the baron emerges and tells her that he is a great admirer of her talent and professes his love for her. After they make plans to leave for Vienna and start their lives over, they spend the night making love. The following day, Preysing negotiates a dishonest business deal and goes to the hotel's Yellow Room for a drink. There, he tries to steal Flaemmchen away from her conversation with the lonely Kringelein, which results in a bitter argument between Kringelein and Preysing. Later, when Flaemmchen realizes that she has been spurned by the baron, she accepts Preysing's offer to travel with him. The baron, meanwhile, tries to quit the hotel robbery racket, but is forced to continue stealing in order to pay his debt. Kringelein offers the baron money, but he refuses it and instead organizes a card game with Kringelein and some other men in the hope that he can win enough money to settle his debt. The baron soon loses all of his money, while the drunken Kringelein wins easily. When Kringelein collapses from over-excitement, the baron steals his wallet, but then returns it when he sees how upset it has made the bookkeeper. Later that night, while Grusinskaya places a call to the baron in his room, Preysing catches him trying to steal his wallet and kills him with a telephone receiver. Horrified at the sight of the murdered baron, Flaemmchen runs to Kringelein for help, and he, despite Preysing's pleadings, calls the police and turns Preysing in. The baron's body is removed the next morning and Preysing is arrested. After Flaemmchen accepts Kringelein's invitation to travel and live with him, they depart for Paris, certain that they will find another Grand Hotel there. Meanwhile, Grusinskaya's maid shields the departing dancer from the news of the baron's death and assures her that he will meet her at the train station. Grusinskaya, ignorant of the truth and certain of her happy future with the baron, is whisked through the lobby of the hotel to her car.
In 1861, Scarlett O'Hara, the headstrong sixteen-year-old daughter of wealthy Georgia plantation-owner Gerald O'Hara, is sick of hearing talk about going to war with the North. She much prefers to have beaux like Brent and Stuart Tarleton talk about the next day's barbecue at Twelve Oaks, the neighboring Wilkes plantation. When the twins reveal the "secret" that Ashley Wilkes is planning to marry his cousin Melanie Hamilton from Atlanta, Scarlett refuses to believe it because she is in love with Ashley herself. Her father later confirms the news when he returns home to Tara, the O'Hara plantation, and advises Scarlett to forget about the serious-minded Ashley, because "like should marry like." At the barbeque, Scarlett acts coquettish with all of the young men, hoping to make Ashley jealous, then, during an afternoon rest, sneaks into the library to see him. He says that he will marry Melanie because they are alike, but leads Scarlett to believe that he loves her instead of Melanie. When he leaves, Scarlett angrily throws a vase and is startled to discover Rhett Butler, a notorious rogue from Charleston, who has been lying unnoticed on a couch the entire time. She is angry at his seeming indifference to the seriousness of her feelings for Ashley and annoyed by his frank appreciation of her physical beauty. Later, when news arrives that war has broken out between the North and the South, Scarlett is stunned to see Ashley kiss Melanie goodbye as he leaves to enlist, and in a daze accepts the impulsive proposal of Melanie's brother Charles.
Just after Ashley and Melanie marry, Scarlett and Charles marry as well, delighting Melanie, who tells Scarlett that now they will truly be sisters. Some time later, Scarlett receives word that Charles has died of the measles, and she is forced to don widow's black clothing and refrain from going to the parties she loves. Her understanding mother Ellen decides to let her go to Atlanta to stay with Melanie and her Aunt Pittypat, hoping that Scarlett will feel less restless there. At an Atlanta fundraising bazaar, Scarlett is so bored watching other girls dance, that when Rhett bids for her in a dance auction, she enthusiastically leads the Virginia Reel with him, oblivious to the outrage of the shocked local matrons. Rhett, who has become a successful blockade runner, continues to see Scarlett over the next few months and brings her presents from his European trips. As the war rages, Melanie and Scarlett receive word that Ashley will be returning home on a Christmas leave. Atlanta is now suffering the privation of a long siege, but the women manage to give Ashley a small Christmas feast. Before he returns to the front, Ashley tells Scarlett that the South is losing the war and asks her to stay by the pregnant Melanie.
Melanie goes into labor as Atlantans leave the city before Northern troops arrive. When Aunt Pitty leaves for Charleston, Scarlett desperately wants to go with her, but remembers her promise to Ashley, and remains with Melanie. Because Melanie's labor is difficult and the doctor is too busy attending wounded soldiers to come to her aid, Scarlett must attend her alone. After the baby is born, Scarlett sends her maid Prissy for Rhett, who reluctantly arrives with a frightened horse and a wagon. Though he thinks that Scarlett is crazy when she insists upon returning to Tara, he risks his life to drive the women and the infant through the now-burning city. Outside Atlanta, as Rhett and Scarlett see the decimated Southern army in retreat, he feels ashamed and resolves to join them for their last stand. Scarlett is furious with him, even after he admits that he loves her and gives her a passionate kiss before leaving. When the women finally arrive at Tara, the plantation is a shambles and the house has been looted. Scarlett's mother Ellen has just died of typhoid and her father's mind is gone. Desperate for something to eat, Scarlett first tries drinking whiskey, then goes into the fields. After choking on a radish, she vows that if she lives through this she will never go hungry again. [An Intermission divides the story at this point.]
Soon Scarlett bullies her sisters and the remaining house slaves into working in the fields. After she kills a Yankee scavenger and, with Melanie's help, hides the body, the contents of his wallet provide them with some money for food. When the war ends, Ashley returns and Scarlett goes to him for advice when Pork, one of the former slaves who has remained with the family, tells her that $300 in taxes are owed on Tara. Ashley offers no solution to her problem, but admits once again that he loves her, even though he will never leave Melanie. More determined than ever to obtain the money after Jonas Wilkerson, a ruthless Yankee who was once Tara's overseer, says that he is going to buy Tara when it is auctioned off for taxes, Scarlett decides to ask Rhett for the money. With no proper clothes to wear, Scarlett and her old governess, Mammy, use material from Tara's velvet drapes for a new dress. In Atlanta, they discover that Rhett has been imprisoned by the Yankees, but has charmed his way into their good graces. Scarlett tries to pretend that everything is fine at Tara, but Rhett soon sees her roughened hands and realizes what her situation is. Because he is under arrest and his money is all in an English bank, Rhett cannot help Scarlett, so she leaves, infuriated. That same day, she runs into Frank Kennedy, her sister Suellen's beau, and sees that he has become a successful merchant. Scarlett tricks Frank into marrying her by telling him that Suellen loves someone else, and is thus able to use his money to save Tara. Scarlett then moves to Atlanta to work at Frank's shop and to make his fledgling lumber business a success. She also uses an unwitting Melanie to help make Ashley come to work at the lumber mill. One day, Scarlett is attacked by scavengers while driving her carriage near a shanty town, but is saved by Big Sam, a former Tara slave. Scarlett is not physically harmed, but that night Frank, Ashley and some of the other men band together to "clear out" the shanty. While Scarlett, Melanie and the other women wait at Melanie's house, Rhett arrives to warn them that the Yankees are planning an ambush. Melanie tells him where the men have gone, and some time later, he prevents their arrest by pretending to the Yankees that they have all been drinking with him at the notorious Belle Watling's bordello. Ashley is wounded, but Frank has died on the raid.
A few weeks later, Scarlett, who is drinking heavily, is visited by Rhett, who proposes to her and offers to give her everything she wants. Though she says that she does not love him, she agrees to marry him, and on their expensive honeymoon, he vows to spoil her to stop her nightmares of the war. A year later, Scarlett gives birth to a daughter, whom Melanie nicknames "Bonnie Blue." Though Rhett has never cared about Atlanta society, he now wants to ensure Bonnie's future. He begins to acquire respectability, and within a few years his charitable contributions and sincere devotion to Bonnie impresses even the hardest of Atlanta's matrons. Meanwhile, Scarlett still longs for Ashley and has told Rhett that she no longer wants him to share her bedroom. One day, Ashley's sister India and some other women see Scarlett and Ashley in an embrace. Though nothing improper happened, Scarlett is afraid to attend Melanie's birthday party for Ashley that night. A furious Rhett forces her to attend, though, then leaves. Melanie's open affection to her makes Scarlett ashamed, and when she returns home she sneaks into the dining room to drink. There she finds Rhett drunk and a violent quarrel erupts. After Scarlett calls Rhett a drunken fool, he grabs her and carries her upstairs, angrily telling her that this night there will not be "three in a bed." The next morning, Scarlett is happy, but when Rhett scoffs that his behavior was merely an indiscretion, her happiness turns to anger. Rhett then leaves for an extended trip to England and takes Bonnie with him.
Some months later, because Bonnie is homesick, Rhett returns to Atlanta and discovers that Scarlett is pregnant. She is happy to see Rhett, but his smirk of indifference and accusation about Ashley enrages her so that she starts to strike him and falls down the stairs. She loses the baby, and although she calls to him during her delirium, Rhett does not know and thinks that she hates him. After she recovers, he suggests that the anger and hatred stop for Bonnie's sake, and Scarlett agrees, but as they are talking, the headstrong Bonnie tries to make her pony take a jump and she falls and breaks her neck. Both are shattered by Bonnie's death, especially Rhett, who refuses to let her be buried because Bonnie was afraid of the dark. Only Melanie, to whom Rhett has always felt a closeness, convinces him to let the child go. After her talk with Rhett, Melanie, who has become pregnant despite the danger to her health, collapses and suffers a miscarriage. On her deathbed, Melanie asks Scarlett to take care of Ashley, but when Scarlett sees how much the distraught Ashley loves Melanie, she finally realizes how wrong she has been for years and knows that it is Rhett she truly loves. She rushes back home and tries to prevent him from leaving her, but he will not stay because it is too late for them. Scarlett tearfully asks him what she will do and as he leaves he answers, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." Through her sobs, Scarlett begins to think of Tara, from which she has always gained strength, and determines that she will return there and will think of a way to get Rhett back. She resolves to think about it tomorrow for, "after all, tomorrow is another day."
During World War II, Casablanca, Morocco is a waiting point for throngs of desperate refugees fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe. Exit visas, which are necessary to leave the country, are at a premium, so when two German couriers carrying letters of transit signed by General DeGaulle are murdered and the letters stolen, German Major Strasser and Louis Renault, the prefecture of police, are eager to find the documents. Strasser is particularly concerned that the letters not be sold to Victor Lazlo, the well-known Czech resistance leader, who is rumored to be on his way to Casablanca. That night, Renault and Strasser search for the killer at Rick's Café Americain, a popular nightclub run by the mysterious American expatriate Richard Blaine. Earlier, Ugarte, a shady dealer in exit visas, had asked Rick to hold the stolen letters temporarily, explaining that he has a buyer for them and with the money from their sale, he plans to leave Casablanca. Although Rick fought on the side of the loyalists in Spain, he has grown cynical, and when Renault advises him not to interfere with Ugarte's arrest, Rick replies "I stick my neck out for nobody." He makes a bet with Renault, however, that Lazlo will manage to leave Casablanca despite German efforts to stop him. After Ugarte is arrested, Lazlo and his companion, Ilsa Lund, arrive at Rick's. Ilsa recognizes Sam, the piano player, and while Lazlo makes covert contact with the underground, Ilsa insists that Sam play the song "As Time Goes By." Reluctantly, Sam agrees, and a furious Rick, who had ordered him never to play the song again, emerges from his office to stop him. Rick is taken aback when he sees Ilsa, whom he knew in Paris. Later, after the café is closed, Rick remembers his love affair with Ilsa: After a brief happy time together, the Nazis invade Paris and, worried that Rick will be in danger because of his record, Ilsa advises him to leave the city. He refuses to go without her, and she agrees to meet him at the train station. Instead of coming, though, she sends him a farewell note, and Sam and Rick leave just ahead of the Nazis. Rick's thoughts return to the present with Ilsa's arrival at the café. She tries to explain her actions, but when a drunken Rick accuses her of being a tramp, she walks out. The following day, Lazlo and Ilsa meet with Renault and, there they learn that Ugarte has been killed while in police custody. After Rick helps a young Romanian couple win enough money at roulette to allow them to leave the country, Lazlo, suspecting that Rick has the letters, asks to buy them. Rick refuses and, when Lazlo asks his reasons, suggests that he ask Ilsa. Angered when Rick allows his orchestra to accompany a rousing rendition of "La Marseillaise," Strasser orders the closing of the Café. That night, while Lazlo attends an underground meeting, Ilsa meets Rick and explains that she stayed behind in Paris because, on the day Rick left Paris she had learned that Lazlo, her husband, whom she had married in secret and thought dead, was alive. Now realizing that they still love each other, Ilsa tells Rick that he must made decisions for both of them. Meanwhile, the police break up the underground meeting, and Lazlo takes refuge at Rick's. Before he is arrested, he begs Rick to use the letters to take Ilsa away from Casablanca. The next day, Rick sells the café to his competitor Ferare, the owner of the Blue Parrot, and tricks Renault into releasing Lazlo from prison. They head for the airport, but Renault has managed to alert Strasser, who hurries after them. At the airport, Rick tells Ilsa, who thought that she would be staying with him, that she is to leave with Lazlo because she gives meaning to his work. He then tells Lazlo that he and Ilsa loved each other in Paris, and that she pretended she was still in love with him in order to get the letters. Lazlo, who understands what really happened, welcomes Rick back to the fight before he and Ilsa board the plane. Strasser arrives just as the airplane is about to take off and when he tries to delay the flight, Rick shoots him. Renault then quickly telephones the police, but instead of turning in Rick, he advises them to "round up the usual suspects," and the two men leave Casablanca for the Free French garrison at Brassaville. It is, Rick says, "the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
In 1977, University of Chicago students Sally Albright and Harry Burns arrange to share a ride to New York City, where Sally plans to study journalism and Harry will attend law school. While Sally waits impatiently in her car, Harry and his girl friend, Amanda Reese, engage in a prolonged goodbye kiss. Harry finally gets into Sally's car and begins to snack on grapes. He mistakenly assumes the window is rolled down, spits out a grape seed, and it hits the glass. Disgusted, Sally refuses his offer of a grape, explaining that she does not eat between meals. As they get to know each other, Harry reveals his dark outlook on life, and they disagree over the ending of the film Casablanca. Sally insists that Ingrid Bergman's character made the right choice by leaving Casablanca at the end of the movie, asserting that all women prefer stability over romance. The two stop for dinner, and Harry is amused by Sally's picky way of ordering food. He compliments her on her good looks, but she takes offense, reminding him that he is dating her friend, Amanda. Returning to the car, Sally suggests that she and Harry become friends. However, Harry does not believe men and women can be friends, as "the sex part always gets in the way." Sally laments that Harry was the only person she would have known in New York, and shakes his hand when they part ways in the city. Five years later, Sally kisses her boyfriend, Joe, at the airport. Harry interrupts, recognizing Joe from law school, but he cannot place Sally. She and Harry board the same flight, and he finagles the seat beside her after finally remembering her from the University of Chicago. Harry guesses that Sally and her boyfriend, Joe, are at an early stage in their relationship, and claims he would never take a girl friend to the airport to avoid setting a precedent. Sally is surprised to hear that Harry is engaged to a lawyer named Helen Hillson, with whom he claims to be madly in love. When they land, Harry invites Sally to dinner, but she reminds him of his theory that men and women cannot be friends. Harry argues that a friendship would work since they are both involved with other people, but contradicts himself by predicting their significant others would become jealous. The two part ways. Five years later, Sally meets her friends Marie and Alice for lunch and announces that she and Joe have broken up. The women are impressed by how well Sally is handling the heartbreak, but when Marie suggests setting her up on a date, Sally refuses. Elsewhere, at a football stadium, Harry tells his friend, Jess, that his wife, Helen, just left him for another man. Harry runs into Sally at a bookstore, and the two commiserate over their breakups. Sally asks him to dinner, and he asks, "Are we becoming friends now?" Soon, Harry and Sally's friendship blossoms, and they begin to rely on each other for emotional support. When discussing their dating lives, Harry reveals that he sleeps with women even if he dislikes them, and Sally is appalled. At a batting cage, Harry's friend, Jess, asks if he is attracted to Sally and likes to spend time with her, and Harry says yes. Jess does not understand why Harry refuses to become romantically involved with Sally, but Harry claims the friendship is helping his personal growth. At a delicatessen, Sally criticizes Harry's casual approach to sex. He responds that the women he sleeps with have a good time, implying that they achieve orgasms when they are with him. Sally counters that women fake orgasms all the time, and when he does not believe her, she pretends to have one at the table. Moaning, shouting, and pounding on the tabletop, Sally draws everyone's attention and prompts an older female patron to order whatever Sally is having. On New Year's Eve, Harry and Sally go to a party, and Harry vows that if they are still single next year, he will be her date again. At midnight, they watch other couples kiss and give each other an awkward peck on the lips. Later, Harry and Sally set each other up with Marie and Jess on a double blind date. However, Marie prefers Jess over Harry, and vice versa, and the two hop into a cab together after dinner, leaving Harry and Sally alone. Four months later, while shopping for a housewarming gift for Marie and Jess, Harry and Sally run into Harry's ex-wife, Helen. Upset by the encounter, Harry takes out his anger on Marie and Jess as they bicker over a coffee table in their new apartment. Sally leads Harry outside and discourages him from expressing every emotion he feels whenever he feels it. Harry accuses Sally of burying her emotions and reminds her that she has not slept with anyone since her ex-boyfriend, Joe. Hurt by the accusations, Sally tells Harry he sleeps with too many women, and he quickly apologizes, offering her a hug. Sometime later, Sally calls Harry in tears, relaying the news that Joe is getting married. Harry rushes over to Sally's apartment. She cries on his shoulder, and he gives her a friendly kiss. She kisses him back, and the two make love. Afterward, Sally nuzzles Harry, while he lies nervously in her bed. In the morning, she wakes up to find him getting dressed. Before hurrying out, Harry asks Sally to dinner that night. The two spend the day fretting over what happened, and Sally announces at dinner that they made a mistake sleeping together. Harry is relieved. Later, Harry tells Jess that he and Sally must have passed a point in their relationship when it became too late to have sex. Weeks pass, and Harry and Sally are reunited at Marie and Jess's wedding. Harry attempts to apologize, telling Sally he did not plan to make love to her when he went to her apartment, but he did not know how else to comfort her. She shouts at him for suggesting that he took pity on her and slaps him. Over Christmas, Sally ignores Harry's phone calls. One day, he sings a song on her answering machine and she picks up. Harry apologizes, but Sally refuses to be his "consolation prize" when he asks her to be his date for New Year's Eve. Sally goes to the New Year's Eve party with Marie and Jess, but she cannot face the idea of being alone at midnight and decides to leave the party early. Meanwhile, Harry walks around the city, ruminating over his relationship with Sally. He runs to the party and finds Sally on her way out. Harry tells Sally he loves her, but she assumes he is only saying it because he is lonely. Harry lists off the personality traits that have endeared him to Sally and tells her that he wants to spend the rest of his life with her. Sally shouts that she hates Harry, then kisses him. Sometime later, Harry and Sally discuss their wedding, which took place three months later, and recall the coconut wedding cake served with chocolate sauce on the side, per Sally's instructions.
In Fort de France, Martinique, in the summer of 1940, shortly after the fall of France to the Germans, an American named Johnson hires professional fisherman Harry Morgan to take him fishing on Morgan's boat. Johnson complains about the cost of the expedition and the onboard presence of Eddie, a drunk, and Horatio, a native. Refusing to listen to Harry's instructions, Johnson loses a rod and reel belonging to Harry. Fed up with Johnson, Harry cancels the rest of the trip and insists that Johnson pay him for the lost equipment as well as his fees for the past week. Johnson promises to pay what he owes after the banks open the next morning. Back in Fort de France, bartender Gerard, commonly known as Frenchy, asks Harry to rent him his boat for one night to transport some members of the resistance underground, but Harry refuses to become involved in Frenchy's political activities. Later, in the hotel bar, Harry sees attractive young Marie Browning pick Johnson's pocket, and when she leaves the bar, he follows her and demands that she return the wallet. Harry checks the wallet and is surprised to see that it contains enough money in traveler's cheques to pay his fees and that Johnson's plane leaves early the next morning before the banks open. After Marie, whom Harry has dubbed Slim, returns the wallet to the indignant Johnson, Harry insists that he sign some of the cheques, but before Johnson can complete this task, he is killed by gunshots from the street directed at Frenchy's allies. The police detain some of the customers, including Frenchy, Marie and Harry, for questioning. Later that night, Marie tells Harry that she is tired of her footloose life and would like to settle down. In order to earn enough money to put himself back in business and help Marie, Harry agrees to pick up Frenchy's friends. Before he leaves, he buys Marie a ticket on the plane leaving that afternoon for the United States. After picking up Helene and Paul De Bursac, Harry is spotted by a patrol boat, and Paul is wounded before they escape. Harry is surprised to find that Marie stayed in Martinique to be with him. At Frenchy's request, Harry removes the bullet from De Bursac's shoulder and learns that the De Bursacs have been assigned to help a man escape from Devil's Island. De Bursac asks for Harry's assistance, but Harry turns him down. Later, the police, who recognized Harry's boat the previous night, reveal that they have Eddie in custody and will coerce him to tell the truth about the boat's cargo. At gunpoint, Harry forces the police to arrange for Eddie's release and sign harbor passes, so that he can take the De Bursacs to Devil's Island. After Eddie returns, he, Harry and Marie leave Martinique for a more committed life together.
One summer evening in late June on the New England island of Amity, teenager Chrissie Watkins invites a drunken fellow student, Cassidy, to skinny dip in the ocean. Although enthused, Cassidy passes out a few feet from the shore, while Chrissie strips and dives into the sea only to be brutally attacked from underwater. The next morning, police chief Martin Brody meets Cassidy, who has reported Chrissie missing, on the beach just as Deputy Hendricks discovers the mutilated remains of a female body. Suspecting that Chrissie was a victim of a shark attack, Brody hurries to his office to make out a report and consult with the town physician. Determined to close the beaches when the doctor confirms his fears, Brody sets off to Amity Bay, but is intercepted by Mayor Larry Vaughn, two city council members and the doctor. Vaughn reminds Brody that closing the beaches requires a signed city ordinance and that the Fourth of July weekend is about to begin. When the doctor reluctantly admits that the body may have been mutilated by a motorboat blade and Vaughn insists they do not want to start a pointless panic, Brody grudgingly agrees to keep the beaches open. The next day, an uneasy Brody oversees the crowded beach, accompanied by his wife Ellen and their two young sons, Michael and Sean. Dozens of children and young people thrash about in the surf and a dog repeatedly fetches a stick thrown in the water by his owner. Moments later, however, the dog disappears and a group of people suddenly notice a pool of bloody red foam in the sea. As the swimmers and waders run to the beach in a panic, a mangled raft washes to shore while vacationer Mrs. Kintner searches in vain for her young son, Alex. After Mrs. Kintner posts a three-thousand-dollar reward to kill the shark that killed Alex, Brody and the Amity city board meets with local businesses, fisherman and townspeople to quell their mounting alarm. When Brody acknowledges that he must close the beaches, Vaughn reassures the dismayed business owners that the closure will last only twenty-four hours. The meeting is interrupted by local professional fisherman and shark hunter, Quint, who vows to capture the shark single-handedly for $10,000, which Vaughn agrees to consider. The following morning, Brody is horrified to find Amity harbor teaming with boats and people from Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Jersey who have responded to Mrs. Kintner's reward offer. Struggling to control the crowds who bear everything from dynamite to guns to small fishing reels, Brody is relieved when Matt Hooper from the Oceanographic Institute arrives. At police headquarters, Hooper examines Chrissie's remains and declares that the wounds are from a sizable shark. That afternoon a group of fishermen triumphantly return to Amity harbor with the carcass of a ten-foot shark which they proudly display for reporters and locals. Although Vaughn is delighted by the exhibition, Hooper insists the bite radius of a Tiger shark is too small to be the same shark that killed Chrissie. As Brody remains doubtful, Mrs. Kintner arrives and demands to know why he allowed the beaches to remain open after Chrissie's death. That evening, Hooper visits the brooding Brody at home and reaffirms that the captured shark is not the one that killed Chrissie, and presses the chief to allow him to cut open the captured dead shark to explore its digestive remains. After Hooper determines that the shark caught by the fishermen has no human remains inside it, Brody realizes that he must close the beaches, but Hooper insists they immediately go in search of the killer shark in his high-tech exploration boat, the Aurora. Despite Brody's frank admission that he fears the water, Hooper forces the chief to accompany him. With the aid of the Aurora's powerful spotlights, Brody and Hooper soon come upon a half-sunken dinghy showing unusual signs of damage and Brody recognizes the boat as belonging to an islander. Donning scuba gear, Hooper goes underwater to inspect the little boat's hull and pulls an enormous shark tooth embedded in the planking. When the mangled remains of a torso abruptly float by a gaping hole in the boat, the startled Hooper drops the tooth. The next morning, Brody and Hooper met Vaughn on the beach to excitedly report that the shark attacks were made by a Great White. Without the tooth as evidence, however, the mayor remains skeptical and insists the beaches remain open the next day, which is the Fourth of July. The holiday dawns to hordes of vacationers packing the beaches. Hooper abandons a commitment to an eighteen-month research project in order to search for Amity's Great White shark, while Brody, Hendricks and backup deputies with helicopter support observe the waters. Distressed that no one has actually gotten into the water, Vaughn appeals with a family to do so and soon the surf is teaming with people. When Brody's son Michael asks permission to take his new sailboat out to sea, Brody pleads with him to go into the nearby estuary. While Vaughn cheerfully gives an interview to a television reporter, swimmers are suddenly terrified to see a large fin cutting across the water. As the panicked crowd returns en masse to the beach, Brody's assistants reveal the fin to be a hoax perpetrated by two local teenage boys. Meanwhile, a young woman standing between the sea and the pond sees a massive underwater form head into the relatively shallow estuary where Michael and his friends are struggling to raise their sail. Nearby, a man in a dinghy calls advice to the boys just as the underwater creature smashes into his boat. The subsequent swell overturns Michael's small sailboat and, as the boys thrash about, Michael witnesses the man being bitten in half by the enormous shark and faints. Meanwhile, the young woman's continued cries alert Brody who races toward the pond as Michael's friends pull him safely to shore. Later, at the hospital, where Michael is declared fine, a stunned Vaughn wonders if he can be held accountable for keeping the beaches open, but an angry Brody forces him to sign a contract hiring Quint. The next day, Brody and Hooper meet Quint at his pier-side office where Brody officially charters the fisherman's boat, the Orca. Although Quint chafes about the college educated Hooper joining them, Brody insists that the oceanographer and much of his technical equipment be taken on board. Over the next couple of days, the Orca roams far out to sea in search of the shark. One afternoon Quint's thick cable fishing line is bitten in two, but otherwise their quarry remains elusive. Soon after, as a grumpy Brody resumes shoveling bloody chum out to sea to lure the shark, the creature breaks the surface of the water, its massive mouth gaping. Stunned by the enormity of the shark, Brody staggers into the cabin and tells Quint that he will need a bigger boat. As Quint and Hooper excitedly watch the shark circle the Orca, the older man declares the creature is at least twenty-five feet long and three tons. While Quint prepares to shoot a cable line attached to a flotation barrel into the shark, Hooper attaches a radio tracking device to the barrel. After striking the shark with the harpoon and cable, the Orca follows the racing barrel, but Quint is taken aback when the shark easily pulls the air-filled keg underwater and disappears. Night falls with no further sign of the shark and the men sit in the tiny cabin drinking and talking. Quint reveals that in World War II, he served on board the U.S.S. Indianapolis which was sunk by a Japanese submarine and nearly eight hundred of its surviving crew was lost to shark attacks while waiting for rescue in the open sea. The men fill the subsequent tense silence with songs, when the shark surfaces in the dark and rams into the hull, damaging the boat's shaft. Despite Quint firing several rounds at the shark, it remains unaffected, but disappears for the remainder of the night. The next morning, Quint and Hooper struggle to repair the battered rudder and engine housing, when the shark surfaces and Quint shoots another cable and barrel into it, then ties the cables lines to the transom cleats. As the shark, now hooked to two floatation barrels, races further out to sea, Quint pushes the rough running engine of the Orca in pursuit, ignoring Brody's argument to turn back toward land. Later the shark appears to have vanished, only to surface suddenly and attack the cable lines. Panicked, Brody attempts to radio the Coast Guard, but Quint smashes the radio with a bat. Quint then calmly shoots another line and a third barrel into the shark, but when the shark heads to sea again towing the Orca, Quint is forced to cut the taunt cable lines, fearing that the transom will be pulled off. As the battered and listing Orca begins taking on water, the men watch incredulously as the barrels turn toward them, then submerge and go beneath the boat. Moments later, the shark rams the keel. The ship's stressed engine bearings begin to smoke, and Quint, masking his concern, pushes the engine as the shark begins pursuing them. Upon reaching the boat, the great shark rises up, biting into the transom. The violence of the creature's attack finishes the Orca's weakened engine. The shark disappears as Brody and Hooper realize that the Orca is sinking by the stern. Handing Brody a lifejacket, Quint asks Hooper about the shark cage and other equipment he has brought on board. When Hooper reveals that he has a large syringe full of strychnine nitrate, Quint declares the syringe will never penetrate the shark's tough skin. Hooper nevertheless volunteers to go underwater in the cage and attempt to shoot the syringe into the shark's mouth with the harpoon gun. Despite Brody's protests, Hooper dons scuba gear and oxygen, and is lowered in the cage into the water. Within moments the shark appears and rams the cage from behind Hooper, then grabs the bars and shakes the cage, causing the terrified Hooper to drop the harpoon gun, unfired. Fleeing the shark's crazed attack through the mangled cage bars, Hooper swims to the sea bottom. Meanwhile the shark, momentarily trapped between the cage and the side of the Orca, thrashes violently as Quint struggles to crank the winch. The bent ginpole gives way as the shark extricates itself and Quint and Brody are horrified when the battered, empty cage surfaces. The shark reappears at the stern and again lunges at the Orca's deck, tilting the boat sharply, causing Quint and Brody to tumble and slide toward the maddened creature. Brody hangs on to the cabin doorframe, but Quint, unable to maintain his grip on Brody's legs, slides directly into the shark's jaws. When the shark submerges with Quint's bloodied corpse, Brody casts about for a weapon and spots Hooper's remaining oxygen tank. When the shark attacks again, Brody manages to wedge the tank into its mouth. Taking Quint's rifle, Brody climbs out onto the bridge mast, which is now almost parallel with the water, and as the shark comes at him, fires repeatedly until a bullet strikes the oxygen tank, causing it to explode and blow off the creature's head. As blood and flesh rain down on Brody and the nearly submerged Orca, the shark's other half falls slowly through the water. Moments later, Brody is amazed when Hooper surfaces. The men laugh weakly in relief and, after Hooper learns of Quint's demise, the men use the remaining floatation barrels as support and paddle their way toward land.
In 1925, in Tampico, Mexico, down-and-out Fred C. Dobbs is hired to work in an oil field, where he meets another American named Curtin. After the job is finished, Dobbs and Curtin head for a flophouse for the night. There, Howard, an old prospector, talks about men who succumbed to gold fever and lost everything, and Dobbs swears that would never happen to him. Having learned that Pat McCormick, the man who hired them, has a reputation for defaulting on the money he owes his men, Dobbs and Curtin demand that he pay them immediately. McCormick puts up a fight, but Dobbs and Curtin overpower him and take their money. They then ask Howard to help them prospect for gold. Using their pay and the money from Dobbs's winning lottery ticket, the three men head toward the Sierra Madre mountains. When their train is attacked by bandits, the Americans help fight them off, but a sudden motion of the train prevents Dobbs from killing their leader, Gold Hat. Later, in a small village, the men buy burros and supplies and head for undiscovered territory. Just as the exhausted Dobbs and Curtin decide to quit, Howard informs them that they have located a rich lode of gold. After a while, Dobbs begins to suspect the others of cheating him and suggests that they divide up the gold as they go along. Just as Howard had warned, the men become suspicious of each other. When Dobbs is caught in a cave-in, Curtin briefly considers leaving him to die, in order to get a larger share of the treasure. One day, when Curtin goes into the valley for supplies, he encounters Cody, a Texan, who questions him closely about the territory because he is sure that there is gold in the surrounding mountains. Although Curtin lies about his business, Cody follows him to the camp site and suggests that they make him a partner. Secretly, the others decide to kill Cody, but before they can take action, the camp is attacked by bandits, led by Gold Hat. Although the bandits are scared off by the appearance of federal soldiers, Cody is killed in the crossfire. The gold streak thins out and the men leave the camp. When Curtin suggests that they give a fourth of their gold to Cody's widow, Howard agrees, but Dobbs greedily refuses. Later, Howard helps revive an Indian child after he falls in the water and is forced to visit their village to allow them to repay their debt to him. Dobbs and Curtin continue on to Durango and, while in the desert, Dobbs, who has become obsessed with the gold, urges Curtin to steal Howard's share. When Curtin refuses, Dobbs accuses him of conspiring with Howard to get rid of him. Fearing for his life, Curtin tries to stay awake all night, but when he finally falls asleep, Dobbs shoots him and leaves him for dead. Curtin manages to crawl away and is found by Indians and brought to the village where Howard is being honored. When Howard learns what transpired, he and Curtin ride after Dobbs. Meanwhile, Dobbs is attacked by Gold Hat's bandits, who kill him and steal his boots and burros. They do not recognize the dust as gold-laden and, assuming that it is sand used to make the hides that cover it weigh more, dump it in the desert. In Durango, the bandits are captured when they try to sell the burros and are shot. Howard and Curtin are later taken to the place where Dobbs was murdered and, as they search for whatever remains of the gold, a storm blows the dust back toward the Sierra Madre mountains. Laughing at the irony of their situation, Howard decides to return to the Indians and spend the rest of his life as their medicine man, while Curtin plans to go to Dallas and visit Cody's widow.
In Los Angeles, California, a Terminator humanoid "cyborg" arrives from the twenty-first century, and attacks a group of young delinquents for their clothing. Elsewhere in the city, soldier Kyle Reese arrives through the same time portal. The accompanying atmospheric disturbance attracts police, who chase Kyle into a clothing store. After evading his pursuers, Kyle dons contemporary clothing, steals a police rifle, and searches a telephone directory for the address of Sarah J. Connor. In the morning, the Terminator steals a car and robs a gun shop of several automatic weapons. He discovers three listings for "Sarah Connor" in the telephone directory and kills the first two. Certain that Sarah J. Connor will be the next victim, police detective Hal Vukovich telephones her apartment and leaves a message. However, Sarah's roommate, Ginger Ventura, is in the bedroom, making love with her boyfriend, Matt, and does not hear the warning. Sarah learns of the murders and enters a nightclub to evade Kyle, who appears to be stalking her. She telephones her apartment, unaware that the Terminator has already killed both Ginger and Matt. Hearing her voice, the cyborg realizes that his intended victim is still at large. He memorizes Sarah's face from a photograph, and makes his way to the nightclub. Sarah telephones the police department and Lieutenant Ed Traxler offers protective custody. Seconds later, Kyle aids Sarah's escape while the Terminator sprays the club with bullets. Pursuing his victims, the cyborg commandeers a police car and rallies several officers to join the chase. After taking refuge in a parking structure, Kyle calms the hysterical Sarah, explaining that he was sent from the year 2027 to protect her from the Terminator, a creature devoid of emotion and impervious to conventional weapons, despite its exterior of flesh and blood. Ignoring Sarah's skepticism, Kyle recounts a series of events in the near future, beginning with a nuclear war started by defense network computers. The machines will perceive all humans as a threat and herd them into concentration camps for extermination. Sarah's unborn son, John Connor, will save humanity by teaching the prisoners how to fight and ultimately win. The machines have responded by sending the Terminator to kill Sarah, ensuring that John Connor will never be born. Following another encounter with the Terminator, Sarah and Kyle are taken into police custody. While Lt. Traxler comforts Sarah, psychiatrist Dr. Peter Silberman interviews Kyle, certain that the soldier suffers from psychosis. Meanwhile, the Terminator attends to his damaged body, and dons sunglasses to hide the sight mechanism exposed by a missing eye. He attacks the police station, killing most of the officers while Kyle and Sarah escape to the city outskirts. The soldier delivers a verbal message to Sarah from John, thanking her for the values she instilled in him, and reminding her that his life depends on her survival. Kyle describes the world of 2017, in which humans are forced to hide during the day, but have some freedom at night, despite the presence of roving "hunter-killer" devices. Realizing their robotic soldiers were too easily identified, the machines created Terminators to infiltrate and kill their human enemies. He recalls an incident in which he narrowly survived a Terminator attack that killed many in his underground bunker. In the morning, they rent a motel room and make pipe bombs from common household items. Using information from Sarah's address book, the Terminator invades her mother's home and intercepts a telephone call. He replicates Mrs. Connor's voice and convinces Sarah to reveal her location. At the motel, Kyle admits to falling in love with Sarah after seeing a photograph given to him by her son. Sarah reciprocates and they make love. The Terminator appears that evening and pursues the couple through the streets, while Kyle throws pipe bombs in his path. The chase ends with Kyle and Sarah trapped inside their overturned car. The cyborg commandeers a tanker truck, intending to crush his enemies. Kyle places a bomb in the vehicle, causing its flammable contents to explode. He embraces Sarah, believing their ordeal is over, until the cyborg's mechanical skeleton rises from the flames. It follows the couple into a factory building, where Kyle attempts to destroy it with a pipe bomb. The ensuing explosion leaves Kyle dead, the skeleton in pieces, and Sarah with a shrapnel wound to the leg. As she mourns Kyle, the upper half of the skeleton crawls toward her. She leads it into a hydraulic press and crushes it until its glowing red eyes go dark. Sometime later, Sarah drives through the Mexican desert, pregnant with Kyle's son, John. She stops at a gas station, where a young boy photographs her. She buys the photograph, recognizing it as the same one Kyle carried with him. The boy warns of a storm on the horizon, but Sarah continues her journey.
In the 1910s, young Henry Lou Gehrig, the son of German immigrants, yearns to play baseball, but his mother, who is a cook at Columbia University, wants him to become an engineer. Years later, when Lou is enrolled at Columbia, he is popular with other students and excels in all sports, even though he must work as a waiter in his fraternity house. When sports writer Sam Blake observes Lou's excellence at baseball, he begins to write about him. One day, Sam goes to the fraternity to see if Lou is interested in playing ball for the New York Yankees. Because some of the other boys had just played a trick on him, Lou thinks that Sam is part of the ruse and throws him out. Later, when he learns that Sam is genuine, Lou is pleased by the offer, but sheepishly declines, saying that he is going to be an engineer. One night, Lou's mother becomes gravely ill and must go to the hospital. Worried that his mother will not get the care she needs in a charity ward, Lou secretly signs with the Yankees to earn enough money to keep her in a private hospital. While she recovers, Lou and his father let her believe that he has enrolled at Harvard, when he actually is playing for the Yankees' farm team in Hartford. Lou soon becomes known for his hard work and consistent performance on the diamond, and within a short time is recalled by the Yankees. Mrs. Gehrig is at first angry and disappointed when she learns the truth, because she wants Lou to take advantage of other opportunities that America offers, but soon accepts her son's decision. The shy, but affable Lou eventually becomes the team's first baseman, and Sam, who is his strongest supporter, becomes his roommate on the road and tells rival sportswriter Hank Hannemann that Lou epitomizes what is best about baseball and America. In Chicago, Lou meets Eleanor Twitchell, the daughter of a wealthy hot dog manufacturer, and is smitten when she playfully dubs him "Tanglefoot" after he trips on some bats. When the team next travels to Chicago, Lou asks Eleanor out and soon the two fall in love. Despite Mrs. Gehrig's jealousy over not remaining Lou's "best girl," he proposes to Eleanor. Although at first Lou's mother tries to usurp Eleanor's position, Lou smooths things over and assures Eleanor that she is the manager of their team. As the years pass, the "Iron Horse," as the sports writers call Lou, remains happy in his career and marriage. In 1938, shortly after Lou is honored for playing in his 2,000th consecutive game, he begins to notice a strange weakness in his arms. His playing and coordination worsen, and by the 1939 season, his performance has become so poor that he is benched for the first time in his career. Lou goes for medical tests and learns that he must give up baseball, and when he asks "is it three strikes?" the doctor confirms Lou's fears. Lou does not want Eleanor to know that his illness is fatal, and although she guesses the truth, she maintains the pretense that he will recover. With his career over, Lou is honored at a special ceremony held at Yankee Stadium. In front of thousands of fans, and standing beside former teammates, Lou delivers a humble speech praising his family and colleagues. He ends by saying, "People all say that I've had a bad break. But today--today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth."
Ray Kinsella recalls his late father, John, a one-time minor league baseball player and devoted fan of the sport. After Ray's mother died, John Kinsella took care of his son, but Ray ultimately clashed with him and went to college in Berkeley, California, far away from their home in New York City. Ray joined the hippie movement, then married his college sweetheart, Annie, just before his father died. The young couple had a daughter, Karin, and when Ray turned thirty-six, Annie convinced him to buy a farm in Iowa. Ray claims he never did anything crazy until he heard "the voice." One day, walking through the cornfields on his farm, Ray hears a voice whisper repeatedly, "If you build it, he will come." Later, the voice wakes him up and Ray responds by asking what he should build. The next day, as the voice speaks to him, Ray hallucinates a baseball field and the late "Shoeless Joe" Jackson, an outfielder who was ousted from the Major Leagues after his team, the Chicago White Sox, were found guilty of conspiring to lose the 1919 World Series. Back in the house, Ray tells Annie the voice wants him to build a baseball field so Shoeless Joe can play again, and she responds that it is the craziest idea she ever heard. However, Ray fears becoming like his father, who aged too quickly and never followed his dreams. Annie offers to support him, even though he must plow down a large portion of their corn to build the field. Neighbors watch in disbelief as Ray begins plowing. His daughter, Karin, joins him as he recounts the story of Shoeless Joe, who earned his nickname when he removed an uncomfortable pair of spikes during the middle of a game and played barefoot. Recalling the 1919 World Series controversy, Ray insists there was no evidence that Shoeless Joe conspired to lose, given his exemplary performance in the games. Ray tells Annie that his father once saw Shoeless Joe playing in the minor leagues under a different name, and Annie notices Ray is smiling. She says it is the first time she has seen her husband look happy when talking about his father. The baseball field is completed, but Shoeless Joe does not appear for some time. One night, Annie tallies the bills and announces that the farm is losing money due to the lost acreage. She also reminds Ray that they spent all of their savings on the field, which they should now replant with corn. Karin interrupts, saying a man is standing outside. Ray finds a young Shoeless Joe standing on his baseball field and greets him in disbelief. He hits balls for the outfielder to catch, then pitches to him. After hitting a homerun, Shoeless Joe comments about how much he misses baseball. Annie and Karin come to greet their guest, but he cannot walk past the border of the baseball field. He mentions that seven other players would like to join him next time, and Ray says they are welcome. Before he disappears into the cornfield, Shoeless Joe asks if he is in heaven, and Ray responds, "No, it's Iowa." Later, Annie's brother, Mark, informs Ray that he is going to lose his farm and offers to buy the property before the bank forecloses on it. Karin announces that "the game is on," and Ray leaves the room with her. Mark follows, and sees them watching Shoeless Joe and his seven companions warming up on the field. However, Mark cannot see the players and mocks Ray as he leaves. When the voice speaks to Ray again, it says, "Ease his pain." Confused by the instruction, Ray attends a Parent Teachers Association (PTA) meeting with Annie, where a concerned mother named Beulah discusses her desire to ban 1960s counterculture books written by Terence Mann. Annie defends Mann and convinces the majority of the crowd to side with her before Ray drags her out of the meeting, announcing that he has had an epiphany. He reminds Annie that Mann is his favorite author as well as hers, and believes the voice was telling him to ease Mann's pain. The novelist, now a recluse, once gave an interview in which he described a recurring dream of playing baseball at Ebbets Field with Jackie Robinson. Thus, Ray thinks he must bring Mann out of hiding to attend a baseball game. Annie forbids him going on a trip because they cannot afford it, but when she remembers the dream she had the night before in which Ray attended a Boston Red Sox game with Mann, he reveals he had the same dream. Changing her mind, Annie offers to help him pack. In Boston, Massachusetts, Ray bribes a mechanic for Mann's home address and goes to the author's apartment. There, he informs Mann of his mission and persuades him to attend a Red Sox game at Fenway Park, even though the author denies having had a recurring dream about Ebbets Field. At the game, Ray sees the statistics of 1922 New York Giants player Archibald "Moonlight" Graham on the Jumbotron. Graham, who only played one game and never went to bat, was from Chisolm, Minnesota. Ray deduces that he must go to Chisolm, and offers to take Mann home early, apologizing that he was not needed after all. However, just after Ray drops him off, Mann blocks the car and reveals that he also saw the message about Graham. He joins Ray on the trip to Chisolm, where they learn that Graham, who became a doctor and devoted husband, died in 1972. That night, Ray takes a walk in town and realizes he has been transported back to 1972. He sees Graham walking down the street and follows him to his office, where he tries to convince the doctor to come to Iowa with him for another chance to play baseball. However, Graham refuses to leave his wife, even for a short trip. Ray calls home to Annie, who reports that Mark has taken over the loan on their house and will foreclose if they do not agree to sell to him. Rushing back to Iowa, Ray is joined by Mann and a young hitchhiker, who turns out to be a younger version of Graham who calls himself "Archie" and aspires to play baseball. When Archie falls asleep, Ray tells Mann that he played baseball as a child but quit at age fourteen when he read Mann's novel, The Boat Rocker, and decided to rebel against his father's wishes, including the desire for him to play baseball. Ray laments that he left home at seventeen after telling his father he could never respect a man who idolized a criminal like Shoeless Joe. For years he did not speak to his father, too ashamed to apologize, and the next time he saw him was at his funeral. That night, they arrive at the farm and discover Shoeless Joe on the field with two full teams. Mann and the Kinsellas watch as Archie joins the seasoned players for a game. The next day, Mark arrives to find Ray and the Kinsellas on the sidelines, watching another game. Karin announces that her father will not have to sell the farm because people will pay to watch the game. Believing the girl is delusional, Mark shakes her, causing her to fall from the bleachers and lose consciousness. Annie goes to call for help, but Ray stops her, certain that Archie can aid their daughter. Archie approaches, and at the edge of the field, transforms into the older Dr. Graham, who discovers Karin is choking and slaps her back to dislodge a hot dog. Having witnessed the rescue, Mark changes his mind and agrees that Ray should keep the farm. When the baseball players retire for the day, Shoeless Joe invites Mann to join them. Ray wants to come too, but Mann reminds him he has a family and claims this is an opportunity for him to write a new story. Mann finally admits he did dream about playing at Ebbets Field, and Shoeless Joe reminds Ray, "If you build it, he will come," before leaving the field. One last player remains, and Ray realizes it is his father. Upon Annie's encouragement, he introduces John to his wife and daughter, but does not reveal that he is his son. John compliments the beauty of the field and says it is a "dream come true." The men discuss whether or not it is heaven or simply Iowa, and Ray finally calls him "Dad" when he asks him to play catch.
Forrest Gump, a middle-aged man seated on a bus bench in Savannah, Georgia, offers a chocolate to an African-American nurse beside him. He tells the nurse an old saying of his mother's: "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get." Forrest explains that he was named after an ancestor, General Nathan Forrest, who started the Ku Klux Klan, a racist organization. By naming her son "Forrest," Mrs. Gump wanted him to remember that people sometimes do things that don't make any sense. Decades earlier, in Greenbow, Alabama, young Forrest lives with Mrs. Gump, his single mother, in a large, rural house where she rents out rooms to travelers. Born with a crooked spine, Forrest is made to wear a pair of leg braces to straighten his back. One day, a school administrator, Mr. Hancock, tells Mrs. Gump that Forrest cannot attend public school because his intelligence quotient of seventy-five is too low, but Mrs. Gump changes Hancock's mind by having sex with him. Later, while a musician houseguest plays his guitar, Forrest dances, moving awkwardly due to his leg braces. Afterward, Mrs. Gump and Forrest spot the houseguest on television – it is Elvis Presley, a famous rock n' roll musician, emulating Forrest's style of dancing. On his first day of school, Forrest is shunned by all the kids on the school bus except by Jenny, a young girl who is abused by her alcoholic father. Forrest and Jenny become close friends, and, one day, when bullies throw rocks at Forrest, Jenny instructs him to run. Forrest runs so fast that the braces come off of his legs. From that day forward, Forrest runs everywhere he goes and eventually his athletic abilities earn him a football scholarship to the University of Alabama. When Forrest visits Jenny at her all-girl college, he embarrasses her by interrupting a date with a young man. Later that night, Jenny places Forrest's hand on her breast, and he apologizes after ejaculating inside his pants. When he is selected for the All-American football team, Forrest meets President John F. Kennedy at the White House in Washington, D.C. Upon graduation, Forrest joins the United States Army and befriends Bubba Blue, another recruit who hails from a long line of shrimp fishermen. One night, a soldier hands Forrest a Playboy magazine with nude pictures of Jenny. On leave, Forrest goes to the topless bar where Jenny is working in Memphis, Tennessee, and when a man splashes Jenny with his drink, Forrest hits him and carries Jenny offstage. Afterward, she reprimands Forrest for trying to save her. Forrest tells Jenny he loves her, but she replies that he doesn't know what love is. After they are sent to fight in the Vietnam War, Bubba suggests to Forrest that they start a shrimp fishing business when they return home. Sometime later, Forrest's troop is ambushed in the jungle and Forrest saves several injured men, including his troop leader, Lieutenant Dan, by carrying them to safety. Although he is shot in the buttocks, Forrest heads back into the line of fire to find Bubba. Discovering that his friend is fatally injured, Forrest cradles Bubba in his arms as he dies. In the Army hospital, Forrest convalesces next to Lieutenant Dan, who has lost both his legs and resents Forrest for saving his life. Meanwhile, Forrest receives a stack of letters that were returned, unopened, from Jenny's address in Greenbow. When he is awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor, Forrest returns to the White House and meets President Lyndon B. Johnson. During an anti-war protest outside the Washington Monument, Forrest is invited onto the stage to talk about the war, but an Army official unplugs the speaker system so that Forrest's speech is inaudible. Spotting Forrest from the crowd, Jenny runs into the Reflecting Pool where Forrest joins her. Jenny takes Forrest to the headquarters of the Black Panthers, an African-American militant group, and one of the members lectures Forrest on the Vietnam War. When her boyfriend slaps Jenny across the face, Forrest attacks him. Later, Forrest tells Jenny that he would never hit her, saying he would like to be her boyfriend. However, after walking around with Forrest all night, Jenny returns to her abusive boyfriend. As she and the boyfriend board a bus, Forrest gives Jenny his Medal of Honor. Forrest, who spent countless hours playing ping-pong during his convalescence, travels to Army hospitals and teaches wounded soldiers how to play. Upon winning an international ping-pong championship in China, Forrest becomes a celebrity in the United States and is interviewed on The Dick Cavett Show alongside John Lennon of the famous rock n' roll band, The Beatles. Leaving the show, Forrest runs into Lieutenant Dan who is now a bitter, wheelchair-bound alcoholic. After spending Christmas together, Forrest and Lieutenant Dan celebrate New Year's Eve at a bar in New York City. Forrest daydreams about Jenny, who is in California, sneaking away from yet another abusive boyfriend. Traveling with the U.S. Ping-Pong Team, Forrest meets President Richard Nixon, and Nixon recommends that Forrest stay at the Watergate Hotel. There, Forrest notices flashlights inside the adjacent Watergate office complex one night and calls security, thus uncovering the infamous Watergate break-in. After he is discharged from the Army, Forrest receives $25,000 for endorsing a ping-pong paddle and uses the money to start a shrimp fishing business called Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, in honor of Bubba. Forrest names his boat Jenny and hires Lieutenant Dan to be his first mate, raising Dan's spirits. Elsewhere, Jenny takes drugs and contemplates suicide. Although Forrest and Lieutenant Dan initially encounter obstacles at sea, their luck changes when a hurricane washes in an abundance of shrimp, making Bubba Gump an overnight success. One day on the boat, Forrest learns that Mrs. Gump is sick and he rushes home. Shortly after his return, Mrs. Gump dies from cancer. Since Lieutenant Dan invested Bubba Gump money into Apple Computers, Forrest receives windfall profits and gives his money away to churches, hospitals, and Bubba's family. Forrest moves back into his mother's house and cuts the grass at Greenbow's high school football field for free. One day, Jenny arrives, and Forrest provides her with a room. First, she sleeps for a very long time, and after that, they walk around Greenbow together. When they come upon her father's old house, Jenny becomes angry, throwing things and crying. On the Fourth of July, Forrest asks Jenny to marry him, but she refuses, saying he doesn't want to marry her. Later that night, however, Jenny declares her love for Forrest, and they make love. The next morning, Jenny leaves without saying goodbye. Lonely in her absence, Forrest puts on a pair of running shoes that Jenny gave him and runs from his house. He doesn't stop running and eventually reaches California, where he turns around and heads back East. Forrest runs cross-country multiple times, and after he receives attention from the press, other runners begin to follow him. Jenny sees Forrest on television and sends him a letter, asking him to visit Savannah, where she now works as a waitress. While still waiting for the bus in Savannah, Forrest learns from another passenger that he can walk to Jenny's house. Finally, he leaves the bench where he first spoke to the nurse. At her apartment, Jenny apologizes for how she has treated Forrest, saying she was "messed up." Forrest meets Jenny's son, also named Forrest, and learns that he is the father. Forrest panics, asking if the child is smart, and Jenny assures him that he is. At a playground, Jenny tells Forrest that she is sick with a virus that has no cure. Forrest invites her and their son to stay with him in Greenbow, promising to take care of her. Jenny asks Forrest to marry her and he agrees. After they are married in Greenbow, she dies, and Forrest has her father's house razed. Forrest continues to live in his mother's house, sending his son to school on the same bus where he first met Jenny.
During the Depression in the early 1930s, Bonnie Parker meets Clyde Barrow when he tries to steal her mother's car. Intrigued by his brazen manner and bored with her job as a waitress, she decides to become his partner in crime. Together they stage a series of amateur holdups that provide them with excitement but little monetary reward. Eventually they take on C. W. Moss, a dimwitted garage mechanic, who serves as their getaway driver. Finally they are joined by Clyde's brother Buck, recently released from prison, and his wife, Blanche, a whining preacher's daughter. As they add bank robbery and murder to their list of crimes, the quintet quickly becomes the object of statewide manhunts. While holed up in a rented apartment in Joplin, Missouri, they make the first of their incredible escapes from the police. Fascinated by the legendary reputation growing around them, they brag about their exploits, take pictures of each other, and, on one occasion, force a Texas Ranger to pose with them. Through it all a love relationship develops between Bonnie and Clyde that endures despite Clyde's impotence. After a visit with Bonnie's mother, the gang is surrounded in Dexter, Iowa. Buck dies with half of his face shot away, Blanche is blinded and captured, and Bonnie is wounded in the shoulder. The three survivors find a temporary hideout with C. W.'s father in a Louisiana town, and there Bonnie and Clyde finally consummate their love. Bonnie recovers from her wounds, and they plan to move on again; but C. W.'s father, hoping to lighten his son's punishment, has cooperated with the police in setting a trap. In May of 1934, Bonnie and Clyde ride into a police ambush and die as their bodies are riddled with a thousand rounds of ammunition.
Benjamin Braddock, filled with doubts about his future, returns to his Los Angeles home after graduating from an Eastern college. His parents soon have a party so they can boast of their son's academic achievements and his bright prospects in business. Mrs. Robinson, one of the guests, persuades Ben to drive her home and there tries to seduce him, but her overtures are interrupted by the sound of her husband's car in the driveway. Blatant in her seductive maneuvers, she soon has the nervous and inexperienced Ben meeting her regularly at the Taft Hotel. As the summer passes, Benjamin becomes increasingly bored and listless; he frequently stays out overnight and returns home to loll around the pool. When his worried parents try to interest him in Elaine, Mrs. Robinson's daughter, Ben agrees to date her to avoid having the entire Robinson family invited to dinner. At first Benjamin is rude to Elaine and takes her to a striptease club, but realizing how cruel he has been, he apologizes and the two begin dating. Outraged, Mrs. Robinson demands that Ben stop seeing her daughter; instead he blurts out the truth to a shocked Elaine, who returns to college in Berkeley. Although Ben follows her and tries to persuade her to marry him, Elaine's parents intervene and encourage her to marry Carl Smith, a student whom she has been dating. Ben returns to Los Angeles, but when Mrs. Robinson refuses to divulge any information about the wedding, he races back to Berkeley and learns that the ceremony will take place in Santa Barbara. Arriving at the church as the final vows are being spoken, he screams Elaine's name over the heads of the startled guests. Elaine sees her parents' anger toward Ben, and realizing what their influence has done, she fights off her mother and Carl and races to Ben. After locking the congregation in the church by jamming a crucifix through the door handles, the couple leaps aboard a passing bus and rides away.
During World War II, Casablanca, Morocco is a waiting point for throngs of desperate refugees fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe. Exit visas, which are necessary to leave the country, are at a premium, so when two German couriers carrying letters of transit signed by General DeGaulle are murdered and the letters stolen, German Major Strasser and Louis Renault, the prefecture of police, are eager to find the documents. Strasser is particularly concerned that the letters not be sold to Victor Lazlo, the well-known Czech resistance leader, who is rumored to be on his way to Casablanca. That night, Renault and Strasser search for the killer at Rick's Café Americain, a popular nightclub run by the mysterious American expatriate Richard Blaine. Earlier, Ugarte, a shady dealer in exit visas, had asked Rick to hold the stolen letters temporarily, explaining that he has a buyer for them and with the money from their sale, he plans to leave Casablanca. Although Rick fought on the side of the loyalists in Spain, he has grown cynical, and when Renault advises him not to interfere with Ugarte's arrest, Rick replies "I stick my neck out for nobody." He makes a bet with Renault, however, that Lazlo will manage to leave Casablanca despite German efforts to stop him. After Ugarte is arrested, Lazlo and his companion, Ilsa Lund, arrive at Rick's. Ilsa recognizes Sam, the piano player, and while Lazlo makes covert contact with the underground, Ilsa insists that Sam play the song "As Time Goes By." Reluctantly, Sam agrees, and a furious Rick, who had ordered him never to play the song again, emerges from his office to stop him. Rick is taken aback when he sees Ilsa, whom he knew in Paris. Later, after the café is closed, Rick remembers his love affair with Ilsa: After a brief happy time together, the Nazis invade Paris and, worried that Rick will be in danger because of his record, Ilsa advises him to leave the city. He refuses to go without her, and she agrees to meet him at the train station. Instead of coming, though, she sends him a farewell note, and Sam and Rick leave just ahead of the Nazis. Rick's thoughts return to the present with Ilsa's arrival at the café. She tries to explain her actions, but when a drunken Rick accuses her of being a tramp, she walks out. The following day, Lazlo and Ilsa meet with Renault and, there they learn that Ugarte has been killed while in police custody. After Rick helps a young Romanian couple win enough money at roulette to allow them to leave the country, Lazlo, suspecting that Rick has the letters, asks to buy them. Rick refuses and, when Lazlo asks his reasons, suggests that he ask Ilsa. Angered when Rick allows his orchestra to accompany a rousing rendition of "La Marseillaise," Strasser orders the closing of the Café. That night, while Lazlo attends an underground meeting, Ilsa meets Rick and explains that she stayed behind in Paris because, on the day Rick left Paris she had learned that Lazlo, her husband, whom she had married in secret and thought dead, was alive. Now realizing that they still love each other, Ilsa tells Rick that he must made decisions for both of them. Meanwhile, the police break up the underground meeting, and Lazlo takes refuge at Rick's. Before he is arrested, he begs Rick to use the letters to take Ilsa away from Casablanca. The next day, Rick sells the café to his competitor Ferare, the owner of the Blue Parrot, and tricks Renault into releasing Lazlo from prison. They head for the airport, but Renault has managed to alert Strasser, who hurries after them. At the airport, Rick tells Ilsa, who thought that she would be staying with him, that she is to leave with Lazlo because she gives meaning to his work. He then tells Lazlo that he and Ilsa loved each other in Paris, and that she pretended she was still in love with him in order to get the letters. Lazlo, who understands what really happened, welcomes Rick back to the fight before he and Ilsa board the plane. Strasser arrives just as the airplane is about to take off and when he tries to delay the flight, Rick shoots him. Renault then quickly telephones the police, but instead of turning in Rick, he advises them to "round up the usual suspects," and the two men leave Casablanca for the Free French garrison at Brassaville. It is, Rick says, "the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
Child psychologist Malcolm Crowe is shot in his home by Vincent, a deranged former patient. Sometime later, Malcolm has recuperated from the gunshot wounds but has become estranged from his wife, Anna, who resents his workaholism. He begins treating a new patient, nine-year-old Cole Sear, who claims to see the ghosts of dead people and reminds Malcolm of Vincent. While Malcolm initially believes the ghosts are hallucinations, he is eventually convinced of Cole's ability to communicate with the dead. He encourages the boy to help the spirits with their problems. One night, Cole sees the ghost of a vomiting girl. When they discover her identity, Malcolm takes Cole to the girl's funeral. With the aid of the girl's ghost, Cole locates a home video and delivers it to the girl's father. The video reveals that her mother poisoned her. With this knowledge, the father can save his younger daughter. Satisfied with his power to help ghosts and the living, Cole becomes better adjusted, and wins the lead role in a school play. As he finishes his work with Malcolm, he encourages the psychologist to talk to his wife, Anna, while she sleeps. The boy finally tells his mother, Lynn, about his interaction with ghosts. He offers proof by describing a memory of Lynn as a child, which the ghost of his grandmother once shared with him. Elsewhere, Malcolm returns home to Anna and finds her sleeping, with their wedding video playing in the background. Anna speaks in her sleep, asking why Malcolm had to leave. He sees her drop his wedding ring, then recalls being shot. Malcolm realizes his gunshot wound has not gone away, and that he is, in fact, dead. Malcolm's ghost speaks to the sleeping Anna, promising that she was his first priority and that he loves her. This releases his spirit from the world of the living, and he vanishes.
Blanche DuBois arrives in New Orleans by train, and follows a sailor's directions to take a streetcar named "Desire" to her sister Stella Kowalski's apartment at Elysian Fields in the French Quarter. Blanche, an aging Southern belle, is horrified by the dilapidated building in which her sister lives with her husband Stanley, but is delighted to reunite with Stella, whom she feels abandoned her after their father's death. Blanche explains that she was given a leave of absence from her teaching job because she had become a little "lunatic," and now makes herself at home in the cramped apartment, which affords little privacy. Blanche is immediately offended by Stanley's coarse manners, and he is infuriated when he learns that Blanche has lost the family home at Belle Reve. Stanley rants about the "Napoleonic code," which he claims decrees that what belongs to the wife belongs to the husband. Unimpressed by Blanche's genteel manners, Stanley reveals that his wife is pregnant, and at his insistence, Blanche reluctantly digs out the papers which document the many unpaid loans written against the Belle Reve estate. That night, Stanley's poker game runs late, and when Stella and Blanche return from an outing together, Blanche meets Stanley's best friend Mitch, a bachelor who looks after his sick mother. Blanche turns on the radio and dances by herself, but Stanley is distracted by the music and flies into a drunken rage, during which he beats Stella. Stella and her terrified sister run up to their neighbor Eunice's apartment, but later, when Stanley calls up to her in remorse, Stella is drawn back to her husband and makes up with him. Blanche, horrified by Stanley's brutality, lingers in the street with Mitch. The next day, Stanley overhears Blanche encourage Stella to leave Stanley, whom she calls an "animal" and "subhuman," but she is unable to shake Stella's devotion to her husband. Stanley reveals that he has heard some unsavory gossip about Blanche, and his apparent secret knowledge unnerves her. That night, Blanche and Mitch go out on a date, and she resists his amorous advances by telling him that she is old-fashioned. After avoiding Mitch's questions about her age, she reveals that she drove her first young husband to suicide by mercilessly demeaning him because their marriage was not consummated. She then accepts Mitch's kiss. Five months later, when Mitch reveals his plans to marry Blanche, he and Stanley fight after Stanley tells him about her sordid past. Stanley then tells Stella that he has learned that Blanche was fired for seducing a seventeen-year-old student, and that she has a notorious reputation. Mitch stands up Blanche on her birthday and refuses to take her calls. When Stanley tells Blanche that she has overstayed her welcome, she insults him by calling him a "Polack." Stanley defends his Polish heritage, and then gives her a birthday gift of a one-way bus ticket home. Blanche then becomes hysterical and shuts herself in the bathroom. Stella and Stanley start to fight, but she goes into labor and Stanley takes her to the hospital. Later, Mitch comes to see Blanche, who is hearing music in her head, and calls her a hypocrite. Blanche truly loves Mitch, but admits that she has had "many meetings with men." Mitch forces a kiss on Blanche, but breaks their engagement and is run out of the apartment by her. She then dresses up as if she were attending a ball, and when Stanley returns home, claims that Mitch has apologized and that she has received an invitation to a cruise. Stanley accuses Blanche of lying and assaults her. When Stella returns home with her baby, she finds that Blanche has gone insane and now lives under the delusion that she is going on a Caribbean cruise. Stella has reluctantly arranged for her sister to be sent to a sanatorium, but when the doctor and matron arrive, Blanche goes completely berserk. Mitch attacks Stanley, who vows that he never touched Blanche. Blanche finally calms down, and is touched by the doctor's gentlemanly manner, telling him that she has "always depended on the kindness of strangers." After they leave, Stella rebuffs Stanley and runs to Eunice's apartment with her baby, vowing never to return.
Dowdy, thirtyish Charlotte Vale lives with her dictatorial, aristocratic mother in a Boston mansion. Fearing that Charlotte is on the verge of a nervous breakdown, her sister-in-law Lisa brings psychiatrist Dr. Jaquith to the Vale home to examine her unobtrusively. Jaquith's observations and conversation with Charlotte convince him that she is, in fact, very ill, and he recommends that she visit his sanitarium, Cascade. Away from her domineering mother, Charlotte recovers quickly, but does not feel ready to return home and accepts Lisa's proposal of a long cruise as an alternative. On board the ship, a newly chic Charlotte is introduced to Jerry Durrance, who is also traveling alone. The two spend a day sight-seeing together, during which time the married Jerry asks Charlotte to help him choose gifts for his two daughters. Charlotte is touched when Jerry thanks her with a small bottle of perfume. Subsequently, Charlotte tells Jerry about her family and her breakdown and learns from his good friends, Deb and Frank McIntyre, that Jerry is unhappily married but will never leave his family. After the ship docks in Rio de Janeiro, Jerry and Charlotte become stranded on Sugarloaf Mountain and spend the night together. Having missed her boat, Charlotte stays with Jerry in Rio for five days before flying to Buenos Aires to rejoin the cruise. Although they have fallen in love, they promise not to see each other again. Back in Boston, Charlotte's family is stunned by her transformation. Her mother, however, is determined to regain control over her daughter. Charlotte's resolve to remain independent is strengthened by the timely arrival of some camellias. Although there is no card, Charlotte knows the flowers are from Jerry because he had called her by the nickname "Camille," and, reminded of his love, she is able to forge a new relationship with her mother. Charlotte eventually becomes engaged to eligible widower Elliot Livingston. One night, at a party, Charlotte encounters Jerry, who is now working as an architect, a profession he had renounced years before in deference to his wife's wishes. His youngest daughter Tina is now seeing Dr. Jaquith for her own emotional problems. Charlotte asks Jerry not to blame himself for their affair as she gained much from knowing that he loved her. This chance encounter forces Charlotte to realize that she does not love Elliot passionately, and they break their engagement, so angering Mrs. Vale that during an argument with Charlotte, she has a heart attack and dies. Guilty and distraught, Charlotte returns to Cascade, where she meets Tina. Seeing herself in the girl, Charlotte takes charge of her, with Jaquith's tentative approval. When Tina improves enough, Charlotte takes her home to Boston. Later, Jerry and Jaquith visit the Vale home, and Jerry is delighted by the change in Tina. Charlotte warns him, however, that she is only able to keep Tina with her on condition that she and Jerry end their affair. Jerry believes that he is responsible for her decision not to marry Elliot, but Charlotte reassures him otherwise, saying that Tina is his gift to her and her way of being close to him. Jerry then asks if Charlotte is happy and she responds, "Oh Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon; we have the stars."
While playing on his Wyoming homestead, young Joey Starrett spies a lone rider approaching his house, then listens with great curiosity as Shane, the buckskin clad stranger, reveals to his father Joe that he is heading north, toward home. When Joey cocks the rifle he has been toting, Shane, startled by the noise, draws his gun with the speed of a gunslinger. Joe is disturbed by Shane's behavior and, as a group of men ride up, sends him on his way. The men's leader, grizzled cattle baron Rufe Ryker, accuses Joe of squatting on his grazing land and demands that he give up his homestead. When Joe refuses, Ryker's men start to intimidate him until Shane suddenly reappears at Joe's side. The men depart, and Joe's wife Marian, who has observed everything from inside the house, urges Joe to invite Shane to dinner. Joey is thrilled to have Shane spend the evening with them, and at the end of the meal, Shane, reticent to talk about his past, goes outside to chop wood for the family. Joe joins in and the next day, the two men team up to pull a stubborn tree stump out of the ground. Later, Joey tells Shane that his parents want him to stay and innocently lets on that his father is concerned about Ryker's threats. Shane, who has put away his gun, agrees to remain and heads to town to buy work clothes. Soon after, homesteader Ernie Wright arrives at the Starretts' to announce that Ryker's men have destroyed his wheat field and, consequently, he and his family are moving away. Joe begs Ernie to stay and calls for a meeting of the homestead men that night. Meanwhile, in town, Shane purchases clothes at Sam Grafton's general store, then orders a soda pop in the adjoining saloon. There, Chris Calloway, one of Grafton's men, calls Shane a "sodbuster" and tosses a glass of whiskey on his new shirt. Shane does not react to Calloway's provocations, however, and walks out. That night, during the meeting, Joey overhears homesteader Fred Lewis, who witnessed the saloon exchange, declare that Shane did not stand up to Calloway. Marian reassures Joey that Shane is not a coward, but counsels him not to become too attached to him. Later, having decided to stick together as a group, the homesteaders and their families go to town to shop for the next day's Fourth of July celebration. At Grafton's, Calloway again confronts Shane in the saloon, but this time, Shane throws two drinks on Calloway and slugs him. After a grueling fistfight, Shane finally knocks out Calloway and is offered a job by Ryker. When Shane declines, Ryker accuses him of lusting after Marian, and despite pleas from Joey, Shane single-handedly takes on all of Ryker's men. Joe aids Shane in the fracas, until Grafton, fed up with the destruction, demands a halt. As the homesteaders depart, Ryker vows to fight on and sends for notorious Cheyenne gunslinger Jack Wilson. Back at home, Joey gushes to Marian about his love for Shane, while Marian wrestles with her growing romantic feelings for the loner. The next day, after Joey admits to Shane that he sneaked a peek at his gun, Shane gives the boy some pointers on how to shoot and demonstrates his skill as a marksman. Though impressed, Marian expresses her disapproval of guns and asks Shane not to encourage Joey's interest. Ernie, meanwhile, complains to neighbor Stonewall Torrey that because Ryker's men killed his sow and ruined his fields, he is giving up. Angry, Stonewall, whose courage has been questioned by some of the homesteaders, goes to town and, in the saloon, criticizes Ryker for running Ernie off his land. Later, at the Fourth of July party, Joe and Marian also celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary, and Marian shares a dance with Shane. When Stonewall arrives and announces that Ryker has hired a gunfighter, Shane guesses he is Wilson. Back at their house, the Starretts and Shane are met by Wilson, Ryker's brother Morgan and Ryker, who in an attempt to appear reasonable, offers to sell Joe his land. Joe angrily rejects the idea, pointing out that the government already recognizes the homesteaders' claims. In turn, Ryker complains that because he fought the Indians and slaved to make the land livable, he is entitled to own it, without fences. Ryker and Wilson depart peacefully, but in town, Ryker instructs Wilson to do whatever is necessary to defeat Joe. To that end, Wilson provokes a confrontation with Stonewall, then shoots him down when he makes a half-hearted move for his gun. With the nearest lawman a three-day ride away, Wilson's claim of self-defense goes unchallenged. At Stonewall's funeral, the Lewis family announce that they, too, are leaving their homestead, but Joe and Shane beseech their other neighbors to keep fighting. Just then, a fire is spotted at the Lewis place, and Ryker's blatant sabotage strengthens Joe's resolve to stop Ryker at any cost. That night, Ryker sends for Joe, while Joe prepares to challenge Ryker at gunpoint, ignoring Marian's tearful pleas not to risk his life. Shane, who has been warned about Ryker's plans by a reformed Calloway, dons his buckskins and straps on his gun, then fights Joe to keep him from leaving. When Shane hits Joe in the head with his gun butt, a terrified Joey screams hatefully at him, but Marian is relieved. Joe is knocked out, and aware that she will not see Shane again, Marian says a grateful goodbye. Joey trails Shane to the saloon and sees him goad Wilson into drawing his gun. Shane shoots Wilson dead, then shoots Ryker when he draws, and with Joey's help, outdraws Morgan. Later, Joey apologizes for his angry words and begs Shane to return to the homestead. Gently declining, Shane tries to explain to the boy that he cannot change the man he is at heart and does not belong there. As Shane mounts his horse and rides off, Joey, devastated and confused, cries after him to "come back."
In Chicago, in February, 1929, federal agent Mulligan sets up a raid on a speakeasy run by notorious bootlegger "Spats" Colombo, based on information provided by small-time gangster "Toothpick" Charlie. As Mulligan inspects the lively speakeasy, two members of the band, saxophonist Joe and bass player Jerry eagerly discuss plans for their salary from their first job in four months. The longtime friends begin arguing about how to spend their salary until Jerry notices Mulligan's badge and they make a hasty exit as the raid begins, avoiding the police roundup. Putting up their coats as collateral, they place a bet with their bookie, and promptly lose both the bet and their coats. Desperate, Joe and Jerry visit the musicians' agency building hoping to line up another job. At Sid Poliakoff's agency, receptionist Nellie Weinmeier, incensed over being stood up by Joe a few nights earlier, reveals there is an opening for a bass and sax with a band in an all-expenses paid trip to Florida. Joe and Jerry eagerly question Sid, only to learn that the positions are in an all-girl band. Sid tells them of a job at a college dance in Urbana and Joe accepts, then charms Nellie into loaning them her car for the Urbana gig. Retrieving the car at a garage owned by Toothpick Charlie, Joe and Jerry unintentionally witness Spats and his men shoot Charlie and his men to death for informing on the speakeasy. Although the musicians are spotted by Spats, he is distracted by Charlie, who revives long enough to allow Joe and Jerry to flee. After they evade the gangsters, Jerry suggests they call the police, but Joe reminds him they will not be safe from Spats in any part of Chicago in spite of the police. Joe then telephones Sid and, using a high falsetto voice, accepts the job with the all-girl band. That evening at the train station, Joe and Jerry, uncomfortably disguised as women, check in with band leader Sweet Sue and manager Beinstock as the newest members of the Society Syncopators, Joe as Josephine and Jerry as Daphne. Once on board the train, Joe fears that Jerry's enthusiasm at finding himself among so many women will expose them and warns his friend to behave "like a girl," but in the process, musses Jerry's outfit. Retreating to the ladies' room for repairs, the men come upon stunning singer and ukulele player Sugar Kane Kowalczyk drinking bourbon from a flask. Sugar pleads with them not to report her to Sue, who has threatened to fire her if she is caught drinking again. A little later during rehearsal, when Sugar's flask falls to the floor, Sue responds angrily, but Jerry steps forward, and to Sugar's surprise, claims the flask is his own. That night, Sugar sneaks to Jerry's berth to thank him for his action, then abruptly jumps into the berth to avoid Sue. Overwhelmed by Sugar's proximity, Jerry grows anxious and suggests that he needs a drink and within minutes an impromptu party ensues at Jerry's berth. Joe awakens and is horrified, but gets drawn into the festivities when Sugar asks him to help break up an ice block in the ladies' room. There Sugar confides that she is with the all-girl band in order to escape a series of unhappy love affairs with tenor saxophone players and dreams of finding a sensitive millionaire who wears glasses. Upon arriving in Florida at the beachfront Ritz Seminole Hotel, "Daphne" catches the attention of wealthy, oft-married Osgood Fielding III. Once in their room, Jerry, infuriated at being flirted with and pinched by Osgood, demands they give up their disguises and find a male band, but Joe insists they must maintain their masquerade, as Spats will surely investigate male orchestras all over the country. Jerry reluctantly agrees and then accompanies Sugar to the beach. Unknown to Jerry, Joe has stolen Beinstock's suitcase of clothes and eyeglasses and, dressing in them, goes to the beach where he stages an accidental meeting with Sugar. Joe implies that he is the heir to the Shell Oil company and, captivated by the apparently sensitive "Junior," Sugar invites him to the band's opening that night. Back in their room, Jerry receives a call from Osgood inviting Daphne to a candlelit dinner on board his yacht. Joe accepts for Jerry, then tells his protesting friend that he must keep the date with Osgood on shore, as he, in the guise of Shell Oil, Junior, plans to dine with Sugar on Osgood's yacht. That night during the band's performance, Osgood sends Jerry an enormous bouquet, which Joe commandeers to give to Sugar with a card inviting her to dine with Junior. Afterward, Joe meets Sugar on the pier as an unhappy Jerry talks Osgood into dining at a local roadhouse. While Jerry and Osgood tango to the music of a Cuban band at the roadhouse, on board Osgood's yacht Joe convinces Sugar that a romantic emotional shock in his youth has left him impotent and years of expensive medical treatment have failed to cure him. Appalled, Sugar begs Joe to allow her to help, but after numerous passionate kisses, Joe insists he is unmoved. Determined, Sugar pleads to keep trying and Joe agrees. At dawn, Joe climbs back in the window of the hotel room to find Jerry deliriously happy because Osgood has proposed. Taken aback, Joe tells his friend it is impossible for him to marry another man, but Jerry explains his plan to reveal his identity after the marriage ceremony and, after an annulment, force Osgood to pay him alimony. Disturbed by Jerry's high spirits, Joe urges him to remember that he is a boy, and Jerry sadly wonders what to do with Osgood's engagement gift, an extravagant diamond bracelet. The next day, gangsters from all over the country, summoned by mob boss Little Bonaparte, meet at the hotel under the guise of attending an opera convention. Mulligan is also present and when Spats arrives, accuses him of the murder of Toothpick Charlie and his gang. Upon spotting Spats in the lobby, Joe and Jerry panic and realize they must flee. In their room, Jerry laments having to give up Osgood and Joe telephones Sugar to disclose that Junior's family has ordered him to Venezuela immediately for an arranged marriage. Moved by Sugar's despair, Joe places the diamond bracelet in a box of flowers and pushes it across the hall to her door as a farewell gift from Junior. Joe and Jerry then escape out of their hotel window but are seen by Spats and his men on the floor below. When the pair dash away leaving their instruments behind, Spats finds bullet holes in Jerry's bass and realizes the "broads" are the Chicago murder witnesses in disguise. Knowing they have been discovered, Joe and Jerry dress as a bellboy and a wheelchair-bound millionaire and head across the lobby filled with Spats's men. Noticing that Jerry has inadvertently left on his high heels, the henchmen give chase and Joe and Jerry run into a convention hall and hide, unaware that the mob "convention" is scheduled to meet there. Moments later, Spats sits at the table under which Joe and Jerry are hiding, and in a prearranged plan, Bonaparte pretends to honor Spats by presenting him with a giant cake, out of which bursts an assassin who guns down Spats and his men. Terrified, Joe and Jerry bolt, but as Bonaparte orders them found, Mulligan and his men close in to make arrests. Resuming their disguises as women, Joe and Jerry overhear that the remainder of Bonaparte's men are watching all buses and trains out of town and Joe decides they should escape on Osgood's yacht after Jerry elopes with him. When Jerry balks, Joe says their only option is certain death by Bonaparte's men. While Jerry telephones Osgood to make arrangements, Joe hears Sugar and the band finishing a song and climbs onto the stage to tell her that no man is worth her heartbreak, then kisses her before hurrying away. Realizing that "Josephine" is "Junior," Sugar follows the men down to the dock and the waiting Osgood. As they all board the speedboat, Joe removes his wig and confesses that he is a liar and a phony, but Sugar insists that she does not care and the couple embrace. Meanwhile, Osgood proudly tells Daphne that his mother is delighted about their upcoming wedding. Jerry nervously confesses that he cannot marry him, declaring that he is not a natural blonde, smokes, has lived in sin and cannot bear children, but Osgood remains cheerfully undaunted. At last Jerry snatches off his wig and admits that he is a man, wherein Osgood happily assures him that, after all, "nobody's perfect."
In a prologue, an announcer steps from behind a curtain to warn the audience of the horrifying nature of the film they are about to see. In the main story, at a funeral, Fritz, a dwarf, and young scientist Henry Frankenstein dig up a freshly buried body, claiming that the corpse is waiting for a new life. They also remove a man hanging from a gibbet, but his broken neck requires that a new brain be found. After Doctor Waldman's lecture at Goldstadt Medical College, Fritz sneaks in and, after dropping a bottle containing a normal brain, leaves with one containing the brain of a criminal. Meanwhile, in Henry's hometown, Victor Moritz visits Elizabeth, whom he loves. She has received a strange note from Henry her fiancé, who writes that his experiments preclude her from joining him. Concerned, Victor and Elizabeth visit Waldman, Henry's former professor, who explains that Henry had left the college to pursue a mad dream of recreating human life. Together the three go to Henry's laboratory, a watchtower in the mountains. There, Henry and Fritz are preparing to use the power of lightning to charge their electrical mechanisms and give life to a body they have pieced together. Henry agrees to let his friends observe and explains his scientific theories as his creation comes to life. Later Victor and Elizabeth attempt to pacify Henry's doubting father, Baron Frankenstein, who is only interested in promoting the date of his son's wedding. At the laboratory, while Waldman tells Henry of the monster's criminal brain, Fritz torments the monster and the monster kills him. After a fight, Henry and Waldman sedate the monster just as the baron approaches the lab. The exhausted Henry is taken home after Waldman promises to destroy the monster, but instead Waldman is killed by the escaping monster. As the wedding of Elizabeth and Henry is celebrated, the monster drowns Little Maria, a village child who plays with him, then menaces Elizabeth. Ludwig, Maria's father, carries his daughter's body into town, and an angry search party is formed. They go through the mountains by torchlight until Henry finds the monster, and the two engage in a struggle that continues in an abandoned mill, where the monster has fled. The mob sets the mill ablaze, and the monster hurls Henry to the ground before being engulfed by flames. Later, the baron celebrates the wedding of his recovered son with a toast to a future grandchild.
On July 20, 1969, astronaut Jim Lovell watches with family and friends as Neil Armstrong's first steps on the Moon are televised. Lovell, who took part in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Moon-orbiting Apollo 8 mission the previous year, vows to complete a moonwalk, himself. He is initially scheduled to take part in the Apollo 14 mission; however, he and his crew, including Ken Mattingly and Fred Haise, are called on to replace Alan Shepard's team for the upcoming Apollo 13 mission. When Mattingly is exposed to German Measles, Jack Swigert must take his place. Lovell frets over losing Mattingly but agrees to move forward. On April 11, 1970, the Saturn V rocket launches the Apollo 13 spacecraft out of the Earth's atmosphere. Three days later, the crew films a television transmission from inside the command module Odyssey. Shortly after, a liquid oxygen tank explodes when Swigert turns it on, and its contents are lost. The crew discover that another oxygen tank is leaking, which requires two fuel cells to be shut off. In the face of these technical difficulties, the Moon landing must be aborted. The lunar module Aquarius is used to power an emergency return to Earth. Meanwhile, at a command station in Houston, Texas, NASA flight director Gene Kranz works with his team to bring the men home safely. Tensions rise among Lovell and his team, as the command module's cabin loses heat due to power restrictions. Haise suffers a urinary tract infection which leads to fever. He argues with Swigert, whom he blames for the oxygen tank malfunction, but Lovell steps in to mediate. With carbon dioxide levels spiking inside the cabin, Kranz's team in Houston works frantically to save the astronauts. They engineer a way for Lovell's team to release the damaged Aquarius module just before re-entry to the Earth's atmosphere via the Odyssey. Ground control loses communication with the Apollo 13 team longer than expected, but they land safely in the Pacific Ocean. They are rescued and brought aboard the U.S.S. Iwojima, where they are received as heroes. As an older man, Lovell recalls that, following an investigation, it was determined that a minor defect caused the oxygen tank explosion. Apollo 13 marked the final mission into space for his team. Mattingly, who never contracted Measles, orbited the Moon via the Apollo 16 mission in 1972. Ten years later, Swigert was elected to Congress but died of cancer before he could take office. Lovell continued to follow NASA's work, and watched other astronauts fulfill his dream of walking on the Moon.
In San Francisco, while police inspector Harry Callahan, called "Dirty Harry" by his colleagues, is at the crime scene of a young woman shot to death in a rooftop swimming pool, he notices a nearby high-rise building that has an unobstructed view of the roof. Climbing to the top of the other building, Harry finds a shell casing for a 30-06 high-powered rifle, then sees a handwritten note attached to an aerial. The note, which is addressed "to the city of San Francisco" and signed "Scorpio," demands $100,000 or Scorpio will kill one person each day, starting with a Catholic priest or a black person. The mayor decides to pay the ransom, over the objections of Harry, his boss, Lt. Bressler, and the chief of police, and instructs them to do what Scorpio has demanded, respond with a personal ad placed in The San Francisco Chronicle . The mayor then instructs them to add that it will take some time to get the money, hoping to give the police more time to find Scorpio. After the ad appears, Scorpio goes onto a rooftop in the North Beach area looking for a victim. While he is setting his rifle sight on a gay black man, a police helicopter crew spots him and, using a loud speaker, orders him to desist, but Scorpio quickly packs up and escapes. That night, Harry and his temporary partner, Chico Gonzalez, a college graduate who majored in sociology and is the antithesis of Harry, are driving through the Tenderloin District when Chico sees a man carrying a tan suitcase that looks like one the police saw Scorpio carrying. They stop the car and separate, after which Harry follows the man to a nearby apartment and, spying at him and his girlfriend through their window, determines that he is not the killer. Some time later, when the body of a ten-year-old black boy is found in a vacant lot, with a spent 30-06 shell casing nearby, Harry knows that Scorpio has killed again. The police establish a command center to set a trap for Scorpio in North Beach. There the police arrange for a particular building's rooftop to remain unlocked, near St. Peter and Paul Church, assuming that Scorpio will try to carry through with his threat to kill a priest. That night, while Harry uses binoculars to survey the area, Scorpio goes onto the unlocked rooftop. Harry yells to Chico to turn on the lights when he gives the signal, illuminating Scorpio on the roof. Harry shoots at, but misses the killer, precipitating a gunfight between the two. By the time Harry and Chico reach the other building, Scorpio has disappeared, but not before killing a policeman. The next day, Bressler shows Harry a letter that Scorpio has just sent in which he encloses pictures of fourteen-year-old Ann Mary Deacon and a demand for the $100,000. The letter, which also encloses a lock of Ann Mary's hair and one of her molars, states that she has been buried in a secret location and only has enough oxygen to live until 3:00 a.m. Although Harry is convinced that the girl is already dead, Bressler asks him to carry the money, at the mayor's request. Bressler orders Harry to go alone, as instructed by Scorpio, and tells Chico to take the night off, but Harry and Chico secretly obtain sensitive microphones that enable them to keep in contact at a distance. That night, Harry waits at the Marina until Scorpio calls him on a pay telephone, then sends him to various locations throughout the city, with Chico secretly driving to each point after hearing the instructions through the listening device. The final destination is beneath the cross on top of Mt. Davidson. Scorpio, who is wearing a ski mask, tells Harry to drop the bag of money and stand with his nose against the cross, then starts to beat and kick him, saying he has changed his mind and will let the girl die. Hearing this from a short distance away, Chico starts to shoot until Harry tells him not to kill Scoprio. In the melee, Harry manages to take a switchblade knife taped to his leg and stab Scorpio in the leg, sending the squealing killer rolling down the hill. Chico is badly wounded and taken to the hospital, but Scorpio manages to escape. Later, despite his own beating, Harry goes to question a physician at a local hospital who reported a man receiving treatment for a suspicious knife wound. Under questioning, the doctor remembers that the wounded man sells programs at nearby Kezar Stadium, where he has a small room. Accompanied by fellow detective DeGeorgio, Harry climbs over the locked stadium fence then finds Scorpio's room, where he has hidden his 30-06 rifle. Harry then sees Scorpio in the distance and chases him out onto the field. When DeGeorgio turns on the stadium lights, Harry has a clear shot at Scorpio and wounds him in the leg. Lying on the field, Scorpio screams and demands a lawyer, as Harry slams his foot on Scorpio's leg. Although Harry elicits a confession from Scorpio for killing Ann Mary, whose body was found where Scorpio said he buried her, as the district attorney angrily tells him the next day, his blatant violation of Scorpio's rights mean that the seized rifle and confession will be inadmissible in court. Frustrated and angry, Harry is convinced that Scorpio will kill again because he likes it and decides to use his own time to follow him. Scorpio soon becomes unnerved by Harry's constant presence and, in retaliation, hires someone to beat him so that he can tell reporters that Harry did it. Meanwhile, Harry goes to visit the recuperating Chico and tells him that he wants him to be his permanent partner, but Chico sheepishly says that he is going to get a teaching job instead. As Harry leaves the hospital with Chico's wife, she says that it is her fault, not Chico's, but Harry, whose own wife was killed by a drunk driver, gently tells her not to blame herself because the violence of his life is not for her and Chico. Soon Scorpio robs and attacks a liquor store owner, then seizes a school bus carrying several grammar school children. He then forces the terrified bus driver, Marcella Platt, to phone the mayor so that Scorpio can reveal his new demands for $200,000 and an airplane. The mayor is told to have the money delivered just off the Sir Francis Drake Blvd. off-ramp on the highway north toward Santa Rosa. The mayor asks Harry to deliver the money, but Harry angrily refuses then leaves the mayor's office. A short time later, as the bus exits the highway and approaches a rock quarry, Scorpio sees Harry standing on a trestle bridge. Harry jumps onto the roof as the bus passes underneath, then Scorpio starts shooting into the roof, causing the bus to barrel to a stop. The terrified children and bus driver escape, while Scorpio enters the quarry, chased by Harry. Seeing a young boy fishing in a nearby pond, Scorpio exits the quarry and takes him hostage. When Harry follows, Scorpio puts his gun to the boy's head, threatening to shoot unless Harry drops his gun. Harry quickly shoots and disables Scorpio, enabling the boy to rush away. As Harry approaches, the badly wounded Scorpio eyes his gun, prompting Harry to tell him that in all the excitement he himself does not know if he fired five shots or six and asks Scorpio if he feels lucky. Laughing, Scorpio starts to reach for the gun but is mortally wounded by Harry's powerful .44 Magnum pistol. Harry now opens his wallet and removes his badge, flinging it far out into the water.
In Southern California, thirty-five-year-old Jerry Maguire experiences a moral crisis over the greed and dishonesty that drive his industry, sports management. He writes a lengthy mission statement, charting out a new path for himself and other agents at his firm, Sports Management International (SMI). The manifesto goes over poorly, and Jerry learns of his firing from Bob Sugar, his protégé at the firm. When they hear that Jerry is leaving SMI, all but one of his clients choose to stay at the firm. Jerry retains only Rod Tidwell, a wide receiver for the National Football League's (NFL) Arizona Cardinals, who is looking for a new $10-million contract. On his way out of the office, Jerry announces to the SMI staff that he will launch his own firm and invites others to join him. An idealistic assistant named Dorothy Boyd takes him up on the offer. Jerry tries to win back his most high-profile client, quarterback Frank "Cush" Cushman, by visiting the young player at home. Although Cushman initially agrees to go with Jerry, he is swayed by his father to sign with Bob Sugar, instead. With his personal life also in upheaval, Jerry ends his engagement to Avery Bishop. He begins spending time outside work with Dorothy, a single mother, and her son Ray, and the two begin a romantic relationship. As Jerry struggles to establish his new business, Dorothy considers a more secure job offer that would move her to San Diego, California. Jerry urges her to stay with him and spontaneously proposes marriage. The two are wed in Dorothy's backyard. Jerry devotes himself to landing Rod Tidwell a better contract. Tensions rise between the two as Rod demands more effort from Jerry in his deal-making, and Jerry accuses Rod of playing without heart. Jerry and Dorothy fail to connect in their new marriage, and she suggests that they separate. Jerry travels to Arizona for a pivotal "Monday Night Football" game that stands to advance the Cardinals to the NFL playoffs. Rod is injured after making the game-winning touchdown. As he lies unconscious, Jerry rushes onto the field, phoning Rod's wife, Marcee, in the process. The crowd rejoices when Rod finally regains consciousness and picks himself up without the help of a trainer. Other athletes look on admiringly as Rod and Jerry embrace after the game; their close personal relationship proves that Jerry has become the kind of agent described in his mission statement. Jerry returns home to Dorothy and wins her back with a speech, which he ends by saying, "You complete me." With his marriage saved, he goes on to broker an $11.2-million renewal contract between Rod and the Arizona Cardinals, which Rod learns about during a live television interview. Afterward, Jerry notices Ray's natural ability to throw a baseball and is excited by the young boy's potential.
At the estate of Mrs. Rittenhouse, Jeffrey Spaulding, an African explorer, and Horatio, his secretary, become social lions at a house party in progress; and on their heels are the professor and Signor Ravelli, musicians. Arabella, the hostess' daughter, is in love with John Parker, an unknown artist; and Roscoe Chandler, an art connoisseur, arrives with a valuable master painting, of which John had made a pastiche while a student. Arabella persuades the musicians to substitute the copy for the original, and recognizing the art patron as a former fish peddler, they blackmail him. But a rival society matron, whose daughter has copied the same painting, plots a similar substitution to embarrass Mrs. Rittenhouse. Later, during a thunderstorm, the musicians steal the painting, but Hives, the butler, replaces it with the other pastiche, and at the unveiling the plot is exposed.
In 1943, chocolate mogul and baseball team owner Walter Harvey holds a meeting to discuss the state of professional baseball in his hometown, Chicago, Illinois. With so many baseball players fighting in World War II, Harvey believes something must be done to keep the sport going. He enlists the help of promotions executive Ira Lowenstein, who suggests they start a women's baseball league. Soon, baseball scout Ernie Capadino tours the country in search of talented and attractive female players for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). In Willamette, Oregon, he recruits the beautiful Dottie Hinson, a strong catcher and hitter, but Dottie has no desire to leave her family farm while her husband is away at war. Dottie's little sister, Kit, however, is eager to try out for the league. Capadino will only allow Kit to come to tryouts if Dottie comes with her, so Dottie reluctantly accompanies her sister. On the way to Chicago, they stop in Fort Collins, Colorado, where Capadino meets Marla Hooch, meek and unattractive, but a powerful hitter. When Capadino rejects Marla based on her manly appearance, Dottie and Kit protest. Marla's adoring father begs Capadino to reconsider, and the scout softens, allowing Marla to join his recruits. Arriving in Chicago, Capadino deposits the girls at Harvey Field, where they compete with others for sixty-four spots on four baseball teams. Dottie, Kit, and Marla make the cut, and are placed on the Rockford Peaches, along with: Mae Mordabito, a saucy dance hall performer from New York; Doris Murphy, Mae's tomboyish best friend; Ellen Sue Gotlander, a Southern beauty queen; and Italian-American housewife Betty "Spaghetti" Horn. Before the season begins, the women are sent to a charm and beauty school, and told that smoking, drinking, and romantic dalliances are forbidden. Walter Harvey meets with Jimmy Dugan, a former professional baseball player whose career was cut short by an alcohol-fueled injury. Although Dugan is still a drunk, Harvey hires him to manage the Rockford Peaches. Dugan does not take women's baseball seriously but takes the job because he needs the money. On his first day, he stumbles into the women's locker room and urinates in front of the women. Seeing that he is too drunk to manage the team, Dottie takes over and assigns field positions. Hardly any spectators show up for the Peaches' first game, and those who do heckle the female players. In the dugout, Dugan drunkenly chews tobacco while, without his help, the team wins. On the bus ride to their first away game, the Peaches are joined by player Evelyn Gardner's bratty son, Stillwell, whose bad behavior causes the bus driver to quit. A drunken Dugan is forced to drive the bus the rest of the way. That night, several of the women sneak out to a roadhouse, where Mae Mordabito's dancing attracts a crowd, and Marla Hooch gets drunk and sings with the band. Dottie comes to collect the women when she hears Ira Lowenstein is on his way. A lovesick suitor named Nelson offers Marla a ride home, and Dottie allows them to drive separately. The next day, Dugan takes an interest in game play when he notices Dottie signaling Marla to bunt. He sends Marla a conflicting signal to "swing away," and reminds Dottie that he is the manager of the team. At another game, Dugan yells at Evelyn Gardner for making a bad throw. As Evelyn bursts into tears, Dugan loses his temper and shouts, "There's no crying in baseball!" The umpire intervenes and throws Dugan out of the game when the manager insults him. Before a game between the Rockford Peaches and the Racine Bells, Lowenstein announces a reporter and photographer from Life magazine are there, as he is trying to interest them in a story about Dottie, whom he has dubbed "the Queen of Diamonds." Warning that Walter Harvey might shut down the league due to paltry ticket sales, Lowenstein asks Dottie to play spectacularly. She remembers his request when running to catch a pop fly, and does a dancer's split as she catches the ball. A photograph of the stunt makes the cover of Life magazine. The league gains in popularity, drawing crowds of enlisted men who ogle the players in their short-skirted uniforms. One night, Dugan bonds with Dottie on the team bus. She tells him that her husband, Bob, is fighting in Italy, but she has not received a letter in three weeks. Dugan assures her he is not dead, or else she would have received a telegram. He starts to take a swig from a flask, but Dottie stops him and gives him a soda to drink, instead. The next day, Kit grows tired while pitching, but objects when Dugan wants to take her out of the game. Dottie backs his decision, angering her sister even more. Fed up with being eclipsed by Dottie's good looks and talent, Kit accuses her sister of holding her back. Dottie stays behind in the locker room that night. Ira Lowenstein finds her alone, and she announces she is leaving the team. Lowenstein tells her she cannot go. Later, Kit learns she has been traded to the Racine Belles. Assuming her sister is responsible, she attacks Dottie, but Dottie says she requested to be traded herself. The next day, Kit has already left for Racine when a telegram is delivered to Betty "Spaghetti" Horn, informing her that her husband was killed in combat. To Dottie's relief, her husband, Bob, who was discharged from the army after being shot in the leg, shows up in Rockford. The next morning, the Peaches board a bus to Racine, where they will face off against the Racine Belles in the first game of the AAGPBL World Series. Dottie tells Dugan she is leaving the team and returning to Oregon with her husband. Although she claims baseball is unimportant to her, Dugan does not believe it. He regrets giving up his career for drinking, and worries she will have similar regrets. Dottie insists that she and Dugan are different, and leaves. Now playing for the Racine Belles, Kit faces her old teammates in the World Series. Each team wins three games, leading to a seventh and final game, in which Dottie shows up to play. When Rockford leads 2-1 in the ninth inning, Kit is frustrated to the point of tears. However, at bat, she hits a ball deep into the outfield and runs toward home plate. She charges at Dottie just as she catches the ball. The two collide, and Dottie drops the ball, allowing Kit to score the winning run. Kit is ecstatic and hailed as a champion by her teammates. Although Dottie feels badly for letting down the Peaches, she is happy for her sister. Outside the locker room, Dottie offers her a ride home to Oregon, but Kit plans to stay in Racine and get a job, and is surprised to hear Dottie will not be returning next season. Dottie says she will miss Kit, and the sisters share a tearful embrace. Outside the stadium, Dugan informs Dottie that he was offered a position coaching a men's team in Wichita, Kansas, but he turned it down to stay with the Rockford Peaches. Many years later, at the urging of her adult daughter, an aged Dottie attends a reunion in Cooperstown, New York, where she and fellow players from the AAGPBL, which existed from 1943-1954, are inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Dottie, who is grieving the recent death of her husband, is happily reunited with her sister, Kit, Mae Mordabito, Doris Murphy, Marla Hooch, and many others, and the original Rockford Peaches gather to have their picture taken.
Raised in Brooklyn, New York, Alvy Singer grows up to become a well-known comedian. As an adult, he encounters relationship problems with his girl friend, Annie Hall, when she starts to withdraw her affection. Annie claims she is only going through a phase and reminds him of how he used to be "hot" for Allison, but then his ardor cooled off. Alvy recalls meeting Allison, an ex-girl friend, at a 1956 benefit performance for Adlai Stevenson's presidential campaign. By 1964, Alvy has lost interest in the relationship. While making love to Allison, he obsesses over conflicting evidence related to the John F. Kennedy assassination, and Allison accuses him of using his fixation to avoid intimacy with her. Alvy reflects that there is some truth in what Allison says—that, like the old Groucho Marx joke, he really does not want to be in any club that would have him as a member. In a happier moment in their relationship, Alvy and Annie Hall vacation at the seashore, and delight in each other's company as they attempt to cook live lobsters for dinner. Alvy asks Annie if he is her first love. She says no, and reminisces about old boyfriends. When Alvy suggests that Annie is lucky he came along, she responds, "Well, la-dee-dah." Alvy is unimpressed with her choice of words, and Annie suggests that he prefers intellectual women because he married two of them. However, Alvy's memories of his earlier marriages are not particularly happy. He recalls meeting Annie in 1975, on a tennis date with his friend, Rob, and Rob's girl friend, Janet. Annie, a sometime actress from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, offers Alvy a ride home and invites him up to her apartment for a drink. She makes him uncomfortable when she observes that he is what her "Grammy" Hall would call a "real Jew," and goes on to explain that her grandmother hates Jews. As they engage in a pretentious conversation about Annie's photography, they are both distracted by their own insecure inner monologues. Annie reveals that she is auditioning to sing at a local nightclub on Saturday night. Alvy tells Annie he would love to hear her sing and she overcomes her shyness by allowing him to attend. At the nightclub, the audience is restless. Afterward, Annie is embarrassed, believing that the crowd hated her. Alvy assures her that she has a good voice and the audience loved her. He proposes that they kiss before dinner, to get over the awkwardness of a first kiss. The cultural divide between them is revealed at a delicatessen when he orders corned beef on rye, and she orders pastrami on white bread. They make love that night, and afterward Annie smokes marijuana. Soon she moves in with Alvy, although he believes she should maintain a separate apartment. Later, at the beach house, Annie wants to smoke a joint before making love, and suggests that Alvy might not need a psychiatrist if he resorted to marijuana. Upset that Annie needs to get high in order to make love, he takes the joint away. As he starts to kiss her, Annie's bored spirit separates from her body and searches for her sketchpad so she can draw while her dispirited body has sex with Alvy. When she argues that she needs marijuana to feel comfortable, he again tells her that it upsets him. As a comedian, he is not interested in getting laughs from people who are high, because they are always laughing anyway. Early in his own career, Alvy was reluctant to perform and wrote material for other comics, but now he has overcome his fears and is successful. One night, he performs at the University of Wisconsin and Annie is impressed with his reception by the students. She tells him she is beginning to understand some of the cultural references in his act. Alvy and Annie go to Chippewa Falls to spend Easter with her family. The anti-Semitic Grammy Hall cannot help but see Alvy as an orthodox Hasidic Jew—with spring curls, a beard, and a black suit and hat. Alvy makes a mental comparison between the Hall family's dinner table etiquette and that of his own raucous New York Jewish family. Later, Annie's brother, Duane Hall, invites Alvy into his room and confesses that when he is driving at night he sometimes has the urge to drive head-on into oncoming cars. Later, Duane drives Alvy and Annie to the airport, and Alvy is petrified with anxiety. Back in New York, Annie accuses Alvy of following her. He denies the charge and says that he was spying on her and saw her kissing David, her Russian literature professor. Later, Annie enters into psychoanalysis, and notes that Alvy's last name is "Singer" and that she wants to be a singer. She accuses Alvy of not wanting to be in a committed relationship because he does not think she is smart enough. He counters that encouraging her to take adult education courses is a way to broaden her horizons. He then contradicts himself by saying that such classes are empty and shallow. After Alvy and Annie have broken up, he muses that he has always been attracted to the wrong kind of women. His friend, Rob, introduces him to Pam, a reporter for Rolling Stone magazine. Although they have little in common, they end up having sex and Pam describes the experience as Kafkaesque. During their post-coital conversation, Annie calls Alvy for help, and he rushes over to her apartment. Arring there at 3:00 a.m., he discovers the crisis is merely that there are two spiders in her bathroom. After Alvy kills the spiders, Annie tells him she misses him and asks him to stay. She inquires if someone was in his room when she called, but he denies it. Later, in bed, Annie suggests that she and Alvy never break up again, and they are reunited. After singing again at the nightclub, Annie is approached by record producer Tony Lacey, who invites her and Alvy to his room at the Hotel Pierre. At Alvy's insistence, Annie turns down the invitation. Instead, he takes her to watch the somber documentary The Sorrow and the Pity, about French anti-Semitism during World War II. With their respective analysts, Annie and Alvy come to similar but different conclusions. She views a day they spent in Brooklyn as the last time they had fun together. He feels that they never have any laughs anymore. Asked how often they have sex, Alvy says, "Hardly ever—three times a week," while Annie responds, "Constantly! Three times a week." At a get-together with friends, Annie and Alvy are offered cocaine. Annie urges Alvy to try it, and mentions that they will soon be going to California. Alvy dips the tip of his finger in the white powder, puts it to his nose, then sneezes into the container, sending the drug up in a puff around the room. In California to present an award, Alvy becomes offended when Rob instructs an editor to add fake laughs to the latest episode of his hit comedy series. Alvy is suddenly taken ill and is unable to appear on the awards show. Rob takes him and Annie to Tony Lacey's Christmas party, and Tony suggests to Annie that they record an album in about six weeks. Flying back to New York, Annie realizes that she liked California, and Alvy that he enjoyed flirting with other women. Each fears breaking up for fear of hurting the other, but ultimately they decide to separate. Later, leaving a movie theater alone, Alvy mentions to himself that he misses Annie, and a passing couple stops to tell him that she is living in California with Tony Lacey. Another stranger asks why he doesn't go out with other women. Attempting to prepare lobsters at the beach house with another woman, things are not the same as with Annie, and the magic is gone. Alvy calls Annie on the phone, saying that he wants her to come back. In desperation, he travels to Los Angeles and calls her from the airport. They agree to meet at a Sunset Strip health food café, where Alvy asks Annie to marry him and she refuses. Being a New Yorker, Alvy is unused to driving. Leaving the restaurant in his rented car, he smashes into several other cars and ends up in jail. Back in New York, Alvy watches a rehearsal of his new play. Two actors recite dialogue from his last meeting with Annie, but art does not imitate life: the girl in the play agrees to return to New York with the protagonist. In the rehearsal hall, Alvy turns to the audience and says he wanted to have his first play turn out perfectly, the way life seldom does. He mentions running into Annie again, after she returned to New York and moved in with another man. He saw her coming out of a screening of The Sorrow and the Pity and considered it a personal triumph. Sometime later, they had lunch and talked about old times and then parted. He is reminded of an old joke about a guy who goes to a psychiatrist complaining that his brother thinks he is a chicken. The doctor asks, "Why don't you turn him in?" and the man replies, "Because we need the eggs." Alvy recognizes that relationships are difficult, but we keep putting ourselves into them "because we need the eggs."
On a Friday afternoon in Phoenix, Arizona, Marion Crane and her lover, Sam Loomis, are having a romantic rendezvous at a hotel when Marion complains that she is tired of meeting Sam under such sordid circumstances. Sam, who runs a hardware store in Fairvale, California, assures her that they can marry after he pays his debts, but Marion longs for immediate respectability. Upon her return to the real estate office where she works as a secretary, Marion learns that her boss, George Lowery, is with oil tycoon Tom Cassidy. When the men return, the lecherous Cassidy brags to Marion that he is paying $40,000 in cash to buy a house for his daughter. Lowery, worried about leaving the money in the office over the weekend, tells Marion to take it to the bank, and Marion asks to go home afterward. After rebuffing Cassidy again, Marion departs, but at her apartment, stuffs the money into her purse and leaves with a suitcase. Driving until exhaustion forces her to pull over, Marion falls asleep on a lonely stretch of road. She is awoken on Saturday morning by a highway patrolman, who is suspicious of her irritable manner. After the policeman dismisses her, Marion, afraid that he will remember her, goes to a used car lot and trades in her vehicle for one with California plates. Later, during a fierce rainstorm, Marion misses the turnoff to Fairvale and stops at the Bates Motel, where the proprietor, Norman Bates, welcomes her and offers to fix her dinner at his home, a looming structure on the hill behind the motel. Marion accepts, but as she hides the cash in a newspaper she had purchased, she hears an old woman loudly berate Norman for attempting to bring a girl into her home. When Norman returns with sandwiches, he explains to the apologetic Marion that his mother is "not quite herself." Norman then invites her into his parlor behind the office, where Marion is nonplussed by the birds Norman has stuffed in pursuit of his hobby, taxidermy. Marion chats with the shy Norman, who confesses how alone he is, except for his mother. When Marion asks if Norman has any friends, Norman replies that "a boy's best friend is his mother," although he admits that he wishes he could run away, as Marion is apparently doing. Norman relates his belief that everyone is in a trap of some kind, and that his mother is mentally ill due to the deaths of his father and later, her lover. When Marion suggests that Norman could lead a life of his own if he put his mother in an institution, he reacts bitterly, stating that his mother is harmless and that he could never abandon her. Relaxing, Norman asserts that "we all go a little mad sometimes." Realizing that she has gone mad herself, Marion tells Norman that she has to return to Phoenix, in hopes of escaping a private trap. Marion then goes to her room, unaware that Norman is watching her undress through a peephole. While Marion writes a note calculating how much of the stolen money she has spent, Norman strides to the house, resolved to assert himself. Norman's strength fades, however, and as he sits dejectedly at the kitchen table, Marion tears up her note, flushes it down the toilet and enters the shower. As Marion enjoys her shower, a shadowy female figure enters the bathroom and repeatedly stabs her. A few minutes later, in the house, Norman screams out to his mother about the blood, then rushes to find Marion, lifeless on the bathroom floor. Sickened but determined to protect his mother, Norman wraps Marion's body in the shower curtain and after cleaning the room, deposits her corpse and belongings into the trunk of her car. Norman also tosses in the newspaper, which he does not know holds the money, then sinks the car in a swamp behind the house. A week later, as Sam is writing to Marion, he is interrupted by her sister Lila, whom he has never met. Sam is baffled by Lila's frantic questioning about Marion and is prevented from answering by the arrival of Milton Arbogast, a private investigator. Arbogast and Lila explain to Sam about Marion's theft, and although Sam maintains his innocence, Arbogast remains suspicious that he is involved. Promising Lila that he will find her sister, Arbogast then spends two days searching the area. When he reaches the Bates Motel, he interrogates Norman, who stammers that he has never seen Marion. Arbogast uncovers Norman's lie, however, and after Norman admits that Marion was at the motel, the detective appears to accept his statement that she left early in the morning. When Arbogast sees Mrs. Bates sitting in a window of the house, he wants to question her, but Norman orders him to leave. Unsettled, Arbogast calls Lila and relates everything that Norman said, then states that he will return to Fairvale after interrogating Mrs. Bates. As Arbogast climbs the stairs in the house, however, he is stabbed to death by a woman. Soon after, Norman sinks Arbogast's car in the swamp, while in Fairvale, Lila grows impatient about the detective's absence and Sam eventually takes her to see Deputy Sheriff Al Chambers. Convinced that Arbogast got "a hot lead" from Norman, then left to chase Marion and the money, the skeptical Chambers dismisses Lila's concerns, especially when she mentions Mrs. Bates. Chambers explains that, ten years earlier, Norman's mother poisoned her lover upon discovering that he was married, then committed suicide. After Chambers telephones Norman, who confirms that Arbogast left suddenly, Norman confronts his mother, telling her that she must hide in the fruit cellar for her own protection. Over her loud objections, Norman then carries her downstairs. Unsatisfied by Chambers' remarks, Lila and Sam drive to the motel the following day and check in. After sneaking into the room in which Marion stayed, Lila finds a piece of the paper on which Marion had written. Convinced that Norman hurt Marion to steal the money, Sam detains him in the office while Lila searches for Mrs. Bates. Norman, irritated by Sam's insinuations, retreats to his parlor and upon hearing Sam's mention of his mother, knocks Sam unconscious. Meanwhile, Lila has been exploring the house, in which she finds Mrs. Bates's immaculate bedroom and her bed, which bears the imprint of her body. Lila also snoops around Norman's squalid room, which contains his childhood toys and a small cot. Returning to the first floor, Lila sees Norman running up to the house and hides downstairs. As Norman goes upstairs, Lila creeps down to the fruit cellar, where she finds Mrs. Bates sitting with her back to the door. Lila inches forward to tap the old woman on the shoulder, but when she swings around, Lila is horrified to find herself staring at a decaying corpse. As she screams, Lila turns around to see Norman, wearing a wig and one of his mother's dresses. Shrieking "I am Norma Bates," Norman lunges toward her with a knife, but Sam arrives in time to overpower him. Later, as Sam and Lila wait with Chambers and other officials at the courthouse, Norman is examined by a psychiatrist, Dr. Richmond. Richmond explains that Norman, who suffers from a split personality, has been taken over by the dominant personality, that of his mother, and that Norman himself no longer exists. Richmond states that after the death of his father, Norman was overwhelmed by his domineering mother, and that when she took a lover, Norman killed them both. Unable to bear the guilt, Norman preserved her corpse, then, to heighten the illusion that "Mother" was alive, began dressing and speaking as her. Believing that his mother would be as jealous of him as he was of her, Norman subconsciously allowed the Mother side of his personality to murder any woman whom he found attractive. As they discuss the case, Norman sits in a nearby room, huddled in a blanket, while the Mother side of his personality thinks to herself that she could not allow her son to brand her a killer. Noticing a fly on her hand, Mother cunningly declares that she will not swat it, so that anyone observing her will know that she would not even harm a fly.
Bud Fox, an ambitious junior stockbroker at the Wall Street financial firm of Jackson Steinem Co., hounds millionaire investor Gordon Gekko for a meeting. Gekko's secretary, Natalie, dismisses him, until Bud shows up at Gekko's office, bearing the businessman's favorite Cuban cigars. Gekko grants Bud a five-minute meeting, during which the young stockbroker recommends several investments that Gekko rejects as "dogs." However, Gekko perks up when Bud mentions Bluestar Airlines, a small company about to receive a favorable ruling in a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) investigation, that will allow it to expand its business. Bud has the information because his father, Carl Fox, is a Bluestar employee and mechanics' union representative; therefore, it is technically illegal for him to share it. When Gekko asks how he knows about the FAA ruling ahead of its announcement, Bud responds, "I just know." Gekko orders Bud to buy him 20,000 shares of Bluestar. As expected, the airline's value appreciates when the ruling is reported, and Gekko profits. He gives Bud more money to invest, and rewards him with perks, including beautiful women, fancy dinners, and cocaine. When Bud's investments lose money, Gekko summons him to a sports club. There, after beating Bud in racquetball, Gekko lectures him on the ruthlessness of capitalism and suggests that he read Sun Tzu's The Art of War. Bud begs for another chance. Gekko encourages him to break the law again by spying on Sir Larry Wildman, a business rival against whom Gekko has a vendetta. Bud reluctantly agrees. He follows Wildman around the city and discovers his plans to buy Anacott Steel, an ailing company based in Eerie, Pennsylvania. Gekko orders Bud to drive up the price of Anacott Steel by buying tens of thousands of shares. He also instructs Bud to tip off the Wall Street Chronicle about the stock, and encourage fellow brokers at Jackson Steinem to sell it to their clients. By the end of the day, Anacott Steel's stock has risen to over $50 per share. Bud goes to Gekko's home in the Hamptons to deliver paperwork, and is drawn into a cocktail party thrown by Gekko and his wife, Kate. Among the crowd is Darien Taylor, a beautiful but materialistic interior decorator, with whom Bud is instantly smitten. Sir Larry Wildman arrives and demands a meeting with Gekko. Bud is pulled into the meeting, during which Wildman accuses Gekko of sabotaging him. Instead of liquidating Anacott Steel, he plans to keep it in business. Thus, he is compelled to offer Gekko $65 per share for all of his shares. Gekko drives up the price to $71.50, and revels in Wildman's comeuppance. He tells Bud to "astonish" him with new deals. Bud tries to elicit information from his college friend, Roger Barnes, now a successful lawyer. Barnes refuses to risk disbarment for leaking information, but suggests which lawyer at his firm is in possession of the most priceless files. Bud notices a maid from Marsala Maintenance on his way out of Barnes's office. He finds Marsala's headquarters and offers the owner capital in exchange for a partnership. Later, Bud disguises himself as a Marsala worker to break into the firm and steal information. His illegal maneuvers lead to more lucrative deals. Bud begins dating Darien Taylor, who decorates his lavish new apartment. When Darien discusses her new relationship with Gekko, who was once her boyfriend, he warns her against falling in love with Bud, who is not as worldly or jaded as she. Bud and Gekko attend a stockholder meeting for Teldar Paper, in which Gekko recently became majority shareholder. A Teldar executive calls for restructuring of the stock to prevent Gekko from breaking up the company. Gekko responds with a speech in praise of greed, and encourages fellow stockholders to support his plan to make the company profitable by downsizing its overpaid executive pool. Back at Jackson Steinem, Bud's record commissions earn him a prized corner office. Increasingly fueled by Gekko's brand of greed, he mistreats his co-worker, Marv, and again exploits his insider information on Bluestar Airlines by suggesting that he and Gekko take it over. However, instead of liquidating the company, Bud wants to make it profitable again by reducing salaries. He sets a meeting at his apartment between Gekko, his father, Carl, and two of Carl's co-workers who represent the pilots' and flight attendants' unions. Gekko presents Bud's plan to revive the company by temporarily reducing salaries. Carl does not believe him and warns that Gekko is using Bud. In turn, Bud accuses his father of being jealous because he lacks the courage to be truly ambitious. Despite Carl's disapproval, Gekko buys Bluestar and instates Bud as the new chief of the company. However, when Bud stops by Roger Barnes's office for a visit, Barnes invites him into a meeting concerning Bluestar, and Bud discovers that Gekko has betrayed him by arranging for a liquidation. Barnes also warns that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating Bud. Infuriated, Bud goes to Gekko's office and accuses him of betraying the Bluestar employees. Gekko coolly explains that he had a change of heart, and reminds his protégé that deals are about money, and nothing more. Bud leaves in a daze. Darien finds him sulking at home. When Bud recounts what happened, she forbids him from dropping Gekko as a client, since her decorating business is also dependent on Gekko's connections. Bud insists that he can no longer work with the man, and Darien ends their relationship. Shortly after, Bud learns that Carl has suffered a heart attack. At the hospital, Bud apologizes to Carl for going against his wishes with the Bluestar deal, and promises he has a plan to save the company. Carl tells his son that he is proud of him. Bud conspires with Larry Wildman to sabotage Gekko's purchase of Bluestar in the manner that Gekko sabotaged the Anacott Steel deal. Before Gekko purchases more Bluestar stock, Bud spends the day selling it to various clients, tipping off other brokers to buy it, and successfully driving up the price. Thus, Gekko is forced to buy the majority of shares at a much higher price than intended. However, just as he makes his purchase, Bud sells his other clients' shares, and encourages the rest of Jackson Steinem's brokers to "dump" their shares, driving down the price, and causing Gekko to dump his shares out of fear. Just before the stock exchange closes, Wildman purchases the majority of Bluestar at a cut-rate price. The next day, Bud triumphantly returns to work, only to be arrested for insider trading. Sometime later, he meets Gekko in Central Park. Gekko physically and verbally attacks him, reminding Bud of all the illegal tips that he gave him. Having turned state's evidence, Bud is secretly recording the conversation, to be used in a larger investigation of Gekko. Later, Bud's parents drive him to the courthouse, where he faces conviction for his crimes. Dropping him off at the courthouse steps, Carl commends his son for returning the money he made off illegal investments, and suggests the ordeal is an opportunity for Bud to turn his life around.
In 1901, in the village of Corleone, Sicily, nine-year-old Vito Andolini is comforted by his mother as they walk in his father's funeral procession. When shots ring out, Vito's older brother Paolo is killed, prompting Signora Andolini to take Vito to see local Black Hand leader, Don Francesco, called "Ciccio," whom her husband had offended. She begs him to spare Vito's life, but the don coldly refuses, prompting Vito's mother to take a knife to Ciccio's throat and scream for her son to run. She is killed by the don's henchmen, but Vito escapes. Despite threats from Ciccio's men, some villagers help Vito, enabling him to sail to America. When he is diagnosed with smallpox and placed in quarantine on Ellis Island, Vito, who has been given the surname Corleone by an immigration official, gazes at the Statue of Liberty from his small room.
In 1958, Vito's grandson, Anthony Corleone receives his First Holy Communion in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. After the ceremony, his parents, Kay and Michael, host a lavish party at their lakeside estate. Michael, who has succeeded Vito as the don of the Corleone family, receives guests who seek his favor, including Senator Pat Geary, a pompous hypocrite, who incurs Michael's enmity when he demands money in exchange for the license Michael seeks for a gambling casino. Others at the party include Michael's weak, older brother, Fredo, who cannot control his drunken wife, and their widowed younger sister, Connie, who prefers the high life to caring for her children. Al Neri, who represents elderly Jewish gangster Hyman Roth, discusses a Cuban casino deal between Roth and the Corleones, while old family friend and lieutenant Frankie Pentangeli begs Michael not to do business with Roth or his cohorts, the ruthless New York Rosato brothers. Late that night, as Michael prepares for bed and admires a picture that Anthony has drawn for him, the room is riddled by machine gun fire. Because Michael drags himself to Kay's side and covers her body with his, neither is hurt, but Kay is quietly resentful and views Michael's promises to turn the family business legitimate as lies. Michael warns his security men to capture the assassins alive, but by the time the men are found near the lake, they have been killed. Privately, Michael confides in his adopted brother, Tom Hagen, that he is the only person he trusts and relates that he will be in complete charge while Michael goes away to try to solve what has happened.
In 1917, In New York's Little Italy, Vito, now a grown man with a wife and baby son, goes to an Italian-language vaudeville show with his friend, Genco Abbandando, who is in love with one of the actresses. Backstage, Vito sees local Black Hand leader Fanucci intimidate the young actress' father and is distressed to learn that Fanucci offers "protection" to all of the local Italian merchants, even Genco's father, for whom Vito works. Soon after, Clemenza, a neighbor across the alley, throws a package to Vito and asks him to hide it. A short time later, Fanucci comes into the Abbandando grocery and demands that Genco's father hire his nephew. When the distraught Signor Abbandando tells Vito that he must let him go, Vito comforts him and says that he will never forget all of his kindnesses. The next day, Clemenza stops Vito on the street and asks about the package, which contained guns. Impressed when Vito says that he does not concern himself with things that are not his business, Clemenza offers to give Vito's wife a rug that belongs to a friend. Cemenza then takes Vito with him to a luxurious house, where they break in and steal an expensive carpet.
After leaving Lake Tahoe, Michael travels to Miami, where he goes to the modest suburban home occupied by Roth and his wife, and tells him that Pentangeli was behind the assassination attempt. Agreeing to do business together in Cuba, Roth tells Michael to bring $2,000,000 cash to him in Havana. Michael asks Roth if he minds that Pentangeli must be killed, but Roth dismisses Pentangeli as "small potatoes." Next, Michael travels to Long Island, to his father's former house in Long Beach, now occupied by Pentangeli and his family. He then tells Pentangeli that he knows it was Roth who tried to have him killed and asks him to pretend to make peace with the Rosato brothers so that Roth will be lulled into a sense of security. Sometime later, when Pentangeli and his cohort, Willy Cicci, go to a New York bar to meet with the brothers, Tony Rosato grabs him from behind and, saying "Michael Corleone says hello," starts to strangle him. Just then, a policeman enters the bar and the Rosatos flee, leaving Pentangeli for dead and wounding Cicci outside. Meanwhile, as Michael travels to Cuba, Kay begins to feel like a prisoner at the estate because the guards, under Tom and Michael's orders, prevent her from leaving. In Havana, Michael and Roth are among several prominent American corporate executives who are being wooed by the country's president, who assures them that the country's rebels will be driven out by the new year. Later, on the way to Roth's 67th birthday party, Michael sees a mass arrest and is struck by the dedication the rebels show when one man blows up himself and a soldier with a grenade. At the party, Roth, who has a heart condition, tells those gathered that he will leave most of his interests to Michael, then privately asks Michael why the $2,000,000 has not arrived. Back at his hotel room, Michael greets Fredo, who has brought a briefcase filled with the money. After Michael tells Fredo that Roth and his underling, Johnny Ola, are in Havana, Fredo denies having met them. Michael then suggests that they spend the day together. Listening as Fredo almost tearfully asks why they never spent time alone together before, Michael, who thinks that Pentangeli has been killed on Roth's orders, says that Roth will never see the New Year. That night, which is New Year's Eve, Fredo acts as host to a number of American VIPs, including Sen. Geary, who now is indebted to the Corleone family because a few weeks before, Tom had covered up the violent death of a prostitute with whom Geary was involved. When Johnny arrives, he and Fredo pretend not to know each other, but when the party goes to a sex show and Fredo casually tells Geary and the others that Johnny had told him about the club, Michael knows that Fredo had betrayed him. Meanwhile, Johnny is strangled in his hotel room. The killer then goes to kill Roth, but because Roth has had a mild stroke, he is being taken to the hospital. There, while one of the nurses leaves to celebrate the New Year with her friends, the killer sneaks into Roth's room and starts to strangle him, but is interrupted by the nurse and a guard, who kills him before he can finish. At midnight, in the presidential palace, Michael embraces Fredo and tells him he knows that it was he who betrayed him and that he broke his heart. Moments later, the president announces that, because the rebels have advanced, he is resigning and will be leaving the country immediately. As Fredo wanders through the chaos in the streets, Michael calls for him to come with him to a waiting plane, but the frightened Fredo runs away. Days later, Michael meets Tom at a Las Vegas hotel and learns that Kay has had a miscarriage. He tells Tom to find Fredo and tell him that he knows he was misled by Roth but he should come home and not be afraid.
In 1918, as Vito drives through Little Italy, Fanucci jumps on his car and tells him that he wants him and his friends to "wet my beak" and give him $200 as part of their earnings from stealing expensive dresses. That night, Vito convinces Clemenza and their friend Tessio to give him $50 and promises to make Fanucci accept that. When Vito visits Fanucci at a local café, he offers the $100, saying he needs more time for the rest. Impressed with Vito's courage, Fanucci agrees, and leaves. Because it is the Festa of San Rocco, Fanucci struts through the crowds and offers money to the church. Unknown to him, Vito has followed him on the rooftops and enters Fanucci's house. When Fanucci arrives, Vito shoots him at close range, then takes the money from his wallet, disposes of the pieces of the gun in different drain pipes, then joins his wife and three young sons to watch fireworks.
When Michael returns to his Lake Tahoe estate, he goes to his mother's cottage to talk with her before his family. Speaking in Italian, he asks if his father ever lost his family. When she says that you never lose your family, he whispers " tempi cambi ," times change. At the same time, Willy Cicci, who was only wounded by the Rosato brothers, is testifying before a U.S. Senate committee investigating organized crime, saying that he was a "button man" for Michael when he wanted something done.
In Little Italy, in 1923, Vito is now known as "Don Vito," and with his old friend Genco, he has started the Genco Olive Oil Company, which imports oil from Sicily. Vito is so respected and feared within the Italian-American community that when his wife's widowed friend, Signora Colombo, faces eviction by her landlord, Signor Roberto, the mere knowledge that Vito is her patron, makes the frightened Roberto allow her to keep the dog her son loves and stay in her apartment with a lowered rent.
When Michael is summoned to testify at the Senate hearings, rather than exercise his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination, Michael calmly answers the senator's questions, saying that he is not a Mafia boss but a legitimate businessman. In a statement, Michael challenges them to produce any evidence of his crimes. A short time later, Michael and Tom learn that Pentangeli survived the attack against him and, thinking that Michael had ordered his death, has been cooperating with the FBI. Michael asks Fredo for information, but Fredo, who knows nothing, lashes out at Michael for relegating his older brother to menial assignments. After Michael says that that is what their father wanted, he tells Fredo that he now means nothing to him and never wants to see him again. After leaving Fredo, Michael tells one of his underlings that he doesn't want anything to happen to Fredo while his mother is alive. Meanwhile, Pentangeli, who is living in comfort within FBI custody, fears testifying, but his FBI guards assure him that they can protect him. When the hearings resume, Pentangeli, who is set to testify, is stunned when he sees his older brother, who lives in Sicily, enter the chambers with Michael. When questioning begins, instead of corroborating what he had said in sworn statements to the FBI, Pentangeli denies Michael's criminal activity and says that he merely told the FBI what they wanted to hear. Although the senators suspect intimidation, there is nothing they can do. After the hearings, at their Washington hotel, Kay tells Michael that she is leaving him and taking the children with her. While they are arguing, Michael tells her that he knows that she blames him for the miscarriage but that he will change. She then confesses that it was not a miscarriage but an abortion because the "Sicilian thing" must end and she did not want to bring another of his sons into the world. After slapping her with such force that she falls, Michael screams that she will never take his children from him.
In 1927, Vito, his wife and their three young children arrive in Corleone. They are welcomed by Vito's old friend and now business partner in Genco Olive Oil, Don Tommasino. After celebrating with relatives, who admire the prosperous family, Vito accompanies Tommasino to now elderly Don Ciccio's estate. After introducing himself and kissing Ciccio's hand, Vito tells him that his father was Antonio Andolini, then rips the don's belly apart with his knife. As Ciccio screams out and dies, Tommassino is wounded as he and Vito make their escape. Leaving Corleone a short time later, Vito shows baby Michael how to wave goodbye.
At Mama Corleone's funeral in Lake Tahoe, a distraught Fredo wants to speak with Michael, but Tom tells him Michael will not enter until Fredo leaves. Connie then goes to speak privately with Michael and tells him that she had hated him for a long time, but now realizes that he was just being strong for the family. Saying that she now wants to take care of him, she asks him if he can forgive Fredo. Michael then goes to Fredo and embraces his sobbing brother, but with his eyes, lets his underling Rocco Lampone know that his feelings have not changed. Sometime later, as Michael and Tom discuss the fact that Roth, who survived a stroke, has been deported from Israel and is flying back to Miami, Michael lashes out at him for not being with him on the things he needs to do. Tom assures him of his loyalty and asks what he can do. Tom soon visits Pentangeli in custody. Assured by Tom that his brother is safely back in Sicily and his own family will be well cared for, Pentangeli, who loves history, lets Tom know that he will die as disgraced Roman senators did, opening their veins in a warm bath. Back in Lake Tahoe, Fredo, who has enjoyed spending time fishing with Anthony is about to go out onto the lake when Connie says that Michael wants Anthony right away. Later, when Fredo and Rocco are out on the lake, Fredo says a "Hail Mary" just before Rocco shoots him. At the same time, Roth arrives at the Miami airport, where he is shot and killed, and the FBI agents discover that Pentangeli has killed himself in the bathtub. As Michael sits alone in his den, he thinks about Pearl Harbor Day, 1941, when he, his brothers and Connie waited for their father to come home for a birthday celebration: Although he is going to college, Michael announces that he has just enlisted in the Marines, angering Sonny and Tom. When their father comes home, everyone leaves the dining room to greet him at the door, except Michael, who remains at the table, alone.
In 1861, Scarlett O'Hara, the headstrong sixteen-year-old daughter of wealthy Georgia plantation-owner Gerald O'Hara, is sick of hearing talk about going to war with the North. She much prefers to have beaux like Brent and Stuart Tarleton talk about the next day's barbecue at Twelve Oaks, the neighboring Wilkes plantation. When the twins reveal the "secret" that Ashley Wilkes is planning to marry his cousin Melanie Hamilton from Atlanta, Scarlett refuses to believe it because she is in love with Ashley herself. Her father later confirms the news when he returns home to Tara, the O'Hara plantation, and advises Scarlett to forget about the serious-minded Ashley, because "like should marry like." At the barbeque, Scarlett acts coquettish with all of the young men, hoping to make Ashley jealous, then, during an afternoon rest, sneaks into the library to see him. He says that he will marry Melanie because they are alike, but leads Scarlett to believe that he loves her instead of Melanie. When he leaves, Scarlett angrily throws a vase and is startled to discover Rhett Butler, a notorious rogue from Charleston, who has been lying unnoticed on a couch the entire time. She is angry at his seeming indifference to the seriousness of her feelings for Ashley and annoyed by his frank appreciation of her physical beauty. Later, when news arrives that war has broken out between the North and the South, Scarlett is stunned to see Ashley kiss Melanie goodbye as he leaves to enlist, and in a daze accepts the impulsive proposal of Melanie's brother Charles.
Just after Ashley and Melanie marry, Scarlett and Charles marry as well, delighting Melanie, who tells Scarlett that now they will truly be sisters. Some time later, Scarlett receives word that Charles has died of the measles, and she is forced to don widow's black clothing and refrain from going to the parties she loves. Her understanding mother Ellen decides to let her go to Atlanta to stay with Melanie and her Aunt Pittypat, hoping that Scarlett will feel less restless there. At an Atlanta fundraising bazaar, Scarlett is so bored watching other girls dance, that when Rhett bids for her in a dance auction, she enthusiastically leads the Virginia Reel with him, oblivious to the outrage of the shocked local matrons. Rhett, who has become a successful blockade runner, continues to see Scarlett over the next few months and brings her presents from his European trips. As the war rages, Melanie and Scarlett receive word that Ashley will be returning home on a Christmas leave. Atlanta is now suffering the privation of a long siege, but the women manage to give Ashley a small Christmas feast. Before he returns to the front, Ashley tells Scarlett that the South is losing the war and asks her to stay by the pregnant Melanie.
Melanie goes into labor as Atlantans leave the city before Northern troops arrive. When Aunt Pitty leaves for Charleston, Scarlett desperately wants to go with her, but remembers her promise to Ashley, and remains with Melanie. Because Melanie's labor is difficult and the doctor is too busy attending wounded soldiers to come to her aid, Scarlett must attend her alone. After the baby is born, Scarlett sends her maid Prissy for Rhett, who reluctantly arrives with a frightened horse and a wagon. Though he thinks that Scarlett is crazy when she insists upon returning to Tara, he risks his life to drive the women and the infant through the now-burning city. Outside Atlanta, as Rhett and Scarlett see the decimated Southern army in retreat, he feels ashamed and resolves to join them for their last stand. Scarlett is furious with him, even after he admits that he loves her and gives her a passionate kiss before leaving. When the women finally arrive at Tara, the plantation is a shambles and the house has been looted. Scarlett's mother Ellen has just died of typhoid and her father's mind is gone. Desperate for something to eat, Scarlett first tries drinking whiskey, then goes into the fields. After choking on a radish, she vows that if she lives through this she will never go hungry again. [An Intermission divides the story at this point.]
Soon Scarlett bullies her sisters and the remaining house slaves into working in the fields. After she kills a Yankee scavenger and, with Melanie's help, hides the body, the contents of his wallet provide them with some money for food. When the war ends, Ashley returns and Scarlett goes to him for advice when Pork, one of the former slaves who has remained with the family, tells her that $300 in taxes are owed on Tara. Ashley offers no solution to her problem, but admits once again that he loves her, even though he will never leave Melanie. More determined than ever to obtain the money after Jonas Wilkerson, a ruthless Yankee who was once Tara's overseer, says that he is going to buy Tara when it is auctioned off for taxes, Scarlett decides to ask Rhett for the money. With no proper clothes to wear, Scarlett and her old governess, Mammy, use material from Tara's velvet drapes for a new dress. In Atlanta, they discover that Rhett has been imprisoned by the Yankees, but has charmed his way into their good graces. Scarlett tries to pretend that everything is fine at Tara, but Rhett soon sees her roughened hands and realizes what her situation is. Because he is under arrest and his money is all in an English bank, Rhett cannot help Scarlett, so she leaves, infuriated. That same day, she runs into Frank Kennedy, her sister Suellen's beau, and sees that he has become a successful merchant. Scarlett tricks Frank into marrying her by telling him that Suellen loves someone else, and is thus able to use his money to save Tara. Scarlett then moves to Atlanta to work at Frank's shop and to make his fledgling lumber business a success. She also uses an unwitting Melanie to help make Ashley come to work at the lumber mill. One day, Scarlett is attacked by scavengers while driving her carriage near a shanty town, but is saved by Big Sam, a former Tara slave. Scarlett is not physically harmed, but that night Frank, Ashley and some of the other men band together to "clear out" the shanty. While Scarlett, Melanie and the other women wait at Melanie's house, Rhett arrives to warn them that the Yankees are planning an ambush. Melanie tells him where the men have gone, and some time later, he prevents their arrest by pretending to the Yankees that they have all been drinking with him at the notorious Belle Watling's bordello. Ashley is wounded, but Frank has died on the raid.
A few weeks later, Scarlett, who is drinking heavily, is visited by Rhett, who proposes to her and offers to give her everything she wants. Though she says that she does not love him, she agrees to marry him, and on their expensive honeymoon, he vows to spoil her to stop her nightmares of the war. A year later, Scarlett gives birth to a daughter, whom Melanie nicknames "Bonnie Blue." Though Rhett has never cared about Atlanta society, he now wants to ensure Bonnie's future. He begins to acquire respectability, and within a few years his charitable contributions and sincere devotion to Bonnie impresses even the hardest of Atlanta's matrons. Meanwhile, Scarlett still longs for Ashley and has told Rhett that she no longer wants him to share her bedroom. One day, Ashley's sister India and some other women see Scarlett and Ashley in an embrace. Though nothing improper happened, Scarlett is afraid to attend Melanie's birthday party for Ashley that night. A furious Rhett forces her to attend, though, then leaves. Melanie's open affection to her makes Scarlett ashamed, and when she returns home she sneaks into the dining room to drink. There she finds Rhett drunk and a violent quarrel erupts. After Scarlett calls Rhett a drunken fool, he grabs her and carries her upstairs, angrily telling her that this night there will not be "three in a bed." The next morning, Scarlett is happy, but when Rhett scoffs that his behavior was merely an indiscretion, her happiness turns to anger. Rhett then leaves for an extended trip to England and takes Bonnie with him.
Some months later, because Bonnie is homesick, Rhett returns to Atlanta and discovers that Scarlett is pregnant. She is happy to see Rhett, but his smirk of indifference and accusation about Ashley enrages her so that she starts to strike him and falls down the stairs. She loses the baby, and although she calls to him during her delirium, Rhett does not know and thinks that she hates him. After she recovers, he suggests that the anger and hatred stop for Bonnie's sake, and Scarlett agrees, but as they are talking, the headstrong Bonnie tries to make her pony take a jump and she falls and breaks her neck. Both are shattered by Bonnie's death, especially Rhett, who refuses to let her be buried because Bonnie was afraid of the dark. Only Melanie, to whom Rhett has always felt a closeness, convinces him to let the child go. After her talk with Rhett, Melanie, who has become pregnant despite the danger to her health, collapses and suffers a miscarriage. On her deathbed, Melanie asks Scarlett to take care of Ashley, but when Scarlett sees how much the distraught Ashley loves Melanie, she finally realizes how wrong she has been for years and knows that it is Rhett she truly loves. She rushes back home and tries to prevent him from leaving her, but he will not stay because it is too late for them. Scarlett tearfully asks him what she will do and as he leaves he answers, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." Through her sobs, Scarlett begins to think of Tara, from which she has always gained strength, and determines that she will return there and will think of a way to get Rhett back. She resolves to think about it tomorrow for, "after all, tomorrow is another day."
In Los Angeles, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy arrive late at their Sons of the Desert lodge meeting, but join with the others in taking an oath to attend the national convention in Chicago the next week. Stan is afraid that his wife Betty will not allow him to go, so on the way home, Ollie advises him to tell her that he is going rather than ask her permission, as Ollie intends to do with his wife Lottie. Once home, however, Lottie forbids Ollie to go, and when he protests, she throws a couple of vases at him. A few days later, Ollie pretends to be horribly ill, and Stan brings in Dr. Horace Meddick, a veterinarian whom the boys have bribed to tell Lottie that Ollie must go on an ocean voyage to Honolulu in order to recover. Lottie detests the ocean, and so Stan volunteers to accompany Ollie on their "ocean voyage," which is actually a trip to the convention. At the convention, the boys are having a swell time with a practical joker named Charley, who tells them that he has a sister in Los Angeles. As a gag Charley calls his sister and has her speak to Ollie, who realizes that the sister is none other than his wife Lottie, and Charley is therefore his long-lost brother-in-law. In Los Angeles the next day, Lottie and Betty discover that the ocean liner their husbands are supposedly on has sunk, and that the survivors are due to arrive in thirty-six hours. While the girls are at the liner's office trying to find out the names of the survivors, Stan and Ollie arrive home. They see the newspaper headlines about the ship sinking and panic when they hear the girls returning. They run up to the attic and decide to stay there until the next morning when the girls go out and they can climb down. Unknown to the boys, however, Lottie and Betty go to the movies to distract themselves, and while there they see a newsreel of the convention parade, prominently featuring Stan and Ollie. A terrible storm rages as the girls return home and argue about which of their husbands will confess the truth. Up in the attic, lightning strikes the bedsprings the boys are sleeping on, and when the girls hear their anguished cries, Betty gets her gun. When Stan and Ollie hear the girls coming into the attic, they climb on to the roof in the pouring rain. After they slide down the drain pipe, a passing policeman catches them and takes them to Ollie's house to verify that he lives there. Betty and Lottie agree to hear their stories, and Ollie begins a wild tale about being on the sinking ocean liner and "ship-hiking" their way back to land. Betty asks Stan if he and Ollie are telling the truth, and poor Stan, unable to stand the strain of lying, confesses all. Betty takes Stan home, and while she pampers him for being honest, Lottie pelts Ollie with crockery for lying.
In 1980, Fidel Castro allows over 125,000 Cuban refugees to leave the country on boats headed to the United States. Arriving in Florida, Tony Montana, one of the refugees, is questioned by immigration officials. Believing Tony has a criminal history, they detain him and send him to Freedom Town, a refugee camp under a highway. After a month at the camp, Tony's friend Manny Ray says that he's found them a job that will earn them green cards and get them out of Freedom Town. A wealthy cocaine dealer named Frank Lopez wants them to assassinate Emilio Rebenga, a former Cuban politician who has just arrived at the camp. Tony agrees, telling Manny that he kills Communists "for fun." One day, a riot breaks out in Freedom Town, and Manny, aided by a few others, corners Rebenga inside a tent. As the politician tries to escape, Tony stabs him. Later, Tony, Manny, and their accomplices, are awarded green cards and released from custody. In Miami, Tony and Manny work at a food stand where Omar Suarez, an underboss of Frank Lopez, visits them one night. Suarez offers Tony and Manny another job, unloading marijuana off of a boat from Mexico for 500 dollars each. Insulted by the offer, Tony demands more money, and Suarez offers them a better job – retrieving a shipment of Colombian cocaine. Soon after, Tony and Manny are joined by two of their accomplices from Freedom Town, Angel Fernandez and Chi Chi, as they head to a seedy, beachside hotel to pick up the cocaine. While Manny and Chi Chi wait in the car, Tony and Angel arrive at the hotel room of Hector the Toad. Tony becomes irritated when Hector is slow to exchange the cocaine, suspecting that the drug dealer only wants to steal the money Tony was given to purchase the drugs. Two of Hector's men appear, attacking Angel from behind. Tony is held at gunpoint in the bathroom while Hector dismembers Angel with a chainsaw inside the shower. Manny and Chi Chi arrive just in time to save Tony, shooting down Hector's henchmen. After Hector escapes through a window, Tony follows him outside and shoots him dead in the crowded street. As police sirens blare nearby, Tony, Chi Chi, and Manny escape with both the money and the cocaine. The next night, Suarez introduces Tony to his boss, Frank Lopez, the owner of the money that Tony recovered from the botched cocaine deal. Frank is impressed by Tony and hires him. Tony meets Frank's girlfriend, Elvira Hancock, and is attracted to her. Frank takes Tony and Manny out to the decadent Babylon nightclub, and offers two lessons: "Lesson number one – don't underestimate the other guy's greed; and lesson number two – don't get high on your own supply." Tony dances with Elvira, who scorns him for being low-class. Later, he and Manny try to pick up women on the beach to no avail. Tony tells his friend that they need money and power before American women will take an interest in them. Later, Frank sends Tony and Manny to pick up Elvira, who doesn't like their Cadillac with tiger-print seat covers. Tony insists they go to a car dealership immediately; there, he purchases an expensive sports car. Leaving Manny behind to work out the details with the car dealer, Tony snorts cocaine in the parking lot with Elvira, who warms to him. Later, Tony visits his estranged mother and sister at their house in a remote part of the city. Though he hasn't contacted them in five years, Tony's sister Gina is overjoyed to see him. Tony's mother is more cautious, suspicious of his criminal lifestyle. When Tony offers them $1,000 in cash, his mother refuses the money, knowing it was earned illegally. Despite Gina's objections, Tony's mother disowns him. As he leaves, Gina follows Tony outside where Manny is waiting inside the car. Gina apologizes and expresses her own loyalty to her brother. Driving away, Manny tells Tony that Gina is beautiful, and Tony shouts at Manny to stay away from her. Tony later accompanies Suarez to Bolivia to meet with a drug lord named Alejandro Sosa on Frank's behalf. During the visit, Sosa discovers that Suarez is a police informant. Sosa's henchmen then murder Suarez by hanging him from a helicopter mid-air while Frank and Tony watch from the ground. Tony undermines Frank's authority by negotiating a distribution deal with Sosa himself, and when he gets back, Frank is furious because he feels he cannot sell the large amount of cocaine to which Tony agreed. Defending his choice, Tony tells Frank that he needs to expand his operation to cities outside Miami. One day, Tony visits Frank's house to see Elvira, and though she fears that Frank will catch them, Tony remains unconcerned. He tells Elvira that he likes her and wants to marry her, and suggests that Frank is finished. Later, Tony sees Gina dancing with a man at the Babylon and becomes enraged. Before he can approach her, Tony is approached by Mel Bernstein, a corrupt police detective. Bernstein accuses Tony of murdering Rebenga and Hector, and offers him police protection in exchange for money and information on rival drug dealers. Frank and Elvira arrive at the club, and Tony joins Elvira at her table as Bernstein leaves. Walking up to the table, Frank tells Tony to move, but Tony refuses, saying that Frank has no right to give him orders. After the confrontation, Frank and Elvira leave, and Tony returns his attention to Gina. As she and her dancing partner go into the men's bathroom, Tony follows and finds them inside a stall, snorting cocaine. He grabs Gina's friend and throws him out, then confronts his sister. Manny enters the bathroom and watches as Tony threatens and hits Gina. After Tony walks out, Manny comforts Gina, then drives her home. In the car, Gina expresses her attraction to Manny, but he firmly rejects her, knowing Tony would disapprove. Back at the club, Tony watches the stage show. When a spotlight hits Tony at his table, two assassins with machine guns suddenly open fire from across the room. Tony ducks under the table after taking a bullet to the shoulder, then shoots both of his attackers before fleeing the club. Believing Frank is behind the botched assassination attempt, Tony goes to his office and confirms that Frank ordered the hit. Sensing that Tony plans to kill him, Frank grovels at Tony's feet, offering money and Elvira in exchange for his life. Tony orders Manny to shoot Frank, and turns his attention to Bernstein, who was meeting with Frank when he walked in. Tony shoots Bernstein twice. Covered in blood, he finds Elvira in the bedroom and tells her to pack her things and join him. Waiting for Elvira in the living room, Tony spots a blimp outside with a digital sign scrolling the message, "The world is yours." Now the boss of Frank's cocaine ring, Tony buys a mansion and marries Elvira. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Tony, Manny and Gina are falling in love. With Tony in charge, the business flourishes, but he and Elvira are both addicted to cocaine, and their relationship suffers. Tony becomes increasingly paranoid and suspicious of a van parked outside his estate. The bank informs Tony that he must pay higher fees in order to launder his increasing flow of money. Manny suggests a new contact he recently met who offers a lower rate on money-laundering, and when Tony steps in to handle the deal, he is arrested in a sting operation. After posting a $5 million dollar bail, Tony's lawyer suggests that he can be cleared of the corruption charges but will not avoid a jail sentence for tax evasion. Fearing the loss of his main distributor, Sosa intervenes, promising that his contacts in Washington, D.C. can clear the charges. However, in exchange, Sosa asks Tony for his help in the assassination of a Bolivian journalist who is threatening to expose Sosa's operation. Tony reluctantly agrees. Back in Miami, Tony eats dinner at a posh restaurant with Elvira and Manny. Both inebriated, Tony and Elvira argue loudly, and Elvira tells him that she is leaving him and walks out. Tony then goes to New York to assist with the hit Sosa ordered. Sosa's men wire a bomb to the journalist's car, but when Tony sees that the journalist is accompanied by his wife and child, he orders them to call off the hit. Before one of the assassins can detonate the bomb, Tony shoots him. He then attempts to call Manny and learns that both he and Gina have been missing for two days. In Miami, Tony calls Sosa, who is furious about the botched hit and rescinds his offer to keep Tony out of jail. Later that night Tony visits his mother, who gives him the address of the house where she believes Gina might be. Tony and two of his men drive to the house to confront his sister. There, he knocks on the door, and Manny answers. When Tony sees Gina, wearing only a robe, he shoots and kills Manny. Crying hysterically, Gina confesses that she and Manny just got married, and they were planning to surprise Tony with the news. Tony's men pull Gina off of Manny's corpse and take her back to Tony's mansion. Assassins swarm Tony's property as he arrives and heads upstairs, isolating himself in the office, surrounded by mounds of cocaine. No longer crying, Gina steps into Tony's office, barely clothed, and pretends to seduce him, accusing him of wanting to sleep with her. She then shoots her brother in the leg. As Gina continues to fire shots at Tony, an assassin steps in from the balcony and kills her. Tony pushes the assassin off the balcony, and sees throngs of men invading his property. Back inside, Tony holds Gina's body, pretending she is not dead, as hired killers infiltrate his mansion. When the assassins reach his office, Tony wields a machine gun and kills several men. During a long firefight, Tony is shot several times. After Tony launches an explosive from the balcony, he is gunned down from behind. Tony's body falls over the railing and splashes into a fountain below. Atop the fountain is a neon sign with the words, "The World Is Yours."
In the mill town of Loyalton, Wisconsin, Rosa Moline, whose husband Lewis is the town's doctor, is on trial for the murder of Moose Lawson, caretaker of a nearby hunting lodge owned by wealthy Chicago industrialist Neil Latimer. On the stand, Rosa swears that the death was an accident: Five months earlier, Lewis, Rosa and Moose travel to the lodge for the weekend. When they arrive, Rosa gives Lewis a message from a patient who has gone into labor. Feigning an ankle injury, Rosa stays behind while Lewis makes the long trip back to town to attend the delivery. Rosa then contrives to get Moose drunk. After he passes out, Rosa waits in the main lodge for the arrival of Latimer, with whom she is having an affair. Dissatisfied with life in Loyalton, Rosa determines to marry Latimer. When she tells him about her plan, however, he roars with laughter and points out that he can have his pick of any Chicago society girl. Later, Moose's daughter Carol visits, and Rosa longingly tries on her fur coat. She then begs Lewis for two hundred dollars to pay for a shopping trip to Chicago. When Lewis protests that he does not have that much money, Rosa bills his accounts receivable. After learning what Rosa has done, Lewis angrily gives her the money and then orders her to leave and never return. After Rosa arrives in Chicago, she contacts Latimer, who tells her that he has fallen in love and plans to marry. A distraught, hopeless Rosa then returns to Loyalton and Lewis, and soon becomes pregnant. Later, at a birthday party that Carol is giving for Moose, Rosa again encounters Latimer, who privately tells her that he now wants to marry her. The next day, before the guests leave for a hunting party, Moose, who suspects the truth about Rosa's relationship with Latimer, warns her that Latimer will not want her when he learns that she is pregnant. He adds that if she does not tell Latimer the truth, he will. To prevent this, Rosa kills Moose. Because there is no evidence to the contrary, the jury rules that the death was a hunting accident, and Rosa is acquitted. Desperate to marry Latimer, Rosa then begs Lewis to end her pregnancy. When he refuses, she tells him about her affair and admits that she killed Moose. After Lewis insists that Rosa go through with the pregnancy, she borrows clothes belonging to her Indian maid and runs away, but Lewis goes after her and brings her home. On the way, she throws herself down a hill in an attempt to abort her baby. Rosa loses the baby but develops an infection. In her delirium, she accuses Lewis of making her sick and breaks the bottle containing the last of the medicine. After Lewis leaves for the hospital to obtain more medicine, Rosa dresses and goes to the train station, where she collapses and dies.
Benjamin Braddock, filled with doubts about his future, returns to his Los Angeles home after graduating from an Eastern college. His parents soon have a party so they can boast of their son's academic achievements and his bright prospects in business. Mrs. Robinson, one of the guests, persuades Ben to drive her home and there tries to seduce him, but her overtures are interrupted by the sound of her husband's car in the driveway. Blatant in her seductive maneuvers, she soon has the nervous and inexperienced Ben meeting her regularly at the Taft Hotel. As the summer passes, Benjamin becomes increasingly bored and listless; he frequently stays out overnight and returns home to loll around the pool. When his worried parents try to interest him in Elaine, Mrs. Robinson's daughter, Ben agrees to date her to avoid having the entire Robinson family invited to dinner. At first Benjamin is rude to Elaine and takes her to a striptease club, but realizing how cruel he has been, he apologizes and the two begin dating. Outraged, Mrs. Robinson demands that Ben stop seeing her daughter; instead he blurts out the truth to a shocked Elaine, who returns to college in Berkeley. Although Ben follows her and tries to persuade her to marry him, Elaine's parents intervene and encourage her to marry Carl Smith, a student whom she has been dating. Ben returns to Los Angeles, but when Mrs. Robinson refuses to divulge any information about the wedding, he races back to Berkeley and learns that the ceremony will take place in Santa Barbara. Arriving at the church as the final vows are being spoken, he screams Elaine's name over the heads of the startled guests. Elaine sees her parents' anger toward Ben, and realizing what their influence has done, she fights off her mother and Carl and races to Ben. After locking the congregation in the church by jamming a crucifix through the door handles, the couple leaps aboard a passing bus and rides away.
Crazed by the belief that the Communists are planning to conquer the free world by poisoning the water supply with fluoride, Gen. Jack D. Ripper, commanding officer of the U. S. Air Force base at Burpelson, unleashes a B-52 atomic bomb attack on Russia. Ripper prevents the countermanding of his orders through a secret code and makes himself inaccessible by sealing off the base. When President Muffley learns of the unauthorized mission, he summons his council to the War Room in the Pentagon and invites Russian Ambassador de Sadesky. Despite the hysterical advice of Gen. "Buck" Turgidson, who advocates limited nuclear war, the President orders U. S. land forces, under the command of Army Col. "Bat" Guano, to attack Burpelson. Ripper kills himself rather than face capture, but his R.A.F. aide, Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake, who has been locked in Ripper's office, works out the secret code that is instrumental in recalling the bombers. All appears safe until it is discovered that a plane commanded by a boisterous Texan, Maj. T. J. "King" Kong, did not receive the recall message. At this point, President Muffley learns from de Sadesky that the Russians have developed a "Doomsday Device" which will set off worldwide nuclear explosions if an atomic bomb is dropped anywhere over Russia. Desperate, the President turns to his physicist adviser, the paraplegic ex-Nazi, Dr. Strangelove, who calculates that humanity can survive if a selected few take to underground shelters and remain there for about 100 years. All efforts to halt the lone plane fail, and Kong wildly straddles the bomb as it plummets toward the earth. Consequently, the Doomsday Device is triggered, and atomic explosions are set off all over the world.
After he is acquitted of murder charges, the arch criminal Professor Moriarty vows to defeat his rival, Sherlock Holmes, by committing the crime of the century. To accomplish his goal, Moriarty confronts Holmes with two diversions. The first is a letter that he sends to Sir Ronald Ramsgate, guardian of the Crown Jewels and Constable of the Tower of London, proclaiming that the Star of Dehli emerald will never reach the Tower of London. Moriarty's letter brings Sir Ronald to Holmes's apartment, and he asks the detective to be present when the jewel is delivered. Holmes agrees to Sir Ronald's request, and immediately after he leaves, Ann Brandon, who has written Holmes for his advice about attending Lady Conynham's garden party, bursts into his apartment. Ann brings Holmes a drawing that her brother Lloyd has just received, depicting an albatross with a knife piercing its breast. Ann is distraught because this is the same drawing that her father received just before he was murdered. Ann is followed by Jerrold Hunter, her fiancé and the family solicitor, who chides her for being melodramatic. Holmes disagrees, however, and takes Anne's case. Holmes then sends his assistant to watch Hunter, and Watson reports that he has seen the attorney with Moriarty. When Brandon is murdered and Hunter is found standing over the body, Inspector Bristol of Scotland Yard accuses Hunter of clubbing Brandon to death. Holmes informs the inspector that although Brandon was beaten, the real cause of his death was strangulation. Holmes then agrees to help Bristol solve the case in return for freeing Hunter. Soon after, Sir Ronald visits Holmes and is upset to find the detective distracted by Brandon's murder. Nevertheless, Holmes agrees to be at the Tower of London for the delivery of the emerald at ten the next evening. Ann then receives a death threat for the next day, the evening of Lady Conynham's party and the delivery date of the emerald. Holmes delegates Watson to guard the jewel while he goes to the party to watch Ann. That night, Moriarty shaves off his beard in anticipation of defeating his rival, Holmes. Meanwhile, at the Tower of London, Sir Ronald is furious at Holmes's absence when a police sergeant and his men arrive to protect the jewels. When the emerald is delivered, Sir Ronald unlocks the case containing the Crown Jewels and at that moment, the lights go off. In the ensuing chaos, the police disappear with the stone, but in the confusion, drop the emerald and Sir Ronald returns it to the case with the rest of the jewels, then leaves. Moriarty, disguised as the sergeant, then emerges from the shadows and steals the Crown Jewels. Meanwhile, at the party, Ann anxiously awaits the passing of midnight and her death sentence. When Hunter comes to visit, he frightens Ann, who runs into the night. Hunter is then struck unconscious by a man wielding a bola, the instrument that strangled Brandon. After missing Ann with the bola, the man is captured by Holmes and confesses that Moriarty hired him. Realizing that the death threats were a trick to distract him, Holmes rushes to Moriarty's apartment, where he finds a guidebook of the Tower of London and deduces that Moriarty is planning to steal the Crown Jewels. Holmes rushes to the tower, where he engages Moriarty in mortal combat, causing the criminal to fall from a turret to his death. With the threat of danger ended, Ann marries Hunter, and Holmes explains to Watson that Moriarty engaged Hunter in a lawsuit to throw them off the track.
While traveling some 2,000 years through time and space, four astronauts crash-land on an unknown planet. After finding the female of their quartet dead, the three male survivors cross the barren wasteland of the planet until they encounter a tribe of mute sub-humans living amidst lush vegetation. They are set upon and captured by uniformed riders on horseback, who, much to the astronauts' horror, turn out to be sentient gorillas. One of the astronauts, Dodge, is killed and his body placed in the simian museum of natural history; another, Landon, is subjected to a frontal lobotomy; the third, George Taylor, who has been rendered speechless by a throat wound, is placed in a hospital cage. Taylor, although aware that he is a prisoner in a society where humans are treated as beasts, persuades the sympathetic chimpanzees, psychologist Zira and her archeologist fiancé Cornelius, that he can speak, read and write. Intrigued by the possibility that man may be the missing link in the evolution of the ape, Zira and Cornelius spare Taylor from experimental vivisection, intending to mate him with a female captive, Nova. Taylor eventually regains his power of speech and is able to communicate with the apes. Chief of state Dr. Zaius, an orangutan, is outraged by Taylor's unexpected abilities and demands that he be silenced by a lobotomy. Deeply resentful of the infringement upon their freedom of thought by the orangutans, the intellectual ruling class of the ape planet, Zira, Cornelius and their young assistant, Lucius, help Taylor and Nova escape. The group travels to the Forbidden Zone, a vast, deserted territory in which Cornelius had found human artifacts during an archaelogical dig, including a human-shaped doll that says "Mama." When they are pursued by the ape militia, led by the war-like gorillas, Taylor seizes Dr. Zaius and threatens to kill him unless he orders the soldiers to retreat. Zaius, after confessing that he has long been aware of man's reputation as "the harbinger of death," permits Taylor and Nova to continue into the Forbidden Zone, provided that they never return with evidence of their superior human culture. Some distance down the coastline, Taylor discovers the half-buried remnants of the Statue of Liberty and yells with rage as he realizes the destructive destiny of man's civilization.
During World War II, Casablanca, Morocco is a waiting point for throngs of desperate refugees fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe. Exit visas, which are necessary to leave the country, are at a premium, so when two German couriers carrying letters of transit signed by General DeGaulle are murdered and the letters stolen, German Major Strasser and Louis Renault, the prefecture of police, are eager to find the documents. Strasser is particularly concerned that the letters not be sold to Victor Lazlo, the well-known Czech resistance leader, who is rumored to be on his way to Casablanca. That night, Renault and Strasser search for the killer at Rick's Café Americain, a popular nightclub run by the mysterious American expatriate Richard Blaine. Earlier, Ugarte, a shady dealer in exit visas, had asked Rick to hold the stolen letters temporarily, explaining that he has a buyer for them and with the money from their sale, he plans to leave Casablanca. Although Rick fought on the side of the loyalists in Spain, he has grown cynical, and when Renault advises him not to interfere with Ugarte's arrest, Rick replies "I stick my neck out for nobody." He makes a bet with Renault, however, that Lazlo will manage to leave Casablanca despite German efforts to stop him. After Ugarte is arrested, Lazlo and his companion, Ilsa Lund, arrive at Rick's. Ilsa recognizes Sam, the piano player, and while Lazlo makes covert contact with the underground, Ilsa insists that Sam play the song "As Time Goes By." Reluctantly, Sam agrees, and a furious Rick, who had ordered him never to play the song again, emerges from his office to stop him. Rick is taken aback when he sees Ilsa, whom he knew in Paris. Later, after the café is closed, Rick remembers his love affair with Ilsa: After a brief happy time together, the Nazis invade Paris and, worried that Rick will be in danger because of his record, Ilsa advises him to leave the city. He refuses to go without her, and she agrees to meet him at the train station. Instead of coming, though, she sends him a farewell note, and Sam and Rick leave just ahead of the Nazis. Rick's thoughts return to the present with Ilsa's arrival at the café. She tries to explain her actions, but when a drunken Rick accuses her of being a tramp, she walks out. The following day, Lazlo and Ilsa meet with Renault and, there they learn that Ugarte has been killed while in police custody. After Rick helps a young Romanian couple win enough money at roulette to allow them to leave the country, Lazlo, suspecting that Rick has the letters, asks to buy them. Rick refuses and, when Lazlo asks his reasons, suggests that he ask Ilsa. Angered when Rick allows his orchestra to accompany a rousing rendition of "La Marseillaise," Strasser orders the closing of the Café. That night, while Lazlo attends an underground meeting, Ilsa meets Rick and explains that she stayed behind in Paris because, on the day Rick left Paris she had learned that Lazlo, her husband, whom she had married in secret and thought dead, was alive. Now realizing that they still love each other, Ilsa tells Rick that he must made decisions for both of them. Meanwhile, the police break up the underground meeting, and Lazlo takes refuge at Rick's. Before he is arrested, he begs Rick to use the letters to take Ilsa away from Casablanca. The next day, Rick sells the café to his competitor Ferare, the owner of the Blue Parrot, and tricks Renault into releasing Lazlo from prison. They head for the airport, but Renault has managed to alert Strasser, who hurries after them. At the airport, Rick tells Ilsa, who thought that she would be staying with him, that she is to leave with Lazlo because she gives meaning to his work. He then tells Lazlo that he and Ilsa loved each other in Paris, and that she pretended she was still in love with him in order to get the letters. Lazlo, who understands what really happened, welcomes Rick back to the fight before he and Ilsa board the plane. Strasser arrives just as the airplane is about to take off and when he tries to delay the flight, Rick shoots him. Renault then quickly telephones the police, but instead of turning in Rick, he advises them to "round up the usual suspects," and the two men leave Casablanca for the Free French garrison at Brassaville. It is, Rick says, "the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
In the Colorado mountains, teacher and writer Jack Torrance interviews for the position of off-season caretaker at the Overlook Hotel. Because the area becomes snowbound in winter, only the caretaker and his family remain onsite from December to May. The hotel's manager, Stuart Ullman, cautions Jack that in 1970, a caretaker, Grady, became overwhelmed by "cabin fever" and killed his wife and two young daughters with an ax, then shot himself. Jack assures Ullman that five months of peace is what he is seeking in order to begin a writing project he has planned. Meanwhile, in Boulder, Jack's wife Wendy and their son Danny discuss the possibility of moving. Danny says that his imaginary friend, "Tony," is against the move. While Danny brushes his teeth, "Tony" tells him that Jack will get the job and, soon after, Jack calls Wendy and confirms that he has been hired. When Danny insists that "Tony" tell him what is wrong with the hotel, he goes into a trance and sees startling images, among them, two young girls identically dressed and hotel doors from which blood gushes. The visions become so frightening that Danny blacks out and Wendy arranges for a doctor to visit. When the doctor asks Danny what he remembers, he says he was talking to "Tony," but is otherwise reticent. The doctor prescribes rest and suggests there is a psychological explanation for the incident. Wendy tells her that "Tony" first appeared in Danny's life after an "accident" in which an inebriated Jack dislocated the boy's arm. In denial about the significance, Wendy says that good came out of the event, because Jack vowed to quit drinking and has remained alcohol-free for five months. Days later, the family arrives at the Overlook Hotel as staff and guests are leaving. Ullman and staff members give the family a tour of their living quarters and other areas of the labyrinthine building that was built in 1907 on a Native American burial ground. Outside, Jack and Wendy are shown the hotel's thirteen-foot-high hedge maze and the snowcat, a vehicle necessary to traverse deep snow. While showing the Torrances the grandly decorated Gold Room, Ullman explains that alcoholic beverages are removed during the winter for insurance reasons. While playing in the game room, Danny again sees a vision of the identically dressed girls. Wendy and Danny visit the kitchen and meet head chef, Dick Hallorann, who shows Wendy the stored food in the pantries and walk-in freezer. Wendy is surprised when Dick addresses Danny as "Doc," because it is a nickname she and Jack sometimes call the boy. As Dick continues the tour, he telepathically asks Danny if he would like some ice cream and, later, when Danny and Dick eat ice cream alone together, Dick reveals that he sensed Danny's mental powers. Dick explains that he, too, has them and that the abilities are known as "shining." Danny confides that "Tony" told him not to tell Wendy and Jack about the powers and asks if there is something bad about the hotel. Dick says that the hotel also has a way of shining and that when events happen, they can leave traces like pictures in a book that only those who "shine" can detect. Danny asks about Room 237 and says he thinks Dick is scared of it. Dick tells him he has no need to know about that room, and is adamant that Danny avoid it. A month passes, but during this time Jack is unable to start his novel. However, he proclaims his fondness for the hotel, and tells Wendy he feels as if he has been there before. As Wendy and Danny explore the maze outside, Jack, frustrated about his lack of productivity, bounces tennis balls against the hotel's inner walls. Days later, while racing his tricycle through the halls, Danny comes to Room 237 and cautiously tries the door handle. The door is locked and an image of the two girls again appears in his mind. Lonely, Wendy visits Jack as he is typing, but, showing anger out of proportion to the situation, Jack tells her to never enter the room while he is working. When the phone lines go down due to snowstorms, Wendy contacts the Forest Service by radio. The ranger suggests she leave the radio on at all times so they can make emergency contact, if necessary. Danny is again racing through the halls on his tricycle when the two girls appear unexpectedly on his path. This time they speak, inviting him to play and anticipating they will be together forever. In his mind, Danny sees images of their bloody and mutilated bodies, and tells "Tony" he is scared. "Tony" reminds him that Dick said the images are harmless, like pictures in a book. One morning, Danny finds Jack in the family's apartment, sitting in his bathrobe, undressed and unshaven, and staring blankly into space. Jack says he is tired but cannot sleep, and wishes they could stay at the hotel forever. Danny asks if Jack would ever hurt him or Wendy, but Jack reassures Danny that he would never do him harm. A few days later, Danny is playing when Jack's tennis ball rolls toward him. Danny follows the ball's path and arrives at Room 237, where the door is now open. In the basement, Wendy is checking the furnaces when she hears Jack screaming. She finds Jack asleep at his desk and when she wakens him, he says he had a nightmare in which he killed her and Danny, and cut them into pieces. Soon after, a traumatized Danny walks into the room, his shirt torn and his neck bruised. Accusing Jack of injuring Danny, she takes the boy from the room, leaving Jack bewildered. Later, Jack enters the empty ballroom, yearning for a drink. At the bar, he sees Lloyd the bartender and orders a bottle of bourbon. He tells Lloyd he always liked him and that he was the best bartender. When Lloyd asks Jack how things are going, Jack expresses resentment that Wendy will not forgive him for injuring Danny. Wendy runs in and tells Jack that Danny told her a "crazy woman" tried to strangle him. Searching for the woman, Jack finds, in Room 237, a young, nude woman, who silently leaves her bath and approaches him. After they embrace, she turns into an elderly hag with gaping sores. Frightened, Jack backs out of the room, but when he returns to the family's apartment, he says he found nothing and suggests that Danny's bruises are self-inflicted. Wendy proposes that the family leave, but Jack condemns her for creating Danny's problem, and not appreciating his need to write or his responsibility to the hotel. In his bedroom, Danny spots the word "Redrum" written on the door in red then sees the vision of the elevator gushing blood. Meanwhile, in Miami, Dick watches Colorado weather reports and is unable to shake his feeling of foreboding. After seeing visions of Room 237 and a terrified Danny, he phones the Forest Service about his concerns for the family. The ranger tries several times to contact the Torrances, but to no avail. On his return to the Gold Room, Jack sees the Overlook's hallways strewn with balloons and party streamers, and hears music and finds the room filled with revelers in 1920s attire. When a waiter bumps into Jack, spilling a drink on his coat, he offers to help Jack clean up in the men's room and reveals his name is Grady, the name of the caretaker who killed his family. However, Grady denies he is the man and claims that Jack has always been the caretaker. Grady tells Jack that Danny is trying to bring in someone from outside and that Danny has a "very great talent," but is "naughty." In the family's apartment, Wendy makes plans to leave Jack and drive Danny down the mountain in the snowcat. When Danny begins to call out the word, "Redrum," repeatedly, she talks to him, but "Tony" answers, saying that Danny cannot wake up. In the hallway, Jack hears the Forest Service's attempt to contact them and dismantles the radio. Spurred by his concern for Danny, Dick flies to Denver where he borrows a snowcat and drives the winding roads up the mountain. At the Overlook, Wendy, armed with a baseball bat, looks for Jack at his desk and, finding him gone, examines a stack of papers that Jack typed. She discovers that all of them contain, in multiple formats and with spelling and grammatical variations, the words, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." When Jack appears, Wendy warns him to stay away. Although Jack addresses her with brutal language, he maintains that he will not hurt her. Menacingly, he backs her up the staircase until she swings the bat at him and sends him tumbling down the steps. She then drags Jack into a large pantry and locks him inside. Soon after, she discovers that Jack has disabled the snowcat. In the afternoon, Jack is addressed from outside the pantry by the voice of Grady, who chides him for not disciplining Wendy and Danny, and questions his motivation and sincerity. After Jack asks for another chance, the pantry door unlocks, freeing him. In the apartment, Danny repeatedly chants "Redrum," and takes a knife. With Wendy's lipstick, he writes the word on a door. As his chant gets louder, Wendy looks in a mirror and sees the word reversed to read "Murder." Jack breaks the apartment door with an ax, and Wendy and Danny take refuge behind the locked bathroom door. Wendy pushes Danny outside through a window, where he slides down a snow bank to the ground below. However, she cannot fit through the window and, as Jack chops his way through the bathroom door, she takes the knife Danny dropped and slashes Jack's hand. Jack abandons his pursuit of Wendy when he hears Dick's Snowcat approaching. When Dick enters, Jack bursts out of the darkness and kills him with the ax. Hiding in the kitchen, Danny lets out a blood-curdling scream and Jack chases the boy. Danny escapes to the hedge maze, but observes that his footprints in the snow will lead Jack to him. After walking backwards several steps, careful to step into his previous tracks, Danny squeezes through a hedge wall. Jack follows Danny's tracks until they end, but then, cold and exhausted, he collapses. While searching the hallways for Danny, Wendy encounters ghostly images of previous hotel patrons. After she finds Dick's mutilated corpse, a blood-spattered ghost appears and tells her it is a "great party." She finds the Colorado room filled with cobwebs and skeletons, and the elevator doors gushing blood. She joins Danny outside and they drive down the mountain in Dick's snowcat. The next morning, Jack is dead, frozen in the maze, but inside the Overlook there is a photo hanging on a wall. The photo, dated July 1921, shows a large group of people at a party. Jack is among them, front and center, smiling into the camera.
Inside the Freeling family home in the suburban California community of Cuesta Verde, Steve Freeling dozes in front of a flickering television. The golden retriever, E. Buzz, walks through the bedrooms where housewife Diane Freeling and her children, sixteen-year-old Dana, eight-year-old Robbie, and five-year-old Carol Anne, are asleep. Carol Anne rises from her bed, descends the stairs, and sits in front of the screen's static transmission. She speaks to the television, causing her parents and siblings to awaken in confusion. The next day, Diane notices that Carol Anne's pet bird died. Downstairs, Steve watches football with a group of friends when the broadcast is suddenly interrupted by the television program, Mister Roger's Neighborhood. Realizing the signal is crossed with his neighbor Ben Tuthill's, Steve goes outside and demands that Ben stop changing the channel. As Diane and Carol Anne bury the bird in a cigar box, Robbie climbs a tall, knobby tree and notices storm clouds looming overhead. That night, Diane tucks the children into bed and turns on the closet light to calm Carol Anne's fear of the dark. In the master bedroom, Steve and Diane smoke marijuana, and Diane worries that their plan to build a swimming pool in the backyard could be dangerous with Carol Anne's recent sleepwalking. Unable to sleep because of the rain, Robbie walks in on his inebriated parents, and Steve returns his son to his bedroom. When Robbie expresses his dislike of the tree outside his window, Steve tells him that his real estate development company built their home next to the old tree so it would protect their family. After he leaves, however, a loud boom of thunder forces Robbie and Carol Anne to retreat to their parents' bed. While they sleep, the television turns to flickering static yet again. Carol Anne awakens and sits in front of the screen. As she reaches toward it, the ghostly image of a skeletal hand emerges from the picture, swirls through the air, and blasts through the wall above the bed. The room shakes violently, and Carol Anne announces, "They're here." In the morning, Steve insists that the disturbance was an earthquake, and multiple construction workers begin digging the pool. Over breakfast, Diane asks Carol Anne what she meant by saying, "They're here," and Carol Anne tells her that the "TV people" have arrived. Suddenly, Robbie's milk glass shatters, his utensils bend, and the kitchen television set turns to static. When Diane notices Carol Anne transfixed by the fuzzy screen, she changes the channel. Upstairs, E. Buzz barks at the wall above the master bed. Later, Diane notices that the kitchen chairs have rearranged themselves around the room, and Carol Anne blames the invisible "TV people." When Steve returns from work that evening, Diane takes him to the kitchen, where she demonstrates how an invisible force slides the chairs and Carol Anne across the room. During a tornado storm that night, a tree branch breaks through the children's bedroom window and grabs Robbie. As Dana and her parents run outside to pull Robbie to safety, a vacuum force sucks the children's toys, furniture, and Carol Anne into the closet. The Freelings return, but are unable to find their daughter. Upstairs, Robbie and Diane hear Carol Anne's distant voice coming from the master bedroom's static television screen. Three days later, Steve consults with a University of California, Irvine, psychology professor named Dr. Martha Lesh and her two associates, Ryan and Dr. Marty Casey. He brings them to the bedroom, where the children's belongings float through the air. Dr. Lesh explains the strange occurrences are caused by a temporary poltergeist intrusion. Diane switches the television to a static transmission and speaks out loud to Carol Anne, asking if she can answer. Carol Anne's voice replies, crying out that she is afraid of "the light." Dr. Lesh urges Carol Anne to stay away from the light. Believing the presence to be a hoax, Dr. Casey runs upstairs. Moments later, a white glow emanates from the living room ceiling, as multiple pieces of antique jewelry fall to the ground. As Carol Anne yells that someone is coming for her, Diane claims that she felt her daughter's spirit pass through her body. A gust of wind knocks the family to the floor, and Dr. Casey returns with a large bite wound on his abdomen from attempting to enter the children's bedroom. That night, Dr. Lesh tells Robbie about the light many people believe they see before death. After they fall asleep, Dr. Casey attempts to cook a steak in the kitchen, but the meat slides across the counter and begins to mutate. He runs to the bathroom, where the light causes him to imagine flesh melting off his face. Meanwhile, Ryan's video camera records the upstairs bedroom door opening, emitting a bright light and the swirling apparition of a figure descending the stairs. The poltergeist vanishes through the living room ceiling, and the group replays the tape. The video depicts a cluster of vivid orbs floating through the room, indicating the presence of more than one ghost. In the morning, Robbie and E. Buzz leave for their grandmother's house, and Dr. Lesh takes the mysterious jewelry to her lab but promises to return with help. Steve's boss, Mr. Teague, stops by the house and expresses his concern over Steve's supposed sick leave from work. While walking up a hill overlooking the community, Mr. Teague reveals that the Freelings' current home was constructed on top of a relocated cemetery but he assures Steve that the bodies were interred elsewhere. Later, Dr. Lesh returns with a clairvoyant named Tangina Barrons, who inspects the house and determines that Carol Anne is still alive. She claims that the souls inhabiting the house do not know they have died, and that Carol Anne must help them cross over into death; however, a demon called "the Beast" has been controlling her to keep the spirits away from the light. Diane speaks to Carol Anne and tells her to run toward the light so that the spirits will follow her. When Tangina opens the bedroom door, Steve throws a rope into the brightly illuminated closet, which falls out the portal's exit in the living room ceiling. Diane kisses her husband before tying the rope around her waist and entering the closet. Tangina instructs Carol Anne to go into the light, but Steve panics and pulls the rope back. The Beast's gigantic, ghostly skull appears in the doorway as Diane and Carol Anne's bodies, covered in pink ectoplasm, drop onto the floor downstairs. Once they regain consciousness, Tangina proclaims the house is clean. Sometime later, the Freelings pack their belongings into a moving van, hoping to leave before morning. As Steve meets with Mr. Teague and the children go to bed, Diane draws a bath. Suddenly, Robbie's clown toy grabs him around the neck and drags him under the bed. Diane hears him scream, but a force pushes her up onto the ceiling and into the hallway. The growling Beast blocks her from entering the children's bedroom and she runs outside, slipping into the muddy swimming pool pit, filled with human skeletons. The neighboring Tuthills hear her screams and pull Diane to safety. She runs back to the bedroom, where Robbie and Carol Anne cling to the bed as a wind sucks them toward a glowing orange hole in the wall. As she pulls them to safety, Steve arrives home with Mr. Teague, and multiple coffins containing decomposed corpses unearth themselves from under the house. Steve yells at his boss for moving the cemetery headstones without transplanting the bodies. The Freelings drive away in their car while Mr. Teague watches the house emit a fiery light and implode. After the family checks into a motel, Steve pushes the room's television set outside onto the balcony.
On the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur, Thomas Babbington "Babe" Levy, a Columbia University graduate student, runs in New York City's Central Park. Elsewhere, after removing a Band-aid tin from a security deposit box at a bank, an older German man hands off the tin to a passerby on the street. Driving home, he has a heated argument with another driver, and both cars run into an oil truck, causing an explosion. Later that day, Babe sees a news report about the accident, in which the German man is identified as Klaus Szell, the brother of infamous Nazi, Christian Szell, who was presumed dead after World War II. In a hotel room in Paris, France, a valet attempts to deliver a suit that does not belong to the room's occupant, Doc Levy. On a phone call to his friend "Janey," Doc worries that someone besides Janey might know he is there. Doc becomes more suspicious after he delivers a package to LeClerc, a French antique dealer, and detects that LeClerc is surprised to see him. However, LeClerc denies it and promises to have a package for Doc that night at the opera. When Doc leaves in a taxi, a bomb explodes nearby. After showing up late to a seminar, Babe speaks to Professor Biesenthal about his dissertation on the use of tyranny in American political life. Biesenthal says he was once a mentee to Babe's father, H. V. Levy., and tells Babe that McCarthyism will have to be a focus of his dissertation, even if it was the force that brought his father down, prompting Babe to remember his father's suicide. Back in Paris, Doc meets his colleague, Peter Janeway, aka "Janey," for lunch, and announces that someone is trying to kill him. That night, at the opera, Doc finds LeClerc dead and runs away. The next morning, Chen, an assassin, tries to strangle Doc in his hotel room, but Doc overpowers the man and breaks his neck. Doc learns from Janeway that Klaus Szell has died, and deduces that the attack by Chen must be related, saying that they are "getting rid of the couriers." Meanwhile, Babe meets an attractive girl named Elsa Opel at the library and follows her home. Despite Elsa's insistence that their relationship cannot go anywhere, she agrees to a date. Sometime later, Babe and Elsa are robbed by two well-dressed muggers in Central Park. On a flight from Uruguay to New York City, Christian Szell disguises himself by shaving the top of his head bald. As Szell's airplane lands in New York, Karl and Erhard, the men who robbed Babe, are there to meet him. Doc, who is Babe's older brother, shows up at Babe's apartment and becomes suspicious when he hears that Babe was robbed by men in suits. Babe asks Doc to take a look at some interviews he has conducted with his father's old colleagues, but Doc yells at him to forget their father, saying he was a suicidal drunk. The next day, Doc takes Babe and Elsa to lunch, and Babe nervously watches as Doc flirts with Elsa. Catching Elsa in a lie, Doc accuses her of being German instead of Swiss, and suggests she is after Babe for a green card. That night, at a secret rendezvous, Szell admits to Doc that Elsa has been spying on Babe, then stabs Doc in the abdomen. Doc stumbles to Babe's apartment, bleeding to death, but dies before he can deliver a warning about Szell. Janeway arrives at Babe's apartment, where police officers address him as commander. Sending the others away, Janeway tells Babe that he suspects Doc's murder was "political," having to do with Doc's line of business. Although Babe believed his brother worked in the oil industry, Janeway reveals that he was an employee of a secret government agency called "The Division." Later that night, after Janeway has left, Karl and Erhard break into Babe's apartment, kidnap him, and take him to a secret location. There, Babe is tied to a chair in a sparse room and joined by Szell, who arrives with a set of dental instruments. Szell asks Babe multiple times, "Is it safe?" After Babe responds that he has no idea what Szell is talking about, Szell examines Babe's teeth with a metal scraper and asks again, "Is it safe?" Babe doesn't answer, and Szell tortures him with the dental instrument. Later, when Karl moves Babe to another room, Janeway appears and stabs Karl to death. Shooting Erhard as they escape, Janeway takes Babe to his waiting car and drives away, explaining that Karl and Erhard were associated with Szell, the wealthiest and most wanted Nazi alive. He says Szell was a dentist who made money bribing Jewish prisoners for release from Auschwitz, and later invested in gold and diamonds that had been hidden in New York in a safety deposit box. Janeway says that Szell was after Babe because Doc was a courier who transported diamonds to Paris for Szell in exchange for Szell's cooperation with the Division as an informant. Becoming stern, Janeway orders Babe to confess what Doc has told him about the diamonds, but Babe claims ignorance. Janeway stops the car, and Karl and Erhard approach from outside. Stupefied, Babe cries out that Janeway already killed Karl and Erhard but Janeway admits to using a fake knife and blanks in his gun. Back in Szell's hideout, Janeway informs Szell that Babe knows nothing, but Szell insists he cannot risk it. In another torture session, Szell wields an electric drill and tells Babe there must be a reason Doc went to his apartment. After Szell drills into one of Babe's teeth, he determines that Babe knows nothing. Meanwhile, Janeway calls Szell a useless relic and informs him that he must leave the country the next day. When Karl and Erhard force Babe into another car, Babe manages to break away. Using his distance running skills, he outruns Janeway, who hops into Karl and Erhard's car and directs them toward the highway ramp where Babe has run. Babe jumps from one ramp to another, and an automobile accident stops Janeway's crew from pursuing him further. Exchanging the Rolex watch that Doc gave him for a taxi ride back to his block, Babe calls Elsa from a payphone and arranges to meet her, then sneaks into a building across the street from his apartment, aware that his building is being watched. In the other apartment building, Babe asks Melendez, a loose acquaintance, to rob his apartment and take his father's old gun, stashed inside a desk drawer. Melendez agrees, and later breaks into Babe's apartment with a crew of several men. As Janeway appears and draws a gun, five of Melendez's men draw their own guns and continue with the robbery. Retrieving the gun from Melendez, Babe meets Elsa and she drives them to a country house. Upon arrival, Babe is suspicious and asks if the house belongs to Szell and if Janeway is inside. Elsa finally admits that Janeway is coming soon and confesses to working as a courier for Szell. When Janeway arrives with Karl and Erhard, Babe holds Elsa hostage, but allows the men to come inside. In the living room, Karl draws his gun unexpectedly and Janeway tries to stop him, but Babe shoots Karl first. Janeway shoots Erhard and Elsa before dropping his own gun, then tells Babe the location of the bank where Szell's safety deposit box is located. Elsa urges Babe to leave, but as he walks out of the house, Janeway retrieves his gun, shoots Elsa again, and aims at Babe through the window. Babe shoots Janeway first, however, killing him. In Manhattan's jewelry district, Szell goes to various appraisers to learn the market value of diamonds, but is recognized by one of the appraisers who is a Holocaust survivor. Running away, Szell is recognized on the street by an old lady, another Holocaust survivor, who yells for people to stop him. When the appraiser catches up to him, Szell slits the man's throat with a switchblade and takes a taxi to his bank. Opening the security deposit box, Szell rejoices at the sight of his massive diamond collection. Leaving the bank with his briefcase full of diamonds, Szell is accosted by Babe, who leads him, at gunpoint, to a water treatment facility in Central Park. There, Babe grabs a handful of diamonds and throws them into the air, telling Szell that he can keep as many diamonds as he can swallow. After swallowing a few, Szell refuses to continue and orders him to shoot. Babe remains frozen, and Szell eventually knocks the gun out of his hand, approaching him with the switchblade. Babe grabs the briefcase and throws it down a set of stairs. Lunging after the diamonds, Szell falls down and accidentally stabs himself, dropping dead into the water. Outside, Babe throws his father's gun into a lake.
In New York City, at the turn of the century, Cantor Rabinowitz is determined that his thirteen-year-old son Jakie become the next in a long family line of cantors. On Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, he looks forward to the time when Jakie will take his place in the temple, but his loving wife Sara is concerned that their son wants to do something else. Meanwhile, Jakie is seen singing in a saloon by neighborhood kibbutzer Moishe Yudelson, who then rushes to inform the cantor. Jakie is then dragged home and given a whipping by his father. Later, Jakie tells his heart-broken mother that he is going to be on the stage, then runs away. Years later, in San Francisco, Jakie has become a singer performing at Coffee Dan's restaurant. When he sings the poignant song "Dirty Hands, Dirty Face" for the audience, followed by the jazz tune "Toot, Toot, Tootsie," vaudeville dancer Mary Dale, who is in the audience, is intrigued. She tells him that he has what other jazz singers do not, a tear in his voice, and helps him to get a job with her troupe. Some time later, while performing in Chicago, Jakie, who has changed his name to Jack Robin, goes to a concert of sacred songs given by famed Cantor Josef Rosenblatt, and is deeply moved. Through the years, Jack has sent letters home boasting of his success but has never reconciled with his father. Jack has grown to love Mary and is saddened when she leaves the troupe for a chance to appear in a Broadway show. A short time later, Jack is told by his agent that he, too, has been offered a part in a Broadway show, and he looks forward to a return home to New York and his mother. In the autumn of 1927, on Cantor Rabinowitz's sixtieth birthday, Jack pays a surprise visit home. Although Mrs. Rabinowitz is over-joyed to see her son, who promises to move them to a new house in the Bronx and buy her a new pink dress, Cantor Rabinowitz is furious to hear his son singing jazz music in the house. They have a violent argument over Jack's preference for show business over the family tradition of being a cantor, and Jack leaves after his father bitterly calls him a "jazz singer." On Yom Kippur, Cantor Rabinowitz is too ill to sing the Kol Nidre in the temple and dreams that his son will sing in his place. Yudelson goes to see Jack at the theater where April Follies , the show in which he is co-starring with Mary, is about to open, and asks him to sing in the temple. Although Jack is torn, he refuses. Just before Jack is to go on stage and perform his role in the dress rehearsal, Yudelson returns with Mrs. Rabinowitz, who begs her son to reconsider. Although Jack's heart is pulling at him, Mary reminds him of what he had just told her, that his career means everything to him. Jack refuses to leave the dress rehearsal and, seeing Jack on stage, Mrs. Rabinowitz realizes that her son no longer belongs to her and leaves. When his number is over, Jack is told by Mary that his mother realizes that his life is now show business, but Jack cannot deny what is in his heart, and rushes to see his father. Jack then goes to the temple and, after Cantor Rabinowitz hears his son singing the Kol Nidre, he dies in peace. Although the show's opening had to be canceled because of Jack, he is soon a Broadway star and sings "Mammy" as his mother and Yudelson proudly sit in the front row, and Mary happily watches from the wings.
When an alarm clock sounds at four a.m., actress Joan Crawford scrubs her skin and gets dressed. As Joan is chauffeured to the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio, she reviews her lines for the picture Ice Follies of 1939 and signs autographs. Later, at home, Joan polishes the floor and reprimands her maid, Helga, for failing to clean underneath a potted tree. Joan warns another housekeeper, Carol Ann, that she must be more vigilant. Joan's lover, Hollywood lawyer Greg Savitt, arrives and Joan demands that he remove his shoes, then leads him upstairs to her shower. Sometime later, Joan distributes Christmas presents at an orphanage in front of photographers and, afterwards, tells Greg that the only thing missing in her life is a baby. Although Greg suggests Joan is "too vain" to be pregnant, she confesses she miscarried seven times with her former husband and has decided to adopt. Greg explains that adoption agencies do not favor working, divorced women such as Joan, and says that the baby needs a father, but Joan argues that she never had a father of her own. Despite Greg's quip that a child would provide great publicity for Joan, the actress claims that he is too focused on business and does not understand her womanly needs. After Joan is designated an "unsuitable parent" by an adoption agency, Greg arranges for Joan to receive a two month-old baby girl, and she names the child Christina. Years later, at Christina's lavish birthday party, Joan and Christina wear matching dresses and are photographed by reporters. Pleased with the attention, Christina calls Joan "Mommie Dearest" and they exchange loving sentiments. After showing off her second child, Christopher, to studio photographers, Joan is troubled by a grass stain on Christina's dress and orders her to have it cleaned. Later, in Christina's room, Joan informs her daughter that she can only keep one of her presents and the rest will be donated to orphans. One day, Joan forces Christina to practice diving beyond exhaustion, telling Greg that she wants her daughter to feel a sense of competition despite her privileged upbringing. When Greg excuses himself for a meeting, Joan implores him to pull strings at M-G-M to secure her next role. As Greg leaves, he notices Joan challenging Christina to a swimming race, despite the girl's fatigue. When Christina tells her mother the contest is unfair and vows never to play with her mother again, Joan spanks the girl and locks her in a pool house. Sometime later, Greg calls to inform Joan that she got the part she wanted, but when Joan runs upstairs to share the news with Christina, she finds her daughter in her dressing room, impersonating her famous mother. Although Christina says she is "play acting," Joan thinks her daughter is making fun of her and cuts off the girl's hair in a rage. One evening at Perino's Restaurant, Joan signs autographs for her fans outside while Greg waits at a table with L. B. Mayer and his banker associates. Although Joan joins them, she later berates Greg for using her as spectacle for the businessmen, and Greg complains that Joan cares too much for her fans. When Joan suggests that Mayer is trying to end her career, Greg says that she has grown too old for the roles that made her famous. Despite their argument, Joan attempts to seduce Greg, but he leaves, ending their relationship. The next morning, Christina and Christopher find their mother cutting Greg's image out of her photographs. Sometime later, Joan scolds her children for waking her, and when Christina mimics her mother's anger with her doll, Joan confiscates her toys. After a meeting at M-G-M, where Mayer asks Joan to leave the studio because her pictures are no longer profitable, Joan destroys her rose garden and orders her children to help her. Looking to regain her career, Joan prepares to audition for Midred Pierce and Carol Ann explains to Christina that it is humiliating for Joan to endure a screen test. After winning the role, Joan is nominated for an Academy Award, but on the evening of the award ceremony, Joan feigns pneumonia and listens to a broadcast of the show at home. When she is named Best Actress for her work in Mildred Pierce , Joan greets fans and reporters outside her house with an acceptance speech. Late one night, Joan finds a wire hanger in Christina's closet, becomes enraged, and beats daughter with it. Joan then forces Christina to scrub the bathroom floor and hits the girl with a can of cleaning powder. However, on Christmas Eve, Joan hosts a radio show at her home and creates the illusion of a perfect family. Sometime later, Christina escorts Joan's new lover, Ted Gelber, to her mother's room, but when the child returns, interrupting a moment of intimacy, Joan enrolls her at Chadwick Country Boarding School. Years later, a teenaged Christina joins her mother for dinner and although Christina shows off a near-perfect report card, Joan claims her daughter has become more rebellious and threatens to take her out of Chadwick. Back at the house, Joan explains that she is having financial problems because she lost her contract at Warner Bros. and Christina must enter a work-scholarship program at school. As Joan sobs, Christina consoles her mother and tells her she loves her, but later finds Joan collapsed on a couch, surrounded by boxes of newly purchased shoes. At school, Christina is caught kissing a boy named Tony in the horse stables, and when Joan finds out, she forces Christina to leave. Returning home, Joan tells reporter Barbara Bennett that Christina was expelled, but the girl contradicts her mother's lie, sending Joan into a frenzy of verbal and physical abuse. Sometime later, Joan sends Christina to a convent and marries Al Steele, the chairman of Pepsi-Cola. Years pass and Christina returns home to meet Al, who she calls "daddy" at Joan's request. As Joan oversees the construction of her new apartment in New York City, she wishes Christina luck with her acting career, but refuses to lend financial support. Al secretly gives cash to his stepdaughter when she leaves, then warns Joan that the apartment remodel is bankrupting him. After Al's death, Pepsi-Cola executives try to force Joan into retirement, but she threatens to speak out publically against the company and remains on the Board of Directors. Visiting Christina, Joan learns that her daughter is under consideration for a part in a soap opera and gives her a pearl necklace. When Christina is cast in the role, Joan watches the soap opera every day. However, Christina is hospitalized for an ovarian tumor and is outraged when Joan temporarily takes her place on her show. Sometime later, Joan becomes reclusive and asks Christina to accept a lifetime merit award on her behalf. After Joan's funeral, Christina and Christopher learn that their mother left them nothing in her will. Although Christopher says that Joan had "the last word," Christina thinks otherwise.
After robbing a gas station, Enrico Cesare Bandello, known as Rico, leaves his small town for the city with his friend Joe Massaro. Joe wants to find work as a dancer, but Rico admires the front page notoriety that gangster Diamond Pete Montana receives. He joins Sam Vittori's gang, one of the two biggest gangs in town, working directly under Montana, chief lieutenant to Big Boy, the head of the city's underworld. The other gang is headed by Little Arnie Lorch, who owns a gambling salon. Joe has a job as a dancing partner to Olga Strassoff at Lorch's establishment. Rico plans a New Year's Eve raid on Lorch's club and convinces Joe to act as the front man. During the raid, Rico kills McClure, the crime commissioner, who is a guest that night. After that, Rico and Sam compete for leadership of the gang and Rico wins. Lorch tries to kill Rico, and after he fails, Rico hunts him down and drives him out of the city. Soon afterward, Big Boy offers Rico Montana's territory, and Rico begins to dream of heading the underworld in place of Big Boy. Joe, meanwhile, plans to leave the gang at Olga's urging. Rico cannot bear to let Joe go, however, and in turn, demands that he leave Olga, threatening to kill her when Joe refuses. To save them both, Joe decides to turn state's evidence. Rico intends to kill Joe to stop him from talking, but he cannot pull the trigger. After his failed assassination attempt, Rico flees, hiding out from the police. Hoping to goad Rico into revealing himself, Sergeant Flaherty tells the newspapers that Rico was a coward. Rico reacts by phoning the police, and the call is traced to his hiding place, where the police hunt him down and shoot him. Rico dies beneath a poster advertising the dancing team of Joe and Olga.
In 1937 Los Angeles, private detective J. J. "Jake" Gittes, who specializes in adultery cases, is hired by the well-dressed Mrs. Evelyn Mulwray to follow her husband Hollis, chief engineer for the Department of Water and Power. Jake later sits in on a city council meeting, where Mayor Bagby offers his support for a new dam that will guarantee an adequate water supply for the city. After Hollis emotionally speaks out condemning the project as unsafe, Jake follows him as he inspects the dry Los Angeles riverbed under the Hollenbeck Bridge, then goes out to Point Fermin, where thousands of gallons of water rush through a drainage pipe out into the sea that night. A few days later, Jake and his associate, Duffy, photographs Hollis rowing a pretty young blonde woman around Echo Park Lake. Jake then follows the couple to the El Macando courtyard apartments, where he secretly takes pictures of the girl embracing Hollis. The next day, one of Jake's photographs is printed on the front page of the newspaper, accompanied by a story about Hollis' "love nest." When Jake arrives at his office, he is stunned to learn that the woman claiming to be Mrs. Mulwray was an imposter, and the real Evelyn, who has come to the office, intends to sue him. Angry that he has been duped, Jake finesses his way into Hollis' office, but finds no compromising information, only a handwritten notation reading "Oak Pass Reservoir, Tuesday, 2:00 pm." His search is interrupted by Hollis' underling, Russ Yelburton, who assures him that Hollis is not the sort of man to have an affair, then escorts Jake out. Jake then goes to Hollis' estate to speak with him directly. Evelyn says that she will not pursue her lawsuit, then suggests that Hollis might be at the Oak Pass reservoir. Jake then drives there and encounters Lt. Lou Escobar, an old rival from his days on the police force in Chinatown, and sees Hollis' dead body being pulled from the water. Evelyn later identifies Hollis at the morgue and refutes Escobar's suggestion that her husband committed suicide, claiming that they were trying to work out their problems over his affair. Outside, Jake tries to convince Evelyn that Hollis was murdered, but she insists that it was an accident. After she leaves, Jake goes back inside to look around and is puzzled when a medical examiner casually tells him that one of the bodies in the morgue was a homeless man who drowned under the Hollenbeck Bridge. Knowing that there should not have been enough water there to drown someone, Jake revisits the bridge. After finding only a small pool of water in the gravelly land below, Jake speaks with a boy on horseback and learns that water rushes through at night. When Jake returns to walk around the Oak Park Reservoir that evening, he hears a gunshot, then a rush of water, which quickly envelopes him. After making his way out of the torrent, he is stopped by a short man in a white suit, accompanied by Claude Mulvihill, a cheap detective whom Jake detests. The short man puts a knife into Jake's left nostril, then suddenly cuts through it, warning Jake that next time he will lose his entire nose. At the office the next day, as Duffy and Jake's other associate, Walsh, try to talk him out of pursuing the Mulwray case, he receives a phone call from a woman named Ida Sessions, who reveals that she was hired to impersonate Mrs. Mulwray but had no idea that anyone would be killed. Because she is frightened, she will not reveal anything more, but tells him to look in the obituary column. Later, Jake goes back to see Yelburton, and while he is waiting, notices several pictures on the walls of Hollis with Noah Cross, the man whom Walsh had photographed a few days before having a heated argument with Hollis outside the Pig 'n Whistle restaurant. Yelburton's secretary tells him that Cross and Hollis owned the water company in partnership, but Hollis thought that water should belong to the people and gave the company to the city. When he speaks with Yelburton, Jake alludes to knowing more than he does, saying that Hollis' murder is tied to the new dam and the deliberate dumping of thousands of gallons of water during a drought. After Yelburton sheepishly admits that some water has been diverted quietly to the northwest San Fernando Valley, Jake proffers that he is not after him, but those behind him. Returning to his office, Jake is visited by Evelyn, who wants to hire him to investigate Hollis' murder. Some time later, Jake goes to Catalina Island to the Albacore Club to see Cross, whom he has learned is Evelyn's father. Implying that he does not want his vulnerable daughter to be taken advantage of, but also indicating that he feels sorry for the girl Hollis was seeing, Cross offers to double what Evelyn is paying if Jake finds the girl. Jake catches Cross in a lie when he says that he had not spoken to Hollis in years, but Cross brushes aside Jake's revelation that they had been photographed together. Some time later, Jake goes to the Hall of Records, where he discovers that thousands of acres of farm land in the Valley recently have been sold. Armed with a list of the purchases he has torn from the record books, Jake drives to the Valley but finds himself chased by a family of angry farmers who think he works for the water company. Just before Jake is knocked out by one of the younger farmers, the father snarls that the city has attacked their wells to force them to sell their land cheap. When Jake wakes up, Evelyn is with him, summoned by the father, who found her card in Jake's pocket. As they drive back into town, Jake tells her that the proposed dam is a fraud because the water will be going to unincorporated areas of the Valley instead of the city of Los Angeles. He also tells her about the recent land sales at bargain prices. As Evelyn comments on the old-fashioned names of the buyers, Jake suddenly remembers that one of them, Jaspar Lamar Crabb, who was listed in the obituary column Ida Sessions suggested he look at, had died a week before his deed was recorded. Because Crabb had lived at the Mar Vista Rest Home, Jake suggests they drive there. Pretending that they are looking for a home for his father, they ask to look around. Jake recognizes the names of many of the residents as the same as those on the newly recorded deeds, but when he speaks with one of the residents, Emma Dills, who is making a quilt with an emblem for the Albacore Club, she knows nothing about any property in the Valley. The home's manager, now joined by Claude, then orders them to leave. Outside, Jake sees the man in the white suit approaching and, with Evelyn's quick driving, is able to escape. Later, at Evelyn's house, the two make love. After Evelyn receives a phone call, she tells him that she must leave, but first confides that her father owns the Albacore Club. When Jake then reveals that he had met her father there, she becomes unsettled and warns him that her father is dangerous. Suspicious of the phone call, Jake follows Evelyn to a house on Canyon Drive where he peeks through the window and sees the young blonde woman crying, apparently struggling with Evelyn and her Chinese butler, Kahn. When Evelyn gets into her car, she is startled by Jake, who assumes that the girl is being held against her will and coldly threatens to call the police. Evelyn then says that the girl is her sister and implies that she condoned Hollis' affair because she wanted him to be happy. Finally back at his house, Jake receives two anonymous calls from a man who says that Ida Sessions wants to see him. The next morning, Jake arrives at Sessions' house, where he discovers her dead body, then is surprised by Escobar and his partner, Loach. Escobar guesses that Ida had initially hired Jake but assumes that Evelyn killed her husband and is being blackmailed by Jake. Escobar also reveals that the autopsy on Hollis showed that he had drowned in salt water, not the reservoir's fresh water. After Jake tries to convince Escobar that there has been a plot to divert water and that Hollis was murdered because of it, Escobar gives him two hours to find Evelyn and bring her in to the police. Jake then goes to Evelyn's house, but only finds the maid. He then goes outside and gazes at the pond, which the gardener complains is filled with salt water. Remembering that he had seen something shiny in the pond the first time he visited, Jake and the gardener retrieve a broken pair of gold-rimmed glasses. Jake then drives to the Canyon Drive house and gruffly asks Evelyn if the glasses belonged to Hollis. After she acknowledges that they look like his, Jake calls Escobar and tells him to come over. Evelyn is confused by Jake's actions, prompting him to demand that she tell him about the girl, suggesting that she killed Hollis out of jealousy and shouting that he knows that she does not have a sister. As Jake angrily starts to slap her, Evelyn finally breaks down and screams "she's my sister and my daughter." She then explains to the stunned Jake that she became pregnant at age fifteen after her father raped her, then went to Mexico, where Hollis took care of her and continued to take care of both her and the girl, who is named Katherine. Now Jake tells her to find a place to go, and Evelyn suggests Kahn's house in Chinatown. Before leaving, Evelyn glances again at the eyeglasses and mentions that they could not have belonged to Hollis because he did not wear bifocals. A short time after Evelyn drives away with Katherine, Escobar and Loach arrive. Jake lies that Evelyn has gone to her maid's house in San Pedro and offers to give them the address, but Escobar insists that Jake come along. When they arrive in the San Pedro, Escobar reluctantly acquiesces to Jake's request for a few minutes alone with Evelyn. The house actually belongs to Curly, a man who had hired Jake to follow his cheating wife. Once inside, Jake asks Curly to take him for a ride in his truck, and while Jake hides from sight, offers to forgive his bill and pay him $100 if he will take Evelyn and Katherine to Ensenada in his boat. Later, outside Evelyn's house, Jake loads Curly's truck with her suitcases, then calls Cross to tell him that he has found the girl and he should bring his checkbook to Evelyn's house. When Cross arrives, Jake confronts him about murdering Hollis and raping Evelyn. Although Cross genuinely admired Hollis for "making this town," he admits to murdering him so that water could be brought to the Valley. He also said it was not for the money, which he did not need, but for the future, explaining that once water is in the Valley, the land will be incorporated into the city. With Loach as his henchman, Cross forces Jake to take them to Katherine. When Cross, Jake and Loach arrive on Chinatown's Alameda Street a short time later, they are approached by Escobar and his men, who start to handcuff Jake. Happy to be taken out of danger, Jake blurts out that Cross killed Hollis. During the confusion of conflicting stories, Evelyn and Katherine approach Evelyn's car. When Cross tries to introduce himself to Katherine as her grandfather, Evelyn draws a gun and warns that he will never have her. After shooting Cross in the arm, she drives off, ignoring Escobar's order that she stop. When she continues driving down the street, Escobar and his men shoot at the car until it stops. Hearing the sound of the car's blaring horn in the distance, Jake, Escobar, Cross and the others rush to it and find Katherine covered in blood, screaming next to Evelyn's dead body. Cross pulls Katherine away, shielding her eyes, as Jake stares at Evelyn's body. When he directs a crack at Escobar, Escobar screams at Walsh and Duffy to do Jake a favor and take him away. As Jake is being pulled away by his friends, Walsh tries to comfort him saying, "Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown."
Blanche DuBois arrives in New Orleans by train, and follows a sailor's directions to take a streetcar named "Desire" to her sister Stella Kowalski's apartment at Elysian Fields in the French Quarter. Blanche, an aging Southern belle, is horrified by the dilapidated building in which her sister lives with her husband Stanley, but is delighted to reunite with Stella, whom she feels abandoned her after their father's death. Blanche explains that she was given a leave of absence from her teaching job because she had become a little "lunatic," and now makes herself at home in the cramped apartment, which affords little privacy. Blanche is immediately offended by Stanley's coarse manners, and he is infuriated when he learns that Blanche has lost the family home at Belle Reve. Stanley rants about the "Napoleonic code," which he claims decrees that what belongs to the wife belongs to the husband. Unimpressed by Blanche's genteel manners, Stanley reveals that his wife is pregnant, and at his insistence, Blanche reluctantly digs out the papers which document the many unpaid loans written against the Belle Reve estate. That night, Stanley's poker game runs late, and when Stella and Blanche return from an outing together, Blanche meets Stanley's best friend Mitch, a bachelor who looks after his sick mother. Blanche turns on the radio and dances by herself, but Stanley is distracted by the music and flies into a drunken rage, during which he beats Stella. Stella and her terrified sister run up to their neighbor Eunice's apartment, but later, when Stanley calls up to her in remorse, Stella is drawn back to her husband and makes up with him. Blanche, horrified by Stanley's brutality, lingers in the street with Mitch. The next day, Stanley overhears Blanche encourage Stella to leave Stanley, whom she calls an "animal" and "subhuman," but she is unable to shake Stella's devotion to her husband. Stanley reveals that he has heard some unsavory gossip about Blanche, and his apparent secret knowledge unnerves her. That night, Blanche and Mitch go out on a date, and she resists his amorous advances by telling him that she is old-fashioned. After avoiding Mitch's questions about her age, she reveals that she drove her first young husband to suicide by mercilessly demeaning him because their marriage was not consummated. She then accepts Mitch's kiss. Five months later, when Mitch reveals his plans to marry Blanche, he and Stanley fight after Stanley tells him about her sordid past. Stanley then tells Stella that he has learned that Blanche was fired for seducing a seventeen-year-old student, and that she has a notorious reputation. Mitch stands up Blanche on her birthday and refuses to take her calls. When Stanley tells Blanche that she has overstayed her welcome, she insults him by calling him a "Polack." Stanley defends his Polish heritage, and then gives her a birthday gift of a one-way bus ticket home. Blanche then becomes hysterical and shuts herself in the bathroom. Stella and Stanley start to fight, but she goes into labor and Stanley takes her to the hospital. Later, Mitch comes to see Blanche, who is hearing music in her head, and calls her a hypocrite. Blanche truly loves Mitch, but admits that she has had "many meetings with men." Mitch forces a kiss on Blanche, but breaks their engagement and is run out of the apartment by her. She then dresses up as if she were attending a ball, and when Stanley returns home, claims that Mitch has apologized and that she has received an invitation to a cruise. Stanley accuses Blanche of lying and assaults her. When Stella returns home with her baby, she finds that Blanche has gone insane and now lives under the delusion that she is going on a Caribbean cruise. Stella has reluctantly arranged for her sister to be sent to a sanatorium, but when the doctor and matron arrive, Blanche goes completely berserk. Mitch attacks Stanley, who vows that he never touched Blanche. Blanche finally calms down, and is touched by the doctor's gentlemanly manner, telling him that she has "always depended on the kindness of strangers." After they leave, Stella rebuffs Stanley and runs to Eunice's apartment with her baby, vowing never to return.
Sarah Connor explains that a nuclear blast killed more than three billion people in 1997. In present-day 2029, survivors wage war against machines controlled by a computer named Skynet. Sarah recounts that Skynet sent two machines, called Terminators, back in time to destroy the human resistance leader, her son, John Connor. The first Terminator attempted to kill Sarah in 1984, before John was born, but failed. The second Terminator was sent to kill John as a young boy; however, the human resistance sent their own Terminator to protect him. In 1995, in Los Angeles, California, a Terminator, resembling a naked man, is transported to a parking lot outside a bar. The Terminator walks inside and is met with laughter and hostility. After stabbing one of the patrons with his own knife, the Terminator takes another patron's clothing, a motorcycle, and a shotgun. The same night, a second Terminator, the T-1000, arrives, kills a police officer, and steals his patrol car and uniform. In the morning, John Connor works on his motorbike. Though his foster parents, Todd and Janelle Voight, order John to clean his room, he speeds away with his friend, Tim. At Pescadero State Hospital, a "Criminally Disordered Retention Facility," Sarah Connor exercises in her cell while Dr. Silberman leads a group of medical professionals on a tour of the facility. Approaching Sarah's cell, Silberman describes her condition as "acute schizoaffective disorder," saying she believes a machine was sent back in time to kill her while the father of her child, a soldier, was sent back simultaneously to protect her. The T-1000, dressed as a policeman, arrives at the Voight residence to question John's foster parents and obtains a picture of the boy. Meanwhile, John hacks into an automated teller machine to steal cash, telling Tim that Sarah taught him the trick. In an office building, Miles Dyson, a leading scientist with Cyberdyne Systems, examines a robotic arm and central processing unit in glass cases; unbeknownst to him, the items are relics of the 1984 Terminator. At an arcade in a shopping mall, John and Tim play games, while the Terminators close in on the boy. The T-1000 appears in the arcade, and John escapes to a hallway where he sees the Terminator brandishing a shotgun. As the Terminator and the T-1000 exchange fire, the Terminator pushes John to safety and shoots the other machine multiple times; however, the T-1000 quickly recovers. John runs to his motorbike and rides away, pursued by the Terminator on a motorcycle and the T-1000 in a stolen tow-truck. Riding onto an overflow channel, the Terminator pulls John onto the motorcycle while shooting at the tow-truck. The T-1000 crashes into an overpass and the truck explodes, allowing the Terminator to ride away with John. Moments later, the T-1000 emerges from the flames unharmed, re-forming into human shape. At the side of the road, John confirms that the Terminator has come to protect him, realizing that his mother's beliefs about the future were true. He learns that the Terminator's body is "living tissue over metal endoskeleton" and the T-1000 is a newer prototype, made of liquid metal. That evening, John calls the Voights to warn them about the T-1000, but when Janelle answers the phone, he senses that she seems different. In fact, the T-1000 has killed Janelle and assumed her form, and proceeds to kill Todd while talking on the phone. The Terminator deduces that John is speaking to the T-1000 and hangs up, explaining to the boy that Terminators can imitate any living thing of approximately the same size. At the hospital, police show Sarah pictures of the Terminator in 1984 and at the mall earlier that day, identifying the Terminator as her son's kidnapper. She says nothing, but steals a paper clip. Realizing that the T-1000 will go after his mother next, John insists that he and the Terminator save Sarah. The Terminator rejects the idea and they argue. John discovers that the machine must obey his orders without question after he screams for the Terminator to let him go and the machine immediately drops him. Hearing the screams, two men in an adjacent parking lot offer to help the boy, but John rudely dismisses them and they insult him in return. When he orders it to take care of them, the Terminator wields a gun but John shoves it away. After the men run to safety, John informs the Terminator that killing people is unacceptable. That night, Sarah uses the paper clip to escape from her room. The T-1000 arrives at the hospital and assumes the identity of a policeman who patrols the building and then kills him. Fighting off nurses and guards, Sarah attacks Silberman and fills a syringe with Liquid Rooter. Moments later, John and the Terminator gain access to the hospital after the Terminator shoots a guard in the knees, careful not to kill him. Plunging the syringe into his neck, Sarah takes Silberman hostage and makes her way through the hospital. A guard grabs the syringe and frees the doctor, and Sarah runs away. At the end of a hallway, the Terminator emerges and Sarah runs in the other direction. Guards subdue her, but the Terminator fights them off and John arrives, assuring his mother that the Terminator will help them. The T-1000 appears and chases Sarah, John, and the Terminator to a parking garage where they steal a police car. Pursuing them on foot, the T-1000 climbs aboard the car, but the Terminator shoots it off. Sarah scolds her son for risking his life to save her. John cries and the Terminator asks what is wrong with his eyes. At a closed auto repair shop, the Terminator stitches a cut for Sarah and she removes the bullets from the Terminator's back. When John suggests the Terminator behave more like a human, he learns that the machine is in "read-only" mode. To reverse the "read-only" mode, Sarah unscrews a port built into the Terminator's skull and removes a central processing unit. Though she wants to destroy the computer altogether, John stops her, insisting he needs the Terminator. The next morning, John teaches the Terminator colloquialisms such as "no problemo" and "hasta la vista, baby." The Terminator informs Sarah that Miles Dyson will soon invent a microprocessor that allows stealth bombers to fly unmanned. Dyson's employer, Cyberdyne Systems, will use the microprocessor to innovate military technology, resulting in the creation of the machines ultimately controlled by Skynet. The Terminator states that the machines become "self-aware," and when humans attempt to shut them down, Skynet will bomb Russia in retaliation. Russia will respond by attacking with a nuclear bomb on August 29, 1997. In Mexico, Sarah, John, and the Terminator arrive at a camp and meet Sarah's militant friend, Enrique Salceda. They obtain an arsenal of weapons, clothes, and a new vehicle. John bonds with the Terminator and talks about his nomadic childhood and the rogue military training to which Sarah subjected him. After a nightmare about the nuclear blast, Sarah awakens, determined to kill Dyson before he invents the microprocessor. She leaves John and the Terminator behind, but they soon follow. Outside Dyson's home, Sarah shoots through the window and pursues the scientist inside, shooting him in the shoulder; however, when she takes aim at the fallen Dyson, she cannot bring herself to execute him. The Terminator and John arrive, and the Terminator explains to Dyson the catastrophic consequences of his invention. Convinced, Dyson agrees to help them destroy Cyberdyne Systems in order to save humanity. Fully armed, they arrive at Cyberdyne's offices, subdue the night watchman, and break into the lab. A security guard sounds a silent alarm, and police swarm the building. Dyson and John retrieve the previous Terminator's arm and central processing unit from their glass cases. The group disperses explosives throughout the lab, and Dyson grabs the detonator as they leave. At that moment, police arrive and open fire, hitting Dyson multiple times. Sarah, John and the Terminator escape, but Dyson remains behind. As he dies, he strikes the detonator, causing the lab to explode. John and Sarah take cover in an elevator as the Terminator shoots through the lobby, steals a police van, and crashes into the building to retrieve them. The T-1000 arrives on a police motorcycle and drives up the stairs, spotting his targets from above as they leave in the van. When a helicopter passes, the T-1000 drives out the window, grabs onto the aircraft, and commandeers it. He pursues the van and exchanges gunfire with Sarah, who is shot in the leg. The T-1000 rams the helicopter into the van, and both vehicles crash. Continuing the chase, John, Sarah, and the Terminator hop into a pickup truck, while the T-1000 obtains a large tanker truck filled with liquid nitrogen. John takes the steering wheel as the Terminator climbs aboard the tanker and blasts the T-1000 with bullets. The tanker rolls on its side, and the Terminator jumps off. Sarah and John drive inside a steel mill and crash; nearby, the tanker also skids to a stop. The T-1000 exits and steps into spilled liquid nitrogen which causes it to freeze and break apart. The Terminator opens fire, and the T-1000 shatters into frozen shards. The Terminator and John help Sarah, incapacitated by her bullet wound, move through the mill. Extreme heat liquefies the T-1000's frozen shards, and the machine re-forms. In hand-to-hand combat against the T-1000, the Terminator's arm is trapped under a gear. While the T-1000 pursues John and Sarah, the Terminator breaks free, leaving an arm behind. Sarah lowers John down a shaft before the T-1000 extends its finger into a sharp point and pierces her shoulder. The Terminator appears and beats the T-1000 with a steel bar. In retaliation, the T-1000 rams the bar through the Terminator's body, causing the Terminator's system to shut down. However, shortly after the T-1000 leaves, the Terminator regains power. As the T-1000 approaches John, disguised as Sarah, the real Sarah appears and opens fire. Just as she runs out of ammunition, the Terminator arrives, shooting the T-1000 with a grenade launcher. The T-1000 explodes and falls into a vat of molten metal which destroys the machine. After they dispose of the robotic arm and central processing unit, John becomes upset at the suggestion that the Terminator must now be destroyed. The Terminator expresses a newfound understanding of why people cry. Sarah presses a button to lower the Terminator into the molten metal, and the Terminator signals them with a "thumbs up."
In 2022 New York City, food and housing are extremely scarce because the population has risen to over forty million people. Because of the environmental effects of excessive pollution, most plants and animals have died out, leaving people to consume a manufactured plankton-based product known as Soylent with varieties in red and yellow, and a new high-protein version in green. Police detective Thorn shares a tiny apartment with aged Sol Roth, a former university professor and now police "book" who conducts research to aid Thorn's investigations. One morning over breakfast, while Thorn urges Sol to expedite information to close his latest two cases, Sol embarks on a familiar rant that when he was a boy, food was sold in stores and people could eat fresh vegetables and real meat. Later, Thorn crawls over several sleeping people on the stairway on his way to a crowded street filled with abandoned, rotting cars and crowds of pedestrians. A mysterious government representative meets with assassin Gilbert in one of the empty cars, providing him with a metal meat hook. At the luxurious Chelsea Towers West apartments, retired attorney and board member of the Soylent Company William R. Simonson presents his companion Shirl with a computer game. Shirl and bodyguard Tab Fielding then depart for supplies and visit an underground black market where Shirl acquires a solitary piece of meat. Meanwhile, Gilbert slips undetected into Chelsea Towers and confronts Simonson. Relating a message of apology and explanation from his employers telling Simonson that he has become unreliable and dangerous, Gilbert then kills the unresisting older man with the meat hook. Later that evening, Thorn assumes investigation of the murder and learns from building manager Charles that the security monitors had recently broken down for the first time in years. Thorn then questions Shirl, who is known as "furniture," a woman who is contracted with the accommodations. Shirl reveals Simonson was a kindly man, lately depressed, involved in politics and associated with the current governor, Santini. Thorn returns home to present the stunned Sol with sheets of real paper, pencils, an onion, an apple, whiskey and beef, all pilfered from Simonson. Thorn then gives Sol two volumes of the Soylent Oceanographic Survey Report from 2006 and 2015 and urges him to learn all he can about the murdered man. That afternoon, Thorn reports to police headquarters and chief detective Hatcher. Reluctantly admitting he cannot close out one of his pending cases, Thorn nevertheless strongly disagrees when Hatcher suggests providing him with a new "book," citing Sol's age. Turning to his new case, Thorn states his suspicion that Simonson was assassinated, citing the unusual surveillance system failure, lack of anything stolen and the intentionally crude murder weapon, a support for his theory, then suggests Fielding's involvement. Following Fielding later, Thorn goes into a guarded apartment building, but upon reaching Fielding's room, finds only Fielding's companion, Martha Philips. After admiring the spacious apartment, Thorn leaves, surreptitiously taking a spoon covered with a red substance. At home, Thorn discovers Sol has utilized the stolen food to make a remarkable meal. Over dinner, Sol reveals that Simonson's biography noted that he worked for a large legal firm related to the Santini family. Later, Simonson became director of a food freeze-drying company that was eventually bought by Soylent, in which Simonson became a high-standing board member. Afterward, Thorn gives Sol the spoon taken from Martha and Fielding's apartment and the old man identifies the substance as strawberry jam, which sell for $150 a jar. Returning to Chelsea Towers, Thorn is surprised to find Shirl entertaining several women from the building. Taking Shirl to the bedroom, Thorn reveals that Simonson was murdered and Shirl discloses that Simonson had recently taken her to a church where he prayed with a priest. Later, after the others have departed and Thorn and Shirl have sex, Shirl urges him to remain and take advantage of the hot shower and fresh soap. That night Thorn visits the church and questions the exhausted Father Paul, who will only admit that the truth weighs upon him. The next morning, Thorn returns to headquarters where Hatcher orders him to sign off on the Simonson case, admitting that he has been pressured to do so by the government. Angrily refusing, Thorn departs only to recall he has been assigned to riot duty for the weekly distribution of Soylent Green. Meanwhile, when Santini learns of Thorn's meeting with the priest, he authorizes any action necessary and that afternoon, Fielding murders Father Paul in his confessional. By late afternoon the Soylent Green supply has been exhausted, infuriating thousands who have waited all day in vain for their portion. While Thorn joins the other police in restraining the crowds, Gilbert pushes his way toward him. As large trucks called scoopers arrive to literally shovel people up, Gilbert fires at Thorn several times, inadvertently killing bystanders. Thorn struggles through the crowd to catch Gilbert who manages to wound the detective in the leg, before accidentally falling under a crushing scoop. Thorn then goes to Fielding's apartment and, as Martha watches with horror, beats him up, revealing he knows that Fielding must be working for Soylent if he can afford the price of strawberries. Later, Thorn goes to Chelsea Towers where Shirl bandages his leg and laments the arrival of a new tenant. Meanwhile Sol takes the two survey volumes to the Supreme Exchange, a storehouse of the last remaining books and newspapers from the past. Upon learning that the books reveal why Simonson was eliminated, the Exchange Leader tells Sol they must have proof before they can present the information up to the international record keepers, known as the Congress of Nations. Despondent but resigned, Sol goes to a clinic where he will be euthanized while provided peaceful, personally tailored last moments of music and visuals. Arriving home and reading a farewell note from Sol, Thorn rushes to the clinic where he demands to see his old friend. Restricted to standing outside Sol's private room, Thorn is astonished to see huge screen images of wildlife, plants, birds, fish and nature displayed for Sol's final moments. Touched by Thorn's presence, Sol tells him that the images show how the world was once, then relates his knowledge about Simonson and, as he dies, begs Thorn to take proof to the Exchange. Stunned, Thorn secretly follows Sol's body as it is transported to a waste disposal utility where, along with thousands of other bodies, it is converted into Soylent Green. After fighting off two facility guards, Thorn returns downtown, but finds suspicious men lurking around the Exchange entrance. Thorn tries to phone Hatcher, but when he cannot get through, calls Shirl to tell her to forget him and stay with the new tenant. Thorn is then connected with Hatcher and manages to ask for help before being chased away by several men led by Fielding. Thorn seeks refuge in the church, but Fielding follows him inside, where he severely wounds the detective before Thorn stabs him to death. Hatcher and the police arrive in time to arrest the others. As he is carried away, an overwrought Thorn howls in despair that Soylent Green is made from people.
At the dawn of mankind, a colony of peaceful vegetarian apes awakens to find a glowing black monolith standing in their midst. After tentatively reaching out to touch the mysterious object, the apes become carnivores, with enough intelligence to employ bones for weapons and tools. Four million years later, in the year 2001, Dr. Heywood Floyd, an American scientist, travels to the moon to investigate a monolith that has been discovered below the lunar surface. Knowing only that the slab emits a deafening sound directed toward the planet Jupiter, the U.S. sends a huge spaceship, the Discovery , on a nine-month, half billion-mile journey to the distant planet. Aboard are astronauts David Bowman and Frank Poole, plus three others in frozen hibernation, and a computer called HAL 9000. During the voyage, HAL predicts the failure of a component on one of the spacecraft's antennae. Bowman leaves the ship in a one-man space pod to replace the crucial part; the prediction proves incorrect, however, and when Poole ventures out to replace the original part, HAL severs his lifeline. Bowman goes to rescue him, but HAL closes the pod entry doors and terminates the life functions of the three hibernating astronauts. Forced to abandon Poole, who is already dead, Bowman reenters the Discovery through the emergency hatch and reduces HAL to manual control by performing a mechanical lobotomy on the computer's logic and memory circuits. Now alone, Bowman continues his flight until he encounters a third monolith among Jupiter's moons. Suddenly hurtled into a new dimension of time and space, he is swept into a maelstrom of swirling colors, erupting landscapes and exploding galaxies. At last coming to rest in a pale green bedroom, Bowman emerges from the nonfunctioning space capsule. A witness to the final stages of his life, the withered Bowman looks up from his deathbed at the giant black monolith standing in the center of the room. As he reaches toward it, he is perhaps reborn, perhaps evolved, perhaps transcended, into a new "child of the universe," a fetus floating above the Earth.
When stewardess Elaine Dickinson gets to the airport to board her flight, boyfriend Ted Striker meets her on her way to the gate to salvage their broken relationship. Ted expects to see Elaine when she returns, but she has requested a transfer to Chicago, Illinois, and won't be back. On the spur of the moment, Ted buys an airplane ticket and boards Elaine's flight despite wrestling with some flashbacks as a wartime pilot. Before takeoff, Elaine tends to a young female heart transplant patient on a gurney. As Elaine hands out magazines to passengers, she is upset to see Ted, who returns to his seat and reminisces about meeting Elaine with an older woman seated next to him. According to Ted, he was struck by a thunderbolt when he saw Elaine on the dance floor of a seedy bar during the war. It was a scene out of Saturday Night Fever in which the jukebox played "Stayin' Alive" as their bodies gyrated in unison to the disco beat. When Ted returns to the present, the older woman in the next seat has hanged herself after listening to him drone on. Meanwhile, Elaine takes dinner orders from the passengers. When a boy, Joey Hammen, asks if he can see the cockpit, Elaine says she'll get permission from the captain. In the galley kitchen, Elaine remembers when she and Ted kissed on the beach as the waves broke over them. Soon, Joey visits the cockpit and recognizes that the co-pilot Roger Murdock is really professional basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabaar. Murdock denies his celebrity status while Capt. Clarence Oveur makes inappropriate remarks during small talk with Joey. While Ted does his best to convince Elaine to resume their relationship, she points out that nothing will change as long as he lives in the past and Ted has a sudden flash back of when he was recovering from his wounds at an army hospital. Soon, stewardess Randy borrows a guitar from one of the passengers, a nun, and serenades the heart transplant passenger. While Randy sings, she accidentally unplugs the patient's intravenous line twice and the little girl goes into distress until her mother comes to her aid. Then, several of the passengers become ill and the captain tells Elaine to discreetly find a doctor among the passengers. When Dr. Rumack examines a woman, he pulls three hard boiled eggs from her mouth and tells Elaine that the pilot has to land the plane as soon as possible. In the cockpit, Victor Basta collapses from the mysterious illness followed by Murdock. The captain grabs the controls and rights the plane as it goes into a spin. The doctor observes that all the passengers who ate the fish for dinner are sick. As he describes classic food poisoning symptoms to Elaine, the captain becomes ill and collapses and Elaine inflates the plastic automatic pilot, Otto. While Elaine speaks on the radio to the air traffic control in Chicago, Otto deflates and she must manually inflate it. The doctor informs Elaine that if the sick passengers can't get to a hospital, they will die. When Elaine asks if anyone on board can fly a plane, panic breaks out. Meanwhile, in Chicago, air traffic dispatcher McCroskey summons Capt. Rex Kramer to the airport to help with the crisis. Ted is the only one on the airplane with any flying experience. However, he pushes the wrong button in the cockpit and sends the plane into a nosedive. When a woman passenger becomes hysterical as a result, passengers hold bats, boxing gloves and guns waiting their turn in the aisle to put her out of her misery. McCroskey tells Kramer it is up to him to guide Ted to land the plane. However, Kramer and Ted were fellow fighter pilots during the war and a grudge exists between them. When Kramer tells Ted to disengage Otto, turbulence rocks the airplane. Otto wraps around Elaine's chest until she breaks free. Kramer asks Elaine to take over the copilot seat and work the radio. In the cabin, the passengers demand answers. When Dr. Rumack tells them only one pilot is slightly ill while the other two pilots are at the controls, his nose grows like Pinocchio. On the ground, the press surrounds McCroskey and pumps him with questions. McCroskey tells them that a passenger, who is an experienced air force pilot, will land the plane. However, Ted has another war flashback that unnerves him. With his confidence gone, Ted places Otto in the pilot's seat and leaves the cockpit. Dr. Rumack cheers up Ted with a story about a mortally wounded fighter pilot under his care named George Zip who, in his dying breath, talked about the importance of determination and perseverance even when the odds were bleak. George was a friend of Ted's and Rumack's story gives Ted the courage to land the plane. Ted goes back to the cockpit and tells Kramer there's no time to waste. Elaine tells air traffic control the crew is preparing for their descent. McCroskey instructs all emergency vehicles to go to runway nine. Fire engines, cement trucks and a Budweiser beer delivery truck race across the tarmac. Elaine admires Ted's sudden take-charge attitude and tells him how proud she is of him. As the plane descends, Kramer tells Ted to watch his speed, he is going too fast. The plane bounces up and down and side-to-side as it approaches the runway, Ted wrestles with the controls, as Kramer instructs him by radio. Ted pulls the brake out of the dashboard and throws it aside. The landing gear squeals against the runway while sweat pours down Ted's face. Finally, the landing gear breaks off and the plane skids to a stop. The sick passengers are transported to the hospital by ambulance. As Elaine and Ted embrace, Otto winks at Ted and Elaine as he taxis down the runway. Otto takes off in the plane with an inflatable female autopilot at his side.
In late November, 1975, Rocky Balboa, a sweet, garrulous, slightly over-the-hill boxer, wins his latest match with more fury than talent. Although he is well-known and well-liked in his South Philadelphia neighborhood, back in his dingy apartment, he has only his turtles to whom he can report his triumph. He then visits the local pet store in the hope of winning over the painfully shy clerk, Adrian Pennino, but she barely responds to his efforts. During his day job Rocky works as a collector for local loan shark Tony Gazzo, but when he cannot bring himself to break the thumb of one debtor, Rocky earns Gazzo's displeasure. Demoralized, Rocky turns to the one place at which he feels at home, the gym, but there discovers that his manager, Mickey Goldmill, has given his locker to a new contender. When Rocky confronts Mickey, the 76-year-old former bantamweight states that although Rocky has heart, he fights "like an ape" and should quit before he loses his one distinction, his unbroken nose. After once again getting nowhere with Adrian, Rocky visits her brother, meat packer Paulie Pennino, to ask why she disdains him. Paulie declares Adrian a "loser," a spinster at almost thirty, but invites Rocky to Thanksgiving dinner with them the following night. Meanwhile, reigning heavyweight champion Apollo Creed learns that his next opponent, set to fight him in five weeks' time, is injured and no worthy contender can be arranged. Creed, a colorful attention-seeker, despairs of losing the media coverage and decides to launch an exhibition fight with a Philadelphia unknown on New Year's Day, the first day of the country's bicentennial. Declaring that Americans will love the idea of an underdog ostensibly being given his big chance, he thumbs through a list of local boxers and pinpoints Rocky, whose self-appointed nickname is "The Italian Stallion," as an interesting ethnic counterpoint. At the same time, Rocky prepares for his first "date" with Adrian, but upon entering Paulie's house, realizes that Adrian is unaware of the set-up. Embarrassed, she declares herself unready for guests, prompting Paulie to explode in anger and throw her turkey dinner into the alleyway. Although she locks herself in the bedroom in response, Rocky urges her to come out and takes her to a closed ice skating rink, which he convinces the manager to open briefly. As Adrian skates, Rocky trots alongside her, explaining that he never succeeded as a boxer because he is a left-handed hitter. When he confesses that his father told him he had no brains so had better work with his body, Adrian reveals that her mother told her to develop her brains, as she did not have a good body. Walking to his apartment, he asserts that their weaknesses—his dim-wittedness and her timidity—make them perfect partners. At his stoop, she tries to leave but he charms her into staying, then once inside soothes her skittishness and gently initiates a passionate embrace. The next day, Rocky learns from Mickey that Creed's promoter, Miles Jergens, wants to meet with him, and both assume Creed is looking for a sparring partner. When Mickey insults him, Rocky demands an explanation, and Mickey spits out his disgust that Rocky failed to live up to his early promise as a fighter and instead became "a leg-breaker." At Jergens' office, Rocky is stunned to learn that he is being offered a chance at the heavyweight championship but quietly turns down the opportunity, knowing he has no possibility of winning. However, Jergens convinces him that he cannot pass up the chance of a lifetime, and soon after the bout is announced on television. Watching the broadcast later, Paulie points out to Rocky that the commentators were mocking him, and although Rocky professes not to care, he later admits his distress to Adrian. He plans to train alone, and when Mickey visits to plead to be his manager, Rocky brushes off the old man's desperate self-marketing, declaring that he needed a manager ten years ago when he still had a future. Mickey, for whom Rocky's fight represents his last stab at success, shuffles out in defeat, but outside stops to listen as Rocky explodes in anger, shouting that this lucky break has come too late for him and he is sure to be beaten badly. Minutes later, however, Rocky chases after Mickey and hires him. Rocky immediately begins a self-imposed, grueling training schedule, running through the city at four a.m. On his first day, he ascends the steep, stone stairs of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and is exhausted by the time he reaches the top. He stops by Paulie's meat-packing plant, where Paulie, as is customary, pesters him for a job with Gazzo. When Paulie then questions angrily whether or not Rocky has slept with Adrian, Rocky pushes him away, punching a frozen carcass until his fists bleed. Later, a reinvigorated Mickey trains Rocky enthusiastically, and despite agreeing to the trainer's demand that he swear off women during training, Rocky spends more and more time with Adrian. After weeks of Rocky's training regimen, which now includes daily workouts punching the frozen meat, a drunken Paulie arranges a television interview in the meat locker. Although Creed, busy preparing his media exposure, ignores the broadcast, his trainer is impressed by Rocky's tenacity. Afterward, Paulie overhears Rocky complaining to Adrian about him, and threatening them both with a bat, raves that he failed to marry in order to take care of Adrian. With sudden vitriol, she screams that she owes him nothing and no longer wants to feel like a loser, and after Paulie collapses in drunken exhaustion, Adrian and Rocky agree that she will move in with him. Each day, Rocky runs through the neighborhood, receiving the well-wishes of the locals. Finally, after weeks of exertion, he is able to run up the museum steps with ease, and at the top throws up his hands in triumph. His status as the underdog contender has earned him national attention and affection, but on the night before the fight, Rocky visits the empty arena and realizes anew that there is no way he can win. At home, he tells Adrian that it does not matter if he loses, but if he can just last all fifteen rounds, as no one ever has against Creed, he will know for the first time that he is more than "just another bum from the neighborhood." On the day of the fight, as the arena fills, Rocky prays, then banters with Adrian. As he enters the ring, the announcers report that some have called the bout "the caveman vs. the cavalier," and that the Las Vegas odds assume that Rocky will be knocked out within three rounds. Next, with supreme fanfare, Creed, throwing money to the crowd, enters the arena, costumed as George Washington on a boat. The fight begins, with Rocky's friends watching eagerly on the local tavern television. Creed, overconfident, is far quicker than Rocky and jabs at him tauntingly, but when Rocky lands an unexpected strong hit, felling Creed for the first time ever, the champion returns with renewed vigilance. He begins to pummel Rocky, and when Rocky manages to back Creed up against the ropes, Creed breaks his nose. During the ensuing bout, Rocky takes a tremendous beating but continually rebounds to land a few hard punches. Fourteen rounds later, both are still fighting with equal commitment and have suffered multiple injuries. Exhausted, Rocky keeps struggling to his feet, even as the commentators wonder what could possibly be keeping him up, and Mickey demands that he give up. Finally, Rocky slams Creed in the ribs, causing internal bleeding. In their respective corners, Rocky demands that his cut man slice his eye with a razor to drain it of blood, while Creed orders his trainer to let the fight continue. The fifteen rounds finally draw to a close and the crowd roars its approval. As the reporters swarm him with questions, Rocky bats them away and shouts Adrian's name. She runs toward him, slowed by the crowd, as the announcer proclaims that the fight has ended in a split decision. When Adrian finally reaches Rocky, she falls into his arms. Flush with his own personal victory and barely even registering that the fight has been called for Creed, Rocky declares his love for her.
In turn-of-the-century New York, Fanny Brice, a young Jew from the Lower East Side, dreams of becoming a Broadway star, despite her unglamorous appearance. When she loses her chorus line job at Keeney's Oriental Palace, Fanny lies to enter a roller skating number and, slipping and sliding, is a comedy hit. After the performance, suave gambler Nick Arnstein visits Fanny backstage and helps get her a raise. Soon Fanny's comedy routines come to the attention of Florenz Ziegfeld, and she is hired for his Follies at the New Amsterdam Theatre. On opening night, she turns the show's lavish wedding finale into a comedy by appearing as a pregnant bride. Ziegfeld's anger is placated by Fanny's success, however, and he keeps the routine and yields to her demand that she choose her own material. Also at the theater that night is Nick Arnstein, who accompanies her to a party at her mother, Rose's, beer hall and then leaves for Kentucky. One year later, while Fanny is in Baltimore on tour, she again encounters Nick. During their whirlwind affair, Nick loses a fortune on a racehorse he owns and decides to recoup his losses by gambling on an ocean liner crossing the Atlantic. As Fanny prepares to board a train for Chicago, she receives roses and a note from Nick. After phoning her resignation from the Follies to Ziegfeld, she catches a train to New York and boards a tugboat to take her to Nick's Europe-bound ship. After her marriage to Nick, the two move into a lavish manor, and Fanny gives birth to a daughter. Sometime later, while Fanny is in rehearsal for a new show, Nick loses his money again and is forced to sell the house. Feeling overpowered by his wife's success, he moves back to New York City and spends more and more time gambling. As his debts mount, Fanny tries to help, but Nick bitterly rejects her offer and becomes involved in a phony bond deal. When he is exposed, he gives himself up and is sent to jail. Over a year later, he comes to Fanny's dressing room before her performance and tells her goodbye.
At Faber College in 1962, freshmen Larry Kroger and Kent Dorfman attend pledge week, hoping to join a fraternity. Wanting to pledge Omega House, the most prestigious fraternity on campus, the boys attend the invitational party but quickly realize that the Omegas won't accept them. Although Kent suggests Delta House instead, because his brother is a former fraternity member or "legacy", Larry laments that Delta has a terrible reputation. At Delta House, the wild and crazy members are more welcoming to Larry and Kent. There, they meet John "Bluto" Blutarsky, who is the sergeant at arms, Robert Hoover, the chapter president, Eric "Otter" Stratton, the rush chairman, as well as Donald "Boon" Shoenstein and his frustrated girlfriend, Katy. The next day, Greg Marmalard, president of Omega House, meets with the school's dean, Vernon Wormer, who wants Delta House expelled from Faber College for breaking campus rules and retaining a low collective grade point average. Dean Wormer orders Marmalard and his fellow Omega, Doug Neidermeyer, to expedite the expulsion. Meanwhile, Delta House review fraternity brother pledge candidates and accept Larry and Kent, mainly because they are in need of annual dues. At the Delta initiation, Bluto dubs Larry "Pinto," and Kent "Flounder." The fraternity celebrates with a wild party. Meanwhile, at Omega House new pledges are spanked in the dark while senior members look on. Sometime later, Boon, Katy and Pinto go to the home of English professor, Dave Jennings, where they all smoke a marijuana cigarette. During Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) practice, Otter and Boon see Neidermeyer bully Flounder and decide to exact revenge. As Neidermeyer forces Flounder to clean the stalls of Neidermeyer's beloved horse, he continues to abuse the Delta member. Later, Bluto and his fellow Delta brother, Daniel "D-Day" Simpson Day, convince Flounder to sneak Neidermeyer's horse into Dean Wormer's office late at night with a gun. Unbeknown to Flounder, the gun is filled with blanks so he fires at the ceiling. The prank backfires when the horse dies of a heart attack at the sound of the explosion. The next day at the cafeteria, Otter flirts with Marmalard's girlfriend, Mandy Pepperidge, in front of Marmalard and other Omegas. Continuing his pranks, Bluto spits food in Marmalard's face and a food fight ensues. Later, Bluto and D-Day steal the answers to an upcoming Psychology mid-term exam, unaware that members of the Omega House have planted a fake test with the wrong answers. When all of the Deltas fail the exam, Dean Wormer informs them that he will revoke the fraternity's charter if they make one more mistake. Hoover wants to prevent the expulsion, but Otter and Boon think the fraternity is doomed and decide to throw one last toga party. The Deltas go to the grocery store for supplies. There, Boon and Pinto shoplift while Otter flirts with Dean Wormer's wife, Marion. Pinto invites the young cashier, Clorette DePasto, to the party. Back at Delta House, the band Otis Day and the Knights play for raucous partygoers. Marion arrives, intoxicated, and has sex with Otter, but Clorette passes out before Pinto can seduce her. He returns an unconscious Clorette to her parents' house, where her father, Mayor Carmine DePasto, finds his daughter in a shopping cart. Meanwhile, Marion, still intoxicated, returns home to Dean Wormer. Furious, Dean Wormer organizes a campus tribunal to try Delta House, but he does not let the fraternity members defend themselves. The Dean revokes Delta's charter and threatens to expel the members. Sometime later, the Deltas go on a road trip to Emily Dickinson College to pick up girls. Upon meeting Shelly Dubinsky, who tells Otter that her roommate, Fawn Liebowitz, recently died, Otter pretends to be the deceased girl's fiancé. Otter convinces Shelly and her sorority sisters to go out with the Deltas to "cheer him up." At the Dexter Lake Club, they watch Otis Day and the Knights perform and find themselves the only white people in attendance. When some of the African-American men threaten the boys, they run out of the club, leaving the girls behind. Back at Faber College, Boon tries to make up with Katy, but he discovers that she is having an affair with Professor Jennings. Later, Mandy's friend, Babs Jansen, sets up Otter for an ambush by the Omegas, telling him that Mandy wants to have a sexual rendezvous. When Otter arrives at a motel to meet her, the Omegas attack him. Dean Wormer expels the entire Delta House for failing their mid-term exams and notifies the local draft board. Although most of the Deltas feel defeated, Bluto encourages them with an impassioned speech and they decide to get revenge by invading the annual homecoming parade. Manning an undercover float, the Deltas create chaos and destruction at the event and wreak havoc on Dean Wormer and the Omegas. In the future, Delta members rise to success while Omegas meet tragic ends.
English businessman Renfield has a harrowing journey to Transylvania, where he is to arrange a lease of the Carfax Abbey in England for Count Dracula. Unknown to Renfield, Dracula is a centuries-old vampire, who lives off the blood of humans and cannot withstand the light of day. Renfield is greeted at Dracula's castle by Dracula himself, but after he passes out from drinking drugged wine, his host descends upon him to feed on his blood. Renfield, weakened by the attack, and Dracula board an England-bound ship which also carries the coffin in which Dracula sleeps during the day and several coffins filled with his native soil, which is required for his survival. When the ship docks in Whitby Harbor, the entire crew is found dead. Only Dracula and Renfield, who appears to have gone insane, survive. Renfield is installed in Dr. Seward's sanitarium, where the physician studies his strange habit of consuming the blood of small animals. Meanwhile, Dracula drains the blood of the female population of London. One night at the opera, Dracula introduces himself to Dr. Seward and meets his daughter Mina, her fiancé, John Harker, and friend Lucy. Lucy is enchanted by Dracula's romantic manner, and later, Dracula attacks and kills her. German scientist Van Helsing arrives in London to assist Dr. Seward, and correctly assesses the situation. As Carfax Abbey is next to Seward's estate, Dracula has easy access to its occupants, and he takes advantage of his ability to transform himself into a bat to attack his next victim, Mina. However, she does not die immediately, but undergoes a change over several nights. Van Helsing confirms for Seward and Harker that Dracula truly is a vampire when Dracula's reflection does not appear in the mirror of a cigarette box. Meanwhile, Renfield constantly escapes from the hospital as ordered by his master, Dracula. Despite the precautions of Van Helsing to prevent Dracula's entry into Mina's room, he hypnotizes her maid to open the windows to admit him. Mina succumbs to a final bonding with Dracula and becomes a vampire. She confesses to Van Helsing that she has seen Lucy since she was buried, which confirms his suspicions that the "woman in white" who has been attacking young children is Lucy. Dracula tries to hypnotize Van Helsing to force him to do his will, but Van Helsing resists and is saved by his crucifix, upon which Dracula cannot look. Dracula, followed by Renfield, takes Mina to Carfax Abbey, where he plans to make her final transition to vampirism. Van Helsing and John follow Renfield there, but when Dracula discovers their presence, he kills Renfield. Dawn approaches, and when Van Helsing finds Dracula in his coffin, he drives a stake through his heart, killing him for eternity. At the same time that Dracula is killed, Mina is released from her spell. With the horror ended, John and Mina reunite.
Because he refuses to disclose any information concerning the exotic location of his upcoming movie project, Carl Denham, a renowned adventure filmmaker, is forced to search the streets of New York to find a lead actress. At a fruit stand, he stumbles onto the beautiful but broke Ann Darrow as she is about to steal an apple for her dinner. Anxious for work, Ann eagerly accepts Denham's part and agrees without question to make the long sea voyage the next morning. During the trip, Denham, who has refused to disclose his final destination even to the captain, Englehorn, makes screen tests of Ann, coaching her on how to scream and look terrified for the camera. At the same time, the mysogynistic first mate, Jack Driscoll, chides Ann for being a woman on a man's ship, but soon falls in love with her. As the boat enters tropical waters, Denham finally shows Englehorn a map detailing their exact destination--a tiny island dominated by a peak called Skull Mountain. When the boat reaches the island, Ann, Denham and the crew go ashore and discover natives engaged in a frenetic religious ceremony that features men dressed in gorilla skins and a young woman tied to an altar. While Englehorn attempts to make friends so that the camera-wielding Denham can shoot the scene, the native chief eyes the blonde Ann and states cryptically that she would make a good bride for "Kong." Nervous about the chief's interest in Ann, whose presence on the island Jack has vehemently protested, Denham orders his group back to the boat. That night, Ann is kidnapped from the ship by natives and tied to stakes outside the huge village walls. At the sounding of a gong, King Kong, a gorilla-like ape of enormous proportions, emerges from the primeval jungle and grabs Ann, carrying her away like a tiny doll in his huge hand. In close pursuit of the ape are Denham, Jack and a handful of the ship's men. They follow a trail of broken branches left by Kong and soon stumble on a dinosaur, a horny-tailed stegosaurus, which they kill with gas bombs. They then construct a raft and cross a river, where they are attacked by a brontosaurus. After the group loses several men to the brontosaurus, the survivors scramble to the river's shore and are spotted by Kong. Kong kills several more men by tossing them off a giant log into a treacherous chasm and attempts to kill Jack, who is hiding in a protected alcove. When he hears Ann, whom he has left in the nook of a dead tree, screaming, however, Kong abandons Jack and rushes to her rescue. While Kong saves Ann from the jaws of an allosaurus Jack and Denham, the last two crew survivors, reunite. Denham decides to return to shore for help and wait for Jack to signal when he has rescued Ann. Jack follows Kong and Ann into a cliffside cave and there Kong kills a giant snake. He then gently tickles Ann and plucks off and sniffs her outer clothes. When the hidden Jack inadvertently makes a noise, the ape goes to investigate, leaving Ann unprotected. A pteradodon swoops down and almost flies off with Ann, but Kong once again comes to her rescue. Distracted by the flying reptile, Kong fails to see Jack and Ann escaping down the cliffside via a ropelike vine until they are out of arm's reach. Although Kong snaps the vine in his attempt to retrieve Ann, the couple fall unharmed into the river and make a dash for the ship, closely pursued by Kong. When they finally reach the shore, Ann and Jack are met by Denham and the crew, but must still face Kong, who is rampaging through the village, killing its inhabitants in his search for Ann. To stop Kong, Denham hurls a gas bomb into his face and knocks him out. Seeing Kong unconscious, Denham decides to carry him on an enormous raft back to New York, where he knows the ape will make him a fortune. In the city, a heavily chained Kong, billed as the "Eighth Wonder of the World," is a sellout attraction at a fashionable theater. When photographers' flashbulbs start popping in Ann's face, however, Kong believes she is in danger and breaks free in a protective frenzy. Ann flees with Jack, but Kong storms the nearby streets, destroying an elevated passenger-filled train and tossing a woman he momentarily mistakes for Ann to her death. Finally Kong spots Ann in a hotel room and, as a helpless Jack watches, snatches her once again. Then, as though still in the jungle, he scales the Empire State Building with Ann in his hand. At Denham's urging, the city authorities call in airplanes armed with machine guns to stop the ape, and after Kong is shot repeatedly by the gunners, he drops Ann gently on the rooftop and falls over the skyscraper's edge to his death. Upon viewing his conquered prize, Denham retorts to another onlooker that Kong was not downed by airplanes, but "twas Beauty that killed Beast."
In the mythical world of Middle-earth, many thousands of years ago, the seven remaining members of the Fellowship of the Ring have been forced to separate after the fall of the wizard, Gandalf the Grey, into the pit at Khazad-dum. Hobbits Merry and Pippin have been captured by the enemy Urak-Hai, and the Elf Legolas, the Dwarf Gimli and their noble-born Human leader Aragorn have vowed to rescue them. Threatening Middle-earth is the mounting danger of the disembodied Sauron, who, from his dark tower of Barad-dur in the land of Mordor, maintains control through his puppet, the corrupted wizard Saruman of Isengard, who resides in his own tower, Orthanc. The task of destroying the master ring of power forged by the evil lord Sauron has fallen to the Hobbit Frodo and his loyal friend Sam. Frodo and Sam must cast the ring into the fires of Mordor's Mount Doom before Sauron can use its power to take over the world. However, the Hobbits are lost in the hills and the ring's dark magic is wearing Frodo down, physically and mentally. Increasingly, Frodo relies on Sam's buoyant spirit, although Sam sometimes doubts if they should attempt the dangerous task. When they discover Gollum, a previous owner of the ring who lost it to Frodo's uncle, skulking nearby, Frodo feels pity, knowing that prolonged contact with the ring deformed the creature's mind and body. Despite Sam's suspicions about Gollum, who insanely refers to the ring as "my precious," Frodo asks Gollum to guide them to Mordor. Meanwhile, Pippin and Merry are being carried by Urak-Hais, the creatures bred for war from Goblins and the ancient war-mongering Orcs at Saruman's foundry, toward Isengard, where Saruman is forming a great army and communicates with Sauron via a seeing stone. Of strategic significance to Sauron's plans is the kingdom of Rohan, where Saruman has already planted his spy, Grima Wormtongue, as King Theoden's advisor. Saruman has cast a spell aging the king's body and destroying his mind, so that the king shows no comprehension when his niece Eowyn tells him that Theodred, his only son and heir, lies dying after battling with Orcs. When Wormtongue denies that the Orcs are enemies and banishes Eowyn's brother Eomer as a traitor, Eomer leaves with 2,000 men loyal to the king. In the countryside, they fight the many bands of Saruman's amassing army who are wreaking havoc in the kingdom. One night Eomer's men defeat the Uraks and Orcs holding Pippin and Merry. The next day Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas cross paths with the victorious Humans, and by inspecting the battle scene, conclude that the Hobbits escaped into the Fanghorn Forest of talking trees. Inside the forest, still pursued by a lone Orc intent on eating them, Pippin and Merry are saved by Treebeard, a creature belonging to the race of tree shepherds known as Ents. While searching for Pippin and Merry in the forest, Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas encounter a white wizard who they fear is Saruman. Instead, they learn that he is Gandalf, who, after falling through fire and water into darkness and timelessness, has been reborn as Gandalf the White. After explaining that he has been returned to Middle-earth to finish a task, Gandalf summons his horse Shadowfax and leads his companions to Rohan. Inside Theoden's Golden Hall, Gandalf breaks the spell over Theoden, after which the king banishes Wormtongue. While grieving for his dead son, Theoden is alerted of Saruman's approaching army by two children sent by a fallen village. The king, unwilling to engage in open warfare, orders his people to their fortress at Helm's Deep, confident that the structure will protect them. Gandalf, who has misgivings about the fortress, convinces Aragorn to stay with the king, but before leaving, tells Aragorn to look to the east at dawn on the fifth day. To reach Mordor, Gollum takes Frodo and Sam through the Dead Marshes, where the weakened, mentally imbalanced Frodo falls in with the trapped souls. After being pulled out by Gollum, Frodo is nearly discovered by a ringwraith sent by Saruman. As they near Mordor's gates, Sam and Frodo prepare to risk sneaking in behind an entering army. Gollum, afraid of losing his "precious" to Sauron, convinces them that he knows a secret way into Mordor. Sam still distrusts Gollum, but Frodo, who has realized that Gollum was once a being known as Smeagol who lived near his home, tells Sam that he wants to help him. Gollum, torn between loyalty to Frodo and his dark side that developed from exposure to the ring, battles with himself, but finally concludes that Frodo will take care of him. The next day, Sam and Frodo are captured by Humans from Gondor led by Faramir, the brother of former Fellowship member Boromir, who suspects they are spies. When Gollum is later found and threatened with death, Frodo, hoping to save him, admits that Gollum is his guide and lures the trusting creature to safety. After the guards capture the frightened Gollum, he thinks that Frodo betrayed him. Watching the disturbed Gollum argue with himself, Faramir learns about the ring Frodo bears and its power, and decides to take them back to Gondor. Although Sam suggests that Frodo escape by slipping on the ring, which will make him invisible, Frodo fears that Sauron, who can only sense him when he wears the ring, will find him. While preparing for the journey to Helm's Deep, Aragorn becomes intrigued by the skilled swordsmanship of the noble Eowyn, but remains haunted by thoughts of Arwen, the Elf woman whom he loves. When Eowyn, who becomes increasingly attracted to Aragorn during the journey, asks him about the jewel he wears around his neck, he explains that it was given to him by Arwen, who he believes has left Middle-earth with her kinfolk for the "undying lands" in the West. Lapsing into a reverie, he recalls to himself how Arwen's father Elrond told him that the time of the Elves in Middle-earth was over and that Arwen must leave with her people. Following Wormtongue's advice, Saruman sends Orcs riding vicious wolfbeasts called Wargs to attack Aragorn and his fellow travelers. Eowyn leads the women and children to Helm's Deep on another path, while the men stay behind to fight. Although the king's men are victorious, they suffer many casualties. Aragorn, who is dragged over a cliff into the churning waters of a river, is believed dead, but, unconscious and dreaming of Arwen, he floats to shore downriver and later reunites with the others at Helm's Deep. In the Elf kingdom, all are preparing to leave, except Arwen, who considers abandoning immortality and family to remain behind for Aragorn's return. By showing Arwen that by being immortal, she will eventually lose Aragorn, Elrond convinces her to join the Elves' procession to the boats that will take them on their journey. Galadriel, the oldest of all the elves, is aware that Saruman has amassed an army of 10,000 to conquer Helm's Deep and suggests to Elrond that they not abandon Middle-earth to Sauron's dominion. At Helm's Deep, shortly after Theoden, whose 300 men are mostly too young or too old for battle, confides to Aragorn that he feels alone and without alliances, an army of 200 Elf archers arrives to assist them. Meanwhile, Treebeard tells Pippin and Merry that the Ents have no interest in the affairs of men and wizards, but then, after finding more trees destroyed, calls a "gathering" of Ents to discuss whether to go to war. It is raining when Saruman's forces reach the base of Helm's Deep and the battle begins. Many of the enemy soldiers are killed by Elf arrows, but more scale the walls using ladders, and swords are drawn. At the same time, the Ents, who talk slowly, decide not to go to war. Treebeard offers to carry Merry and Pippin to the forest border nearest their Shire, but they ask instead to be taken toward Isengard where they hope to slip past the defenses, believing that the closer they are to danger, the farther they are from harm. Accepting their logic, Treebeard changes directions and upon seeing the destroyed trees near the Isengard border, calls out to the Ents, who gather from all over. Inside Helm's Deep, after being forced to retreat to the fortress' keep, Theoden feels defeated, until Aragorn suggests that they ride out to fight their enemy hand-to-hand. Defeat seems imminent until Aragorn recalls Gandalf's words and looks to the east, where Gandalf and the 2,000 banished men of Rohan arrive to surprise the enemy from behind. As the defenders of Helm's Deep win the battle, angry Ents at Isengard destroy Saruman's foundry and break down a dam, flooding the plains around the tower. In Gondor, Faramir is still planning to take the ring from Frodo, although Sam warns him that Boromir died trying. A ringwraith appears, to whom the weakened Frodo almost gives up the ring, but an arrow shot by Faramir sends it away. Although he is now safe, Frodo, still bewitched, turns on Sam and almost kills him. When his reason is restored, Frodo doubts that he has the strength to complete his mission. Inspired by the "great stories," Sam says that all heroes doubt themselves, but they hold on, knowing that the good in the world is worth fighting for. Sam's words are heeded by Faramir, who decides to release them. At Helm's Deep, surveying the aftermath of battle, Gandalf predicts war for Middle-earth. Meanwhile, Frodo, Sam and Gollum have resumed their journey. Sam predicts that Frodo's efforts will be put into songs and tales, and suggests that Frodo might become the most "famousist of hobbits." Amused, Frodo says that "Samwise the Brave" is important to that story. Still feeling betrayed, Gollum mutters mysteriously to himself that "she" will make sure the Hobbits are dead, and then he can have his "precious" again. In a saccharine-sweet voice, Gollum calls out to the Hobbits to follow him and they continue on to Mordor and the fires of Mount Doom.
On an August 1972 afternoon in Brooklyn, New York, three young men, Sonny, Sal and Stevie, enter the First Brooklyn Savings Bank near closing time. Inside, Sal sits at the desk of manager Mr. Mulvaney and pulls out a machine gun from his briefcase. After a panicked Stevie leaves, Sonny takes a rifle from a flower box and warns Mulvaney and the tellers that he will shoot anyone who triggers an alarm. Sonny then closes the window drapes and spray paints over the lenses of the security cameras then orders Mulvaney to open the vault. Cautioning Mulvaney and the others that he knows all of the security measures as he has worked at a bank, Sonny sends a teller, Miriam, with Mulvaney into the vault to fill plastic bags with money. Although she complies, Miriam begins crying and admits there is only a little over a thousand dollars in the vault as the rest of the money had been picked up earlier that day. Dismayed, Sonny instructs head teller, Sylvia, to empty the tills, reminding her that he knows that one slot of each drawer is rigged to set off a silent alarm. While allowing Mulvaney to answer the ringing telephone, Sonny rejects a pile of marked money and when, in mounting agitation, he swears, Sylvia asks him to watch his language. After setting fire to the bank register, Sonny demands the building keys from the elderly guard, Howard, who is paralyzed with fear. Meanwhile, Sal notices a man across the street staring intently at the bank and the robbers realize the smoke from the burning register is visible. When Howard remains too terrified to act, Mulvaney calmly unlocks the door and reassures the business neighbor that a cigarette caused the smoke. Sonny then orders Mulvaney and the tellers into the vault, but one woman insists they will suffocate and Sylvia pleads to use the bathroom. Exasperated, Sonny inspects the restroom where he surprises teller Maria Sandora who has been changing clothes and is completely unaware of the hold-up. While Mulvaney answers another phone call, Sonny herds the tellers into the vault, then is startled when Mulvaney informs him the call is for him. On the phone, Sonny is addressed by Detective Sgt. Moretti who is in the barber shop across the street. As Sonny and Sal watch in disbelief, the bank is surrounded by wailing police cars and a growing crowd of curious onlookers. Sonny hangs up on Moretti and asks Mulvaney why he reported the robbery when no one had been hurt. The phone rings and Sonny barks a threat into the receiver only to discover the call is for Jenny, another teller, from her husband. When Moretti telephones again, Sonny informs him that he and Sal are Vietnam veterans and know how to kill. Despite Sonny's subsequent assurances to the hostages that they will be fine if they obey, Howard suddenly collapses and Sylvia explains that the older man has severe asthma. Incredulous that a bank would hire an infirm guard, Sonny leaves Howard to the tellers' ministrations while he and Mulvaney block off the bank's back entrance with a large piece of furniture. Outside, FBI agent Sheldon arrives and is displeased by the large number of police whom Moretti admits he hoped would scare the robbers into surrendering. Sheldon watches silently as Moretti waves away reporters while, overhead, television crews in helicopters photograph the mob of police and spectators. As Sonny frets about his next step, Moretti telephones and encourages him to let one hostage go as a sign of good will. Deciding to release the ailing Howard, Sonny and Sylvia help the elderly man through the front door, but the guard is terrified when numerous police leap forward with guns drawn, unsure if he is a hostage or criminal. Alarmed, Moretti, bids the anxious policemen to holster their weapons, then, demonstrating that he is unarmed, pleads with Sonny to come out to the street to see the hopelessness of his situation. Reminding Moretti that Sal is inside holding a gun on the remaining hostages, Sonny, carrying a white handkerchief, steps outside and observes that the forces surrounding the bank resemble a militia. When Moretti presses Sonny to surrender, suggesting that he will only be charged with robbery, Sonny angrily tells the detective that he knows that armed robbery is a federal offense. Demanding someone "better" with whom to negotiate, Sonny turns to the crowd and begins yelling "Attica," referring to the recent New York prison riot and hostage situation brutally squelched by police that resulted in the death of inmates and hostages alike. Excited by the exhibition, the crowd chants along and cheers Sonny, infuriating Moretti. As Sonny returns to the bank, Sylvia, who has remained in the doorway to speak with a reporter on a fire escape nearby, refuses Moretti's attempt to pull her outside, explaining that she is obliged to return to her fellow tellers. Back in the bank as Sylvia excitedly relates her interview with the reporter, Sonny takes a call from a television reporter. Turning on Mulvaney's small TV set, Sonny sees himself photographed through the bank's glass doors. Admitting that he is committing the robbery because he cannot support his wife and two children, Sonny then grows angry with the reporter and swears, prompting the live broadcast to abruptly cut off. Sonny then tells Sal privately that he believes the police will make a deal with them because of the excessive publicity, but Sal disagrees and reminds him that they vowed to make a clean getaway or commit suicide. A little later, Sonny is taken aback when an anonymous caller urges him to kill everyone. After reflecting on their situation, Sonny tells Sal they can demand a helicopter to take them to an airport where they can flee the country, but Sal remains unconvinced. Insisting that holding the hostages gives them bargaining power, Sonny encourages Sal to choose any country in the world to go and Sal suggests Wyoming. Returning outside to present their demands to Moretti, Sonny playfully stirs up the crowd again, but is abruptly tackled by a man who beats him. After the police pull the man away, Moretti tells the stunned Sonny that the man is the boyfriend of one of the hostages. Although shaken, Sonny requests a helicopter and jet plane and also asks to see his wife. Back inside the bank, the air grows stuffy after Moretti orders the air conditioning disabled. Going to the back of the building in an effort to restart the cool air, Sonny sees the figures of numerous police through a small window and, panicked, shoots his rifle at the window, terrifying the tellers. The shot results in mayhem outside and Moretti anxiously calls to Sonny on a bullhorn demanding to know why he fired. Drained and anxious, Sonny goes outside where the eager onlookers have begun mimicking Moretti calling for Sonny. Moretti informs Sonny that he cannot bring a helicopter into the narrow street, but has arranged for a bus or limousine. Sonny asks for pizza and aspirin for the tense hostages, then later pays the delighted delivery boy with hundreds of the marked bills, before flinging more bills to the excited crowd. As the stifling afternoon drags on, the tellers pass the time chatting quietly and Sonny shows one woman how to perform a military rifle drill. When Sylvia smokes a cigarette out of nervous anxiety, Sal expresses his disgust with smoking, claiming that the body is "a temple." Amazed, Sylvia mocks him for being a "temple" while robbing a bank, but Sal dismisses her as "weak." Later, a disheveled young man in a hospital robe, Leon Shermer, steps out of a police car and a stunned Moretti telephones Sonny to inform him that his wife has arrived. Overwhelmed by the police and gaping crowds, Leon faints as word spreads through the police ranks that Sonny is a "fag." After Leon revives in the barber shop, he tells Moretti of his difficult relationship with Sonny, which included a church wedding. Leon reveals that upon learning from a psychiatrist that Leon is a woman in a man's body, Sonny has been obsessed with providing him the money to get a sex-change operation. Admitting that stress has provoked him to attempt suicide, Leon dismisses Moretti's intimation that he could be held as an accessory to the robbery, then breaks into tears and refuses to speak to Sonny. Reporters quickly confirm Leon's story and, in the bank, Sal grows alarmed when a television newsman describes the robbery as conducted by two homosexuals and urges Sonny to correct the error. At dusk, the lights inside the bank are turned off and when Sonny goes outside responding to Moretti's summons, he finds himself facing Sheldon. The federal agent informs Sonny that he has taken over and will put an end to the circus atmosphere, then insists on going into the bank to verify the condition of the hostages. Inside, Sheldon notes Sal's grim demeanor and assures the hostages that their freedom is imminent. Upon departing, Sheldon assures Sonny that they will "take care" of Sal, but Sonny furiously counters that he will never sell out his friend. Moments later, Mulvaney unexpectedly collapses and Sylvia reveals that he is a diabetic. An ambulance physician is sent into the bank to tend to him while Sheldon then informs Sonny that Leon will now speak with him on the phone. After an awkward conversation and despite Sonny's declarations, Leon evades any personal promises, pleading with Sonny to confirm that he had no knowledge of the heist. Afterward, Sonny asks Sheldon to speak to his other wife, Angie, and their two children. When Angie is put through on the phone, however, she proves so distraught that she will not listen to Sonny, who hangs up in frustration. When Sonny suggests that the recovering Mulvaney depart with the doctor, the manager curses him and tells him not to pretend that he is a good person. Disturbed when his mother arrives and beseeches him to surrender, Sonny instead dictates his last will and testament to Sylvia, leaving insurance money for Leon to have his operation. When a limousine arrives, Sonny inspects the vehicle carefully and refuses Sheldon's appointing another agent as driver, choosing instead the easy-going African American who delivered the car. When Sheldon agrees too readily, however, Sonny surmises correctly that the delivery driver is a police plant and accepts the agent. Gathering the hostages around them for cover, Sonny and Sal shuffle to the car and enter safely and, amid hoots and jeers from the crowd, depart for the airport. Once at the airport on the tarmac, Sheldon points out their jet to Sonny and asks for another hostage release. Sonny tells Sylvia to go, but she has a younger, volatile teller leave instead. At a secret verbal cue from Sheldon, who is standing by the passenger window, the driver secretly pulls a pistol and asks Sal to point his gun upwards so it will not discharge by accident while the others exit the car. As Sal complies, Sheldon reaches into the car and grabs Sonny's rifle barrel as the driver turns and, firing between two hostages, shoots Sal in the head. The shocked hostages are quickly taken from the car as a stunned Sonny is handcuffed and placed under arrest.
Julian Marsh, a tough, demanding Broadway director, ignores his weak heart when he has a chance to earn money he needs desperately by directing Pretty Lady the next musical for producers Jones & Barry. The leading lady, Dorothy Brock, has been cast already by backer Abner Dillon, who is also Dorothy's sugar daddy. In a highly competitive casting call, Marsh and his stage manager, Andy Lee, audition the dancers, choosing among them Lee's girlfriend Loraine Fleming, a gold digger nick-named Anytime Annie, and newcomer Peggy Sawyer. Billy Lawler, the play's juvenile, falls in love with Peggy, but she is more impressed with Pat Denning, Dorothy's lover and ex-partner. Pat is getting tired of living in the shadow of Dorothy's life and soon leaves for Philadelphia to establish his independence. Coincidentally, the company goes to Philadelphia for its out-of-town opening. During the cast party the night before the opening, Dorothy gets drunk, fights with Pat, and in the struggle, badly sprains her ankle. The next evening, after exhausting rehearsals with Marsh, Peggy goes on in her place and is a star overnight. Now she realizes that she loves Billy, just as Dorothy admits that what she really wants is to retire and marry Pat. In the end, Marsh's finances are saved, but his accomplishment is overshadowed by Peggy's new stardom.
Ethel Thayer and her retired English professor husband, Norman Thayer, Jr., arrive at their New England summer cottage, nestled in the woods next to a lake called Golden Pond. While Norman is a curmudgeon and exaggerates his senility, Ethel has a youthful spirit and is delighted by their holiday. She scolds Norman for his obsession with death. As the couple paddles in a canoe on the lake, Ethel spots two loons and interprets their call as a welcome, but Norman feigns disinterest. Sometime later, Norman grudgingly agrees to pick wild strawberries for Ethel; however, he becomes disoriented in the woods and returns home empty-handed. Meanwhile, postman Charlie Martin delivers the couple's mail by motorboat, and Ethel insists he stay for coffee. Ethel reads a letter from her divorced daughter, Chelsea Thayer Wayne, announcing that she and her dentist boyfriend, Bill Ray, will be visiting the cottage to celebrate Norman's eightieth birthday on their way to Europe. Norman is indifferent and preoccupies himself with the newspaper. When Charlie leaves, Norman admits fear that he is losing his wits, but Ethel consoles her husband, saying he is her "knight is shining armor." Sometime later, on the evening of Norman's birthday, Chelsea arrives. She refers to her father formally, by his first name, and Norman criticizes his thin daughter for being overweight. The Thayers are surprised that Chelsea is accompanied by thirteen-year-old Billy Ray, the surly son of Bill. Chelsea is shocked to see how much her father has aged. When Chelsea ducks out of the house to avoid her father, Bill remains with the old man and tries to be cordial. Speaking peevishly with his daughter's suitor, Norman responds sarcastically when Bill asks for permission to sleep in the same room with Chelsea, but Bill refuses to be intimidated. Meanwhile, Ethel and Chelsea swim naked in the lake, laughing about old times. As Bill joins Chelsea outside, Ethel returns to the cottage and asks Norman to do a favor for his daughter; Chelsea has asked them to look after Billy while she and Bill travel in Europe. Sometime later, Chelsea laments her difficult relationship with Norman, and Ethel observes that her daughter has a chip on her shoulder. She warns that life passes too quickly to harbor bad feelings. In time, Chelsea and Bill leave for Europe. Billy is hostile to being left behind, but Norman wins the boy over. He takes Billy on fishing excursions and teaches him to perform a back flip dive off the dock. As days pass, Norman takes Billy fishing at a secret inlet on Golden Pond called Purgatory Cove and tells the boy about his nemesis, a large trout named "Walter" that has eluded him for years. Ethel surprises the men by tracking them down to deliver lunch. As she boats away, Norman is delighted to reel in an enormous rainbow trout, but insists it is not Walter. However, Norman's spirits darken that evening when he nearly burns down the cottage after leaving the fireplace unattended. He blames Billy for the incident, and the boy's feelings are hurt, but Ethel reminds Billy that Norman means well, despite his cantankerous demeanor. The following day, Billy is thrilled to motorboat across the Golden Pond on his own. Back at the cottage, Norman astonishes Ethel by stealing a kiss. In the evening, Norman and Billy fish for Walter and the boy helps his elderly friend navigate through a bed of rocks into Purgatory Cove. When they reach their destination and cast lines, Norman accidentally calls the boy "Chelsea," and Billy admits he is going to miss Norman's company. Just then, Billy hooks a large fish, but when Norman nets the catch they realize it is a dead loon. When Billy asks if Norman is afraid of dying, the old man dismisses him and insists they boat home. With Billy at the helm, Norman directs the boy through the rocks, but suddenly orders him to reverse. Panicked, Billy mistakenly gears the boat forward at full speed and Norman is thrown from the vessel as it collides with a nearby boulder. With his head bloodied, Norman comes to the surface and calls for Chelsea. Billy jumps into the water to save the old man and the two cling to a rock. Meanwhile, Ethel drives to the home of Charlie, the mailman, terrified by Norman and Billy's disappearance. Charlie motorboats to Purgatory Cove, but insists no one would be crazy enough to navigate through the rocks. Knowing her husband's stubbornness, Ethel forces Charlie to proceed into the cove as she scans the lake with a flashlight. Calling Norman's name, Ethel sees the two and dives into the water to save them. One week later, back at the cottage, Norman and Billy pretend to immerse themselves in a jigsaw puzzle while Ethel goes to search the woods for mushrooms. When they sneak away to fish, Ethel calls them "juvenile delinquents" and they promise to stay close to home. While they fish in a rowboat, Chelsea returns home and startles her mother, who sings aloud while picking flowers. Ethel tells her daughter about Billy's close relationship with Norman and their boating accident. Announcing her new marriage to Bill, Chelsea explains that the doctor returned to California for work. She is jealous of Billy's connection to Norman and complains that her father is a "selfish son-of-a-bitch," but Ethel hits her across the face. Meanwhile, Billy hooks a large fish, and Norman declares they have finally caught the "son-of-a-bitch," Walter. Back on shore, Ethel encourages Chelsea to make amends with her father. As Norman and Billy pull toward the dock, Chelsea greets Billy and he announces their victory over Walter. However, Norman let the fish go. Billy rushes inside the cottage to share the news with Ethel, and Chelsea asks her father if they can be friends. Despite Norman's petulance, he is happy to hear about his daughter's new marriage. When he announces with pride that Billy has mastered the back flip, Chelsea concedes that she was always "too fat" to successfully follow her father's instructions. Although Norman protests, Chelsea swims to the dock and makes the dive as Norman cheers his daughter's courage. Sometime later, Chelsea and Billy pack their rental car to leave Golden Pond. Norman gives Billy a fishing rod, then places a second-place medal that he won at Princeton University around Chelsea's neck. She calls him "dad" for the first time and they embrace. Later still, Norman and Ethel close the house for the winter and Norman suffers heart pains. Ethel gives her husband medication and attempts to phone the operator, but is unable to get through. Ethel fears Norman is dying, but he insists he feels better. As she helps him to his feet, Norman spots two loons on Golden Pond and declares that the birds have come to say goodbye.
In 1892, Lars Knutson Rockne leaves Norway for America, in search of a better life for his family. The Rockne family settles in Chicago, where little Knute becomes fascinated by football. Years later, now grown to manhood, Knute finally saves enough money to enroll in Notre Dame, where he excels in chemistry and football. With his roommate Gus Dorais, Knute develops the famous football strategy of the forward pass and defeats the Army team. After graduation, Knute stays on at Notre Dame, teaching chemistry and coaching football to earn enough money so that he can marry his sweetheart Bonnie Skiles. After three years, Knute decides to give up chemistry and make coaching his life work. The legendary Notre Dame team finally comes together when Knute finds his half-back in freshman George Gipp. However, tragedy dims the team's triumph when Gipp is stricken with a fatal illness. After Gipp's death, Knute revolutionizes football with the backfield shift of his "Four Horsemen," thus winning further glory for his school. Later, crippled by phlebitis, Knute is forced to coach from a wheel chair, but never loses his team spirit. The real threat that Knute must face is not his phlebitis but the allegation of scholastic favoritism in college football. While flying to a hearing in California to defend his beloved sport, Knute tragically loses his life in a plane crash, but his good works live on in the sport that he strove so hard to build.
Auric Goldfinger, one of the wealthiest and most evil men in the world, is suspected of depleting England's gold reserve through smuggling. Secret agent James Bond is assigned to investigate the matter. He meets Goldfinger at a Miami hotel and learns Goldfinger's method of cheating in high stake card games. Jill, the smuggler's secretary, views the other players' hands through a telescope and relays the information to her boss through his hearing aid. When Jill becomes attracted to Bond, Goldfinger murders her by coating her body with heavy gold paint. Bond then trails Goldfinger's Rolls Royce across Europe to his Alpine headquarters. Tilly Masterson, Jill's sister, is also trailing Goldfinger, but she is killed by Goldfinger's mute Asian servant, Oddjob. Bond learns that the Rolls Royce is solid gold and provides the means for smuggling, but he is captured and flown to Goldfinger's Kentucky headquarters by Pussy Galore, Goldfinger's beautiful pilot. Bond learns that Goldfinger is planning to rob Fort Knox by paralyzing the defense forces with gas sprayed from the planes of Pussy's flying circus, and then blowing up the fort with an atomic bomb borrowed from Communist China. Goldfinger proceeds with the plan, and Bond is handcuffed to the bomb; but, unknown to Goldfinger, Pussy, who has succumbed to Bond's charm, changes sides, and warns Washington. The plot is thwarted, and Bond manages to free himself from the bomb only seconds before detonation and then escapes attack from the razor-brimmed hat of Oddjob. Later, as Bond is being flown to meet the President, with Pussy aboard the Air Force jet, he is confronted by Goldfinger disguised as a U.S. general. During a fight, Goldfinger is killed when he is sucked out of the plane window; Bond and Pussy parachute to safety.
In the 1890s, The River Queen , a family-oriented showboat owned by Captain Sam Jackson, docks in the small Mississippi town of Ironville, with a new show featuring actor Dexter Broadhurst. Also on board the ship is Dexter's bumbling but good-hearted assistant, Sebastian Dinwiddie. Just as the showboat arrives in town, gamblers Crawford, Bonita Farrow and Bailey are ordered to leave Ironville by the sheriff. Seeing an opportunity to make some real money, the three arrange to meet Captain Sam at the Gilded Cage saloon in St. Louis, and there wine and dine him. Despite the best efforts of Dexter and Sebastian to save the naïve seaman's investment, the three win controlling interest in The River Queen in a dishonest poker game. Crawford, Bonita and Bailey then set up a crooked gambling operation on the ship, agreeing to leave once Captain Sam pays them $15,000. After one of his customers is shot during a gambling dispute, Captain Sam publicly condemns his partners. Although Bonita warns him that another such outburst will land him and his performers ashore, Crawford begins to have pangs of guilt about his friends's treatment of the showboat performers, as well as romantic feelings for Caroline, Captain Sam's beautiful daughter. Meanwhile, Dexter and Sebastian break into Bailey's room whie he is sleeping to search for Captain Sam's promissory notes, but find nothing. Later, after Sebastian exposes a crooked dice game at one port, Bonita offers to play Captain Sam a single game of poker for the full interest in The River Queen . Unknown to Bonita, Crawford has rigged the deck so that the seaman will win, and in the ensuing mêlée, Dexter and Sebastian manage to capture Bailey and all his men. Bonita and Bailey are then arrested, and as his reward, Sebastian is finally given a role in The River Queen's latest production, playing "Little Eva" in Uncle Tom's Cabin .
A lone gopher tunnels under the pristine fairways of Bushwood Country Club, where teenaged caddy Danny Noonan works to pay for upcoming college expenses. Danny often caddies for playboy Ty Webb, an intuitive golfer who can sink a putt while blindfolded. Danny, who is from a large family, explains his financial and career uncertainties to Ty, but Ty cannot relate to Danny's problems and encourages him to get in touch with the force in the universe. As Danny and Ty finish their round, snobbish Judge Smails, president of Bushwood, spots the mischievous gopher stealing a hole marker and destroying the course. Incensed, Smails orders the head groundskeeper to rid the course of all gophers. The head groundskeeper, in turn, delegates the job to his assistant, the imbecilic Carl Spackler. At the caddy shack, Danny's boss, Lou Loomis, announces that the recipient of the club's caddy scholarship died from severe anxiety attack during summer school. Seeing an opportunity to fund his education, Danny makes inquiries about the scholarship. Meanwhile, in Bushwood's golf store, Smails is insulted by the aggressive and vulgar Al Czervik, a wealthy developer in town to survey a condominium project. On the course, Smails bickers with Al, who heckles the pompous Smails and his party comprised of Smails's friends, the Bishop and Dr. Beeper. Danny, who hopes to curry favor and win the scholarship, volunteers to caddy for Smails. While overlooking Smails's cheating, Danny talks about his inability to pay for an education and falsely claims he wants to be a lawyer, but Smails brushes Danny's clumsy pleas for financial assistance aside. Smails's attention is focused on Al, who plays loud music, drinks beer and continues to harass him. Enraged by Al, Smails throws his putter, hitting a woman and knocking her unconscious. After Danny takes the blame for the incident, Smails warms to him and says that Danny might get the scholarship if he wins the upcoming caddy tournament. Meanwhile, Carl begins his assault on the gopher's tunnel by hosing water into it, but the gopher escapes and geysers of water flood the course. During dinner at the club's restaurant, Al continues to insult Smails and makes vulgar jokes loud enough for all to hear. Ty flirts with Smails's promiscuous niece, Lacey, who later accompanies him home for a sexual encounter. That night, Carl attempts to kill the gopher by dressing in camouflage, attaching a large flashlight to a rifle and aiming at the varmint as he exits his hole, but the gopher escapes. The next day, when Danny and another caddy, Tony, compete in the caddy golf tournament, Danny wins by sinking a putt on the final green. While congratulating Danny, Smails invites him to mow his lawn and attend the forthcoming christening of his sloop. At the launch, Danny becomes distracted by Lacey, who takes him home to have sex. As the ceremony proceeds, Al, who is boating in his cruiser, sees Smails's party and speeds toward them, disturbing other boaters in his path and dropping anchor through the deck of Smails's sloop. When Smails returns home, he walks in on Danny and Lacey's tryst, and chases Danny from the house with golf club in hand. Danny spends the night in the caddy shack, where, the next morning, his girl friend, Maggie, tells him she believes she is pregnant. Danny offers to marry her, but Maggie refuses and says the baby might not be his. Danny is summoned to Smails's office. Rather than the punishment Danny expects, Smails asks him to keep quiet about his relations with Lacey and be his "pal." Later in the day, Smails argues with Al, who intends to buy the country club. To settle their dispute, Al suggests they shoot a round of eighteen holes for $20,000 with teams of two--Smails and Dr. Beeper vs. Al and Ty. Eventually, everyone agrees, including Ty, who has no interest in competing but is provoked by Smails's arrogance. Before the game, Danny encounters a jubilant Maggie who has learned she is not pregnant. Relieved, Danny confides he is unhappy with the way he has ingratiated himself with Smails to win the scholarship, but Maggie assures him that he is a good guy who will do the right thing. While Carl prepares a final assault to rid the course of gophers with plastic explosives, the four golfers begin their showdown. Danny reluctantly caddies for Smails to keep his chance for the scholarship alive. Ty, Smails and Dr. Beeper begin shooting well, but Al plays terribly. After the initial nine holes and a raising of the stakes to $40,000, Al feigns an arm injury and claims he needs a substitute. When Ty chooses Danny as Al's replacement, Al offers to make it worth Danny's while. In defiance of Smails, Danny agrees to play, knowing he has forfeited the scholarship. Danny plays well, allowing his team to tie with Smails and Dr. Beeper before the last green. Dr. Beeper and Ty miss their final putts, but Smails, using his trusty old "Billy Baroo" putter, sinks his. With the game on the line, Danny prepares his final shot when Al ups the ante to $80,000. Danny's putt stops just short of the hole, resting on the lip. Just then, Carl detonates the explosives, shaking the course and knocking Danny's ball into the cup. Smails's beloved course is destroyed and, in the wake of the destruction, Carl escapes and so, too, does the gopher.
In 1928, Edwin Dennis completes his last will and testament stating that, upon his death, his only son Patrick will be reared by his sister, Mame Dennis, under the conservative eye of banker Dwight Babcock. The day after the will is signed, Dennis drops dead and his faithful Irish servant, Norah Muldoon, takes the young Patrick from Chicago to Mame's residence at 3 Beekman Place, New York City. They arrive during a party, in which the flamboyant Mame is graciously entertaining with breezy charm and bootlegged alcohol. Among the Bohemian guests are a man and his monkey, the headmaster of a nudist school, a composer and his wife, artists of all kinds, someone who looks like Gertrude Stein and a non-English-speaking Orthodox Lithuanian bishop. Upon realizing that Patrick is her nephew, Mame invites him to join the party and he hungrily eats caviar, which he calls "fishberry jam." Afterward, Mame instructs Patrick to write down all the words he heard that he did not understand and promises that she will "open doors" that he "never dreamed existed." Two weeks and thirteen cocktail parties later, Norah and Patrick have settled into the eccentric household with Mame's houseboy, Ito, her best friend, actress Vera Charles, who sleeps off hangovers in one of Mame's extra rooms, and Mame's boyfriend, publisher Lindsay Woolsey, who also visits frequently. When Babcock arrives to check on Patrick, the well-mannered boy skillfully mixes him a martini. Babcock wants to enroll Patrick in an "exclusive and restricted" boys' school and Mame pretends to agree. Later, when Babcock learns that Patrick is enrolled at Acacius Page's experimental school in Greenwich Village, he insists on sending the boy to a boarding school, breaking the hearts of both Mame and Patrick, who have grown close. In the stock market crash of 1929, Mame loses her fortune and then breaks off with Lindsay, because she refuses to marry for security. Needing a job, she takes a small role in Vera's new play, but, unable to be inconspicuous in her tiny role, Mame ad-libs, jangles her jewelry and catches her bracelets on Vera's costume during the play's New Haven tryouts, turning the drama into comedy. Only Patrick is impressed with her performance and she is soon looking for another job. After failing as a switchboard operator, Mame takes a job as a sales clerk at Macy's department store during the pre-Christmas season. That job, too, is short-lived, because Mame can only write sales slips that are "Cash On Delivery." With no money coming in, Mame's close-knit household struggles to have a meaningful, if meager, Christmas. Norah, who finds Mame "odd, but lovin'", and Ito have stayed on without being paid and settle the butcher's bill with their own savings as a Christmas present. Soon after, oil millionaire Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside knocks on the door, after having seen Mame at Macy's and consequently searching the city for her. He invites them out to dinner, and later, to his Georgia plantation. Although Beauregard is captivated by Mame, his family is not, and Sally Cato McDougal, a neighbor who has failed to capture Beauregard's heart, tries to sabotage their blooming relationship. When Mame, to please Beauregard, claims untruthfully that she can ride a horse, Sally arranges a foxhunt and gives Mame an untrainable horse to ride. Although Mame has difficulty controlling the horse, at the end of the hunt, she is holding the exhausted fox and the impressed Beauregard proposes to her in front of everyone. For their honeymoon, the newlyweds embark on an extended world tour, and Patrick, now a university student, joins them during holidays. While skiing the Matterhorn, Beauregard, who is a camera buff, falls over a cliff to his death while taking a picture and the grieving Mame continues traveling alone, revisiting the places she and Beauregard had been. When she eventually returns to Beekman Place, Patrick, believing Mame needs a project, has arranged for her to write her memoirs, which Lindsay will publish. To assist Mame, Patrick hires a stenographer, timid and frumpy Agnes Gooch, to take dictation and an Irish poet, Brian O'Bannion, to serve as her editor. For the next few months, Mame dictates to Agnes, and O'Bannion lives well and does little. Unexpectedly one day, Patrick arrives, wanting Mame to meet his girl friend, Gloria Upson. Claiming that Gloria is from "good conservative stock," Patrick admits that he is ashamed of Mame's "peculiarities" and begs her to act normal when Gloria visits. Sadly, Mame realizes that Patrick has become a product of Babcock's choice of schooling: "beastly," "bourgeois" and a "snob." Although Patrick has embraced the opposite of everything she believes in, Mame loves him deeply and says she will do anything for him. As Patrick is to arrive with Gloria within the hour, Mame breaks a date to attend a party with O'Bannion and dresses up Agnes to escort him. To calm Agnes, Mame gives her a whiskey, which the frightened woman is unused to drinking, and, for courage, tells her the motto by which she lives: "Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death." When Patrick and the spoiled and shallow Gloria arrive, they tell Mame that they are already engaged. Agnes returns the next day, alone and remembering little of her adventure. Soon, Mame journeys to Connecticut to meet Gloria's family, the bigoted and gauche Claude and Doris Upson. The Upsons have planned the children's wedding, decided on Patrick's career and even ask Mame to pay for half of the cost of property adjacent to theirs for a wedding present. Mame learns that the Upsons have a double motive for choosing that particular wedding gift, as they wish to prevent a Jewish man from buying the property and moving into the neighborhood. While secretly abhorring the Upsons, Mame offers to have them come to Beekman Place for an "intimate family dinner" in the near future. A few months later, final preparations are being made for the dinner. Patrick is horrified to find Agnes several months pregnant by O'Bannion, who has not been seen since the night of the party. Patrick insists that she must go upstairs when the Upsons arrive. Upon meeting Mame's new secretary, Pegeen Ryan, who is hanging an odd-looking sculpture in Mame's newly redecorated foyer, Patrick jokes and temporarily regains his former, unpretentious charm. When Gloria, the Upsons and Babcock arrive, Mame directs them to sit in her new, avant-garde seating area that can be raised and lowered by the push of a button. For hors d'oeurves, she serves pickled rattlesnake and a flaming beverage in a martini glass, bewildering her guests as to how to drink it. Agnes waddles down to take a calcium pill, and then cries when Doris asks about her "husband." After Acacius, Vera and Lindsay arrive, Mame passes out chapters from the galleys of her book for all to read. At first Patrick is embarrassed, but soon begins to reminisce. Mistaking Pegeen for Patrick's intended, Vera toasts them. Gloria, wanting attention, tells a meaningless story that embarrasses everyone but her parents. The Upsons are shocked when Vera points out that Mame's book will be the "raciest" of the year, but are even more scandalized when they learn that Agnes is unwed. When a telegram from O'Bannion arrives, demanding money and claiming that he and Agnes are married, Mame congratulates the relieved Agnes. Offended, Gloria expresses her disapproval of Patrick's family and after Patrick calls her selfish and empty headed, she breaks off their engagement. Mame then announces that she is donating money to build a home for refugee children on the lot next to the Upsons'. Infuriated, the Upsons inadvertently cause their seats to elevate, and after disentangling themselves, leave in a huff. Babcock berates Mame for ruining his carefully laid plans for Patrick, but Mame says she could not watch her nephew be "shut in a safe-deposit box." Patrick simply thanks her and, years later, watches with his wife Pegeen as Mame lures their entranced son Michael through "open doors" he "never dreamed existed."
During a training exercise in the middle of the Indian Ocean, U.S. Naval pilot Pete "Maverick" Mitchell disregards orders to land his plane when fellow pilot, "Cougar," has a panic attack after dodging oncoming Russian MiG aircrafts. Although low on fuel, Maverick guides Cougar back to the ship. After being reprimanded by their commander for failing to follow orders, Maverick and his best friend, Nick "Goose" Bradshaw, learn they will be sent to "Top Gun," the Navy's elite fighter jet program, to train to become the best pilots in the nation. Maverick expects to be the best pilot in his class, but Goose believes that a classmate named "Ice" will earn the honor because he of his well-known "nerves of steel" and competitive nature. At a local bar, Ice taunts Maverick and Goose as being "second string," and only making the program because Cougar lost his nerve. Maverick sings karaoke to impress a pretty blonde named Charlotte "Charlie" Blackwood, and continues his pursuit by following her into the women's bathroom. Maverick admits his sophomoric bet with Goose to try to convince her to have sex with him on the Formica countertop, but Charlie artfully discourages his attempts at seduction. However, as Charlie walks past Goose, she brazenly claims that Maverick scored and was "magnificent." The next morning, Charlie arrives at Maverick's class, in her official capacity as an astrophysicist and civilian specialist in enemy aircraft. Seeing her, Maverick buries his head in humiliation. As Charlie explains the MiG's limitations, Maverick contradicts her, based on his experience in the Indian Ocean. Charlie realizes that Maverick is the unorthodox pilot whose exploits are well documented at the Pentagon. Charlie is intrigued, and wants to know more about the MiG's capabilities, but Maverick suggests she review his classified files for information. In the locker room, co-pilots Ice and "Slider," along with Maverick and Goose claim victory after a training exercise. Ice declares that he does not approve of Maverick's risky behavior, and predicts it will lead to his downfall. Commanding officer Mike "Viper" Metcalf reprimands Maverick and Goose for breaking two rules: flying below 10,000 feet and doing a flyby of the control tower without permission. Viper warns that any more stunts will get them tossed out of the program. Later, Goose suggests that every time Maverick flies he is competing with the memory of his pilot father, Duke Mitchell. Maverick's recklessness makes Goose nervous, who wants to graduate and support his wife, Carole, and their child. Maverick promises not to let him down. The next day, Charlie gives Maverick some pointers about his flying. As they flirt, she tells him she does not date students. However, she hands him a piece of paper with a written invitation to meet her for dinner. When he arrives at her house, Maverick discovers that Charlie likes the same music as his deceased mother, and reveals that his fighter pilot father died in combat under mysterious circumstances. Maverick does not believe that error led to his father's death, but Charlie suggests the memory is holding him back and explains why his class performance is second best. When she comments that dating him will be complicated, Maverick thanks her for dinner and leaves without making a pass. In class, Viper advises pilot trainees to save their aircraft if they find themselves in a bad position with the enemy. He and Charlie highlight Maverick's recent performance as an example of what not to do, even though he was successful. A classmate tells Maverick that his flying is the "gutsiest" he has ever seen. After class, Maverick ignores Charlie, and drives away on his motorcycle. She speeds after him in her car until he pulls over. After heatedly arguing her admonishment against him in class, she admits that she had to make an example of him to hide the fact that she has fallen in love with him. Charlie tells Maverick that his flying skill shows signs of genius, but she fears being accused of favoritism. Afterward, they go to Charlie's home and make love. Halfway through the Top Gun program, Ice is in first place for the trophy and Maverick is two points behind. During a training exercise, Maverick abandons his wingman, "Hollywood," to pursue Viper, but is blocked by "Jester," another flight instructor. Later, Jester praises Maverick's flying but criticizes him for leaving his wingman. Ice complains that Maverick's attitude is dangerous and wants to know whose side he is on. Maverick admits he made a mistake and promises Goose that it will not happen again. In time, Maverick and Ice both pursue Jester during another training exercise. When Maverick's aircraft goes into an uncontrollable spin, he and wingman, Goose, are forced to eject from the plane as it plunges toward the ocean. Goose pulls Maverick's ejection handle when he cannot reach it, but upon pulling his own, his head slams into the canopy, and Goose is killed instantly. Subsequently, Maverick blames himself for Goose's death, even though he is cleared of any wrongdoing in the accident. He is returned to flight status, but his newfound anxieties cause him to underperform. Instructor Jester is concerned that Maverick will not bounce back from Goose's death, but Viper insists that Maverick keep flying. In the locker room, Ice offers his condolences, but Maverick quits the program. Charlie points out all the evidence that Maverick was not at fault, but she is unable to persuade him. Maverick visits Viper at home and learns that he flew with Maverick's father, "Duke" Mitchell. Viper claims that Maverick is a lot like his father, but is a better pilot. Viper recalls that Duke stayed in a vicious dogfight and saved three other planes before he was killed. He encourages Maverick to attend his graduation the following day, but supports his decision to quit without disgrace if he chooses. Arriving late to the ceremony, Maverick congratulates Ice for winning the trophy for "Best Fighter Pilot." After Viper hands out their next assignments, Maverick and several pilots are sent aboard an aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean, where Maverick is tasked to backup Ice and Hollywood during a rescue operation. Ice's complaints about Maverick are ignored. Once the pilots are in the air, five MiGs ambush them. Hollywood's plane is shot down, and he ejects. As Maverick gets the order to join the fight, Ice and Slider are outnumbered, but repeatedly dodge enemy fire. Ice and Slider are desperate for Maverick's help, but he retreats. However, after clutching Goose's dog tags, he gathers his courage, and fires a missile at the MiG chasing Ice and Slider. The missile shears off a wing and the MIG goes down. Ice blows up another MiG, but a second enemy plane riddles the side of his plane with bullets, and Ice is forced to shut down an engine to stabilize his aircraft. Maverick employs a few fancy maneuvers to shoot down two other MiGs. Sensing defeat, the remaining MiGs peel away, ending the conflict. The ship's crew greets the returning pilots with cheers. Ice tells Maverick that he is still dangerous but can be his wingman anytime. Maverick smiles and comments that Ice is welcome to be his wingman, and the two fighter pilots embrace. Sometime later, Maverick throws Goose's dog tags into the sea. Several newspapers describe Maverick's heroic rescue. As a reward, Maverick is offered his choice of assignments. When he chooses to teach at Top Gun, his commanding officer chuckles. In time, at a diner near the flight school, Maverick hears someone play a familiar song on the jukebox. He searches the diner and finds Charlie, who admits that she has returned from her new job in Washington, D.C., to be with him. Maverick smiles and admits that things could be complicated.
At Welton Academy, an elite, all-boys preparatory school in Vermont, headmaster Nolan welcomes students and parents in a ceremony celebrating the start of fall semester, 1959. The boys are asked to repeat the school's "four pillars" – tradition, honor, discipline, excellence – and are reminded that seventy-five percent of last year's graduating class went on to study at Ivy League universities. Mr. Nolan introduces a new English teacher, a Welton alumnus named John Keating, and, later, greets parents as they bid goodbye to their sons. An introverted new student, Todd Anderson, meets his roommate, Neil Perry, whose overbearing father barges into their dormitory room and demands that Neil drop one of his extracurricular activities in favor of his studies. Meanwhile, Todd suffers from feelings of inadequacy because his older brother, Jeffrey, graduated Welton as valedictorian. On the first day of class, John Keating leads his students into a hallway to view old photographs of former students, reminding everyone that they are now dead. He quotes Walt Whitman's poem about Abraham Lincoln, "O Captain! My Captain!" and invites the students to address him as their captain. Next, he instructs Gerard Pitts to read a line from a Robert Herrick poem, "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time," and acquaints the boys with the phrase "Carpe diem," Latin for "Seize the day." As Neil and Todd examine the photographs of their predecessors, Keating whispers "Carpe diem" into the students' ears. That evening, Neil invites Todd to join his friends in a study group, but Todd declines. Another study group regular, Knox Overstreet, leaves campus to have dinner at the home of family friends, the Danburrys. There, he meets Chris Noel, the girl friend of Mr. Danburry's son, Chet, and becomes smitten with her. Returning to the dormitory, Knox announces that he has just met the most beautiful girl he has ever seen. The next day, Keating asks Neil to read a chapter from their textbook titled Understanding Poetry, which outlines a metric to determine the value of a poem. Denouncing the concept of measuring a poem's worth, Keating instructs the class to rip the chapter from their books. Later, when they find the Welton annual from Keating's senior year, the boys pore over his entry and notice "Dead Poets Society" listed as one of his interests. When they ask him about it, Keating explains that he and his friends used to gather at an Indian cave on school grounds and read poems by the Romantics, in addition to their own works. Inspired, Neil forms a new Dead Poets Society, including the free-spirited Charlie Dalton, bookish Steven Meeks, strait-laced Richard Cameron, Gerard Pitts, Knox, and Todd, who agrees to participate by taking meeting minutes instead of reading aloud. Keating leaves Five Centuries of Verse, the book used by the original Dead Poets Society, in the dormitory for Neil to find. At their first meeting in the cave, Neil reads Keating's opening statement, scrawled inside the book, a quote from Henry David Thoreau's Walden. For the rest of the meeting, the boys share food hoarded from the dining hall, read poems, and listen to Charlie Dalton's original verse. In another class, Keating asks the students to stand on top of his desk to gain new perspective and find their own voice. He assigns the boys to write an original poem, to be read aloud the following Monday, and tells Todd he knows the assignment must terrify him. Later, as Todd works on his poem, Neil announces plans to audition for a local production of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Todd remarks that Neil's father will not approve, but Neil does not intend to tell him, insisting that he is going to do what he wants for the first time in his life. After he wins the role of "Puck," Neil forges permission notes from Nolan and his father. Back in class, Knox reads his love poem, "To Chris," aloud, and the boys mock him. Keating calls Todd to the front of class, but he refuses, saying he did not complete the assignment. The teacher encourages Todd to believe in himself and draws him out of his seat. Upon Keating's prompts, Todd composes an impromptu poem that impresses his classmates. At another Dead Poets Society meeting, Charlie plays saxophone and Knox complains that he will kill himself if he cannot have Chris. He is inspired to call her, and Chris invites him to a party at Chet's house. When Keating takes his class into a courtyard and asks three boys to walk together, the boys quickly match their strides and begin to march. Keating uses their behavior to demonstrate the dangers of conformity, then encourages the boys to establish their own style of walking as Nolan observes the exercise from afar. That night, Neil finds Todd sitting alone with a shrink-wrapped desk set. He admits that it is his birthday, and his parents sent him the same gift they sent the year before. Neil makes light of the situation by suggesting the desk set is aerodynamic and encouraging Todd to toss it over a ledge. Knox goes to Chet's party and gets drunk, eventually sitting down next to a sleeping Chris and daring to kiss her forehead. As his friend points out the transgression, Chet attacks Knox and threatens him to stay away. Charlie tells the others that he entered a column in the school newspaper on behalf of the Dead Poets Society, demanding that girls be admitted to Welton. The group panics as Nolan announces an inquiry into the offending article. Charlie confesses and receives corporal punishment, but refuses to name his cohorts. Later, Keating reprimands Charlie, telling him to use better judgment. Although Neil's father finds out about his participation in A Midsummer Night's Dream and forbids him from appearing onstage, Neil decides to perform anyway, lying to Keating that his father reluctantly gave him permission. Meanwhile, Knox goes to Chris's school and reads her a poem in front of classmates. In turn, she comes to Welton to warn him that Chet plans to retaliate, but Knox charms her with his persistence and convinces her to accompany him to Neil's play. With Keating and the Dead Poets Society in the audience, Neil delivers a bravura performance as "Puck"; however, his father arrives during the play and forces him to return home after the performance, announcing plans to remove Neil from Welton and enroll him in a military academy. Devastated, Neil waits until his parents are asleep, then retrieves a gun from his father's desk and shoots himself. Hearing the gunshot, Mr. Perry rushes downstairs to find his son's dead body. Nolan announces to grieving students that an investigation into Neil's death will be conducted. At a meeting of the Dead Poets Society, Cameron reveals that he confessed about the group to Nolan, who plans to implicate Keating in Neil's suicide. Only Charlie is unwilling to comply with Nolan's investigation, and he is expelled. The others sign a document that claims Keating abused his authority and encouraged Neil to perform onstage despite his father's disapproval. Keating is fired, and Nolan arrives to take over his class. He begins by asking Cameron to read from the Understanding Poetry chapter that was ripped out upon Keating's orders. A frustrated Nolan provides his own text for Cameron to read, while Keating arrives to collect his personal belongings. Todd apologizes for signing the letter, then stands on his desk and says, "O captain, my captain." Nolan shouts at him to get down, but Knox follows suit, as do Pitts and Meeks. Before he leaves, half the students stand on their desks, and Keating tells the boys, "Thank you."
Italian-American widow Loretta Castorini walks to her bookkeeping jobs in New York City. That evening, at Grand Ticino restaurant, businessman Johnny Cammareri nervously proposes to the thirty-seven-year-old Loretta, who insists he bend on one knee and present her with his pinky ring. However, she warns that her previous marriage was cursed with bad luck because there was no proper ceremony. Loretta then drives Johnny to the airport, where he is leaving to visit his dying mother in Sicily, Italy. While Loretta insists on setting a wedding date, Johnny is unsure when he will return, but they agree to wed in exactly one month. Before getting on his plane, Johnny gives Loretta the business card of his estranged brother, Ronny Cammareri, whom he wants to invite to the wedding. Returning to her family home in Brooklyn with a bottle of champagne, Loretta tells her father, Cosmo, about the engagement, but he warns that Loretta is unlucky in love. Although she insists her luck will change if she has a proper ceremony, Cosmo is suspicious of Johnny and refuses to support the marriage. When Cosmo awakens his wife, Rose, to tell her the news, she is relieved to learn that Loretta does not truly love her future husband. The following day, Cosmo's aged father walks his five dogs to a local cemetery and regales his comrades with family woes, since Cosmo still refuses to pay for the wedding. One friend chimes in that there will be a full moon that evening, and the elder Castorini declares that the lunar event will provoke romance. In the morning, Johnny telephones Loretta from his mother's deathbed in Sicily and reminds her to find Ronny. However, Loretta is more concerned about Johnny's failure to announce the marriage to his mother. Still, she telephones Ronny at the family business, the Cammareri Bros. Bakery, but is unable elicit his sympathy. She walks to the bakery and finds Ronny in the cellar, stoking the oven fires. Seething with rage, Ronny reports that his brother, Johnny, robbed him of his life and reveals his prosthetic left hand. Five years ago, Ronny was also engaged, but Johnny distracted him with a bread order, and Ronny accidentally ran his hand through a slicer. In turn, his fiancée left him for another man. Although Loretta points out that Johnny was not at fault, Ronny fumes that his brother should not be entitled to the same joy of marriage that he was denied. However, he agrees to talk to Loretta in his apartment above the bakery. There, Loretta cooks him a steak and reveals that her deceased husband was hit by a bus. Loretta argues that Ronny is not a victim, but rather a wolf that felt trapped by his pending marriage five years ago; he mangled his hand intentionally, just as a wolf would chew off its own foot, to break free from a snare. Ronny counters that Loretta is losing her head by marrying Johnny out of convenience instead of love. He knocks over the kitchen table, kisses Loretta passionately, and carries her to his bed to make love. Meanwhile, Loretta's philandering father, Cosmo, presents his mistress, Mona, with a gold bracelet. Sometime later, at the Castorini home, Loretta's uncle, Raymond Cappomaggi, reminisces about a moonlight courtship he witnessed years ago, between Cosmo and his sister, Rose. However, Cosmo dismisses the conversation, and Rose senses her husband's infidelity. In the morning, Loretta awakens in Ronny's bed but insists on going through with her marriage to Johnny. When Ronny declares his love, she slaps his face, ordering him to "snap out of it." Ronny promises to stay away from Loretta on condition she join him at the Metropolitan opera that evening. After confessing her sins in church, Loretta sees her mother praying. Rose reveals her belief that Cosmo is having an affair. On her way home, Loretta stops at a salon to have her grey hair dyed and her face made up. She then purchases an evening gown and red stiletto-heeled shoes. That night, at Lincoln Center, Loretta and Ronny watch La Bohème while Rose dines alone at Grand Ticino restaurant. There, a regular customer named Perry is humiliated when his date throws her drink in his face. Rose sparks a conversation with Perry, invites him to join her table, and declares that men chase women because they fear death. As Perry walks Rose home arm in arm, they run into Cosmo's father, who does not acknowledge his daughter-in-law but assumes she is having an affair. Although Perry propositions Rose, she remains loyal to Cosmo. Back at the Met, Loretta catches her father with his mistress, Mona. Cosmo is equally distressed to see his daughter with a man other than her fiancé. After the opera, Ronny walks Loretta home and reflects that she is unwittingly attracted to his wolf-like qualities; a safe marriage to Johnny will kill her bold spirit. Realizing that Ronny has led her back to his apartment, Loretta insists on staying true to Johnny because the wedding will reverse her bad luck. In response, Ronny declares that love is not an ideal of perfection, but rather a purveyor of pain, heartbreak, and ruin. Unable to restrain her passion, Loretta reaches out for Ronny's prosthetic hand. Meanwhile, Johnny returns to New York City and takes a taxicab to Loretta's home. Discovering Loretta missing, Johnny tells Rose that his mother miraculously recovered. Rose is still pondering her husband's affair and asks Johnny why men chase women? In response, he refers to the Bible; ever since God took a rib from Adam to create Eve, men have felt a void near their hearts, and long to recover the loss. When Rose demands to know why men need more than one woman, Johnny confirms her belief that men fear death. The next morning, Loretta saunters home to receive the alarming news of Johnny's return. Ronny arrives at the Castorini brownstone unexpectedly, and insists on meeting Loretta's family as they convene at the breakfast table for oatmeal. When Rose asks Cosmo to stop seeing his mistress, he hits the table in anger, but agrees. Soon after, Johnny comes to the house and is shocked to see his brother; he assumes Ronny is there to "make peace." Johnny announces that his mother revived as soon as she learned about the pending marriage, but now he cannot go through with the wedding because he is suspicious that the ceremony will provoke his mother's death. Loretta is furious about the broken promise and grudgingly returns Johnny's pinky ring. Just then, Ronny proposes to Loretta. She demands the ring back from Johnny, and declares her love for Ronny. Champagne glasses are filled for a toast to "the family."
Actor and songwriter George M. Cohan is impersonating President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the musical show I'd Rather Be Right, by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, when he is summoned to meet the president at the White House. In response to the president's questions, George tells him the story of his life: George was born on the Fourth of July, 1878 to Jerry and Nellie Cohan, a pair of vaudeville actors. A short time later, his sister Josie is born and soon the family is touring the country as "The Four Cohans." The family gets a big break when they are hired to star in Peck's Bad Boy. At thirteen, George, the star of the play, is a success, but his self-importance is responsible for losing the Cohans several bookings. Several years later, George, now a young man, meets aspiring singer Mary when he is playing the part of an old man and she comes backstage to ask his sage advice about breaking into show business. The Cohans and Mary, who soon learns George's real age, go to New York, where George tries to sell the songs he has written. When he learns that The Four Cohans are losing work because of his reputation for imperious behavior, he pretends that his play has been sold so that the others will accept a booking without him. Later, in a bar, George overhears Sam H. Harris talking with Schwab, a potential backer, and offers him his new musical, Little Johnny Jones. Sam and George become partners and produce a number of plays that feature George's popular formula of success stories laced with patriotism. In the meantime, George proposes to Mary, Josie becomes engaged, and the older Cohans buy a farm and retire. It is the end of The Four Cohans and George takes this opportunity to write Popularity, a serious play. It fails miserably, but news of its failure is wiped out of the papers by the sinking of the Lusitania by the Germans in 1915. When the U.S. enters the war, George tries to enlist, but at thirty-nine, is too old to be a soldier. Unable to fight, George writes the inspirational song "Over There." After World War I, Cohan writes more shows. Josie and Nellie die and then George's father Jerry dies. Feeling his age, George dissolves his partnership with Sam so that he and Mary can take a much-needed rest. They travel to Europe and Asia, and end up on the Cohan farm. George pretends to enjoy his life, but he hates being out of the limelight. After a group of teenagers see George reading Variety and think that the headline "Stix Nix Hix Pix" is a form of jive talk, George realizes how much he still wants to be performing and gladly accepts Sam's offer to star in I'd Rather be Right. The president has listened quietly to George's story and now presents him with the Congressional Medal of Honor for his songs "Over There" and "It's a Grand Old Flag." George is the first actor to receive this honor, and he responds as he used to when he was with The Four Cohans, "My mother thanks you; my father thanks you; my sister thanks you; and I thank you." When George leaves the White House, a parade of soldiers and a band march by singing "Over There," and George proudly joins them.
In the summer of 1963, seventeen-year-old Frances "Baby" Houseman vacations with her family at Kellerman's Mountain House in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. The younger of two daughters, Baby is revered by her wealthy parents for her aspirations to attend college and join the Peace Corps. Within the first few days, she grows bored by the resort's family-oriented activities and sneaks into a secret staff party, where the guests participate in provocative "dirty" dancing. As she timidly watches from the sidelines, womanizing dance instructor Johnny Castle pulls her onto the dance floor for a brief lesson. One night, Baby learns that Johnny's longtime dance partner, Penny Johnson, has been impregnated by a smarmy hotel waiter named Robbie Gould. When Robbie refuses to help pay for an abortion, Baby asks to borrow money from her father, Dr. Jake Houseman. After reluctantly accepting the cash, Penny is forced to schedule the procedure on the same date as her upcoming show with Johnny at the Sheldrake, a neighboring hotel. Johnny worries they will lose the job, so Baby volunteers to fill in as Penny's replacement. Although Johnny is reluctant to teach her, Baby is a dedicated student and gradually becomes more confident of her abilities. The night of the performance, she anxiously blunders several moves, but Johnny is impressed by her hard work. Back at Kellerman's, Penny suffers complications from her botched abortion, and Baby runs to her father for help. Although he treats Penny, Dr. Houseman is disappointed in Baby for lying to him and forbids her to associate with Johnny, whom he mistakenly believes to be responsible for Penny's pregnancy. Once Dr. Houseman leaves, Baby sneaks back to Johnny's bungalow and apologizes for her father's prejudice. Coming from a working-class background, Johnny admits he has always had a low opinion of himself, but Baby insists he has inspired her to be a better person. After sharing a passionate dance, she and Johnny make love. The next morning, Dr. Houseman announces the family will be leaving early, but grudgingly changes his mind when Baby's older sister, Lisa, protests. Ignoring her father's warning, Baby continues her affair with Johnny. As the end of the season approaches, hotel management goads Johnny into changing the final dance routine for the closing night variety show while rudely ignoring all his suggestions. When Baby urges him to stand up for himself, Johnny angrily reminds her that she still keeps their relationship a secret from her family. Due to his deepening affection for Baby, however, Johnny refuses to continue providing sexual favors for Vivian Pressman, one of the resort's regular visitors. Early one morning, Vivian sees Baby leaving Johnny's bungalow. Jealous, she accuses Johnny of stealing from her husband and several of the other guests. To provide a legitimate alibi, Baby is forced to reveal that she spent the night in Johnny's cabin, once again upsetting her father. Despite her good intentions, however, Johnny is fired for consorting with Baby, and he leaves the resort. During the closing night show, Baby watches listlessly as Lisa sings a cheerless pageant number with members of the staff. Suddenly, Johnny interrupts the concert and pulls Baby onstage to perform the final dance of the season. They reprise the sensual mambo routine they danced at the Sheldrake, and successfully execute a difficult lift. Afterward, Dr. Houseman learns the truth about Penny's pregnancy and admits he misjudged Johnny. Baby and Johnny passionately embrace as the other guests join them on the dance floor.
Dorothy Gale, a Kansas farm girl, lives with her Auntie Em and Uncle Henry. When Almira Gulch, who owns half the county, brings a sheriff's order to take Dorothy's little dog Toto away to have the dog destroyed, because Toto bit Miss Gulch's leg, Auntie Em and Uncle Henry refuse to go against the law, and they give the dog to Miss Gulch. However, as Miss Gulch rides away on her bicycle with Toto in her basket, the dog escapes and returns home. Realizing that Miss Gulch will come back, Dorothy runs away with Toto. They come to the wagon of the egotistical, but kindly Professor Marvel, a fortune-teller and balloonist, who tricks Dorothy into believing that her aunt has had an attack because she ran away. Dorothy rushes home greatly concerned, but a cyclone's approach causes her difficulty, and by the time she gets to the farm, Auntie Em, Uncle Henry and the three farmhands have entered the storm cellar. Inside her room, Dorothy is hit on the head by a window and knocked unconscious. When she revives, she sees through the window that the house has risen up inside the cyclone. When she sees Miss Gulch, traveling in mid-air on her bicycle, transform into a witch on a broomstick, Dorothy averts her eyes. The house comes to rest in Munchkinland, a colorful section of the Land of Oz inhabited by little people, and lands on top of the Wicked Witch of the East. Knowing that the dead witch's ruby slippers contain magic, Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, through her powers, has them placed on Dorothy's feet before the dead witch's sister, the Wicked Witch of the West, can retrieve them. The Wicked Witch vows revenge. Glinda then suggests that the wonderful Wizard of Oz can help Dorothy get back to Kansas and instructs her to take the yellow brick road to the distant Emerald City, where the Wizard resides. Along the way, Dorothy meets a friendly scarecrow who laments that he is failure because he has no brain, an emotional tin man, who longingly describes the romantic life he would lead if he only had a heart, and a seemingly ferocious lion who actually lacks courage. Dorothy suggests that they all go with her to ask the Wizard for his help. With help along the way from Glinda to battle a spell of the Wicked Witch, the four friends reach the Emerald City, where in the great hall of the Wizard, they see a terrifying apparition that identifies itself as "Oz" and lambasts Dorothy's companions for their deficiencies. When the lion faints from fright, Dorothy rebukes the Wizard for scaring him, and the Wizard agrees to grant their requests if they will first prove themselves worthy by bringing him the broomstick of the Witch of the West. As they pass through a haunted forest on their way to the witch's castle, the witch sends an army of winged monkeys, who capture Dorothy and Toto. In her castle, when the witch threatens to have Toto drowned, Dorothy offers the slippers in exchange for her dog, but the witch cannot remove them, and she remembers that the slippers will not come off as long as Dorothy is alive. As the witch ponders the proper way to kill Dorothy, Toto escapes. The dog leads Dorothy's friends to the castle, where they rescue her, but the witch's guards soon surround them. After the witch sadistically says that Dorothy will see her friends and dog die before her, she ignites the Scarecrow's arm. Dorothy tosses a bucket of water to put out the fire, and when some water splashes in the witch's face, she melts. The guards and monkeys, relieved that the witch is dead, hail Dorothy and give her the broomstick. Upon their return to Oz, the Wizard orders Dorothy and her friends to come back the next day. As they argue, Toto snoops behind a curtain and pulls it back to reveal a man manipulating levers and speaking into a microphone, who then admits to the group that he is really the "powerful" Wizard. Greatly disappointed and angry at the sham, Dorothy calls him a bad man, but he retorts that while he is a bad wizard, he is a good man. He then awards the Scarecrow a diploma, the Lion a medal and the Tin Man a testimonial, and states that where he comes from, these things are given to men who have no more brains, courage or heart than they have. Confessing that he is a balloonist and a Kansas man himself, the Wizard offers to take Dorothy back in his balloon. However, as they prepare to leave, Toto leaps from the balloon to chase a cat, and after Dorothy goes to retrieve the dog, the balloon takes off without them. Glinda then comforts Dorothy and reveals that she has always had the power to return home, but that she had to learn it for herself. Dorothy says that she has learned never to go further than her own backyard to look for her heart's desire. After Dorothy tearfully kisses and hugs her friends, Glinda tells her to click the heels of the slippers three times with her eyes closed and to think to herself, "There's no place like home." This she does, and she awakens to find Uncle Henry and Auntie Em at her bedside. Professor Marvel, having heard that Dorothy was badly injured, comes by, and she begins to tell about her journey, which Auntie Em calls a bad dream. The farmhands come in, and Dorothy remembers them as her three friends in Oz and the professor as the Wizard. When Toto climbs on the bed, Dorothy says she loves them all and that she will never leave again, and she affirms to her aunt that there is no place like home.
In 1996, a diving team led by Brock Lovett explores the sunken R.M.S. Titanic in search of treasure, specifically a large blue diamond known as the "Heart of the Ocean." They discover a nude drawing made during the Titanic's voyage, in which the subject, Rose DeWitt Bukater, wears the Heart of the Ocean around her neck. The woman, now Rose Dawson Calvert, is brought to the research vessel to talk with Lovett. She recalls the beginning of the Titanic's voyage, in April 1912: in Southampton, England, seventeen-year-old Rose boards the ship with her mother, Ruth, and her fiancé, Cal Hockley. Rose despises Hockley but has resigned to marry him to restore her family's finances and social status. Nevertheless, she contemplates suicide by throwing herself off the ship. Meanwhile, Jack Dawson, a poor young artist, has boarded the Titanic via a third-class ticket won in a poker game. Dawson happens upon Rose and dissuades her from killing herself. Hockley reacts jealously when he discovers the two together, but Rose insists that Jack saved her from an accidental fall over the side of the ship. Hockley invites the young man to join them at dinner in the first-class dining saloon. Rose continues to enjoy Jack's company and sneaks away with him after the meal. Although she initially rejects his romantic advances, after spending more time with him, she agrees to pose for a nude sketch. In her room, she sits for him wearing only her Heart of the Ocean necklace—a gift from Cal. Afteward, they elude Cal's bodyguard, Mr. Lovejoy, by sneaking into the cargo hold, where they have sex inside a motorcar. When they return to an upper deck, Rose and Jack witness the Titanic crash into an iceberg. A mounting hysteria ensues as officers of the ship confront the likelihood that the vessel will sink. In the meantime, Hockley finds the nude sketch of Rose. At his behest, Lovejoy plants the Heart of the Ocean necklace inside Jack's pocket, and Jack is arrested for theft. As the ship begins to sink, passengers frantically board lifeboats. Rose separates from her mother and Hockley, and rushes to free Jack from the master-at-arms's office. Soon after, Jack and Hockley urge Rose to take an available seat on a lifeboat, but she cannot bear to leave Jack. An angry Hockley seizes Mr. Lovejoy's handgun and chases Rose and Jack into the first-class dining saloon, partially underwater. He shoots at them but misses. To save himself, he picks up a lost child and uses him to gain access to a lifeboat. Jack and Rose remain on the ship after all the lifeboats have been filled. Abandoned passengers fall or jump to their deaths as the ship's stern rises. When the vessel breaks into two, Jack and Rose are plunged into the ocean. He helps her climb onto a floating piece of wood but refuses to join her lest it sink. As he succumbs to hypothermia, Jack soothes Rose with a vision of her promising future. Only Rose survives the ordeal. She is brought aboard the rescue ship, R.M.S. Carpathia, where she narrowly avoids Hockley. Arriving in New York City, Rose registers her name as Rose Dawson, and begins her new life. Back in the present, elderly Rose recalls that Hockley ultimately killed himself after the stock market crash of 1929. Impacted by her story, Lovett changes his mind and abandons his search for the Heart of the Ocean. Secretly, Rose still has the diamond in her possession, after Hockley unwittingly returned it to her while the Titanic was sinking. She goes alone to drop the diamond into the ocean, just above the wreck. Later, in a dream, she and Jack are reunited on the Titanic as it was before it sank, surrounded by other passengers who applaud when they kiss.
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Wendy Mcnaughton the Monte Rio Movie Theater Graphic Picture
Source: https://www.afi.com/afis-100-years-100-movie-quotes/