The American Film Institute proudly curates lists to celebrate excellence in the art of the moving image. They reflect the collective opinion of a wide range of scholars, artists and experts who champion the power of the art form. We believe their greatest impact is to inspire personal, passionate discussions about what makes a great film and why. We encourage you to join in the conversation as we continue to pursue the revolutionary power of visual storytelling to share diverse perspectives, inspire empathy and drive culture forward.
Writer: Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, Edgar Allan Woolf, Noel Langley
Editor: Blanche Sewell
Cinematographer: Harold Rosson
Genre: Fantasy, Musical
Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.
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.
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid
Directors: Michael Curtiz
Producer: Jack L. Warner, Hal B. Wallis
Writer: Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, Howard Koch
Editor: Owen Marks
Cinematographer: Arthur Edeson
Genre: Romance
Production Company: Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Composer: Max Steiner
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."
Cast: Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds
Directors: Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen
Producer: Arthur Freed
Writer: Adolph Green, Betty Comden
Editor: Adrienne Fazan
Cinematographer: Harold Rosson
Genre: Musical comedy
Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.
Composer: Lennie Hayton
In 1927, fans gather at Hollywood's Chinese Theatre for the premiere of Monumental Picture's latest romantic epic, The Royal Rascal, starring the popular silent screen couple Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont. Don tells radio commentator Dora Bailey that his motto has always been "dignity" and relates the idyllic story of his childhood and rise to fame, all of which is complete fabrication. The audience applauds enthusiastically at the end of the swashbuckling film and asks for speeches from its stars, whom they think are a couple off-screen as well as on, but Don, who loathes his screechy-voiced co-star, insists that Lina merely smile. Assisted by studio boss R. F. Simpson, Don slips away from the cloying Lina and drives with his best friend, studio pianist Cosmo Brown, to the premiere party. On Hollywood Blvd., Cosmo's car breaks down, and Don is surrounded by fans. To escape the screaming mob, who have torn his tuxedo, Don jumps onto a passing car driven by Kathy Selden. She is frightened at first, but when a policeman tells Kathy who Don is, she offers him a ride to his house in Beverly Hills. Although Kathy says that she is a stage actress, who has seen only one of Don's films, she is actually a chorus girl at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub. After dropping Don off to change his clothes, Kathy drives to the party at R. F.'s house, where she will be performing. Don arrives at the party in time to see a short talking picture. Most of the guests are unimpressed by the new phenomenon, even when R. F. says that the Warner brothers are about to release a feature-length talking picture. When the entertainment starts, Don is surprised, but happy to see a scantily clad Kathy jump out of a cake, and tries to talk with her, but she thinks that he only wants to ridicule her. Just as a jealous Lina takes Don's arm, Kathy throws a cake at him, but misses, and hits Lina instead. Kathy quickly runs away, and Don cannot find her. Some weeks later, Warner Bros.' The Jazz Singer is a box office smash and audiences are clamoring for more talking pictures. As Don and Lina start their next film, The Dueling Cavalier, Cosmo makes a crack about all of their films being alike, and Don is stung, thinking that Kathy was right about words being necessary for real acting. Lina continues to complain about Kathy, whom she had fired, which makes Don dislike Lina even more, as he has not seen Kathy since the party. During a break in filming, R. F. announces that they are shutting down production and will resume in a few weeks as a talking picture. Cosmo happily anticipates unemployment, but R. F. makes him head of the new studio music department. Some time later, when a musical number is being filmed for another picture, Cosmo sees Kathy in the chorus. When Don shows up just as R. F. is about to offer Kathy another part, she confesses what happened at the party, but Don tells R. F. that it was not her fault and R. F. agrees. Later, when Kathy and Don are talking, he tells her that his "romance" with Lina is completely fabricated by fan magazines and Kathy confesses that she has seen all of his pictures. Don has difficulty revealing his feelings to Kathy until he takes her to a romantic setting on a sound stage. Soon preparations for The Dueling Cavalier begin with diction lessions for Lina and Don. Although Don is fine, Lina's voice shows little improvement. When filming resumes, director Roscoe Dexter becomes increasingly frustrated by Lina's voice and inability to speak into the microphone, but the picture is completed. When it is previewed on a rainy night in Hollywood, the audience laughs at Lina's voice, howls at synchronization problems, and leaves the theater saying it was the worst film ever made. Later that night, Cosmo and Kathy try to console Don, who thinks his career is over until Cosmo comes up with the idea to turn the film into a musical comedy and have Kathy dub Lina's voice. Don worries that this plan is not good for Kathy, but she convinces him by saying it will be for just one picture. The next day, R. F. loves the idea and they all conspire to keep Lina from finding out. To enhance the picture, they add a modern section in which Don can sing and dance the story of a Broadway hoofer. After the picture is finished, Don tells Kathy that he wants to tell the world how much he loves her, but as they kiss, Lina interrupts them and flies into a rage. She then starts her own publicity campaign proclaiming herself Monumental's new singing star. R. F. is angry, but Lina shows him her contract and he reluctantly agrees that she controls her own publicity. Lina then threatens to ruin the studio unless Kathy continues to dub her singing and speaking voice, but do nothing else. At the picture's premiere, the audience loves "Lina's" voice. Feeling triumphant, Lina boasts that Kathy will keep singing for her, and Don is furious. When the audience clamors for a song from Lina, Don hatches the idea of having Kathy stand behind a curtain and sing into a microphone as Lina pantomines the words. While Lina silently mouths "Singin' in the Rain," Don, R. F. and Cosmo pull the curtain and the audience laughs hysterically when they realize that Kathy is actually singing. Lina does not know what is happening until Cosmo takes the microphone from Kathy and starts singing himself. Lina runs off screaming, and an embarrassed Kathy starts to leave the theater, until Don tells the audience that she is the real star of the film and has her join him in a song. Finally, a billboard proclaims that Don and Kathy are co-stars of the new Monumental film Singin' in the Rain.
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal
Directors: Blake Edwards
Producer: Martin Jurow, Richard Shepherd
Writer: George Axelrod
Editor: Howard Smith
Cinematographer: Franz F. Planer
Genre: Comedy-drama
Production Company: Jurow--Shepherd Productions
Composer: Henry Mancini
Holly Golightly lives in a brownstone on Manhattan's swank East Side. Totally madcap, she has a partially furnished apartment, owns a cat with no name, gets rid of the "mean reds" by visiting Tiffany's, and is forever misplacing her door key, much to the dismay of her upstairs neighbor Mr. Yunioshi, a Japanese photographer. Holly makes her living in two ways: she receive $50 from her gentlemen escorts whenever she needs powder room money, and she is paid $100 for each weekly trip she makes to Sing Sing, where she visits Sally Tomato, an ex-mobster. One day Paul Varjak, a young writer who is supported by an older woman nicknamed "2-E," comes into Holly's life. Following one of Holly's wild cocktail parties, Paul unexpectedly meets Doc Golightly, a gentle Texan whom Holly married when she was only fifteen years old. Holly explains to Paul that the marriage was annulled long ago, and he helps her send the heartbroken Doc away. After a day on the town together, Paul realizes that he is in love with Holly and proposes to her; but she is determined to marry José, a South American millionaire. However, when it is publicly revealed that Holly has been innocently carrying narcotics ring information from Sally Tomato to his New York lawyer, Mr. O'Shaunessy, the stuffy José abandons her. Furious at everything and everyone, Holly throws Cat into the rain and decides to leave town, but Paul lectures her and then goes out to find Cat. Holly realizes how much she is giving up and races through the wet streets to a happy reunion with Paul and Cat.
Cast: Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Marjorie Reynolds
Directors: Mark Sandrich
Producer: Mark Sandrich
Writer: Claude Binyon, Elmer Rice
Editor: Ellsworth Hoagland
Cinematographer: David Abel
Genre: Musical comedy, Romance
Production Company: Paramount Pictures, Inc.
Composer: Robert Emmett Dolan
On Christmas Eve in New York, the performing trio of singer Jim Hardy, dancer Ted Hanover, and singer and dancer Lila Dixon, split up when Lila chooses to marry Ted and continue performing rather than marry fiancé Jim, who plans to quit performing to run a farm. After a year of struggling with farm work in Connecticut, and several weeks of recuperation in a sanitarium, Jim decides on a less exhausting occupation and opens Holiday Inn, a country-style inn which features live entertainment and is only open on holidays. As a way of stopping Linda Mason, an ambitious performer who works selling flowers, from pestering him, Ted's agent, Danny Reed, sends Linda to Connecticut to audition for Jim. The two are attracted to each other and Jim offers her a job. On New Year's Eve, after Lila jilts Ted so that she can marry a Texas millionaire, Ted travels to Holiday Inn to drown his sorrows. He arrives drunk, but immediately engages in a dance with Linda. The patrons all think that she is Ted's new dance partner and applaud as Ted collapses in a drunken stupor. In the morning, Ted cannot remember much about Linda but becomes determined to find her and make her his new dance partner. Jim does everything he can to thwart Ted's plans because he has fallen in love with Linda. Although Linda performs on Lincoln's birthday at the inn, Ted does not recognize her because Jim makes her wear blackface make-up for her number. Ted does find her on Valentine's Day, however, and insists that they perform together for Washington's birthday. Ted mercilessly pursues Linda to draw her away from Jim, and stays on at the inn through the next few holidays. When Jim overhears that Ted has brought two Hollywood film producers to see the Fourth of July show, he secretly asks his driver, Gus, who is picking Linda up at the train station, to make sure that she does not arrive in time for the show, and then invites Lila, who did not marry after all, to perform. Gus drives the car into a pond, and when Linda hitches a ride on the road, she is picked up by Lila. Unaware of Linda's identity, Lila tells Linda her story, and on the pretense of taking a shortcut, Linda makes sure Lila drives into the pond as well. Both women show up too late for the performance, but the producers offer to buy the idea of Holiday Inn to use as the basis of a musical. Having earned the enmity of all his friends because of his deception, Jim reluctantly agrees to the idea, but insists on remaining in Connecticut to write the music while Ted and Linda go to Hollywood. On Thanksgiving Day, when a lonely and dispirited Jim reads that Ted and Linda are engaged, his concerned housekeeper, Mamie, convinces him not to give up and to pursue Linda honestly. Jim arrives in Hollywood on Christmas Eve, just before Ted and Linda's wedding. Despite Ted and Danny's efforts, he manages to sneak onto a soundstage which has been set up like his Holiday Inn, and as Linda performs "White Christmas," the first song they ever sang together, Jim sings along and the two are happily reunited. Finally, on New Year's Eve, the two couples, Jim and Linda and Ted and Lila, perform together at Holiday Inn.
Cast: Anne Bancroft, Dustin Hoffman, Katharine Ross
Directors: Mike Nichols
Producer: Lawrence Turman
Writer: Calder Willingham, Buck Henry
Editor: Sam O'Steen
Cinematographer: Robert Surtees
Genre: Comedy-drama
Production Company: Lawrence Turman, Inc.
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.
Writer: Ted Sears, Webb Smith, Joseph Sabo, Otto Englander, William Cottrell, Erdman Penner, Aurelius Battaglia
Genre: Fantasy
Production Company: Walt Disney Productions
Composer: Paul J. Smith
Geppetto, a kindly old woodcarver, creates a little puppet boy of pine and names him Pinocchio. Because the old man, who has been generous and good all of his life, loves children and has none of his own, the Blue Fairy brings the marionette to life to be a son to him. She tells Pinocchio, however, that he must earn his right to become a real boy by exhibiting the virtues of truth, courage and selflessness. To aid him in his task, she makes Jiminy, a vagabond cricket who has snuck into Geppetto's workshop to spend the night, Pinocchio's conscience, dubbing him the "Lord High Keeper of the Knowledge of Right and Wrong." Pinocchio's first test comes the next morning, when, on his way to school, he is accosted by J. Worthington Foulfellow, a wily fox also known as "Honest John." Along with his daffy companion Gideon, Foulfellow convinces Pinocchio that he should become an actor in the puppet show belonging to Stromboli, a tyrannical puppeteer. Jiminy's protests that Pinocchio must go to school fall on deaf ears, and the little puppet is soon a big hit with Stromboli's audience. Seeing that Pinocchio is doing well, Jiminy decides that a successful actor does not need a conscience and leaves. All is not well, however, for the cruel Stromboli locks Pinocchio in a bird cage when he tries to leave after the show. After deciding to say goodbye to "Pinoc," Jiminy returns to Stromboli's wagon, where he is horrified to discover the puppet's predicament. Jiminy's efforts to pick the lock do not succeed, and as the companions despair, they are astonished to see the Blue Fairy, who questions Pinocchio about why he did not go to school. The flustered Pinocchio tells lie after lie, and his nose grows with each falsehood. The Blue Fairy rebukes Pinocchio, explaining that "a lie grows and grows until it's as plain as the nose on your face." After Pinocchio promises to reform, the beautiful fairy sets him free, and Pinocchio hastens with Jiminy toward home. Pinocchio is stopped again by Foulfellow, who tempts him to go to Pleasure Island, a magical place where boys can do anything they want. Pinocchio joins the other boys on the coach driven by a mysterious coachman, and soon is indulging in the cigars, beer and billiards offered at Pleasure Island. As Pinocchio plays with his new friend Lampwick, Jiminy discovers that the boys on the island transform into donkeys, which are then sold by the coachman. He then returns to the terrified Pinocchio, who has just seen Lampwick turn into a donkey. Pinocchio sprouts ears and a tail, but escapes with Jiminy before his transformation is complete. Upon their return home, they discover that Geppetto, Figaro, the kitten, and Cleo, the goldfish, have been swallowed by Monstro, a gigantic whale. With no thought for his own safety, Pinocchio voyages to the bottom of the sea, where he finds Geppetto, Cleo and Figaro alive in the whale's belly. After a joyful reunion with his father, Pinocchio hits upon the idea of making Monstro sneeze. After setting Geppetto's boat on fire, the little group escape on a raft when the smoke causes Monstro to sneeze. The irritated whale chases his former captives, and Pinocchio bravely rescues Geppetto at the cost of his own life. Geppetto, Figaro, Cleo and Jiminy sorrowfully return home, and as they are mourning, the Blue Fairy appears and turns Pinocchio into a real boy as a reward for his actions. She also gives Jiminy a gold badge for his services as Pinocchio's conscience, and as Geppetto and his son celebrate, Jiminy sings that "when you wish upon a star, your dreams come true."
Cast: Barbra Streisand, Robert Redford, Bradford Dillman
Directors: Sydney Pollack
Producer: Ray Stark
Writer: Arthur Laurents
Editor: John F. Burnett
Cinematographer: Harry Stradling, Jr.
Genre: Drama
Production Company: Columbia Pictures, Rastar Productions, Inc.
Composer: Marvin Hamlisch
One night during World War II, Jewish radio show director Katie Morosky recognizes the handsome naval officer asleep at a Manhattan bar as Hubbell Gardiner, with whom she attended college in the mid-1930s. Touching his face, Katie remembers their first attraction: A determined political activist and president of the Young Communist League, Katie gives a moving speech at a peace rally, but the rally turns sour when several students mock her sincerity with a sign reading “Any Peace but Katie’s Piece.” Angered and unable to formulate a humorous retort, Katie calls the onlookers fascists. Weeks later, Katie is surprised when her literature professor chooses to read the short story of star athlete Hubbell instead of her own. Although Katie had dismissed Hubbell as a spoiled, white Anglo-Saxon protestant, she is so discouraged by his writing talent that she throws her own story away, while secretly pining for him. Weeks later, Katie spots Hubbell at an outdoor café and crosses the street to avoid him, but affable Hubbell insists that the “puritan” celebrate the sale of his story with a beer. Unable to make small talk, Katie asks Hubbell who he really is under the nonchalant reserve. Despite their differences, Katie toasts to Hubbell’s yet-to-be-written first novel. Later in the year, Katie is working at the school dance with fellow activist Frankie McVeigh when Hubbell leaves his girl friend Carol Ann to dance a slow song with Katie, their first and only romantic encounter before graduating in 1937. Back in the present, Hubbell is startled to see Katie and, in his drunkenness, follows her home, where he collapses. Hoping for a romantic turn of events, Katie undresses and climbs into bed with Hubbell, who has sex with her without really being conscious of the act, then leaves abruptly the next morning. A week later, Hubbell, unable to find a hotel room, accepts Katie’s offer to stay at her apartment, where she reveals she has a copy of his first novel. Although embarrassed at its lack of success, Hubbell is eager to hear Katie’s opinion. Katie suggests that while the writing is good, his characters are too distant and, remembering a line from his college short story, asks Hubbell if life continues to be as easy as “ice cream” for him. Charmed by her frankness, Hubbell kisses Katie and a romantic love affair ensues. The couple is at ease alone, but at a party hosted by Hubbell’s college friend J. J., Katie is aggravated by the uptown crowd’s vacuous humor and jealous of Carol Ann, who is now J. J.’s girl friend. Months later, Hubbell shows the first eight chapters of his novel to Katie, who is overjoyed by his work. Knowing that Katie has little respect for Hollywood, Hubbell tells Carol Ann his plan to sell the book’s movie rights, knowing that she will respond with enthusiasm. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt suddenly dies in 1945, Katie, an ardent fan of his liberal policies, is overwrought with grief and seeks solace with Hubbell. Taking her to J. J.’s, Hubbell is humiliated when Katie refuses to tolerate the crowd’s insulting jokes about Eleanor Roosevelt. After vehemently castigating the crowd, Katie storms out, despite Hubbell’s decision to remain. She apologizes to Hubbell later for her tantrum and jokes that she will become more tolerant after taking classes in protestant cooking, but Hubbell decides they cannot reconcile their differences and leaves her. Days later, when a sleepless Katie begs Hubbell speak with her as a friend, he goes to her apartment and gives her sleeping pills and alcohol. Katie then forces Hubbell to admit that she is not the right “style” for him nor does she belong to his class. Enticed by Katie’s ferocious drive for both of them to achieve their best, Hubbell reunites with her. The couple marries and moves to Hollywood to make a film adaptation of Hubbell’s novel, financed in part by J. J., who is the film’s producer. While Katie works as a script reader and maintains their home, Hubbell and J. J. secure well-known director George Bissinger to make the picture. Hubbell and Katie easily fit into the social scene, including parties at Bissinger’s mansion attended by J. J., Carol Ann, George’s wife Vicki, agent Rhea Edwards and Paula Reisner, a political émigré who is disturbed by the growing anti-Communist sentiment in Hollywood. Tensions are rising in the film community as more people testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, which are heard on regular radio broadcasts. Hubbell selfishly resists taking a stand on the issue for fear that any political alliance will hurt his career, while Katie grows more upset by the discrimination. When the now pregnant Katie and others discover a government surveillance microphone hidden in Bissinger’s home, she quickly organizes a group to go to Washington D.C. to challenge the committee on the basis of First Amendment rights. Unable to convince his wife to remain in Hollywood, Hubbell accompanies her to Washington D.C. Outside the hearings, Katie loudly defends the Hollywood Ten, ten Hollywood writers and directors who, after refusing to name friends as Communist sympathizers, were blacklisted from work. When someone in the crowd calls her a “commie bitch,” Hubbell starts a fistfight, prompting the surrounding police to usher them away from the throngs of reporters and protestors. Once alone, Hubbell vehemently argues that Katie’s protests are pointless. Days later, desperate to keep some control of his novel, Hubbell agrees to make any cuts Bissinger requires to the screenplay. Defeated by his own compromise and feeling ostracized by his wife’s actions, Hubbell has an affair with Carol Ann, who is leaving J. J. and returning to New York. After a screening of the latest cut of Hubbell’s film, Katie confronts Hubbell about compromising the novel’s integrity and his affair with Carol Ann. Hubbell can only reply that their problems are deeper than the affair. Although J. J. suggests that, unlike the loss of Carol Ann, losing Katie would be something of consequence, Hubbell is unmoved. Returning home one evening, Hubbell claims that he had no ambition to finish his first novel or write another, and tells Katie that those were her dreams, not his. Finally realizing their differences are irreconcilable, Katie asks that Hubbell to remain with her only until the baby is born. Years later in Manhattan, the now remarried Katie is protesting the nuclear bomb, when she sees Hubbell with his new, ashe blonde wife. After cordial introductions are made, Katie learns that Hubbell is now an uninspired television writer. Katie invites Hubbell to her home to meet her new husband and see their daughter Rachel, but, knowing that a reunion is impossible, they sadly embrace and depart.
Cast: John Travolta, Karen Lynn Gorney, Barry Miller
Directors: John Badham
Producer: Robert Stigwood, Kevin McCormick
Writer: Norman Wexler
Editor: David Rawlins
Cinematographer: Ralf D. Bode
Genre: Drama
Production Company: RSO (Robert Stigwood Organization)
Composer: Barry Gibb
Nineteen-year-old Tony Manero swaggers through the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, on his way to work at a hardware store. His boss, Dan Fusco, likes that Tony charms customers, but he refuses the young man’s request for an advance. At home, Tony primps to go out, then rushes through dinner with his Italian-American parents, Frank, Sr., and Flo, his grandmother, and his younger sister, Linda, all of whom compare him unfavorably to his older brother, Frank, Jr., a Catholic priest. Outside, Tony’s friends Bobby C., Joey, Double J., and Gus, wait in Bobby C.’s car on their way to the 2001 Odyssey discotheque. Crowded and pulsing with music, the Odyssey is where Tony and his friends spend their weekends and their paychecks. Annette, one of the regulars, asks Tony to dance, but he squashes her romantic notions. Later, Tony notices a new girl, Stephanie Mangano. He retreats to another room in the club where Annette joins him, suggesting they be partners for the club’s upcoming dance competition. Tony makes it clear they will need to practice often, and the partnership is strictly about dancing, not dating. Joey interrupts because he wants Tony to get Double J. out of the car, where he is having sex with a girl whose name he does not know. The next morning, the five young men express their cynical views of the future, but Tony learns Fusco has given him a raise. That night, Tony’s father dismisses the pay increase and Tony angrily points out that the raise and the attention he gets for his dancing are the only positive acknowledgements he has ever received. Later, Tony meets Annette at a dance studio and she offers to make love with him, but Tony again insists the relationship remain platonic. When Tony notices Stephanie practicing in another room, he chases off Annette, but Stephanie is cool toward him. Returning home, Tony finds his family somber as Frank, Jr., the priest, has returned to announce that he is leaving the church. The next day, Tony is energized and invites Stephanie for coffee. She tells him she is not interested in him romantically, pointing out their six-month age difference and the cultural superiority she feels because she works in New York City at a public relations firm. She agrees to be Tony’s partner in the dance competition, but will not date him because he is immature and his life is going nowhere. Tony tells her that he wants to find other ways to experience the high he feels from dancing because the thrill will not last forever. Later, Tony’s friends inform him that Gus is in the hospital after being beaten by a Hispanic gang, the Barracudas. Bobby C. announces that he is getting married, but Tony dismisses the idea. He later informs Annette that he has found another dance partner for the competition. At the rehearsal studio, Tony and Stephanie begin to click, but when Stephanie again declines Tony’s invitation to coffee, he deems her pretentious. When Tony presses to know why they never discuss the romantic feelings that emerge from their dancing, Stephanie says he should have seduced without asking permission first. Later, Tony and his friends bring Frank, Jr., to the discotheque. While Bobby C. confides to Frank, Jr. that his girl friend is pregnant, Tony dances solo and the crowd clears the floor in appreciation. Frank, Jr., is impressed by his brother’s talent. Afterward, Tony is annoyed to learn from the doorman that Stephanie has not arrived. Annette corners Tony and suggests they can be lovers now that they are not dance partners, but Tony dismisses the idea until she threatens to have sex with one of his friends, instead. Tony escorts Annette to Bobby’s car, but their revelry is cut short when he discovers she is not using birth control. Later, the boys and Annette drive to the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. Tony, Joey, and Double J. climb the support cables and pretend to fall, frightening Annette. In the morning, a car arrives to take Frank, Jr. to a settlement house until he figures out his next move. He counsels Tony to pursue dancing and not let the family limit his dreams. Later, at the studio, Tony chides Stephanie for not going to the discotheque the previous night. After rehearsing, they join Tony’s friends for burgers and the boys’ rowdy behavior embarrasses Tony. Bobby C. hypothetically asks Stephanie what she would do if she was his pregnant girl friend, and she says she would choose an abortion over marriage. The next day, Tony’s boss refuses the boy’s request for the day off, and when Tony takes the day anyway, he is fired. Tony borrows Bobby C.’s car and promises to call his friend later. As Tony helps Stephanie move into her New York City apartment, an older man, Jay Langhart, is moving out. He kisses Stephanie and tells her to keep the furniture since she picked it out. Alone with Stephanie, Tony asks what is going on and she confesses to having an affair with Jay to boost her career. Upset, Stephanie asks Tony to take her back to Bay Ridge, but Tony instead takes her to Shore Park, where he comforts her and demonstrates his extensive knowledge of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. Afterward, Tony returns to the hardware store and Fusco gives him back his job, promising the boy a prosperous future. However, Tony observes the men who have worked there for years and is unnerved. Later, Tony finds Stephanie dancing with Pete, the owner of the studio, and leaves, enraged. Outside the 2001 Odyssey, Annette shows Tony a handful of condoms, but he walks away and Annette is crushed. Tony, Bobby C., Double J., and Joey stake out the Barracudas hideout, and Bobby C. tries to tell Tony he has decided to marry pregnant Pauline. Double J. grabs the wheel of Bobby C.’s car and crashes into the clubhouse. A fight ensues with the Barracudas and although Bobby C. hides in the car, he is attacked. Bobby C. puts the car in reverse and drives away. Tony is badly beaten, but Double J. and Joey drag him outside just as Bobby C. returns; however, his friends are angry he left. Tony and the others visit Gus in the hospital only to learn that he is not sure if the Barracudas beat him after all. Cleaned up from the fight, the friends return to the discotheque for the dance competition. An African American couple takes the floor and is treated rudely by the audience. Meanwhile, Annette asks Joey for amphetamines. Tony and Stephanie perform the hustle, during which they share a kiss, and the crowd roars its approval. Next, a Puerto Rican couple dances extremely well, impressing Tony and most of the crowd, but there are scattered jeers. The judges award first place to Tony and Stephanie, followed by the Puerto Ricans. However, Tony is convinced the other couple deserved to win and he accuses his friends of hypocrisy. Tony gives the trophy and prize money to the other couple and takes Stephanie outside to Bobby C.’s car. She rebuffs his sexual advances and they argue. Tony tries to force himself on her and she flees. Double J., Joey, Bobby C. and an intoxicated Annette join Tony in the car. As they drive around Bay Ridge, Joey has sex with Annette in the backseat. Double J switches places with Joey and when Annette realizes that Tony is not going to stop his friends, she begins to cry. At the bridge, Joey and Double J. begin climbing on the support beams as Bobby C. watches. In the car, Tony asks Annette if she really wanted to be treated this way. Intoxicated, Bobby C. joins Joey and Double J. on the beams and Tony tries to talk him down, but Bobby C. rebukes Tony for failing to call him the day of Stephanie’s move. When Bobby C. falls to his death, police interrogate the friends. Tony leaves on foot and rides the subway until morning. In New York City, Tony visits Stephanie’s new apartment. Through the door, he apologizes and she reluctantly invites him in. Tony announces that he is not going back to Bay Ridge and that he intends to get a job in the city. Stephanie is wary, but confesses she enjoyed Tony’s admiration and respect. They agree to be friends.
Cast: Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Eleanor Parker
Directors: Robert Wise
Producer: Robert Wise
Writer: Ernest Lehman
Editor: William Reynolds, Larry Allen
Cinematographer: Ted McCord
Genre: Drama, Musical
Production Company: Argyle Enterprises, Inc., Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.
The antics of tomboyish Maria, a novice at the abbey in Salzburg, concern the Mother Abbess, who is unsure of Maria's intensions. Encouraging the girl to test her feelings, the Mother Abbess sends Maria to be the governess for the seven children of the widower Baron Georg von Trapp, a retired naval officer. The children are at first hostile to Maria, but she soon wins them over. The baron, who is a strict disciplinarian, leaves to visit his love interest, Baroness Elsa Schraeder. While he is gone, Maria allows the children greater freedom, and teaches them to sing. The youths become so excited when the baron returns that they fall out of a rowboat in the lake. The accident precipitates an argument between Maria and the baron, and he orders her to leave; but when he goes into the house and finds the children entertaining his friend Max Detweiler and the baroness with a song, he asks Maria to stay. Max later suggests that they enter the Salzburg Festival as a singing group, but the baron refuses. Maria becomes aware that she is falling in love with the baron and returns to the abbey. The children follow and try to persuade her to return; when the Mother Abbess learns of their visit, she sends Maria back to the Trapp home. Maria again decides to leave when she hears that the baron plans to marry the baroness. However, the baroness soon realizes her suitor is in love with Maria, and releases him. Maria weds the baron, and while they are away on their honeymoon, the Nazis take over Austria. Taking advantage of the baron's absence, Max enters the children in the Salzburg Festival. When the baron returns with his new bride, Maria, he forbids the children to appear at the festival, and learns that the Nazis, to whom he is violently opposed, have ordered him to take command of a ship. The Trapps plan an escape, but are stopped by Stormtroopers. Max convinces the Nazis that the family is on its way to the Salzburg Festival, and that he plans to leave for his ship immediately after the performance. The Trapps win first place at the show and, using their exit song to escape, take refuge in the town abbey. The Nazis learn their whereabouts and surround the building, but the family escapes through a secret tunnel to the nearby mountains.
Cinematographer: Sam Leavitt, Winton Hoch, Harry Stradling
Genre: Melodrama, Musical
Production Company: Transcona Enterprises
Composer: Ray Heindorf
In Los Angeles, at a benefit show for the Motion Picture Relief Fund at the Shrine Auditorium, prominent but fading movie star Norman Maine arrives drunk and out of control. To save his studio from embarrassment, Oliver Niles, the studio head, tells his publicity director, Matt Libby, to keep Norman away from the stage. Using the pretense of publicity photographs and interviews, Libby lures Norman into the pressroom. However, Norman soon guesses Libby’s ruse, knocks Libby into a mirror, smashing it to pieces, then heads toward the stage, pushing through performers awaiting their cue. Onstage, the Glenn Williams Orchestra is performing, and when the band’s vocalist, Esther Blodgett, sees Norman coming, she links arms and struts with him, incorporating him into the act, thus preventing him from disrupting their performance. As he bows and exits, the audience cheers, believing the star’s appearance was planned. Afterward, backstage, Esther is preparing to depart, when Norman takes her lipstick and draws a heart on the wall with their initials inside to mark the time she “saved” him from disgracing himself. He invites her to supper, but she must leave with pianist Danny McGuire for another job at the Ambassador Hotel’s Cocoanut Grove. Later, after sobering up, Norman goes to the Grove and learns from the headwaiter that the band, after finishing their performance, went to the Downbeat Club on Sunset Blvd. Norman proceeds there and hears Esther sing. Impressed with her talent, he drives her home and urges her not to settle for little dreams. Telling her she is good enough to be in motion pictures, he offers to introduce her to Oliver. Early the next morning, influenced by Norman, Esther quits the band, which goes to San Francisco without her. Norman intends to follow up on his promise but, at six a.m., the studio car comes to take him away to his next movie assignment, which is shooting on location at sea for several weeks. Unable to reach Esther himself, he tries to get in touch with her through crew members, but no one takes his request seriously, and he cannot remember her address. When she does not hear from Norman, Esther assumes he was just flirting with her. To make ends meet, she sings for a commercial, but then must support herself by working at a drive-in restaurant. After shooting on Norman’s film is complete, he searches for her, but by then she has moved to a cheaper rooming house. Eventually, after recognizing her voice on the commercial, he tracks her down and arranges for her screen test at the studio. The studio personnel make her over with a blonde wig and nose prosthetic, but Norman comes to the rescue and has her change back to her normal appearance. After completing a bit role, she receives her first paycheck and learns that the studio has given her a screen name, Vicki Lester. Oliver shows no interest in Esther, believing that she is simply a passing romantic fancy of Norman’s, until Norman arranges for him to overhear her singing. Then she is given a role in a musical and, with Norman’s guidance, overcomes her nervousness to become an overnight success. Norman then tries to back out of a relationship with her, claiming, “I destroy everything I touch,” but Esther tells him that she loves him. Norman proposes to Esther during a recording session, unaware that a nearby microphone is picking up and recording everything they say. At first Esther refuses, claiming that Norman is too irresponsible and drinks too much, but after listening to the playback, she accepts, prompting everyone in the studio to cheer. When news of the engagement reaches the studio, Libby warns Oliver of trouble, but Oliver feels that marriage is just what Norman needs to overcome his problems. Libby plans a highly-publicized nuptial event, but Esther and Norman sneak off for a quiet marriage ceremony by a small-town justice of the peace, with Danny and two prisoners in attendance. Libby, resenting the years he has covered up for Norman, is infuriated. After returning from their honeymoon, Norman and Esther throw a party at their new Malibu beach house, during which Oliver tells Norman that the New York studio heads have ordered his contract to be dropped. Pleased with this turn of events, Libby sends out press releases stating that Norman asked to be released from his contract. While Esther’s career continues to rise, Norman spends his days at home, hoping to resume his career. However, when a deliveryman calls him “Mr. Lester,” he realizes that his career is dead and he returns to drinking. At the next Academy Awards ceremony, Esther is named Best Actress. As she gives her acceptance speech, Norman drunkenly climbs onstage and makes his own speech, begging for a job. Gesturing wildly, he accidentally hits Esther in the face. While Norman spends time in a sanitarium to dry out, Oliver tells the depressed Esther that he will give Norman another chance. He offers Norman a part in a film, but Norman declines it, realizing that it is not a lead role. After his release from the sanitarium, Norman plans to remain sober. At the Santa Anita racetrack, where he drinks ginger ale instead of his usual liquor, he encounters Libby, who tries to humiliate him. Norman overlooks Libby’s malicious taunting, until the publicity man accuses him of living off Esther’s income. Norman then hits Libby, who strikes back, knocking Norman to the floor. Hearing the crowd gossip that he is “drunk again,” Norman orders a double scotch. After not hearing from Norman for four days, Esther becomes worried. When she gets a call informing her that Norman has been arrested for drunkenness, she and Oliver proceed to the court, where the judge sentences Norman to ninety days in jail. Pleading for the judge to suspend the sentence, Esther promises to be responsible for Norman, and the judge relents. At home the next day, while Norman is sleeping, the crying Esther tells Oliver that she has decided to quit filmmaking. She wants to take Norman away for a new start, so that he can get back his health, and later, his career. Although Oliver regrets that Esther is sacrificing her career, he agrees to release her from her studio obligations, but warns her that Norman’s talents are gone, ruined by twenty years of alcoholism. Having awakened, Norman overhears them through an open window. Later, pretending to be in a good mood, Norman tells Esther that he is going out for a swim and asks her to sing to him. As she sings, he swims toward the sunset, allowing himself to drown. Later, Libby reports Norman’s “accidental” death to the newspapers. After the funeral, a gawking crowd encircles Esther as she leaves the church, causing her to break down. Secluding herself at the beach home, she refuses to answer phone calls. Danny, who is now her studio accompanist, arrives to pick her up for a Shrine Auditorium benefit concert she promised to attend before Norman’s death. When she refuses to go, Danny tells her she is wasting what Norman gave her and what he died to keep from destroying. His accusation succeeds in getting her to leave the house. Backstage at the auditorium, she sees the heart Norman drew on the wall. When she is asked by the emcee to say a few words, she proclaims, “Hello everybody. This is Mrs. Norman Maine.”
Cast: Jane Russell, Marilyn Monroe, Charles Coburn
Directors: Howard Hawks
Producer: Sol C. Siegel
Writer: Charles Lederer
Editor: Hugh S. Fowler
Cinematographer: Harry J. Wild
Genre: Musical comedy
Production Company: Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.
Composer: Lionel Newman
After curvaceous show girls Lorelei Lee and Dorothy Shaw finish their nightclub act, blonde gold digger Lorelei receives an engagement ring from her beau, wealthy Gus Esmond, Jr., much to the amusement of cynical, brunette Dorothy. Gus's father, who is opposed to the marriage, has prevented Gus from marrying Lorelei in the past, and he again intervenes. Gus had planned to marry Lorelei in Paris, and so sends her and Dorothy ahead on the ocean liner Isle de Paris , cautioning Lorelei to avoid any scandal. As the buxom beauties board the ship, the American men's Olympic team comments that neither would drown if the ship sank. Dorothy, who does not share her chum's preference for rich men, is thrilled by the handsome athletes, while Lorelei searches the passenger list for suitable men to escort Dorothy. Unknown to the women, Gus's father has hired handsome private detective Ernie Malone to spy on Lorelei. Malone develops a crush on Dorothy, and is one of several men who bribe the headwaiter for a seat at Lorelei and Dorothy's dining room table. That afternoon, after Malone engineers a meeting with Dorothy to question her about Lorelei, Lorelei is introduced to Sir Francis "Piggy" Beekman, who owns a diamond mine in South Africa. Lorelei is dazzled when Piggy's wife, Lady Beekman, shows off her tiara, for she loves to find new places to wear diamonds. That night, the companion that Lorelei chooses for Dorothy, Henry Spofford III, turns out to be a six-year-old boy. After dinner, Malone tells Lorelei that he "clips coupons," and, mistakenly believing that he is well-off, Lorelei endorses his romance with Dorothy. As the days pass, Dorothy falls for Malone, although she reprimands him for criticizing Lorelei's passion for riches. One afternoon, Dorothy sees Malone taking pictures through the porthole of her and Lorelei's cabin, and after rushing inside, discovers that Lorelei was pretending to be a goat while Piggy, pretending to be a python, was demonstrating how pythons encircle their prey. Deducing that Malone is a detective, Dorothy schemes to retrieve his film. While Dorothy occupies Malone in the bar, Lorelei searches his cabin but cannot find the film. Forced to escape through the porthole, Lorelei gets stuck, but Spofford helps her to wiggle out of her predicament. With the aid of some strong drinks and knockout drops, Dorothy and Lorelei then succeed in getting Malone's clothes and the film. After developing the pictures, Lorelei shows them to Piggy, who is so grateful for her "honesty" that she convinces him to give her Lady Beekman's tiara. After they leave the cabin, Malone is retrieving the tape recorder he had planted when Dorothy catches him. Malone assures Dorothy that his feelings for her are real, but she refuses to forgive him. Upon their arrival in Paris, Dorothy and Lorelei go on a buying spree, and when they try to check into their hotel, they discover that Gus, who has received Malone's damning report, has cancelled their reservations and letter of credit. Left on their own, the women obtain jobs at a local nightclub, and soon after, Gus visits in an attempt to reconcile with Lorelei. Although Lorelei loves Gus, she brushes him off, and outrages him with her tuneful declaration that "diamonds are a girl's best friend." After Lorelei's number, gendarmes arrive to retrieve Lady Beekman's tiara, but the jewelry has been stolen from the women's dressing room. Dorothy, wearing a blonde wig, then impersonates Lorelei in court while her friend tries to wheedle the price of a tiara out of Gus. Meanwhile, Malone, who has come to Paris to meet Esmond, Sr., deduces that Piggy has stolen the tiara and successfully retrieves it. Back at the nightclub, Lorelei convinces Esmond, Sr. that a man being rich is like a woman being pretty, and he finally consents to her marriage to Gus. Dorothy and Malone, who have also resolved their romantic difficulties, join Gus and Lorelei for a double wedding ceremony, and Dorothy advises Lorelei, "Remember, honey, on your wedding day, it's alright to say yes."
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.
Editor: Conrad Buff, James Cameron, Richard A. Harris
Cinematographer: Russell Carpenter
Genre: Drama, Romance
Production Company: Paramount Pictures Corp., Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., Lightstorm Entertainment
Composer: James Horner
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.
Cast: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edward Everett Horton
Directors: Mark Sandrich
Writer: Dwight Taylor, Allan Scott, Dwight Taylor, Karl Noti
Editor: William Hamilton
Cinematographer: David Abel
Genre: Musical, Romantic comedy
Production Company: RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Composer: Max Steiner
While staying in a London hotel with his English theatrical backer, Horace Hardwick, American musical revue star Jerry Travers wakes up Dale Tremont, Horace's downstairs neighbor, with his compulsive tap dancing. Upon seeing the furious Dale, Jerry falls instantly in love and, in spite of her snubbing, daily sends flowers to her room. Then, while posing as a hansom cab driver, Jerry delivers Dale to her riding lesson in the park and romances her in a pavilion during a rain storm. Dale's loving bliss is shattered, however, when she incorrectly deduces that Jerry, whose name she has never heard, is actually the husband of her matchmaking friend, Madge Hardwick. In spite of her desire to return to America, Dale is convinced by Alberto Beddini, her adoring, ambitious Italian dressmaker, to accept Madge's invitation to join her in Italy. Before leaving, Dale encounters Jerry in the hotel and slaps him without explanation. Worried that the slap will cause a scandal, the hotel management admonishes a confused Horace, who in turn blames the incident on Bates, his quarrelsome valet. After Horace orders Bates to follow Dale, he receives a telegram from Madge saying that Dale is on her way to the Lido in Venice. Overjoyed, Jerry rushes through his London revue and flies to Venice with Horace, unaware that Dale has confessed to Madge in their hotel room that her husband has made illicit advances toward her. In Italy, Jerry continues to be baffled by Dale's emotional vacilations, while Horace is equally baffled by Alberto's threats of bodily violence. At the hotel nightclub, Dale dances with Jerry at the urging of Madge, who is unaware that Dale has mistaken Jerry, the man that she is trying to get Dale to marry, for Horace. When Jerry then proposes to Dale, she slaps him again, while Madge, who had taken Dale's initial revelations about Horace with good humor, punches her husband in the eye. Depressed and heartsick, Dale succumbs to the affections of Alberto and accepts his marriage proposal. The next day, Jerry learns that Dale has married and, by tap dancing as he did in London, connives to see her alone. Although Dale finally learns Jerry's true identity while cruising with him in a gondola, the revenge-hungry Alberto pursues the couple across the canals. Eventually Bates reveals that, while following Dale and Alberto, he had impersonated a clergyman and performed their marriage ceremony. Legally single, Dale now accepts Jerry's proposal and, back in the nightclub, dances happily with him across the floor.
Cinematographer: Sam Leavitt, Winton Hoch, Harry Stradling
Genre: Melodrama, Musical
Production Company: Transcona Enterprises
Composer: Ray Heindorf
In Los Angeles, at a benefit show for the Motion Picture Relief Fund at the Shrine Auditorium, prominent but fading movie star Norman Maine arrives drunk and out of control. To save his studio from embarrassment, Oliver Niles, the studio head, tells his publicity director, Matt Libby, to keep Norman away from the stage. Using the pretense of publicity photographs and interviews, Libby lures Norman into the pressroom. However, Norman soon guesses Libby’s ruse, knocks Libby into a mirror, smashing it to pieces, then heads toward the stage, pushing through performers awaiting their cue. Onstage, the Glenn Williams Orchestra is performing, and when the band’s vocalist, Esther Blodgett, sees Norman coming, she links arms and struts with him, incorporating him into the act, thus preventing him from disrupting their performance. As he bows and exits, the audience cheers, believing the star’s appearance was planned. Afterward, backstage, Esther is preparing to depart, when Norman takes her lipstick and draws a heart on the wall with their initials inside to mark the time she “saved” him from disgracing himself. He invites her to supper, but she must leave with pianist Danny McGuire for another job at the Ambassador Hotel’s Cocoanut Grove. Later, after sobering up, Norman goes to the Grove and learns from the headwaiter that the band, after finishing their performance, went to the Downbeat Club on Sunset Blvd. Norman proceeds there and hears Esther sing. Impressed with her talent, he drives her home and urges her not to settle for little dreams. Telling her she is good enough to be in motion pictures, he offers to introduce her to Oliver. Early the next morning, influenced by Norman, Esther quits the band, which goes to San Francisco without her. Norman intends to follow up on his promise but, at six a.m., the studio car comes to take him away to his next movie assignment, which is shooting on location at sea for several weeks. Unable to reach Esther himself, he tries to get in touch with her through crew members, but no one takes his request seriously, and he cannot remember her address. When she does not hear from Norman, Esther assumes he was just flirting with her. To make ends meet, she sings for a commercial, but then must support herself by working at a drive-in restaurant. After shooting on Norman’s film is complete, he searches for her, but by then she has moved to a cheaper rooming house. Eventually, after recognizing her voice on the commercial, he tracks her down and arranges for her screen test at the studio. The studio personnel make her over with a blonde wig and nose prosthetic, but Norman comes to the rescue and has her change back to her normal appearance. After completing a bit role, she receives her first paycheck and learns that the studio has given her a screen name, Vicki Lester. Oliver shows no interest in Esther, believing that she is simply a passing romantic fancy of Norman’s, until Norman arranges for him to overhear her singing. Then she is given a role in a musical and, with Norman’s guidance, overcomes her nervousness to become an overnight success. Norman then tries to back out of a relationship with her, claiming, “I destroy everything I touch,” but Esther tells him that she loves him. Norman proposes to Esther during a recording session, unaware that a nearby microphone is picking up and recording everything they say. At first Esther refuses, claiming that Norman is too irresponsible and drinks too much, but after listening to the playback, she accepts, prompting everyone in the studio to cheer. When news of the engagement reaches the studio, Libby warns Oliver of trouble, but Oliver feels that marriage is just what Norman needs to overcome his problems. Libby plans a highly-publicized nuptial event, but Esther and Norman sneak off for a quiet marriage ceremony by a small-town justice of the peace, with Danny and two prisoners in attendance. Libby, resenting the years he has covered up for Norman, is infuriated. After returning from their honeymoon, Norman and Esther throw a party at their new Malibu beach house, during which Oliver tells Norman that the New York studio heads have ordered his contract to be dropped. Pleased with this turn of events, Libby sends out press releases stating that Norman asked to be released from his contract. While Esther’s career continues to rise, Norman spends his days at home, hoping to resume his career. However, when a deliveryman calls him “Mr. Lester,” he realizes that his career is dead and he returns to drinking. At the next Academy Awards ceremony, Esther is named Best Actress. As she gives her acceptance speech, Norman drunkenly climbs onstage and makes his own speech, begging for a job. Gesturing wildly, he accidentally hits Esther in the face. While Norman spends time in a sanitarium to dry out, Oliver tells the depressed Esther that he will give Norman another chance. He offers Norman a part in a film, but Norman declines it, realizing that it is not a lead role. After his release from the sanitarium, Norman plans to remain sober. At the Santa Anita racetrack, where he drinks ginger ale instead of his usual liquor, he encounters Libby, who tries to humiliate him. Norman overlooks Libby’s malicious taunting, until the publicity man accuses him of living off Esther’s income. Norman then hits Libby, who strikes back, knocking Norman to the floor. Hearing the crowd gossip that he is “drunk again,” Norman orders a double scotch. After not hearing from Norman for four days, Esther becomes worried. When she gets a call informing her that Norman has been arrested for drunkenness, she and Oliver proceed to the court, where the judge sentences Norman to ninety days in jail. Pleading for the judge to suspend the sentence, Esther promises to be responsible for Norman, and the judge relents. At home the next day, while Norman is sleeping, the crying Esther tells Oliver that she has decided to quit filmmaking. She wants to take Norman away for a new start, so that he can get back his health, and later, his career. Although Oliver regrets that Esther is sacrificing her career, he agrees to release her from her studio obligations, but warns her that Norman’s talents are gone, ruined by twenty years of alcoholism. Having awakened, Norman overhears them through an open window. Later, pretending to be in a good mood, Norman tells Esther that he is going out for a swim and asks her to sing to him. As she sings, he swims toward the sunset, allowing himself to drown. Later, Libby reports Norman’s “accidental” death to the newspapers. After the funeral, a gawking crowd encircles Esther as she leaves the church, causing her to break down. Secluding herself at the beach home, she refuses to answer phone calls. Danny, who is now her studio accompanist, arrives to pick her up for a Shrine Auditorium benefit concert she promised to attend before Norman’s death. When she refuses to go, Danny tells her she is wasting what Norman gave her and what he died to keep from destroying. His accusation succeeds in getting her to leave the house. Backstage at the auditorium, she sees the heart Norman drew on the wall. When she is asked by the emcee to say a few words, she proclaims, “Hello everybody. This is Mrs. Norman Maine.”
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Stanley Holloway
Directors: George Cukor
Producer: Jack L. Warner
Writer: Alan Jay Lerner
Editor: William Ziegler
Cinematographer: Harry Stradling
Genre: Musical comedy
Production Company: Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Phonetics professor Henry Higgins gets involved in an altercation with Cockney flowergirl Eliza Doolittle as he is taking notes on her accent outside of London's Covent Garden in 1912. Colonel Pickering, another language enthusiast, quiets the argument, and Higgins boasts to him that after training Eliza for 3 months he could pass her off as a duchess. The next day Eliza arrives at Higgins' house, prepared to pay for diction lessons so that she may realize her dream of obtaining a position in a shop. With Pickering's help, Higgins begins a complete transformation of Eliza. Her first public appearance at the Ascot horseraces is a dubious success. A few months later, Eliza is a greater success at the season's biggest social event. After the affair, Higgins and Pickering congratulate each other on Eliza's transformation, completely ignoring her and her part in the process. She leaves Higgins' house in anger. Finding her father preparing to marry, Eliza seeks refuge with Higgins' mother. She is paid court by Freddie Eynsford-Hill, a young admirer. Higgins finds Eliza at his mother's, but they quarrel and he returns home. Sitting alone in his study, Higgins realizes that he cannot be happy without Eliza. As he sits listening to recordings of her voice made during her diction lessons, Eliza quietly enters the room through the door behind him.
In 1931, naïve Englishman Brian Roberts, seeking to broaden his experiences and further his education, arrives in Berlin, where he hopes to support himself by giving English lessons. Brian goes to the shabby boardinghouse run by Fraulein Schneider and there is greeted by Sally Bowles, an exuberant American singer. Sally, obsessed with becoming a movie star, is oblivious to the economic and political turmoil in Berlin, especially between the Nazis and Communists, and instead revels in the decadent atmosphere of alcohol, sex and excess. Because Brian’s room is too small to accommodate pupils, Sally offers him the use of her larger room and, liking the introverted young man immediately, persuades him to move in. The Kit-Kat Club, where Sally works, is presided over by the androgynous, leering Emcee who exhorts the audience to forget their troubles while in the club, where “everything is beautiful.” Brian enjoys Sally’s sensual performance and is introduced by her to Fritz Wendel, an impoverished German who hopes to improve both his English and chances of landing a rich wife. As Sally and Brian spend time together, she asserts that she is “a most strange and extraordinary person” and describes her desire to become famous, as well as her loving relationship with her diplomat father. One day, while discussing Brian’s work in his room, Sally attempts to seduce Brian, who responds that it is “a bit early in the day” for that sort of thing. Sally caustically muses that perhaps he does not sleep with girls, but when Brian does not reply, she promises that she would never pursue him if he prefers male companionship. Although Brian is reluctant to discuss the subject, he reveals that his three previous attempts to have sex with women were disastrous and that currently he has no sex life. Sally cheerfully offers to remain platonic friends and the pair establish a routine. One afternoon, Fritz is having his English lesson when Brian reveals that a new pupil, Natalia Landauer, the daughter of a very rich Jewish family, is to arrive soon. Declaring that he is not prejudiced against Jews, Fritz determines to romance Natalia, no matter what she looks like. Brian, hoping to make a good impression on Natalia, is aghast when Sally returns home unexpectedly. Brian charms Sally into not drinking, but when the lovely, reserved Natalia arrives, Fritz and Sally insist on remaining. Natalia attempts to converse in her stilted English until the bored Sally makes a comment about syphilis. Brian is further mortified when Sally, whose German is as bad as Natalia’s English, actually remembers the German word for intercourse, leaving Natalia and Fritz open-mouthed at her audacity. Later, however, the foursome spend a pleasant afternoon together, although Fritz confesses to Brian that the “gigolo business” is not going well, as he is falling in love with Natalia. Sally comments to Brian that the only way to handle virgins is to “pounce” on them, but Brian remains dubious. One night, after Fritz and Brian dine with Natalia, Fritz’s attempt to kiss her goodnight fails and Brian repeats Sally’s advice to be more forceful. When he returns home, Brian finds Sally sitting in the dark, depressed because her father has stood her up. Sally sobs that while her father tries to love her, he simply does not care and thinks she is "nothing." As Brian comforts her, the couple winds up kissing and falls into bed. Their passion for each other grows, with Sally hoping that this time, she has found the right man. One afternoon, Natalia summons Sally and as Natalia tearfully confides her love for Fritz, Sally realizes that he must have pounced. Natalia states that she cannot marry Fritz because he might be a fortune hunter and is a Christian, and Sally commiserates with her. Soon after, Sally meets Maximilian von Heune, a suave aristocrat whose wealth and good looks dazzle her. Brian is jealous of Sally’s new admirer, although Max attempts to include Brian in their adventures, declaring that it is his duty to corrupt them. After a raucous shopping trip, Max and Sally show off their purchases to Brian, including a fur coat for Sally, but Brian stiffly refuses the gold cigarette case offered to him by Max. As Brian and Max drive by the scene of a street brawl one day, Max observes that at least the Nazis will get rid of the Communists, and then they in turn can be controlled. Max soon suggests spending a weekend at his country estate, and there, Brian and Sally are awed by their surroundings. Max reveals to Brian that he is married, although he and his wife lead separate lives, then persuades Brian to accept a sweater and leaves the cigarette case for him as well. After a lavish dinner party, the trio gets drunk and ends up dancing in a circle in one another’s arms until the overwhelmed Brian passes out. On the drive back to Berlin, Brian and Max discuss the trip to Africa that Max has proposed. When they stop at a beer garden, Brian and Max watch an adolescent boy, a member of the Hitler Youth, inspire the crowd to sing a rousing song about the future, and Brian pointedly asks Max if he still thinks the Nazis can be controlled. Meanwhile, Natalia refuses Fritz’s marriage proposal, telling him that although she now believes him to be honest, it is impossible for him to marry a Jew, considering Germany’s current upheaval. Soon after, a distressed Max drops Brian off at the boardinghouse, where Sally is packing for their trip to Africa. Sally, who does not know that Max is married, babbles about a possible proposal from Max, to which Brian replies that her self-delusions are absurd. As their argument escalates, Brian yells, “Screw Maximilian,” and when Sally replies, “I do,” Brian laughs in pain and states, “So do I.” Realizing that they have betrayed each other, Sally storms out while Brian wanders the streets in a fury and provokes a fistfight with two Nazis. After receiving a fierce beating, Brian wakes up to discover Sally tending to him. She then reveals that Max has departed the country and left them three hundred marks. Deprecating their abilities as gold diggers, Sally apologizes to Brian, who shares her remorse, and the couple reconciles. At Natalia’s, meanwhile, her dog is murdered by hooligans who write Juden across her front steps. Soon after, Sally tells Brian that she is pregnant and is going to have an abortion, although the illegal operation will be so costly that she will have to sell her fur coat. Brian surprises both himself and Sally by proposing marriage, and the couple drunkenly celebrates their impending domesticity. During the day, Fritz confesses to Brian that he himself is Jewish but hid the fact when he moved to Berlin to raise his social position. Brian urges him to tell Natalia the truth, and despite Fritz’s protests that he is too cowardly, he soon does and he and Natalia are wed in an Orthodox ceremony. Later, Brian and Sally are picnicking and Sally is distressed by Brian’s uncommunicative responses to her plans for their future. Remembering the excitement of performing in the club and the romance with Max, Sally becomes depressed. Soon after, Brian has fallen asleep while waiting for Sally to return home from work. He awakens when she enters and as she gingerly climbs into bed, asks her where her fur coat is. Realizing that she has had the abortion, Brian asks why and grows increasingly angry, denigrating her dreams of stardom and castigating her for sleeping with anyone who can further her career. Not protesting, Sally asks to be left alone. As he calms down, Brian pleads with her to tell the truth. Sally replies that they would soon start hating each other if they gave up their mutual aspirations, and implies that eventually he would be unhappy with her because of his preference for men. Brian sadly concludes that although Sally did want the baby and does love him, she did what was right for both of them. Soon after, Sally accompanies Brian to the train station as he prepares to return to England, and they bid each other a strained farewell, with Sally struggling not to cry, and Brian smiling fondly as she walks away, waving her green fingernails in the air. Sally then goes to the Kit-Kat, where she thrills the audience with a rendition of the song “Cabaret,” which encourages them to live life to the fullest regardless of the consequences.
Cast: Adriana Caselotti, Harry Stockwell, Lucille LaVerne
Producer: Walt Disney
Writer: Ted Sears, Richard Creedon, Otto Englander, Dick Rickard, Earl Hurd, Merrill De Maris, Dorothy Ann Blank, Webb Smith
Genre: Musical
Production Company: Walt Disney Productions, Ltd.
Composer: Frank Churchill
As part of her daily beauty routine, the Wicked Queen asks her Magic Mirror, "Who is the fairest one of all?" and is told that Snow White, her blossoming stepdaughter, is now the "fairest one of all." In an envious rage, the queen orders a woodsman to kill Snow White, who has just met the handsome and endearing Prince, in the forest. Once there, however, the woodsman finds he cannot do the deed and admonishes the princess to hide, while he returns to the queen with a pig's heart, which he claims belonged to Snow White. Frightened by the dark, stormy forest, Snow White runs wildly through the trees until she collapses with exhaustion on the forest floor. After her nap, she wakes to find the woods full of friendly, furry animals, who guide her to an empty cottage. Shocked by the decrepit condition of the cottage, Snow White enlists the help of the animals to clean it up, and then falls asleep in an upstairs bedroom, which has been furnished with seven tiny beds. While Snow White sleeps, the owners of the beds, the Seven Dwarfs--Sleepy, Dopey, Doc, Sneezy, Grumpy, Bashful and Happy--return from working at the local diamond mine and discover the snoozing princess. After much confusion, Snow White strikes a deal with the Dwarfs, offering her domestic services in exchange for room and board. To Grumpy's dissatisfaction, Snow White turns the household upside down and instigates positive changes in the Dwarfs' life. The Dwarfs' newly found happiness ends abruptly when the evil queen, who has learned from the Magic Mirror that Snow White is alive, transforms herself into an old hag and, equipped with a poison apple, heads for the Dwarfs' cottage. Lured by the queen, the innocent Snow White bites into the apple and falls into a death-like sleep, which can be broken only when she is kissed by her first true love. Satisfied that Snow White is doomed, the queen rushes back toward her castle but is chased by the Dwarfs and falls to her death off a cliff. While lying in the woods in a glass-domed coffin built by the Dwarfs, Snow White is found by the Prince. Entranced by her tranquil beauty, the prince kisses her back to life and carries her off to eternal happiness.
Production Company: Beta Productions, The Mirisch Company, Inc., Seven Arts Productions, Inc., B & P Enterprises, Inc.
Composer: Leonard Bernstein
In the slums of the upper West Side of Manhattan, New York, a gang of Polish-American teenagers called the Jets compete with a rival gang of recently immigrated Puerto Ricans, the Sharks, to “own” the neighborhood streets. The tension between them is marked by their bullying and tormenting of one another, and when a series of incidents erupts into a fistfight on a playground, two policemen, the bigoted Lt. Schrank and Officer Krupke, arrive in time to break it up. Afterward, Riff, the leader of the Jets, suggests to his companions that they settle their differences with the Sharks once and for all by challenging them to a “rumble,” which is their term for a street fight. Although Riff warns that the Sharks may choose to fight with zip guns or knives rather than fists, the Jets are enthusiastic about his idea. For support, Riff meets with Tony, a former member of the Jets who is like a brother and who now works in a candy store owned by good-hearted Doc. Riff asks Tony to attend a dance at the gym, an area considered neutral territory where Riff can present the challenge to Bernardo, the Shark’s leader. Tony, who has lost interest in promoting violence, reluctantly agrees to accompany him out of friendship. When Tony confides that he has been having premonitions that something special is about to happen to him, Riff suggests that it may be waiting for him at the dance. Meanwhile, Bernardo’s younger sister Maria and his girl friend, Anita, both of whom work at a bridal shop, are finishing a dress for Maria to wear to the dance, which will be her first since immigrating to America a month earlier. Although Bernardo has hopes of her marrying his comrade Chino, Maria tells Anita that she does not have special feelings for her brother’s friend. That evening, at the gym where the dance is held, Bernardo is introducing Maria to other Puerto Ricans, when several members of the Jets arrive. Both gangs are poised to fight, when Glad Hand, the social worker, and Krupke intervene. The dancing continues and soon becomes a competition between the rival gangs and their women, who refuse to intermingle. From opposite sides of the dance floor, Tony and Maria spot each other and, entranced, move toward each other and begin to dance. Seeing them together, Bernardo protectively pulls Maria away, telling her that Tony is only interested in sexual favors, and orders Chino to take her home. Before Bernardo leaves, he and Riff agree to meet later at Doc’s for a “war council,” where they will determine the time and place of the rumble. At his family’s apartment, Bernardo lectures Maria about the dangers in America, but Anita half-jokingly scolds him, saying that in their new country, women are free to see whom they wish. Anita and Bernardo meet with their friends on the rooftop, where they engage in a lively discussion about the pros and cons of living in America. Although the women tease the men that life in America is better than in their home country, the men complain that it is only better if you are white. Meanwhile, Tony walks the streets in a daze, bewitched by the thought of Maria. She is in her room, preparing for bed, when she hears Tony calling out her name from the alley below and climbs through the window to the fire escape to be with him. Believing that Maria is the fulfillment of his premonition, Tony is eager to acknowledge publicly his love for her, but Maria is aware that their families will not approve. After admitting their love for each other and marveling at how their lives have changed in one evening, they part, agreeing to meet the next day at the bridal shop after closing time. At Doc’s shop, the Jets are restlessly waiting for the Sharks to arrive, when the police drive up. Although Krupke is suspicious that the gang is up to mischief, he is called away and the boys then make fun of him, as well as social workers, judges, psychiatrists and all those who have failed to alleviate the poverty and violence in which they have been reared. When the Sharks arrive, the two gangs decide the time and location of the fight, but as they discuss weapons, Tony, who has by then returned to help close the shop for the evening, convinces them to have a “fair fight,” using nothing but fists. Schrank enters, prompting the two gangs to pretend to get along, and demands to know what they are planning. When no one will talk to him, he harasses the Puerto Ricans, ordering them out, and then tells the Jets that he wants his beat clear of the immigrants as much as they do. When the Jets still refuse to confide in him, he tauntingly refers to their family members as drug addicts and prostitutes. After everyone leaves the shop, Doc expresses his dismay at Schrank’s behavior, but Tony, who is buoyed by love, believes that everything will be all right. The next day, Maria’s co-workers notice her happiness and she admits that she feels “pretty.” Anita is still at the shop when Tony arrives, but grudgingly allows them time together. Although Tony has no plans to attend the fight, Maria urges him to go and stop it from happening. Then, they playfully pretend to have a wedding, with store mannequins in attendance. Later, in the evening, the Jets and the Sharks prepare for the rumble, while Anita prepares for a romantic interlude with Bernardo when he returns. While helping Doc, Tony can think of nothing but Maria, who is at home, waiting impatiently for the end of the evening, when she and Tony can be together. At the appointed place, the Sharks and the Jets meet, and the best fighter from each gang, Bernardo and Ice, respectively, prepare to fight as the others look on. When Tony arrives, his efforts to stop the fight inadvertently escalate the battle into a knife fight between Riff and Bernardo. When Bernardo unexpectedly kills Riff, Tony, in a fit of passion, takes the dead Riff’s knife and stabs Bernardo. Although Tony is immediately overcome with shame for killing Maria’s brother, the other gang members join the fight, but all flee when they hear the sound of a police siren. Waiting on the rooftop for Tony, Maria is surprised when Chino arrives to tell her that Tony killed Bernardo. Praying that he is lying, Maria runs to her room and finds Tony, who confesses. Although she wants to hate him, she finds she cannot and says that the problem is not with either of them, but everything around them. Together, they envision a place where they can go that is free of prejudices. Outside, the police cruise the streets, but the gang members evade them. The Jets meet, stunned, because they never expected anyone would be killed. When their anxiety leads to internal bickering, Ice, who is now their leader, tells them to be “cool.” When they learn from an eavesdropping tomboy, Anybodys, that Chino is carrying a gun and bent on revenge against Tony, they organize to protect him. Anita, who discovers that Maria has been with Tony, is offended that she would remain faithful to a boy who would kill her brother, but is soon won over by Maria’s love for Tony and warns her about Chino’s mission. Although Maria and Tony had planned to rendezvous at Doc’s and leave town together, when Schrank detains Maria to question her about Bernardo’s death, Anita agrees to tell Tony that she will soon be with him. However, when Anita enters the candy store, the Jets, suspicious of her motives, prevent her from finding Tony, then attempt to rape her. Doc enters in time to stop them, but, in anger, Anita says that Chino, jealous of Maria’s love for Tony, shot her dead. When Doc informs Tony, who is hiding in the cellar, of Maria’s presumed death, Tony goes out to the street, yelling for Chino to kill him, too. When he arrives at the playground, Tony sees Maria, alive, and runs toward her, but Chino steps out of the shadows and shoots him. Tony falls into Maria’s arms and as he dies, he and Maria talk about the place of which they had dreamed. Members of both gangs are gathering, and as they edge toward each other menacingly, Maria steps between them and takes the gun from Chino. Threatening both gangs with the gun, she accuses all of them of killing Tony, Riff and Bernardo. When Schrank and Krupke arrive, Maria kisses Tony and after she says “Te adoro, Anton,” members of the two gangs, united at least for a while, help to carry Tony’s body away.
Cast: Elvis Presley, Judy Tyler, Mickey Shaughnessy
Directors: Richard Thorpe
Producer: Pandro S. Berman
Writer: Guy Trosper
Editor: Ralph E. Winters
Cinematographer: Robert Bronner
Genre: Drama, Musical
Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp., Avon Productions, Inc.
Convicted of manslaughter for beating a man to death while defending a woman, hot-tempered Vince Everrett is sentenced to up to ten years in the state penitentiary. His cellmate Hunk Houghton, is a grumpy old-timer who runs a prison racket using cigarettes as currency. On days when the inmates’ harsh living conditions breed animosity among the men, Hunk sings ballads on his guitar to calm them. After Vince shows interest in his musical skill, Hunk, an old country-western singer, helps the young man master the chords and rhythm. One day, the warden assigns Hunk to produce a nationally televised prison talent show to divert the attention of the state investigators visiting the prison. Hunk showcases Vince, whose performance inspires thousands of young viewers around the country to send letters to the prison. Surmising that Vince's appeal will lead to success upon his release from prison, Hunk pays off the mailroom clerks to keep the fan mail a secret and offers Vince a contract, which makes Hunk his manager and divides the profits 50/50 between them. Days later, Vince receives a flogging for getting into a brawl, but Hunk shows little sympathy and advises him to “do unto others as they would do unto you, but do it first.” When Vince's release date arrives, the warden hands him fifty-four dollars and, to Vince’s surprise, a large sack of fan mail. After taking a room at run-down hotel, Vince buys a guitar from a pawnshop and goes to club owner Sam Brewster, a friend of Hunk's, to ask for a job. When Sam offers him work as a busboy, Vince boldly performs a number without Sam’s permission. Although the patrons show little interest, Peggy Van Alden, who works in the exploitation division of a record company, becomes smitten with Vince and suggests that he record the song at a studio session to improve it. Days later at the studio, after a mediocre recording, Peggy encourages Vince to try the song again but “with a little fire.” Excited by the second recording, Peggy asks Geneva Records executive Jack Lease to release the song, and although Jack suggests the song is too experimental, he asks to keep the recording for the evening. When Peggy later secures a contract with a smaller label, a sullen Vince refuses to celebrate until he reaps some of the profit from his efforts. Wanting to introduce Vince to her father, a professor, and mother, Peggy takes Vince to her parents’ house for a party, but when the academic crowd tries to engage the young musician in a conversation about progressive jazz, insecure Vince insults her parents and leaves. As Peggy argues that his conduct is unforgivable, Vince’s kisses break her resolve. Days later, Peggy and Vince learn that Jack has recorded Vince's song using popular singer Mickey Alba and stolen Vince's arrangement. Undeterred, Vince suggests to Peggy that they start their own record label, Laurel Recordings, in which Vince will record his songs while Peggy promotes and distributes the product. Peggy agrees to a forty percent cut of the company’s profits; however, she is soon frustrated with Vince’s myopic drive for money and his lack of interest in furthering their romantic relationship. Finding it difficult to secure any airtime for Vince's first album, Peggy asks old friend and disc jockey Teddy Talbot to play a single from it. When the song is a smash hit, Vince quickly becomes a successful performer and playboy. One night, Peggy visits Vince at one of his many lavish parties and catches him kissing singer Laury Jackson. Peggy then brusquely agrees that their relationship should remain solely business and leaves. Soon after, Hunk, just released from prison, asks his old friend for a spot on an upcoming television show and Vince reluctantly consents. At the television recording, Vince sings the catchy "Jailhouse Rock" accompanied by dancers in prison fatigues, but Hunk’s old-fashioned country number is cut from the show. Vince's cold response to his friend’s disappointment prompts Hunk to pressure Vince with the contract written in prison. Reminding Hunk of his dishonorable scheme to hide the fan mail and then rob Vince of his profits, Vince instead offers Hunk ten percent in exchange for being his lackey. Soon after, Vince signs a contract to star in a Hollywood movie with actress Sherry Wilson. The established leading lady is not amused with Vince's common ruffian interests, but during their first love scene rehearsal, Vince's powerful kiss melts her and a romance develops. Days later at a party, after Vince sings a number about loving Sherry despite her "square" ways, then he tells Peggy about a profitable offer from Geneva Records to buy out Laurel Records. Vince’s greed and disregard for the company they built together leads Peggy to flee the party. Later, Vince orders Hunk to complete another menial task, humiliating his friend. When Peggy arrives at the apartment to discuss business, Vince’s thoughtlessness drives her to tears and causes a now drunk Hunk to take several punches at the star, accidentally hitting Vince's throat. After an emergency tracheotomy at the hospital, Vince is forced to recuperate in silence for several weeks, unsure of whether he will sing again. Weeks later, a healed Vince is scared of singing again, but with the support of his loyal friend Hunk and Peggy's love, he attempts an enchanting ballad for Peggy and discovers his unique voice is still intact.
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.
Dismayed by the extreme measures to prevent robberies taken by a small-town western bank, notorious bank robber Butch Cassidy wanders over to a saloon to meet his partner, The Sundance Kid, who is in the middle of a card game. One of the players, Macon, unaware of Sundance’s identity, accuses the outlaw of cheating and, refusing to surrender his money, prepares to fight it out. When Butch attempts to intervene, Macon orders him away until he learns Sundance’s identity after which he meekly withdraws his accusation. On the long ride back to their hideout, the Hole in the Wall in Wyoming, Butch tries to convince Sundance that they should go to Bolivia, which abounds in gold. Arriving at the hideout, Butch is surprised to find gang members Harvey Logan, News Carver and Flat Nose Curry preparing to rob the Union Pacific Overland Flyer train. Butch vetoes their plan, declaring that banks are much more reliable. Harvey then informs Butch that because Butch has spent so much time away, Harvey has taken over leadership of the gang and made the decision to rob the Flyer. Butch insists he remains the gang’s leader, leading Harvey to challenge him to a fight, which Butch quickly wins by distracting his opponent. Afterward, Butch decides that the plan to rob the train on both of its scheduled trips through the area is sound. The gang stops the Flyer, whose engineers are excited at being robbed by Butch, but the theft is almost thwarted by the dedicated efforts of a young clerk, Woodcock, who refuses to open the train car containing the bank safe. News then dynamites the door and, while the others retrieve the money, Butch revives the stunned Woodcock. A few nights later in a nearby town, Butch and Sundance sit on a bordello balcony and watch with amusement as down on the street the town marshal struggles to incite the townspeople into forming a posse to go after the Hole in the Wall gang. Butch then envisions he and Sundance joining the army and becoming officers, and confides that his real name is Robert LeRoy Parker. Sundance reveals his real name is Harry Longabaugh and as the men toast each other, the townspeople lose interest in the marshal's exhortations when a salesman demonstrates a new invention, the bicycle. When Butch turns his attentions to one of the bordello girls, Sundance rides off. One evening some days later, schoolteacher Etta Place arrives at her small house and is startled to find Sundance waiting for her in the dark. While Sundance points his gun at her, Etta disrobes and lets her hair down, then as he embraces her, she chastises him for being late. A few days later, Etta awakens to the strange sight of Butch riding around the house on a bicycle. Delighted, Etta takes a ride with Butch who performs tricks on the bicycle before being run off by a bull. On the way back to the house, Etta asks Butch if he has come to enlist Sundance in another robbery. Butch admits that he cannot understand why, despite working hard all his life, he has always been broke. Later, Butch, Sundance and the gang make another strike on the Flyer and Butch is delighted to discover the committed Woodcock back on the job. After tricking the young clerk into opening the car door, Butch discovers that Woodcock has firmly secured the safe. Using several sticks of dynamite, Butch blows up the entire train car and as the men laughingly retrieve the flyaway money, a train engine pulling a single car comes up behind the Flyer. Alarmed, Butch and the others watch as several horses and riders leap from the train car and start after them. Butch and Sundance immediately flee, but two of the gang members scrambling to get away are shot down. When Butch and Sundance split off from the surviving two gang members, they are frustrated that all the pursuers come after them. Butch and Sundance ride hard through the day into the evening, returning to the friendly bordello, but their efforts to throw off the pursuers fail, forcing them to escape into the night. To their dismay, their hunters follow using torches. Impressed and incredulous at the group’s tenacity in tracking over various terrains throughout the next day, Butch repeatedly wonders about the men’s identities. In a far-flung town, Butch and Sundance stop at the office of old friend Sheriff Ray Bledsoe, who angrily informs them that their presence might compromise his position. When Butch asks Bledsoe to vouch for them so they can enlist in the army, the old sheriff roughly tells them that they are doomed to meet a bloody end. Butch and Sundance resume their flight and during brief rest stops observe their single-minded pursuers. Sundance believes one of them may be a famous full-blooded Indian tracker from Oklahoma named Lord Baltimore. Although Butch is skeptical, after studying the men, he wonders if their leader is the famous lawman LaForce, known for his trademark white skimmer hat. Increasingly apprehensive, Butch and Sundance continue their evasions, riding high into a steep mountain range, where they let their remaining horse go and proceed on foot only to find themselves on a cliff overlooking a river. Realizing that half of the trackers are behind them, and the others have taken up positions on the cliff across the river, Butch determines they can fight or surrender. Sundance refuses to capitulate, but when Butch abruptly suggests they jump into the river, he staunchly refuses, finally admitting that he cannot swim. Butch assures Sundance the fall will likely kill them and, as their pursuers watch helplessly, the duo plunges into the river, which sweeps them away to safety. Some days later, an exhausted Butch and Sundance arrive at Etta’s home, where she relates that the newspapers had reported their capture. She explains that the head of the Union Pacific lines, E. H. Harriman, outraged by the constant robberies of his trains by the Hole in the Wall gang, has put together an exclusive posse comprised of the nation’s best lawmen to assure the demise of Butch and Sundance. Butch angrily accuses Harriman of bad business practices, declaring that if the tycoon would simply pay them the money he has paid the posse, Butch would stop robbing him. Sundance fears they will be on the run forever and later that night he and Butch invite Etta to flee with them to Bolivia. She agrees, stipulating that if the law should reach them there, she will not stay to watch them die. The next day, the trio sets off for New York, where they catch a steamer to South America. Upon arriving in a small, dusty village in Bolivia, Sundance expresses disgust with the primitive surroundings. While attempting to rob a village bank, the duo is horrified that no one speaks English, prompting Etta to teach them holdup commands in Spanish. Etta joins in the next several heists and, soon, Butch and Sundance develop a reputation as Los Bandidos Yanquis, or the Yankee Bandits. Their spree comes to an abrupt end, however, when Butch spots LaForce in a village. Etta insists that the lawman is outside his jurisdiction, but Sundance reminds her that the posse’s mission is to kill them. Butch declares that if they commit no further robberies, they cannot be traced, and so announces they are going “straight.” The men then take a job with Percy Garris, escorting a mining payroll, but on their very first job, Garris is killed by local bandits. When the bandits fire on Butch and Sundance, they readily surrender the money, but when it becomes obvious the thieves do not intend to let them go, the duo is forced to kill them. Dejected, Butch and Sundance return to Etta who urges them to take up farming or ranching. When they refuse, Etta decides to return to America. Butch and Sundance resume robbing banks and one day arrive in the small town of San Vicente, where they are recognized and reported to the local police. The police chief summons the army, then surrounds Butch and Sundance with his own forces. In the ensuing gunfight, the outlaws run low on ammunition, forcing Butch to make a daring race across the courtyard to grab their gun belts, while Sundance provides furious cover. Badly wounded, the men collapse in a local building and as they painfully rearm, Butch confides to the skeptical Sundance that he has discovered another place rich with potential, Australia. Unaware that a large contingent of soldiers has joined the police outside, Butch and Sundance confidently rush out of the building to make their escape, only to be caught in a hail of bullets.
Cap'n Andy Hawks's show boat the Cotton Blossom arrives in New Orleans. Andy's daughter Magnolia, a gifted singer, meets Gaylord Ravenal and they make believe they are in love. While rehearsing, 'Nolia's good friend, Julie LaVerne, and her husband, Steve Baker, are accused of miscegenation and are forced to quit the show and leave town. 'Nolia and Gay take their places and, because their romantic involvement onstage mimics their real feelings, they are a hit. Pete Gavanaugh, who caused Julie's ostracism when she refused his advances, then writes to Andy to expose Gay as a murderer who was let off on a verdict of self-defense. After a successful run of their show, Gay and 'Nolia marry with Andy's blessing, even though 'Nolia's mother Parthy objects to the marriage because of Gay's questionable past. A year later, 'Nolia gives birth to Kim during a storm while Gay is away playing cards. Gay returns the next morning and asks 'Nolia to move to Chicago. Initially, the family lives well at the Palmer House while Gay bets on horses, but his money quickly runs out and they are forced to move. When Elly and Frank, former members of the show boat, inquire about a shabby room for rent from which the present tenants are being evicted, they discover the tenants are 'Nolia and Gay. Gay then deserts 'Nolia because he is ashamed that he cannot provide for her and Kim. 'Nolia then performs at the Trocadero after Julie, now an alcoholic, quietly quits so that her old friend 'Nolia can get work. Parthy and Andy then arrive at the Palmer House on New Year's Eve in search of the Ravenals, and Andy discovers 'Nolia singing at the Trocadero. Although the crowd is not receptive to 'Nolia's lyrical voice, Andy gives her support from the audience and she is a success. Soon 'Nolia is an international star. Years pass and she retires from the stage, after which Kim follows in her footsteps. When Kim opens on Broadway, 'Nolia recognizes Gay, who is posing as the stage doorman. After the encore, Kim invites her mother to sing and Gay joins her in song.
Production Company: Stanley Kramer Productions, Inc.
Composer: Dimitri Tiomkin
At 10:30 on a quiet morning in 1870, three outlaws ride into the western town of Hadleyville just as its marshal, Will Kane, is being married to a pretty Quaker named Amy Fowler. To please Amy, Will resigns his post immediately after the ceremony, but he is troubled because the new marshal has not arrived to take his place. Suddenly the station master rushes in with the terrible news that Frank Miller, a wild outlaw whom Will had arrested for murder five years earlier, recently received a pardon and is due to arrive in Hadleyville on the noon train. The three outlaws, Jack Colby, Ben Miller and James Pierce, have ridden to the station and are awaiting Miller's arrival. Alarmed, the wedding guests urge Will and Amy to leave town immediately, but after only a few moments on the road, Will turns the wagon around and heads back. "I expect he'll come looking for me," Will replies when Amy asks for an explanation. Will's young wife begs him to leave with her, and when he protests that he has never run from anyone, she threatens to leave on the train whether or not he accompanies her. Will hurriedly begins to make plans for the town's defense, and is surprised when Judge Percy Mettrick, who had sentenced Miller to be hanged, packs his belongings and flees. Will is relieved to see Harvey Pell, his deputy, still in town, but Harvey, angry that an outsider was hired to replace the retiring marshal, agrees to stay only if Will promises to support his bid for the post. Will refuses, whereupon Harvey removes his guns and walks out. Will visits his old flame, businesswoman Helen Ramirez, who had formerly been Miller's mistress. Will warns Helen about Frank, and she admits that she has sold her store and plans to depart on the noon train. In the saloon, men who enjoyed the rowdy times when Frank and his henchmen controlled the town celebrate his imminent return and refuse Will's request for help. Will then visits the home of his friend, Sam Fuller, but as Sam listens from the next room, his wife tells Will that he is not at home. Next, Will interrupts the church service to ask for deputies. Although several of the townspeople proclaim that it is Will who has made their town safe and decent, many of them also argue that Miller's impending arrival is not their problem. Finally, Mayor Jonas Henderson declares that a gunfight would hurt the town's image and that Will should have left when he had the chance. Stunned, Will leaves the church and asks his mentor, Martin Howe, for help. Howe, once the marshal himself, has become cynical, however, and after Will exits his home, he mumbles, "It's all for nothing, Will." Harvey, now drunk, tries to force Will to leave town, but Will refuses, and the two men fight until the marshal knocks his former deputy unconscious. As noon approaches, Amy visits Helen, who assures her that there is no longer anything between herself and Will. She also reproaches the young wife for not defending her husband, but softens after Amy reveals that both her father and brother were killed in a gunfight. In Will's office, the only citizen who had willingly pinned on a deputy's badge now backs out and goes home, leaving the marshal utterly alone. Will writes his last will and testament, then enters the deserted street as Amy and Helen drive a wagon toward the train station. The train arrives, and as Miller disembarks, the two women get on board. Miller straps on his gun, and the four outlaws walk toward the center of town, where Will awaits them. When one of the outlaws breaks a window, Will is able to duck inside a building and shoot him. Hearing the shot, Amy gets off the train and runs back to town. Will kills another of his attackers and takes cover in the livery stable, which the two remaining outlaws set on fire. As the frightened horses charge out, Will leaps on one and makes his escape, but falls after being shot in the arm. Amy shoots one of the gunmen in the back before he can shoot Will, but is captured by Miller, who uses her as a hostage. In response to Miller's threats, Will faces him in the street, but Amy pushes the outlaw, giving Will the chance to shoot him dead. Amy and Will embrace, and the townspeople rush into the street. Disgusted by the cowardice of his former friends, Will tosses his tin star in the dirt at their feet, then leaves with Amy.
In St. Louis, in the summer of 1903, seventeen-year-old Esther Smith fantasizes about meeting John Truett, the shy boy-next-door, while her older sister Rose frets about her beau, Warren Sheffield, who is off at Yale. Sure that Warren, who is calling Rose at 6:30 that evening, is finally going to propose to her sister, Esther arranges with Katie, the Smiths's housekeeper, for the family to eat dinner early, so that Rose will have some privacy while talking on the telephone. Esther's cantankerous father Alonzo, who has not been told about the expected call, ruins her plan, however, when he insists on eating at the usual time. During dinner, everyone, including Esther's five-year old sister "Tootie," tries to hurry Lon along, but the phone rings just as the main course is being served. As her family eavesdrops on the entire conversation, Rose attempts to prod Warren into a proposal, but he gets mired in small talk and hangs up without uttering a single romantic word. Later, at Esther's urging, Rose invites John to a farewell party for her older brother Lon, Jr., who is going to Princeton. At the party, Esther at first feigns indifference to John, but hides his hat to keep him at the house and then asks him to help her turn off all the lights. Although John is clearly attracted to the flirtatious Esther, he is too shy to kiss her, and instead gives her a hearty handshake. Before he leaves, Esther invites him to join her family that Sunday for a tour of the St. Louis Exposition fairgrounds, and he tentatively accepts. On Sunday, Esther waits eagerly for John at the trolley stop, but he has not arrived by the time the trolley is scheduled to leave. As the trolley is pulling away, however, John appears and, to Esther's joy, hops on next to her. Months later, Tootie and her slightly older sister Agnes dress up as goblins and go out to celebrate Halloween with the neighborhood children. Anxious to prove herself, Tootie, who is preoccupied with death, insists on calling feared neighbor Mr. Braukoff to his door and, following the local custom, blows flour in his face. After Tootie is declared the "most horrible," she throws her family into a panic when she returns home, crying, bruised and cut. Tootie claims that John hit her by the trolley tracks, and although Esther at first refuses to believe her, she changes her mind when a clump of hair is discovered in Tootie's hand. Enraged, Esther storms over to John's house, accuses him of being a bully and then beats and bites him. Later, however, Tootie and Agnes confess that John actually saved them from being arrested after they almost caused an accident on the trolley tracks. Esther rushes back to John's house to apologize, and John not only forgives her, but flirts with her as well. Later that evening, Lon, a lawyer, returns home to announce that his firm is transferring him to New York. Although Lon is enthusiastic about the transfer, which involves a promotion, Anna and the children react with shock and worry. Eventually, however, Anna agrees to the move, and the Smiths plan to leave St. Louis after Christmas. Weeks later, on Christmas Eve, Rose is upset because the visiting Warren has invited Lucille Ballard, an Easterner, to the local Christmas dance instead of her. Back from Princeton, Lon, Jr., also is frustrated because he wanted to ask Lucille to the dance. After Katie convinces Lon, Jr., to escort Rose to the dance, Esther's plans are disrupted when John is forced to break his date with her because he did not get to the tailor's soon enough to pick up his tuxedo. Although Esther assures John she is not upset, she later breaks down in tears and refuses to be escorted by Lon, Jr. When Esther's grandfather, however, offers to take her, she gratefully accepts. At the dance, Esther and Rose scheme against Lucille, whom they have never met, by filling out her dance card with the names of clods. Their plan backfires when Lucille turns out to be nice and insists that Rose be with Warren, while she goes with Lon, Jr. Embarrassed, Esther gives Lucille her dance card, then braves the clods. To her delight, John eventually shows up and, under a wintery moon, kisses her and proposes. As soon as Esther starts to think about being separated from her family, however, she has second thoughts about marrying. Later, at home, Tootie cries to Esther about the impending move and, as her bewildered father watches from a window, runs outside and angrily begins smashing the snow people she helped build. After calling the family together, Lon then announces that that they are staying in St. Louis. Months later, the Smiths and John head for the just-opened Exposition and are thrilled by the thought that such incredible sights are in their very own town.
With the help of their friend, Carl Bruner, young couple Sam Wheat and Molly Jensen renovate a New York City loft and move in together. Late one night, Sam says that he fears something bad will happen, since his life is going too well. When she cannot sleep, Molly goes to her potter’s wheel and makes a vase. Sam joins her, placing his hands on the clay, and they make love. Soon after, at the financial firm where they both work, Sam confides to Carl that there is too much money in some of his accounts. Carl offers to investigate, but Sam says that he has changed his pass code for security reasons and will handle the problem himself. After seeing a performance of Macbeth, Molly and Sam walk home. Molly comments that she always tells Sam she loves him, while he merely responds, “Ditto,” and asks him to declare his love for her more often. Their conversation is interrupted when a mugger steps out of the shadows and holds Sam at gunpoint. Sam speaks calmly to the man, who becomes aggressive. The men tussle and the mugger’s gun goes off, killing Sam. As Molly cradles his head and calls for help, Sam’s ghost watches from afar, then follows Molly to the hospital, where the ghost of an older man greets him. Sam attends his own funeral, where Molly cries and grasps Carl’s hand. The ghost of a woman waves to Sam before stepping through a gravestone. At home, Sam watches over Molly, who talks to her dead boyfriend, telling him she went to the dry cleaner’s that day and broke down in tears when the shop owner asked about him. The cat hisses at Sam when he gets too near, and Molly stops short, sensing his presence. Later, Sam observes as Carl and Molly go through boxes of Sam’s personal items. Molly sets aside various items to keep, including Sam’s address book. Carl encourages her to go for a walk with him, but Sam has a hard time passing through the door to follow them. Just then, the mugger who killed Sam breaks into the apartment. Sam watches as the man searches for something specific, to no avail. Molly returns home, and the mugger escapes. Sam follows him onto the subway, where he encounters a belligerent ghost. The ghost attacks Sam and smashes a window in the process. Sam trails the mugger to his apartment and discovers the man’s name is Willie Lopez. He overhears Lopez make a call, informing someone that he was not able to steal whatever he was after but plans to go back for it. Stunned by the realization that his murder was part of a larger scheme, Sam wanders onto the street. He hears music and enters an open door to a waiting room. A woman named Rosa Santiago is called inside a parlor and Sam follows her. There, Oda Mae Brown, a con artist posing as a psychic medium, pretends to connect with Rosa’s dead husband. Watching in disbelief, Sam voices his disapproval. Oda Mae hears Sam’s voice and panics, as she has never actually communed with the dead. Oda Mae tells Sam to leave her alone, but he refuses. At night, he keeps her awake by singing non-stop until she finally agrees to help him. The next day, they go to Sam and Molly’s apartment downtown. Although Molly initially rejects Oda Mae’s claims, she invites her in after Oda Mae reveals personal information only Sam could know. Relaying a message from Sam, Oda Mae warns Molly that she is in danger. She gives her Willie Lopez’s name and address and explains that Sam’s murder was a setup. That evening, Molly shares the information with Carl, who discourages her from going to the police and offers to check out Willie Lopez himself. Sam follows Carl to Lopez’s apartment and discovers that Carl and Lopez are in cahoots. Carl, who is laundering $4 million in drug money using Sam’s clients’ accounts, needs Sam’s new pass code, which he believes he will find in Sam’s address book. If he does not gain access to the accounts, Carl will lose the $80,000 he stood to make and might be killed. Carl vows to steal the address book himself. Outside, Sam tries to punch Carl, but his hands float through Carl’s body. Molly goes to the police station, where a sergeant pulls up the file of Oda Mae Brown, who has a long history of fraud. Meanwhile, Carl breaks into the apartment and retrieves Sam’s address book. He finds the pass code and goes to the office. Sam observes as Carl successfully transfers the $4 million into one account, under the alias “Rita Miller,” with orders to transfer the money again, the following day, into an offshore account in Nassau. Carl returns to Sam and Molly’s apartment and tries to seduce her by sharing his grief over Sam’s death. Molly laments that she feels alone, and Carl kisses her. Outraged, Sam jumps on Carl, and in doing so, miraculously knocks over a framed photograph of Molly and Sam. Molly jumps up and tells Carl he must leave. Returning to the subway, Sam finds the ghost who attacked him and enlists his help. The subway ghost, who smashed a window while attacking Sam, teaches Sam how to manipulate objects with his mind. Sam returns to Oda Mae’s parlor and finds it teeming with new clients and the ghosts of their loved ones, all of whom Oda Mae can now hear. One of the ghosts jumps into her body and takes it over for a brief moment before she casts him out. Oda Mae complains to Sam that she does not want this newfound power. She orders everyone out of the parlor just as Lopez arrives to kill her. Oda Mae escapes, and Sam follows. He tells her he has a plan to get them out of danger, but he needs her help. At Sam’s behest, Oda Mae dresses up and forges a fake identification card for “Rita Miller.” She goes to a bank and sits down with Sam’s old colleague, Lyle Ferguson. As Sam whispers personal information about Ferguson into her ear, Oda Mae nervously tells the banker that she knows him and announces she is there to close her account. Despite her strange behavior, Ferguson closes the account and gives her a cashier’s check for $4 million. Molly arrives at the bank and recognizes Oda Mae from across the room. With the check in hand, Oda Mae hurries out of the building. Molly asks Lyle Ferguson about Oda Mae, but he claims her name is Rita Miller. On the street, Oda Mae rejoices at her newfound wealth, but Sam insists she get rid of the money or the criminals will trace it to her. With great reluctance, Oda Mae signs over the check to a homeless shelter. Meanwhile, Carl tries to transfer the laundered money, but panics when he finds the account closed. Sam shows up at the office and taunts Carl by moving objects across the room and typing “murderer” on his computer screen. That evening, Carl goes to Molly’s apartment in a state of distress and asks about Sam’s ghost. Molly mentions seeing Oda Mae at the bank, and tells Carl that her real name is Rita Miller. Carl leaves abruptly and heads uptown. Sam goes to Oda Mae’s apartment to warn her that she is in danger, and she hides in a neighbor’s apartment. When Carl and Lopez come searching for her, Sam scares Lopez by moving objects around Oda Mae’s apartment and writing “boo” on a foggy mirror. Lopez runs outside and is hit by a car. Sam watches as Lopez’s ghost is dragged underground by shadowy, black demons. Sam takes Oda Mae back to Molly’s apartment, where Oda Mae tells Molly to call the police. Sam expresses his desire to touch Molly once more, and Oda Mae allows him to inhabit her body. Sam and Molly share a dance, but Sam is knocked out of Oda Mae’s body when Carl breaks in and chases the women to an empty apartment. There, Sam uses his telekinetic powers to fight Carl, who tries to escape through a window but is impaled by a shard of broken glass. Carl’s ghost sees Sam just before the shadowy demons come to collect him. Sam finds Oda Mae and Molly, and asks if they are okay. However, before Oda Mae can respond, Molly answers. A heavenly light shines down and Sam’s ghost becomes visible to the women. Sam tells Oda Mae he will miss her. He kisses Molly goodbye and tells her he loves her, to which she responds, “Ditto.”
Production Company: Magna Theatre Corp., Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp., South Pacific Enterprises, Inc.
Sent on a mission to the South Pacific during World War II, Marine lieutenant Joseph Cable catches his first glance of the islands as his plane sails overhead. Meanwhile, on the beach below, Luther Billis, a fast-talking, wise-cracking sailor, tries to sell grass skirts to Bloody Mary, the bawdy trader who controls the concession. Billis is peeved that the island of Balai Ha'i, a treasure trove of beautiful women, souvenir trinkets and the legendary Boar's Tooth Ceremony, is off limits to enlisted men. Upon landing, Joe feels drawn to the nearby, fog-shrouded island while Bloody Mary leers at the young officer. At headquarters, Joe informs Capt. George Brackett, the head of the base, that he has been sent to establish a beachhead on Japanese territory along the coast in order to observe the movements of enemy vessels. To accomplish this, Joe hopes to enlist the aid of Emile de Becque, a mysterious French planter who possesses an intimate knowledge of the area. While Joe is outlining his plans, Emile is entertaining Navy nurse Nellie Forbush. The soulful, disillusioned Emile finds himself attracted to the bubbling, optimistic and younger Nellie. Finally overcoming his reticence, Emile declares his love and proposes, then confides that years earlier, he killed a bully in his hometown in France and was forced to flee to the islands. Aware of Nellie's relationship with Emile, the captain summons her to headquarters to question her about his politics. When they realize that she is unaware of his previous marriage or the children resulting from that union, Joe advises Nellie to forget her Frenchman. When the captain tries to enlist Emile in Joe's mission, Emile responds that he has too much to lose and that his experience with the bully has made him leery of becoming involved in causes. To ease Joe's disappointment, the captain suggests that he unwind, and Joe soon finds himself on a boat with Billis bound for Balai Ha'i. As the others watch the Boar's Tooth Ceremony, Bloody Mary introduces Joe to her young daughter Liat, and Joe immediately falls under the exotic girl's spell. Later, when the sound of the bell calls Joe back to his boat, he passionately kisses Liat and leaves in a daze. At Emile's estate, a party in Nellie's honor is ending, and after the guests depart, Emile finally introduces Nellie to his half-Polynesian children. Horrified that Emile was once married to a Polynesian, Nellie makes an excuse and hastily leaves. At this point, the film stops for a brief intermission. Some time later, Joe returns to Balai Ha'i to see Liat, and Bloody Mary mentions that a rich French planter has expressed an interest in marrying her daughter. As a gesture of love, Joe presents Liat with his grandfather's treasured pocket watch, but when he states that he will never be able to marry Liat, Bloody Mary snatches the watch from the girl's hands and returns it to Joe. As Thanksgiving approaches, Nellie, the star and choreographer of the base's Thanksgiving Follies, finds it hard to concentrate on the performance when her personal life is so painful. During a rehearsal, she breaks into tears and requests a transfer. The captain convinces her to reconsider, but when she receives flowers and an endearing note from Emile after the show, she runs from the stage and encounters Joe, who has just recovered from malaria. Recognizing that they are both suffering from lost loves, Joe confides that during his illness, all he could think about was Liat. Joe wonders why he finds himself unable to marry Liat, and Nellie suggests that they both need to return home where they belong. When Emile suddenly appears, Nellie informs him that her inbred bigotry will not allow her to marry him. Joe, in contrast, decides to defy convention and remain on the island with Liat. With nothing left to lose, Emile agrees to join Joe on his mission. After establishing a watch post in the hills, Joe and Emile begin to radio back information about the enemy position. Two weeks later, U.S. warplanes, guided by Joe and Emile's invaluable reports, have successfully driven back the Japanese. Concerned about Emile's safety, Nellie eagerly listens to his broadcasts, and when she learns that Joe has been killed, she realizes that she still loves Emile and prays for his safe return. For solace, Nellie goes to Emile's children, and as she sings one of their favorite French songs, Emile returns and they tenderly join hands.
Writer: Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Terry Southern
Editor: Donn Cambern
Cinematographer: Laszlo Kovacs
Genre: Drama
Production Company: The Pando Company, Inc., Raybert Productions, Inc.
At an airstrip near the California-Mexico border, Wyatt and Billy, two motorcyclists, sell a large quantity of cocaine to a pusher who handles the transaction from his chauffered Rolls Royce. Once Wyatt (who is called "Captain America" because of the stars and stripes on his jacket and bike) has concealed the cash in his cycle's gas tank, the two young men ride off, vaguely intending to reach New Orleans, Louisiana, in time for Mardi Gras. Unwelcome at motels because of their nonconformist appearance, they camp outdoors and smoke marijuana until they fall asleep. After stopping at a ranch where they repair their bikes and join the rancher and his Mexican wife for a meal, they pick up a hitchhiker and accompany him to the commune where he lives. Despite the friendliness of the people working the barren soil and a pleasant swim with two women, Billy becomes impatient to leave, and the two once more take to the road. Upon arriving in a Texas town, where a civic celebration is in progress, Wyatt and Billy join the procession and are jailed for "parading without a permit." Sharing their cell is alcoholic George Hanson, a civil rights lawyer who prefers sleeping off his binges in jail to facing the wrath of his wealthy father, one of the town leaders. A quick camaraderie develops among the three men; George intercedes and prevents jail officials from giving the two traditional haircuts, and he accepts their invitation to ride with them, mainly because he has always wanted to visit the House of Blue Lights in New Orleans. One night while sitting around a fire, George smokes his first joint and joyfully elucidates his theory that creatures from Venus are already living among us. The next day the three travelers stop at a small luncheonette but leave when confronted by open hostility and bigotry. That night they are attacked at their camp site by thugs who pummel George to death and leave Wyatt and Billy badly beaten. Incapable of voicing their feelings, Wyatt and Billy pay tribute to George by riding on to New Orleans and visiting the House of Blue Lights. Finding that neither the prostitutes nor the Mardi Gras festivities can overcome their moroseness, they go to a nearby cemetery to take LSD with two of the prostitutes. When the acid trip turns out to be a bad one that leaves Wyatt and Billy more despondent than before, they take to the highways again. Though Billy suggests they change direction and head for Florida, Wyatt senses the futility of continuing. The next morning they are passed on the road by two men in a pickup truck who decide to scare the two longhairs by pointing a shotgun at them. When Billy responds with a gesture of defiance, one of the men fires a shot that hits him in the stomach. After trying to reassure his dying friend, Wyatt leaps on his cycle to ride off for help, but the truck has turned back, and this time the man with the gun takes deliberate aim and blasts Wyatt and his motorcycle off the road.
Writer: Frederick Jackson, Ted Koehler, H. S. Kraft
Editor: James B. Clark
Cinematographer: Leon Shamroy
Genre: Musical
Production Company: Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.
Composer: Emil Newman
On a pleasant day in Hollywood, California, Bill "Corky" Williamson, a semi-retired tap dancer, is teaching his craft to a group of neighborhood children when the mailman delivers a special edition of "Theatre World." The magazine is celebrating "the magnificent contribution of the colored race to the entertainment of the world during the past twenty-five years" and features Bill on the cover. As Bill reads the various dedications from his old friends, he reminisces about the early days of his career. One such dedication from Noble Sissle inspires Bill to remember the hero's welcome he and fellow members of Jim Europe's 15th New York Regiment band received when they returned from France after World War I: Bill and his best friend Gabe live it up in high style in New York City, and Gabe pretends to be a rich talent manager in order to impress his scatterbrained girl friend. At a hall set up as a nightclub for the returning servicemen, Bill sees a beautiful woman and discovers to his amazement that she is Selina Rogers, the sister of a close friend who died in the war. After Selina and Bill dance together, Selina is introduced as the evening's star and joins Jim Europe's band in a song. Selina and Bill are attracted to each other, but her manager, Chick Bailey, gets jealous and intervenes. Selina tries to convince Bill to stay in New York and pursue a dancing career, but Bill says he has a job waiting for him in Memphis and plans to stay there until he can make something of himself. In Memphis, Bill finds work on a riverboat, but when he dances with a group of talented minstrels on board, they encourage him to go down to Beale Street to secure a job as a dancer. One night at Ada Brown's Beale Street café, where Bill has been hired as a waiter, Bailey and Selina stop by looking for new talent to star in Bailey's new show. After Bailey offers roles to Ada, a singer, Fats, a piano player and the café's band, Selina begs him to take Bill, too. Bailey reluctantly agrees and hires Bill as an extra tom-tom player in a dance number. One evening, Bill, frustrated with his assigned role, performs a complex stair-step dance on the drums while Bailey sings. The crowd goes wild, and it takes several seconds before Bailey realizes that they are applauding Bill. When he discovers Bill's ruse, he kicks him out of the theater, but Bill punches Bailey and then has the last word when Selina agrees to go with him for a sandwich in defiance of Bailey. Back in the present, Bill is pleased to read a dedication from former enemy Bailey, who pompously has written that he was the first to recognize Bill's talent. Bill then wonders about his old friend Gabe: As Bill is about to put on his own show, he runs into Gabe, who is working as a bootblack in Harlem. Bill's show is in danger of failing because the chorus girls, who have not been paid, are threatening to quit before the first performance. To help Bill, Gabe shows up at the theater pretending to be a rich impressario and tricks the group into performing. When one of the performers, however, recognizes Gabe as the man who has shined his shoes many times, the group once again turns on him and Bill. Fortunately, Gabe's hired driver has just won money at the races. He agrees to pay the performers' salaries, and the show goes on. Later, Bill, who has earlier married Selina, asks her to move to a little house with him and raise children, but Selina tells him that she must continue to work. She goes to Paris, where she becomes a renowned star. In the present, as Bill is relaxing on his front porch with the neighborhood children, Cab Calloway stops by to pick him up for a big party, which will honor the men who are going overseas to fight in World War II. At the show, Bill reunites with a jive-talking Gabe, who is now working for Cab, and sees Selina perform. Later, she tells him that she wants to return to him and start a family. After several performances by Cab, Gabe and others, Bill and Selina appear together and all ends on a happy note.
Cast: Liza Minnelli, Robert De Niro, Lionel Stander
Directors: Martin Scorsese
Producer: Irwin Winkler, Robert Chartoff
Writer: Earl Mac Rauch, Mardik Martin, Earl Mac Rauch
Editor: Tom Rolf, B. Lovitt , David Ramirez
Cinematographer: Laszlo Kovacs
Genre: Musical
In 1945 New York City, on Victory over Japan or V-J Day, veteran Jimmy Doyle attends a show at the New York Theatre that features Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra. There, Jimmy unsuccessfully tries to seduce several women. Although Women’s Army Corps member Francine Evans rejects him, he persists anyway. An acquaintance of Francine’s named Arnold Trench informs her that her friend, Paul Wilson, is also at the show, and when they reunite Paul tells her he will telephone her the next day. Meanwhile, Jimmy’s friend, Eddie Di Muzio, asks for Jimmy's hotel room key because he met a girl. Eddie’s date, Ellen Flannery, turns out to be friends with Francine. Eddie and Ellen leave and Jimmy is left alone with Francine, but she brushes him aside and leaves. Four hours later, Jimmy calls his room, but Eddie has not yet finished his romantic interlude. In the morning, Jimmy finds Francine at the hotel’s front desk looking for Ellen. Jimmy, who has been jumping from hotel-to-hotel and writing bad checks, must make a quick escape to avoid the desk clerk. He asks Francine to get his suitcase and saxophone from the room and they meet outside in a taxicab. Jimmy is late for an audition in Brooklyn and insists Francine go with him. At the audition, the club owner tells Jimmy that he is playing too loud. Francine suggests Jimmy adjust his style and Jimmy becomes angry. While apologizing to Francine, Jimmy argues with the club owner. Francine interrupts by singing and encourages Jimmy to accompany her. The club owner loves the act and hires them as a duet. A romance ensues, but Francine soon learns from her agent, Tony Harwell, that she can return to her job singing with Frankie Harte’s band. Sometime later, Tony delivers a letter from Francine to Jimmy at the club, explaining her absence, and Jimmy asks Tony to represent him. Jimmy travels to Francine’s show in Roanoke, Virginia, and makes a scene. Paul Wilson, the piano player, steps in, and when Francine takes Jimmy outside, he professes his love for her. Francine arranges for Jimmy to audition for bandleader Frankie Harte, and he joins the band. Traveling by bus, the band crisscrosses the southern U.S. and Jimmy and Francine grow closer. When she allows him to read a love poem, Jimmy insists they leave the motel in the middle of the night to go to the justice of the peace. Francine is disappointed in Jimmy’s proposal and says she will not marry him. In response, Jimmy crawls under a taxicab and orders the driver to run him over. He professes his love once more and Francine agrees to the marriage. Later, one of the band members is caught with an underage girl and Frankie bails him out. Tired of losing money, Frankie tells Francine that he is canceling the rest of the tour. However, she suggests he let Jimmy take over the band. Frankie grudgingly agrees and the band lands a gig at a hotel in Chicago, Illinois, now called “Jimmy Doyle and his Orchestra.” The band is a hit and Francine is praised in a newspaper review. During rehearsals, Jimmy clashes with band members and loses his temper when Francine intervenes. She later leaves the stage in the middle of a show. Jimmy goes after her, and she announces that she is pregnant and wants to return to New York City. Upset, Jimmy insists she stay with the band, but finally agrees to let her go. Back in New York City, Tony finds Francine doing studio recording work, while Jimmy and the band tour with a new singer, Bernice Bennett. Eventually, Jimmy turns the band over to pianist Paul and returns to New York City three days later than planned. There, he tells Francine that the band did not work out and that he needed some time alone. Jimmy works on a tune and Francine adds lyrics, calling it “New York, New York.” Later, Jimmy tells jazz musician Cecil Powell that his former band members were not good enough, and he wants to play with the best. Cecil invites Jimmy to sit in with his quintet at the Harlem Club. The following day, Jimmy picks up Francine at the recording studio and explains where he was the night before. Francine, now six months pregnant, asks Jimmy to pay more attention to her. Jimmy takes Francine to see their former band, now billed as Bernice Conrad and the Paul Wilson Orchestra. Francine invites her old friend Ellen Flannery and Decca Records producer Artie Kirks, hoping they will hit if off. At the show, Jimmy is displeased, becomes intoxicated, and confronts Paul onstage. After being forcibly removed from the club, Jimmy plays his saxophone beside a billboard for Paradise Park. The next day, he picks up Francine from the studio with a car full of flowers and they make up. Francine brings Tony and Artie to the Harlem Club to discuss a recording deal that Artie recently offered her. Francine is concerned about the baby and Artie and Tony promise to get her a nurse for the road. Jimmy claims he approves, but leaves to make a telephone call. After Artie and Tony leave, Francine drinks and makes her way toward the stage. Jimmy notices, and starts wailing on his saxophone. Francine dances with a man and appears to leave with him. Jimmy rushes out, sees the man get in a taxicab, and follows it in his car. Francine, who is actually sitting in the back seat of Jimmy’s car, covers his eyes with her hands and the car runs up on the curb. Jimmy drives recklessly as they argue over the baby and the fights turns physical. Francine begins screaming in pain and Jimmy drives her to a hospital. Francine gives birth, and when she informs Jimmy that she named the child after him, he becomes angry. Jimmy claims he does not want to see the child because he does not plan to stay and raise him. Francine says she loves him, but Jimmy says that is not possible, and says goodbye. Several years later, Francine records a song as Artie and Paul look on and her son sleeps in the studio. Francine goes to Hollywood, California, to star in a movie musical called Happy Endings. In the movie, Francine’s character is an usherette named “Peggy Smith,” who imagines she is a Broadway star. Later, Jimmy watches the movie in a theater. Meanwhile, a radio disk jockey begins using Jimmy’s instrumental, “New York, New York,” as his theme and it becomes a hit on the jazz record charts. Jimmy goes to the Starlight Terrace to see Francine perform and she notices him in the audience. She then performs “New York, New York,” with her lyrics. Jimmy visits Francine in her dressing room amid a crowded after-party, but he is uncomfortable. On his way out, Jimmy says hello to Jimmy, Jr. Jimmy calls Francine from a phone booth outside the stage door and invites her to join him for Chinese food because there is something he wants to discuss. She agrees, but has second thoughts and leaves him waiting.
American Jerry Mulligan, a former G.I. and fledgling painter who stayed in Paris after World War II, loves his life as a struggling artist on the Left Bank. He is friendly with his neighbors, especially the local children and cynical American Adam Cook, a concert pianist living on a succession of fellowships. One day, when Jerry is particularly low on money, he goes to Montmarte and sets up an impromptu exhibit of some of his work, hoping to sell something to a tourist. He has little success until Milo Roberts, an American heiress living in Paris, admires his paintings and buys two. Because she does not have enough cash with her, she invites Jerry to her hotel to get the money. Jerry shows little enthusiasm for her chauffeur-driven car and expensive hotel room but accepts an invitation to a party she is giving that night. When he returns, the provocatively dressed Milo reveals that the party is only for herself and Jerry. Thinking that she wants a gigolo, Jerry is insulted and wants to return the money for his paintings, but she convinces him that she is a patron of the arts and only wants to help him. With his pride intact, Jerry agrees to take her to dinner, but only if they go to a café he can afford. She suggests a jazz club in Montmarte, where they talk about their lives and his paintings. While Milo dances with Tommy Baldwin, a friend she runs into at the club, Jerry, who is attracted to a pretty girl he has spotted at the next table, overhears her name, Lise Bourvier, and calls to her, pretending to know her. After whisking the annoyed Lise onto the dance floor, Jerry gets her phone number from one of her companions. Observing this, Milo is hurt and lashes out at Jerry while they drive back to her hotel. He responds by getting out of her car and determining he wants nothing to do with her. The next morning, Jerry telephones Lise at the perfumery where she works and asks her out. She brusquely turns him down and tells him not to call again. A few moments later, Milo shows up at the Flodair, Jerry’s neighborhood café, and apologizes for her outburst the previous night. Again insisting that she is only interested in promoting his work, she invites him to lunch to meet a well-known art dealer she knows. Jerry agrees to meet her later, then goes to the perfumery to see Lise. When he charms a middle-aged American customer into selecting a perfume, Lise is amused and agrees to meet Jerry at 9:00 o’clock that night at a café near the Seine. Unknown to Jerry, Lise is loved by popular music hall entertainer Henri Baurel, a close friend of Adam and the man who became her guardian when her parents were killed during the war. Henri is debuting a new number that night and wants Lise to be in the audience. Although Lise is torn, she meets Jerry that evening, and as they walk along the Seine, the couple begins to fall in love. When Lise suddenly realizes that it is 11:00, she rushes off after agreeing to meet Jerry again on Saturday. At the theater, Henri does not realize that Lise missed the number and introduces her to American impresario John MacDowd, who wants Henri to tour America. Assuming that Lise loves him as much as he loves her, Henri suggests that they get married and go together to America. The next day, when Milo calls for Jerry, he dismisses Adam’s suggestion that he is becoming a kept man. Later, when Milo takes Jerry to a studio she has rented for him and informs him that she has arranged for an exhibition, he is angry but agrees to work hard if she promises to let him pay her back for everything. For the next few weeks, Jerry paints constantly, highlighting the people and sights of Paris, often using Lise as his model. One day, while Lise and Jerry are riding in a taxi, they talk about how little they know about each other’s lives and realize that they have both been evasive. Later, at the Flodair, Jerry tells Adam about Lise, and when he mentions her name, Adam chokes on his coffee, knowing that she is the young woman whom Henri loves. When Henri arrives, he and Jerry talk about being in love while Adam nervously tries to change the subject and hopes the men will not mention the names of their respective loves. Henri convinces Jerry that he must tell his girl friend how much he loves her, so when Jerry later meets Lise, he reveals his feelings. Although she feels the same, Lise confesses that she is marrying Henri because he loves her and she owes him her life. Hurt, Jerry then says that he has been seeing a woman he does not want to lose. After they part, Jerry rushes to Milo’s apartment, passionately kisses her for the first time and asks her to the art student’s costume ball that night. At the raucous ball, Jerry dances with Milo, pretending that he is happy, but after they run into Henri and Lise, Jerry admits to Milo that he is in love with Lise. Milo then leaves, after which Jerry walks out onto the balcony, where he is joined by Lise. She says that she and Henri are marrying the next day, but before returning to the party admits that it is painful to be near Jerry and not hold him close. Unknown to Lise and Jerry, Henri has been smoking a cigarette nearby and has overheard everything. Without saying a word to Lise, he drives her from the party while a despondent Jerry fantasizes about Lise and imagines himself dancing with her throughout Paris. A short time later, he is startled to hear the horn of a car and looks down to see Lise being brought back in Henri’s car. While Jerry runs down the Montmarte steps, Lise rushes up to meet him. The lovers embrace and walk down the steps hand-in-hand.
Cast: John Savage, Treat Williams, Beverly D'Angelo
Directors: Milos Forman
Producer: Lester Persky, Michael Butler
Writer: Michael Weller
Editor: Stanley Warnow, Alan Heim
Cinematographer: Miroslav Ondrícek
Genre: Musical
Composer: Galt MacDermot
During the late 1960s, naïve Oklahoma farm boy Claude Hooper Bukowski arrives in New York City to sightsee for a couple of days before enlisting in the Army and fighting in Vietnam. In Central Park, he notices three stylish women on horseback, who are being taunted by a group of frolicking hippies. Claude makes eye contact with one of the women, Sheila Franklin, and is immediately entranced. Meanwhile, George Berger, the impulsive, charismatic leader of the hippies, and his three friends, Jeannie Ryan, Lafayette “Hud” Johnson and Woof Daschund, rent a horse and attempt to ride alongside the prim socialites. When the rental horse bolts away, Claude comes to the rescue and reins in the animal. He then gallops past Sheila, showing off his rodeo skills, but she and her friends ride off in another direction. Afterward, Berger invites Claude to smoke marijuana and hang out in the park. Claude is amazed to learn that pregnant Jeannie is unconcerned whether the father of her baby is Woof or Hud. The next morning, as Claude prepares to leave the group, Berger finds a photograph of Sheila in the newspaper, announcing her debutante party. He suggests they attend so Claude can meet the girl. The hippies appear at the formal gathering in their Bohemian attire and mingle as if they were invited. At the dinner table, they are asked to leave, but Berger refuses. As Sheila’s father contacts the police, Berger announces to the astonished guests that Claude is in love with Sheila and wanted to see her one more time before leaving for Vietnam. Meanwhile, Sheila, who has been smoking marijuana with her girl friends, is quietly amused and flattered by the intruders. In court, Claude and the hippies are each sentenced to thirty days in jail unless they can pay the $50 fine. Although Claude has enough money to meet his bail, he reluctantly gives the cash to Berger, who promises to collect bail for everyone once he is released. After an unsuccessful attempt to hustle Sheila and her preppy boyfriend, Steve, Berger approaches his parents. Although his father tells him to get a job, his mother takes him aside and gives him $250. Meanwhile, in jail, Woof refuses to let the barber cut his long blonde hair. Upon release, the group joins a large crowd of counterculture tribes and anti-war protestors in Central Park. There, Claude takes the psychedelic drug LSD and hallucinates about his marriage to Sheila in a Hare Krishna wedding ceremony. When he becomes clearheaded and reunites with Berger and the group later that evening, Sheila is with them. She initially appears shy and indifferent, then summons the courage to swim naked with Claude. However, she runs away angry when Berger sneaks off with their clothes. Although Berger is amused by the prank, Claude reminds him that he is leaving the following day for the army and will not have another chance to see Sheila. A draft dodger, Berger cannot understand why Claude is enlisting, but Claude criticizes Berger for his lack of responsibility. Disappointed, Claude walks away from his new friends. The next day, Claude reports to the Army’s induction center and is transferred to a training base in Nevada. Sometime later, he writes to Sheila. When she shares the letter with Berger, he suggests that the friends should drive to Nevada for a visit. After stealing Steve’s car, Berger, Sheila, Woof, Hud, and Jeannie crowd into the vehicle for the cross-country journey. They are also joined by Hud’s fiancée, who is the mother of Hud’s young son, Lafayette, Jr. Unlike the free-spirited hippies, the young mother worries that Hud has fathered Jeannie’s baby. When the group arrives in Nevada, they are immediately turned away from the base by military police. Determined to see their friend, they devise an alternative plan. At a nearby bar, Sheila flirts with a base officer named Fenton and steals his uniform, while Hud confiscates the man’s car. With a new short haircut, Berger dons the uniform, drives to the gate in Fenton’s car, and is waved past security. Locating Claude in one of the barracks, Berger tries to coax his friend into hiding in the trunk and sneaking off base for a few hours. Although Claude is thrilled about the surprise visit and desperate to reunite with Sheila, he says the plan is too risky, since the base is on alert and recruits are subject to frequent head counts. Berger and Claude then agree to switch places, and Claude drives off base disguised as Officer Fenton. While Claude visits Sheila and the group in the desert, his unit is suddenly deployed overseas. Frightened, Berger is forced to march onto a plane bound for Vietnam. Claude panics when he returns to the base and realizes his friend is gone. Sometime later, at a military cemetery in Washington D.C., the friends mourn Berger’s death, and the peace movement gains momentum.
Cast: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edward Everett Horton
Directors: Mark Sandrich
Writer: Allan Scott, Ernest Pagano, Lee Loeb, Harold Buchman, P. J. Wolfson
Editor: William Hamilton
Cinematographer: David Abel
Genre: Musical comedy
Production Company: RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Composer: Nathaniel Shilkret
Smitten with photographs of musical revue star Linda Keene, Pete P. Peters, an American ballet dancer living in Paris and performing under the name Petrov, vows to his impresario, Jeffrey Baird, that he will meet and marry her. However, when Pete, who secretly prefers jazz dancing to formal ballet, finally arrives at Linda's apartment, he overhears her eschewing her fawning male admirers and expressing to her nearly bankrupt producer, Arthur Miller, her desire to quit show business. With his thickest Russian accent, Pete introduces himself as Petrov, the temperamental ballet star, and pretends to be unimpressed by Linda. Then, to be near her as well as be away from Lady Tarrington, a former ballerina and dogged admirer of his, Pete tricks Jeffrey into booking passage for him on the same New York-bound boat on which Linda is sailing the next day. Before boarding the liner, Pete encounters Lady Tarrington and, in order to rid himself of her, confirms Jeffrey's story that he has been married in secret for four years. While sailing to New York, Pete connives to join Linda as she takes her little dog on his daily walks and gradually wins favor with her. However, after rumors generated through Lady Tarrington about Pete's "secret marriage" begin to spread around the boat, Linda's attentions to Pete lead to speculation that she is Pete's wife and is pregnant. When an outraged Linda then hears from Jeffrey that Pete used her to avoid Lady Tarrington, she grabs the next mail airplane to New York. After Linda assures her confused Park Avenue fiancé, Jim Montgomery, that she is still single, Arthur throws a party for the couple on the hotel's roof. During the party, Arthur, who doesn't want Linda to marry Jim and leave show business, connives to have her perform an impromptu dance with Pete, then conspires with a publicity man to have a sleeping Pete photographed with a mannequin of Linda. The published photograph, which is offered as proof of Pete and Linda's marriage, forces the reluctant couple to flee from reporters, and eventually leads them to marry secretly in New Jersey. Linda agrees to the marriage on condition that she can divorce Pete immediately, but soon realizes that she truly loves the dancer. However, when she finds Pete with Lady Tarrington, she disappears from the hotel and initiates divorce proceedings. Although the resulting scandal causes Pete to lose his engagement with the Metropolitan Ballet Company, Arthur, desperate over the absence of Linda, offers to feature him in his upcoming musical revue. At the show's opening, Linda arrives to serve Pete his divorce papers, but when she sees the number that he created, in which all of the dancers are wearing masks of her face, her anger dissolves. By placing herself in the dance, Linda reunites on stage with a joyful Pete.
Production Company: Beta Productions, The Mirisch Company, Inc., Seven Arts Productions, Inc., B & P Enterprises, Inc.
Composer: Leonard Bernstein
In the slums of the upper West Side of Manhattan, New York, a gang of Polish-American teenagers called the Jets compete with a rival gang of recently immigrated Puerto Ricans, the Sharks, to “own” the neighborhood streets. The tension between them is marked by their bullying and tormenting of one another, and when a series of incidents erupts into a fistfight on a playground, two policemen, the bigoted Lt. Schrank and Officer Krupke, arrive in time to break it up. Afterward, Riff, the leader of the Jets, suggests to his companions that they settle their differences with the Sharks once and for all by challenging them to a “rumble,” which is their term for a street fight. Although Riff warns that the Sharks may choose to fight with zip guns or knives rather than fists, the Jets are enthusiastic about his idea. For support, Riff meets with Tony, a former member of the Jets who is like a brother and who now works in a candy store owned by good-hearted Doc. Riff asks Tony to attend a dance at the gym, an area considered neutral territory where Riff can present the challenge to Bernardo, the Shark’s leader. Tony, who has lost interest in promoting violence, reluctantly agrees to accompany him out of friendship. When Tony confides that he has been having premonitions that something special is about to happen to him, Riff suggests that it may be waiting for him at the dance. Meanwhile, Bernardo’s younger sister Maria and his girl friend, Anita, both of whom work at a bridal shop, are finishing a dress for Maria to wear to the dance, which will be her first since immigrating to America a month earlier. Although Bernardo has hopes of her marrying his comrade Chino, Maria tells Anita that she does not have special feelings for her brother’s friend. That evening, at the gym where the dance is held, Bernardo is introducing Maria to other Puerto Ricans, when several members of the Jets arrive. Both gangs are poised to fight, when Glad Hand, the social worker, and Krupke intervene. The dancing continues and soon becomes a competition between the rival gangs and their women, who refuse to intermingle. From opposite sides of the dance floor, Tony and Maria spot each other and, entranced, move toward each other and begin to dance. Seeing them together, Bernardo protectively pulls Maria away, telling her that Tony is only interested in sexual favors, and orders Chino to take her home. Before Bernardo leaves, he and Riff agree to meet later at Doc’s for a “war council,” where they will determine the time and place of the rumble. At his family’s apartment, Bernardo lectures Maria about the dangers in America, but Anita half-jokingly scolds him, saying that in their new country, women are free to see whom they wish. Anita and Bernardo meet with their friends on the rooftop, where they engage in a lively discussion about the pros and cons of living in America. Although the women tease the men that life in America is better than in their home country, the men complain that it is only better if you are white. Meanwhile, Tony walks the streets in a daze, bewitched by the thought of Maria. She is in her room, preparing for bed, when she hears Tony calling out her name from the alley below and climbs through the window to the fire escape to be with him. Believing that Maria is the fulfillment of his premonition, Tony is eager to acknowledge publicly his love for her, but Maria is aware that their families will not approve. After admitting their love for each other and marveling at how their lives have changed in one evening, they part, agreeing to meet the next day at the bridal shop after closing time. At Doc’s shop, the Jets are restlessly waiting for the Sharks to arrive, when the police drive up. Although Krupke is suspicious that the gang is up to mischief, he is called away and the boys then make fun of him, as well as social workers, judges, psychiatrists and all those who have failed to alleviate the poverty and violence in which they have been reared. When the Sharks arrive, the two gangs decide the time and location of the fight, but as they discuss weapons, Tony, who has by then returned to help close the shop for the evening, convinces them to have a “fair fight,” using nothing but fists. Schrank enters, prompting the two gangs to pretend to get along, and demands to know what they are planning. When no one will talk to him, he harasses the Puerto Ricans, ordering them out, and then tells the Jets that he wants his beat clear of the immigrants as much as they do. When the Jets still refuse to confide in him, he tauntingly refers to their family members as drug addicts and prostitutes. After everyone leaves the shop, Doc expresses his dismay at Schrank’s behavior, but Tony, who is buoyed by love, believes that everything will be all right. The next day, Maria’s co-workers notice her happiness and she admits that she feels “pretty.” Anita is still at the shop when Tony arrives, but grudgingly allows them time together. Although Tony has no plans to attend the fight, Maria urges him to go and stop it from happening. Then, they playfully pretend to have a wedding, with store mannequins in attendance. Later, in the evening, the Jets and the Sharks prepare for the rumble, while Anita prepares for a romantic interlude with Bernardo when he returns. While helping Doc, Tony can think of nothing but Maria, who is at home, waiting impatiently for the end of the evening, when she and Tony can be together. At the appointed place, the Sharks and the Jets meet, and the best fighter from each gang, Bernardo and Ice, respectively, prepare to fight as the others look on. When Tony arrives, his efforts to stop the fight inadvertently escalate the battle into a knife fight between Riff and Bernardo. When Bernardo unexpectedly kills Riff, Tony, in a fit of passion, takes the dead Riff’s knife and stabs Bernardo. Although Tony is immediately overcome with shame for killing Maria’s brother, the other gang members join the fight, but all flee when they hear the sound of a police siren. Waiting on the rooftop for Tony, Maria is surprised when Chino arrives to tell her that Tony killed Bernardo. Praying that he is lying, Maria runs to her room and finds Tony, who confesses. Although she wants to hate him, she finds she cannot and says that the problem is not with either of them, but everything around them. Together, they envision a place where they can go that is free of prejudices. Outside, the police cruise the streets, but the gang members evade them. The Jets meet, stunned, because they never expected anyone would be killed. When their anxiety leads to internal bickering, Ice, who is now their leader, tells them to be “cool.” When they learn from an eavesdropping tomboy, Anybodys, that Chino is carrying a gun and bent on revenge against Tony, they organize to protect him. Anita, who discovers that Maria has been with Tony, is offended that she would remain faithful to a boy who would kill her brother, but is soon won over by Maria’s love for Tony and warns her about Chino’s mission. Although Maria and Tony had planned to rendezvous at Doc’s and leave town together, when Schrank detains Maria to question her about Bernardo’s death, Anita agrees to tell Tony that she will soon be with him. However, when Anita enters the candy store, the Jets, suspicious of her motives, prevent her from finding Tony, then attempt to rape her. Doc enters in time to stop them, but, in anger, Anita says that Chino, jealous of Maria’s love for Tony, shot her dead. When Doc informs Tony, who is hiding in the cellar, of Maria’s presumed death, Tony goes out to the street, yelling for Chino to kill him, too. When he arrives at the playground, Tony sees Maria, alive, and runs toward her, but Chino steps out of the shadows and shoots him. Tony falls into Maria’s arms and as he dies, he and Maria talk about the place of which they had dreamed. Members of both gangs are gathering, and as they edge toward each other menacingly, Maria steps between them and takes the gun from Chino. Threatening both gangs with the gun, she accuses all of them of killing Tony, Riff and Bernardo. When Schrank and Krupke arrive, Maria kisses Tony and after she says “Te adoro, Anton,” members of the two gangs, united at least for a while, help to carry Tony’s body away.
Cast: Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, David Tomlinson
Directors: Robert Stevenson
Writer: Bill Walsh, Don DaGradi
Editor: Cotton Warburton
Cinematographer: Edward Colman
Genre: Children's works, Musical comedy
Production Company: Walt Disney Productions
Stuffy London banker George Banks advertises for a nanny in the Times when his wife, a spirited suffragette, has difficulty finding a governess firm enough to handle their children, Jane and Michael. The children also write an advertisement, asking that a compassionate person apply, but Mr. Banks throws their note into the fireplace. The next morning, a number of severe-looking women apply for the job, but a strong wind blows them away; Mary Poppins glides down from the sky on her umbrella and, while being interviewed by Mr. Banks, informs him she will give the family a trial period. She gets the children to clean up the nursery, making the task enjoyable with her magic, and then takes them for a walk. They enter a picture of the countryside that her friend Bert has chalked on the sidewalk. After having tea served by dancing penguins, they ride on a merry-go-round, leave the carousel on their horses, and trot off to a fox hunt. When rain washes the sidewalk drawing away, Mary rushes the children home. The following day, Mary takes the children and Bert to visit her Uncle Albert, whose incessant laughter causes him to float in the air; soon they are all laughing and floating on the ceiling. Mr. Banks, meanwhile, refuses to believe his children's stories and wants to fire Mary, but adopts her suggestion that he bring his children to the bank and show them how he spends his day. Michael is to open an account, but instead he attempts to retrieve his money to buy birdseed from The Bird Woman, thus creating panic in the bank. The children escape, and Bert takes them home. Mary appears; and she, Bert and the children travel across the rooftops of London. When they return home, their gaiety spreads throughout the household, and Bert points out to Mr. Banks how damaging his severity can be. When Banks is fired from his job, he tells chairman of the board Dawes a joke he learned from Michael, then leaves to take his children to fly kites in the park. Dawes, who has not laughed in 90 years, dies happy, while laughing at the joke, and Banks is offered a position on the board. Feeling that her job is complete, Mary opens her umbrella and flies away.
In New York City, mortgage broker Ted Haines, Sr. reluctantly tells elderly Irish priest Father Fitzgibbon that if the overdue payment on St. Dominic's church is not soon received, he will call in the mortgage. Haines's son Ted, Jr. urges leniency, but his father is adamant. Father Charles Francis Patrick O'Malley arrives in St. Dominic's neighborhood and makes a bad impression on a few neighbors because of his easy-going and unconventional manner. By the time Father O'Malley introduces himself to Father Fitzgibbon as his new curate, he has donned a sweatshirt and casual pants, and immediately puts the very traditional Fitzgibbon on his guard. The next day, O'Malley is visited by his childhood friend, Father Timothy O'Dowd, a jocular priest from the neighboring parish. Only O'Dowd is aware that O'Malley has been sent to take over the pastorship of St. Dominic's, which, in addition to being in financial trouble, is in a troubled neighborhood. When Ted, Jr. tries to evict Hattie Quimp, who initially found O'Malley to be a nuisance, O'Malley intercedes and promises that the church will guarantee her rent. As he is walking back to St. Dominic's, O'Malley sees teenagers Tony Scaponi and Herman Langerhanke stealing turkeys from a truck. The boys escape into the church garden where they encounter Fitzgibbon, to whom they give one of their stolen turkeys as a gift. That night over their turkey dinner, O'Malley suggests that the boys are delinquents, and Fitzgibbon defends the boys until he learns of their theft. Instead of punishing the boys, however, O'Malley takes them to a baseball game. One day, Officer Patrick McCarthy brings eighteen-year-old runaway Carol James to see O'Malley. O'Malley, who had had his own band and composed music before entering the priesthood, coaches Carol on her singing, but when she rejects his offer of a housekeeping job at the church, he urges her to return home. Knowing she will not take his advice, O'Malley loans Carol ten dollars. After earning the trust of the boys's gang, O'Malley convinces them to train as a choir. When sounds of the boys rehearsing "Three Blind Mice" rise into the church from the cellar, Fitzgibbon loses his patience with O'Malley's unconventional methods and goes to see the bishop to ask for O'Malley's transfer. Fitzgibbon returns deflated, as he has learned that the bishop sent O'Malley there to take over for him. Distraught by his apparent retirement, Fitzgibbon runs away, but O'Malley puts McCarthy on the alert, and he returns late that evening with a storm-bedraggled Fitzgibbon, who is then coddled by O'Malley and the housekeeper, Mrs. Carmody. The two priests share a sip of whiskey, and Fitzgibbon confides his longing to see his ninety-year-old mother, who still lives in Ireland, after which O'Malley soothes him with an Irish lullaby. Not long after, O'Malley encounters another childhood friend, Metropolitan Opera star Genevieve Linden, who is surprised that her old flame "Chuck" has become a priest. When Mrs. Quimp informs Fitzgibbon that Carol has taken an apartment across from hers and is receiving visits from Ted, Jr., O'Malley is sent to "handle" the situation. O'Malley learns that Ted, Jr. and Carol met on the street and fell in love immediately, and that Ted, Jr. has let her live in a vacant apartment without his father's knowledge. Some time later, Jenny and O'Dowd visit St. Dominic's and make an appreciative audience when O'Malley rehearses the boys choir. O'Dowd reports that he has shopped around for publishers for O'Malley's original song, "Going My Way," but that publishers rejected the "schmaltzy" song. When Ted, Sr. comes to the apartment to discover why his son quit his job and has disappeared for two weeks, he discovers that Ted and Carol have married. The newlyweds are blissfully happy despite Ted, Sr.'s ire, but his anger soon dissipates when Ted, Jr. dons an Army Air Force uniform, and, after bidding Carol a loving farewell, reports for service. O'Dowd, meanwhile, lures his friend, Max David, a music publisher, and Max's partners, to the Metropolitan Opera House, where Jenny has arranged for the orchestra and St. Dominic's boys choir to back her as she sings a classical arrangement of "Going My Way." The publishers gently reject the song as too highbrow, but are delighted by O'Malley's more upbeat song, "Swinging on a Star." Instead of paying O'Malley directly for the song, Max and his partners surreptitiously deposit a huge payment in the collection box during Fitzgibbon's Sunday sermon at O'Malley's suggestion. Fitzgibbon is elated by the generous donations of his parishioners, which is enough to make the mortgage payments, and he even accompanies O'Malley and O'Dowd when they play golf. Fitzgibbon's happiness comes to an abrupt end, however, when the church burns down. The elderly priest loses all hope and falls ill after he collects only thirty-five dollars from a neighborhood collection. O'Malley then tells Fitzgibbon that Ted, Jr. has had a minor jeep accident and will be returning home, and really lifts the pastor's spirits when he tells him that Jenny, who has taken the boys choir with her on a concert tour, has sent a $3,500 check from the proceeds. Construction soon begins on the new church, and O'Malley informs Fitzgibbon that he has been transferred to another church for the same type of assignment. Fitzgibbon, now fond of O'Malley, is sad to see him go and is chagrined when O'Dowd becomes his new curate. As Fitzgibbon praises O'Malley to his parishioners and informs them of his departure, Jenny brings in Fitzgibbon's elderly mother by arrangement with O'Malley. Fitzgibbon tearfully embraces his mother for the first time in forty-five years, and O'Malley walks away into the night.
Cast: Richard Roundtree, Moses Gunn, Charles Cioffi
Directors: Gordon Parks
Producer: Joel Freeman, Roger Lewis, Stirling Silliphant, Ernest Tidyman
Writer: Ernest Tidyman, John D. F. Black
Editor: Hugh A. Robertson
Cinematographer: Urs Furrer
Genre: Drama
Production Company: Shaft Productions, Ltd., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc.
Composer: Isaac Hayes
One winter morning in New York City, tough, black private detective John Shaft learns that two hoods from Harlem are looking for him. Police lieutenant Vic Androzzi, with whom Shaft has a sparring friendship, questions him about the men and the rumors he has heard about trouble brewing uptown, but Shaft refuses to discuss any potential problems in the black community with the police. After he moves on, Shaft spots one of the Harlem men waiting for him in the lobby of his office building and, overpowering him, marches him up to his office. There, Shaft surprises the man’s partner, and in the ensuing fistfight, the first man crashes through the window and falls to his death. Shaft questions the remaining man, who admits that Harlem racketeer Bumpy Jonas ordered them to bring Shaft uptown. After being taken to the police station, Shaft is questioned by Byron Leibowitz, Androzzi’s impatient superior, but Shaft refuses to talk. Alone with Androzzi, Shaft still will not reveal anything, and Androzzi, who is sincerely concerned about the devastation that would be caused by a race war, lets Shaft go when he states that he will “think about” keeping Androzzi informed of whatever he may learn. Shaft then calls Bumpy and coldly informs him that the racketeer can find him at his office. Later that evening, Bumpy, accompanied by henchman Willy, goes to see Shaft, to whom he reveals that his daughter Marcy has been kidnapped. Bumpy, who controls the majority of the narcotics, gambling and prostitution in Harlem, states that Marcy is an innocent college student, but Shaft, who despises Bumpy, is reluctant to accept his business. Bumpy theorizes that Marcy has been taken by the Lumumbas, a black militant organization headed by Ben Buford. Shaft, a childhood friend of Ben, scoffs, but Bumpy asserts that the Lumumbas need the potential ransom money, and that only Shaft, who moves confidently between the white and black enclaves of New York, can find Marcy. Moved by Bumpy’s tears for his daughter, Shaft accepts the job, but only on the condition that he be in total control of the operation. Later that evening, Shaft tracks Ben to a rundown apartment on Amsterdam Avenue, but does not spot a man who is following him. Shaft slips by Ben’s lookouts and confronts his former friend, who angrily calls him a “Tom” when he explains his mission. As they are arguing, they hear machine-gun fire in the street as Ben’s two lookouts are gunned down. While Ben’s three other men head for the roof, Shaft takes Ben to hide in a neighboring apartment. The three men are killed, but Shaft and Ben escape. As they are running away, Shaft notices the dead body of the man who was following him and wonders if it was Ben or himself who was the assassins’ target. After hiding Ben at a friend’s house, Shaft confers with Androzzi, who informs him that while Bumpy has been rapidly recruiting more “crew,” numerous Mafia hitmen have entered the city recently, and that it was probably Mafia men who came after him at Ben’s. Androzzi fears that there is a war brewing between Bumpy and the Mafia, and that even though the violence would be between criminals, it could still provoke a race riot. Shaft obliquely admits that he is working for Bumpy, then, in the morning, takes Ben to confront the racketeer. Bumpy confesses that he knows Marcy is being held by the Mafia, which wants control of Harlem’s narcotics traffic. Bumpy further explains that he steered Shaft toward Ben because Ben has an army of men who would be more useful to Shaft than his own, untrained, uneducated gangsters. Ben proclaims that he would not risk the life of any “brothers” to save Marcy just because she is black, but then bargains with Bumpy for $10,000 per man, including the five already killed, so that he can have money to free jailed members of his movement. Bumpy also agrees when Shaft demands $20,000 for his services, and later, after Shaft and Ben have left, Shaft instructs Ben to organize his supporters, who must follow his orders exactly. In the evening, Shaft spots two white gangsters watching his apartment from a bar across the street. The detective easily outwits the two, who prove to be Mafia enforcers from Detroit, and has them arrested. In the morning, Shaft confronts the two men in Androzzi’s office and commands them to tell their boss that he wants to see Marcy in person to prove that she is unharmed. After the men reluctantly give Shaft a phone number in order to arrange a meeting later that day, he leaves. At Shaft’s apartment, however, Androzzi warns him that the police captain had bugged Androzzi’s office and now knows about Marcy’s kidnapping and the Mafia’s part in it. After arranging for Ben and two of his men to meet him in Greenwich Village, Shaft calls the number given to him by the two thugs and meets one of the Mafia’s representatives. The man takes him to a nearby apartment building, to which they are followed by Ben, and Shaft is shot and beaten when he attempts to rescue Marcy. One of Ben’s men trails the gangster fleeing with Marcy, while the others find Shaft and take him to the home of his girl friend, Ellie Moore. With the help of boxing trainer Dr. Sam, Ben and Ellie resuscitate Shaft and bind his wounds. Shaft then organizes some of Ben’s “brothers” at the hotel where Marcy is now being held. While some of the Lumumbas, disguised as kitchen staff and room service and elevator attendants, assume strategic positions, Shaft climbs to the roof with one of the men. Entering the attic, Shaft prepares a fire bomb, then lowers himself out the window down to the gangsters’ room. Throwing in the incendiary device, Shaft crashes through the window and guns down several men, while in the hallway, Ben and his group use guns and a firehose to defeat the other guards. Shaft and Ben hustle Marcy into a waiting cab, and after everyone has departed, Shaft calls Androzzi. As the police sirens begin to wail, Shaft informs Androzzi that the case has busted wide open. When Androzzi tells him to close it, Shaft, repeating a joke they had shared earlier, laughingly replies, “Looks like you’re going to have to close it yourself, Shitty,” then saunters off into the night.
Production Company: Jalem Productions, Inc., Martin Manulis
Composer: Henry Mancini
Joe Clay, a hard-working, hard-drinking public relations man in San Francisco, meets Kirsten Arnesen, a young secretary who adores chocolate but hates liquor. Joe, however, quickly converts her to drink, and within a few months after their marriage, she is able to match him drink for drink. After losing five jobs within the next 4 years, Joe decides that he and Kirsten need to become sober. They move in with Kirsten's father at his plant nursery and stay off alcohol for several weeks. But one night they go on a monumental binge, and Joe, after destroying the greenhouse looking for a bottle he has hidden, is admitted to a hospital detoxification ward. Hungerford, an ex-addict, encourages him to join Alcoholics Anonymous, but he is lured back to drink by Kirsten. Realizing that they are doomed as long as Kirsten refuses to admit to her alcoholism, Joe takes their child and moves into another apartment. With the help of AA, he is able to reestablish his career and regain his self-respect. One night Kirsten visits him and begs to be taken back, but Joe sends her away when she refuses to give up drinking.
In Brooklyn, New York, Mister Señor Love Daddy announces on his radio show that the temperature will exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit that day. Outside a church, a mentally handicapped man named Smiley holds up pictures of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X, saying that even though they are dead, people still need to fight against racism. Mookie, a young African-American man, counts his cash at home then wakes up his sister, Jade, who fights to remain asleep. Down the block, Mookie’s boss, an Italian man named Sal Frangione, opens his shop, Sal’s Famous Pizzeria. As Sal’s sons, Pino and Vito, fight over who is going to sweep, Pino expresses disdain for the family business. Mookie reports to work, and is closely followed by an older African-American man, Da Mayor, who offers to sweep the sidewalk for one dollar. Elsewhere in the neighborhood, teenagers Cee, Ella, Punchy, and Ahmad hang out on a stoop as their friend “Radio Raheem” walks by, playing loud music by the hip-hop group, Public Enemy, from his portable stereo. Da Mayor, taking the dollar he earned from Sal to a convenience store to buy a beer, reprimands the Asian storeowners, Sonny and Kim, for running out of his preferred drink. Da Mayor passes by the house of an older woman named Mother Sister, and she accuses him of being a drunk. At home, a young Latina woman named Tina fights with her mother, who refuses to babysit for Tina’s son, Hector. Buggin Out, a young African-American man, becomes angry when he orders pizza from Sal and notices that the establishment’s “Wall of Fame” features pictures of white Italian-Americans only. Buggin Out and Sal have a heated argument, and Sal throws him out. On the sidewalk, Mookie reprimands Buggin Out for putting his job at risk and asks him to stay away from the pizzeria for a week. As Mookie delivers a pizza, Da Mayor stops him to say he must “always do the right thing.” Later, Da Mayor attempts to flirt with Mother Sister on her stoop as Jade does the woman’s hair. To combat the heat, Cee and Punchy turn on a fire hydrant, allowing children to play in the water. When they purposely spray Charlie, a short-tempered white man, in his convertible car, Charlie flags down two policemen, Officer Ponte and Officer Long, but Cee and Punchy run away. Attempting to make a report, Charlie asks the people in the neighborhood who witnessed the crime to help him identify the assailants, but everyone remains mum. Mookie delivers lunch to the deejay Mister Señor Love Daddy, who instructs Mookie to say something on the air. Reluctantly obliging, Mookie dedicates the next song to Tina. On the street, Clifton, one of the neighborhood’s few white residents, accidentally scuffs Buggin Out’s new sneakers. When Buggin Out accosts Clifton, asking why he wants to live in an African-American neighborhood, Clifton defends himself by saying that he was born in Brooklyn. Overhearing Da Mayor as he bribes a young boy named Eddie Lovell to buy him a beer, Ahmad confronts the old man, telling him he is a bum. Da Mayor says that his heart was broken over the years by unfortunate experiences, including his inability to support his wife and five children, but Ahmad argues that it was Da Mayor’s fault if he did not feed his family. At the pizzeria, Mookie talks to Tina on a payphone and she complains that she never sees him. Angry with Mookie for tying up the phone line, Pino calls him a racist name. Mookie tells Pino he should not use racist terminology, especially since so many of Pino's idols are African-American, including entertainers Michael Jackson, Eddie Murphy, and Prince. Before taking another pizza out for delivery, Mookie asks Sal if he can get paid early, but Sal refuses to give him the money until Mookie has finished his shift. Mookie runs into Radio Raheem, who shows him the two rings on his hands, one that spells “Love,” and the other “Hate,” explaining that the story of life is the struggle between love and hate. Raheem takes his stereo into Sal’s shop, but Sal demands that he turn it off before he is allowed to order. Pino takes Sal aside, saying he is sick of African-Americans and complaining that his friends tease him for working in an African-American neighborhood. When Smiley knocks on the window of the pizza shop, Pino snaps and drives him away, prompting Sweet Dick Willie, a middle-aged man across the street, to yell at Pino for accosting a mentally handicapped man. In hopes that Sal will put pictures of African-Americans on the wall, Buggin Out announces to neighbors that he is starting a boycott of the pizzeria. Although he attempts to stop Jade from going in, she ignores him. When Jade orders pizza, Pino and Mookie watch as Sal flirts with her and sits down with her, complimenting her eyes. This prompts Mookie to pull Jade into the alley where he tells his sister that she is no longer welcome in the shop, but Jade changes the subject, asking him when he is going to leave her apartment. Back inside, Mookie asks Sal to leave Jade alone. Meanwhile, Raheem fights with the Asian shop owners, Sonny and Kim, as he tries to purchase batteries for his stereo, but they have a hard time understanding his English. Chasing after an ice cream truck, Eddie runs into the street, but Da Mayor pushes him to the curb, saving Eddie from getting run over by a speeding car. Later, Tina orders a pizza and Mookie delivers it. At her apartment, they kiss, and Mookie asks if they can have sex. Tina complains that Mookie has a one-track mind and reminds him about their son, Hector, who is in the kitchen with Tina’s mother. Tina finally goes into the bedroom with Mookie, who instructs her to undress and runs ice cubes up and down her naked body, promising to return that night. Buggin Out and Raheem commiserate over the poor treatment they have received at Sal’s, and Raheem agrees to go along with the boycott. After the shop closes, Sal comments that they had a good day and suggests that he change the name of the shop to Sal & Sons Famous Pizzeria. He tells Mookie that he will always have a place there, too. Cee, Punchy, Ahmad, and Ella show up, begging for a slice of pizza, and Sal tells Mookie to let them in. Just then, Raheem arrives with Buggin Out and Smiley, marching into the pizzeria with his stereo speakers blaring the song, “Fight the Power.” Buggin Out yells at Sal to put pictures of African-Americans on the Wall of Fame, but Sal orders them to turn off the “jungle music.” When Sal snaps, directing a racial slur at Buggin Out, Vito, Pino, Mookie, and the other patrons join the argument. Sal destroys Raheem’s stereo with a baseball bat, inciting Raheem to attack him, and a brawl breaks out. The people of the neighborhood swarm as the fight moves outside onto the sidewalk. Raheem chokes Sal on the ground just as Officers Long and Ponte arrive, manhandling Buggin Out and Raheem. Long holds a nightstick against Raheem’s neck, suffocating him. Although Ponte orders him to stop, Long ignores his partner, and Raheem drops dead on the street. Angry, Ponte kicks Raheem’s body and yells at him to get up. Finally acknowledging that Raheem is dead, Long and Ponte shove his corpse into a police car and drive it away as onlookers protest. The neighbors outside the pizzeria continue to accost Sal, recalling numerous unnecessary deaths that were caused by police brutality. As Da Mayor tries to stop them all from arguing, Mookie grabs a trash can and throws it through the window of the pizzeria, inciting a riot in which the shop is destroyed. Smiley starts a fire, and everyone runs as the pizzeria burns down. The rioters then target Sonny and Kim’s convenience store, but Sonny pleads that he is a minority just like them, and they back off. A fire truck and several police cars arrive, but when onlookers refuse to move, firemen drive them away with high-pressured water hoses. Mookie and Jade watch in horror, and Mother Sister cries out, prompting Da Mayor to embrace her. Inside the smoldering building, Smiley puts one of his pictures of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X on the Wall of Fame. The next morning, Mookie finds Sal outside the burned-out shop, crying about having built the pizzeria with his own hands. Angry that Mookie betrayed him, Sal pays Mookie twice what he is owed, throwing the bills at him one at a time. Taking the money, Mookie says he must go see his son and walks away.
Chip, Gabey and Ozzie, three sailors on a twenty-four hour shore leave, look for adventure and romance in New York City and seek out the city's best known attractions. Following a whirlwind tour of Manhattan that includes stops at the Empire State Building, Central Park and Rockefeller Center, Ozzie and Gabey decide to forgo sightseeing and instead pursue the beautiful women of New York. While riding on a subway, the three sailors see a poster of Ivy Smith, "Miss Turnstiles" for the month of June, and fall instantly in love with her. As they gaze dreamily at the poster, they imagine Ivy coming to life and revealing her life story in a dance. Although they all are taken with her beauty, Gabey is especially smitten with Ivy and vows to find her. To their astonishment, the sailors find Ivy as soon as they step off the train into the subway station, whiere Ivy is posing for a photo shoot. Gabey poses with her for a photograph, but before he can make an impression on her, she disappears. Gabey, Chip and Ozzie follow Ivy and pile into a taxicab driven by the flirtatious Brunhilde Esterhazy, who tries to seduce Chip. With the facts on the poster about Ivy's life as their only clues to her whereabouts, Gabey and his pals search for her in places she is likely to be found. Accompanied by Brunhilde, who is determined to snare Chip, the sailors look for Ivy at the Museum of Natural History, where Ozzie meets Claire Huddeson, an anthropologist who quickly succumbs to his charms. While celebrating their new love with a kiss and a dance, Ozzie and Claire accidentally destroy a dinosaur skeleton at the museum. They flee, but the police are on their trail. The search for Ivy continues at various museums around the city. Finally the group decides to split up and search for her separately, agreeing to meet at 8:30 that evening at the Empire State Building. Alone at last with Chip, Brunhilde takes him to her apartment, only to be greeted by her annoying, ailing roommate, Lucy Shmeeler. Meanwhile, Gabey finds Ivy in a dance studio, and she consents to go on a date with him that evening. As she owes her dance instructor, the unpleasant, dipsomaniacal Madame Dilyovska, a great deal of money, Ivy promises to return from her date at 11:30, in time to make her performance as a cooch dancer at Coney Island. At 8:30, Chip, Brunhilde, Ozzie, Claire and Gabey meet at the top of the Empire State Building, where they hide Ozzie from the policemen who are looking for him. When Ivy arrives, the three couples begin their wild night on the town. The merriment soon comes to an end, however, when, at 11:30, Ivy vanishes without explanation, leaving behind only a brief farewell note. Although his pals try to cheer him up by quickly substituting Lucy for Ivy, Gabey gets drunk and sadly recalls his time with Ivy. Later, acting on a tip from Madame Dilyovska, Gabey and his pals find Ivy at Coney Island, where she admits that shame made her keep her job a secret from him. Gabey and Ivy soon resume their romance, but they only have a few hours remaining before the end of Gabey's shore leave. After Ivy, Claire and Brunhilde persuade the police to drop the charges against the men, the three women bid their sailors farewell at the shipyard.
Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp., Samuel Goldwyn Productions, Inc.
Nathan Detroit, the financially strapped organizer of the oldest, established, permanent, floating crap game in New York, is trying to find a new venue, despite the scrutiny of police lieutenant Brannigan, who is determined to stop it once and for all. Nathan and his cohorts, Nicely-Nicely Johnson and Benny Southstreet, are equally determined to get the game up and running again. Because of the “heat” from Brannigan, Nathan’s only option for the site is the Biltmore Garage, whose owner is demanding a $1,000 advance. Nathan, who is so broke that he cannot afford to buy an anniversary gift for Miss Adelaide, his fiancée of fourteen years, sees a way out of his predicament when he hears that Sky Masterson, a gambler noted for making large and unusual bets, is having lunch in nearby Mindy’s restaurant. After Nathan fails to entice Sky to bet on whether or not Mindy's sold more cheesecake or strudel the day before, he gets an idea when Sky boasts that he could take any woman he wanted with him to Havana the next day. Seeing the Save-A-Soul Mission band march by, Nathan bets Sky $1,000 that he will not be able to take the mission's leader, Sergeant Sarah Brown. Although Sky is chagrined that he has fallen for a "sucker bet," he goes to the mission and announces to Sarah and her uncle, Arvid Abernathy, that he is a sinner who wants to reform. She is attracted to Sky, but suspicious of his motives and not impressed by his ability to quote the Bible. Learning that the mission is having trouble attracting sinners, he gives Sarah his marker to deliver twelve bona fide sinners at their midnight prayer meeting in two days if she will go to dinner with him the next night. Sarah declines, but Sky refuses to take back his marker and tells her that he will pick her up at noon--because his favorite restaurant is in Havana. She assures him that she is only interested in “upright squares” but momentarily responds when he kisses her. That night, at the Hot Box Club, Adelaide, the club’s star performer, tells Nathan that she will be getting a raise next week and will finally earn enough money for them to get married. Adelaide pressures Nathan with the news that her mother thinks they have been married for years and have five children. Just then Laverne, one of the club’s dancers, chastises Nathan for luring her boyfriend into his crap game. Adelaide realizes that he again has gone back on his promise to give up the game and screams at him to get out. After Nathan leaves, Adelaide, who has been suffering from a chronic cold, reads a book on psychology that describes her symptoms as psychosomatic reactions to her uncertainty about Nathan. The next day, General Cartwright, Sarah’s supervisor, tells her that their organization will have to close the New York branch because it has not attracted any sinners. Just then Sky arrives at the mission and asks Cartwright to give Sarah thirty-six hours to prove that the mission is a success. With Arvid’s encouragement, Sarah looks at Sky’s marker, and tells Cartwight she can guarantee that at least twelve sinners will be at the midnight prayer meeting the next night. In Havana, Sarah’s prim demeanor is overcome after Sky orders her several milk drinks liberally flavored with rum. At a nightclub, she and Sky talk about love and soon begin to kiss. At another club, when a Cuban woman flirts with Sky and takes him onto the dance floor, she and Sarah start a fight that turns into a huge brawl. Later, when Sarah is sober, she admits to having fun, and after he tells her about the bet, says she does not mind. They arrive back in New York just before dawn, and as they near the mission, they hear police sirens. Nicely-Nicely, who has been dozing across the street, rushes into the mission and alerts dozens of gamblers, who pour out of the mission’s back room, narrowly evading Brannigan and the police. An angry Brannigan accuses Sarah of knowing about the game. Although Sarah is incorrect in assuming that Sky is involved, he refuses to deny it. The next night, Sky goes to the Hot Box and sees Nicely-Nicely, who laments that Nathan has asked him to tell Adelaide that the elopement they planned is off. Sky volunteers to tell Adelaide, who knows Nathan is not coming because of a crap game. Sky tries to be sympathetic to her but leaves when she admonishes that he will know how bad she feels when someday he falls in love with the wrong person. At the mission, Arvid tries to convince Sarah that Sky had nothing to do with the crap game, but she admits that she was more worried thinking that someday it would be Sky running from the police. Just then, Sky and Nicely-Nicely arrive at the mission and remind her of the marker. She tells Sky that they are now even and leaves, but Arvid, knowing that Sarah is in love with Sky, tells him that he must make good on the marker or everyone in town will know he is a welsher. Meanwhile, in the city sewer, the crap game has been going on for twenty-four hours. Nathan and his friends want to quit, but Big Jule, a notorious hoodlum from Detroit, intimidates them and insists on playing with his own dice until he wins back his $25,000 loss. When Nathan sees that the dice have no spots, Big Jule claims he "knows" where the spots are and wins back everything, even Nathan’s commission. Now Sky arrives and, after punching Big Jule and taking his gun, promises to do one roll of the dice betting all of the money against everyone coming to the midnight prayer meeting. He wins, and the men all go toward the mission. On the way, Nathan run into Adelaide at Mindy’s. He assures her he loves her, but when he says he cannot elope right now and leaves, she sneezes and sobs. At midnight, Sarah tells Cartwright that she has failed, just before a large number of “sinners” arrive with Sky. He curtly asks Sarah for his marker and leaves after asking Nathan to keep the markers from the others during the prayer meeting. As Cartwright asks for testimony about their sins, the men reluctantly talk about the crap game until Nicely-Nicely stands up and expresses true conversion. When Brannigan arrives at the mission, he tells Cartwright that there had been a crap game at the mission the night before, but Sarah lies by saying it never happened. Nathan then privately tells Sarah about the $1,000 bet with Sky. When Nathan relates that Sky paid the bet after saying that Sarah did not go to Havana, she runs after Sky. Soon Times Square is decorated for a double wedding as Adelaide marries Nathan and Sarah marries Sky.
Already late for his hometown wedding, featured troupe dancer and professional gambler John "Lucky" Garnett is delayed further when his fellow dancers, who want to keep him single and in show business, convince him that the cuffless trousers of his morning suit are out of style and need tailoring. By the time Lucky arrives at his fiancée Margaret Watson's home, her infuriated father, Judge Watson, has called off the wedding. Once calm, Watson tells Lucky that, if he wants a second chance with Margaret, he must earn at least $25,000 in New York City. Determined to make good, Lucky accepts Watson's challenge and with his friend, magician Everett "Pop" Cardetti, and his lucky quarter, hops a train to the city. Shortly after they arrive, Lucky, broke but still in his wedding clothes, asks a pretty stranger, Penelope "Penny" Carrol, for change for his lucky quarter so that Pop can buy a pack of vending machine cigarettes. When the machine gives them a flood of unexpected change, Lucky chases after Penny to ask for his quarter back, but she mistakes his eagerness for mashing and refuses his request. After Pop pickpockets the quarter from Penny's purse, Penny accuses Lucky of theft and calls a policeman. To Penny's dismay, the policeman sides with the well-dressed Lucky, and Penny leaves in a huff for her job as an instructor at the Gordon Dancing Academy. Lucky follows Penny into the Academy and poses as an ardent but awkward pupil. Frustrated by Lucky's seemingly hopeless dancing, a still angry Penny insults him in front of Gordon, the Academy's fussy owner, and is fired. To save Penny's job, Lucky insists on demonstrating for Gordon what he has just learned from Penny and executes a complex routine with her. Impressed by the duet, Gordon arranges for Penny and Lucky to audition at the Silver Sandal nightclub but stipulates that Lucky wear a tuxedo in the act. Still broke, Lucky and Pop check into the same hotel as Penny and her older single friend, Mabel Anderson, and try to win a tuxedo from a drunk gambler on the night of the audition. When Penny discovers a half-dressed Lucky playing piquet in his room, she storms away in another huff. A week later, Lucky, who with Pop's help has won hundreds of dollars gambling and has arranged for another audition, finally convinces Penny of his sincerity. However, at the club audition, bandleader Ricardo "Ricky" Romero, who is in love with Penny, jealousy refuses to play for the couple. Lucky then learns that Ricky's contract has been won by Raymond, a casino owner, and with Pop's sleight-of-hand help, wins Ricky's contract for himself. Against his wishes, Ricky plays for Penny and Lucky's triumphant audition, but the dancers' budding romance is stifled when Lucky suddenly remembers his pledge to Margaret. Although he has vowed to stop gambling and has insisted on a modest salary in order to avoid earning the now dreaded $25,000, Lucky instructs Pop to keep him away from the tempting Penny. When Pop reveals to a perplexed Penny the reason behind Lucky's aloofness, Penny again snubs her partner and, in spite of her love for him, returns to Ricky. After Lucky and Penny's grand performance at the Silver Sandal's re-opening, Lucky is surprised by the appearance of Margaret and then is confronted by Raymond, who accuses Pop of cheating him out of Ricky's contract. Raymond demands that the game be re-played with his pack of marked cards, and wins back the contract, after which Penny tells Lucky that she and Ricky are engaged. Thoroughly depressed, Lucky prepares to tell Margaret that he no longer loves her, but she surprises him by revealing that she, too, has fallen in love with someone else. Minutes before Penny is to marry Ricky, Madge tells her about Lucky's broken engagement, while Lucky and Pop conspire to thwart the wedding using the cuffed trouser hoax. In the end, Penny calls off the wedding and reunites with Lucky.
Producer: Bonnie Bruckheimer-Martell, Bette Midler, Margaret Jennings South , Teri Schwartz
Writer: Mary Agnes Donoghue
Editor: Richard Halsey
Cinematographer: Dante Spinotti
Genre: Comedy-drama
Production Company: Touchstone Pictures, Silver Screen Partners II, All Girl Productions
In Los Angeles, California, CC Bloom rehearses the song “Under The Boardwalk” before her concert at the Hollywood Bowl. She receives a note that prompts her to abandon the show and rush to San Francisco, California. On the way, she recalls meeting her best friend, Hillary Whitney, on the beach in Atlantic City, New Jersey. There, eleven-year-old CC smokes a cigarette under the boardwalk and spies Hillary, a pretty, well-mannered girl who is lost and panicked. Promising to lead Hillary back to her hotel, CC takes her new friend to an audition and performs “That’s The Glory Of Love” with gusto. However, the talent scout prefers a prettier, less talented girl, and CC throws a tantrum. Hillary joins CC’s mother, Leona, in consoling the disappointed girl, and offers to take her for a soda. Arriving at a fancy hotel, Hillary reveals that her father is rich but her mother passed away when she was young. Suddenly, Hillary’s haughty Aunt Vesta appears and tears her away from CC, who looks out of place in her chintzy costume. Before parting, Hillary gives CC her address and begs her to write. The girls return to their very different lives: CC continues to pursue show business while living with her mother in a small apartment in the Bronx, and Hillary enjoys equestrian lessons and resides at her father’s mansion outside San Francisco. Although they never see each other, CC and Hillary become pen pals. Hillary grows up to become a beautiful law student at Stanford University, and CC, who auditions constantly to no avail, gets her own apartment in downtown Manhattan after Leona moves to Florida. One night, Hillary surprises CC after her performance at a jazz club, announcing that she quit her job at a law firm and came to New York for a fresh start. CC invites Hillary to stay in her apartment and the two become inseparable. Hillary begins to work for the American Civil Liberties Union, while CC takes odd jobs, including a gig delivering singing telegrams. One day, Hillary drives CC to an apartment building, where she performs a singing telegram dressed as a bunny. The recipient, John Pierce, reveals that he is a theater director and invites CC to audition for him. When he sees Hillary outside, John is smitten, and CC is immediately jealous. Although CC dyes her hair blonde to get John's attention, John does not seem to notice the change when he casts her as a prison guard in his upcoming play. Sometime later, CC wins the lead role in a musical directed by John, and her performance wins rave reviews. However, John and Hillary slip away on opening night, and Hillary later apologizes to CC for sleeping with John, knowing that CC also has feelings for him. Quick to forgive, CC offers to water Hillary’s plants when she goes home to visit her sick father. Hillary is held back in San Francisco as her father becomes increasingly ill, and begins dating the family’s young lawyer, Michael Essex. Meanwhile, CC lands a role in a Broadway revue and develops an ambiguous relationship with John in Hillary’s absence. When her father dies, Hillary decides to marry Michael Essex, but CC cannot attend the wedding due to her Broadway show. After finally having sex, John declares his love for CC and they are soon married at City Hall, where CC slaps John’s face so he will remember the moment forever. Hillary and Michael visit New York to see CC’s revue, Sizzle ’76. After the show, Michael disguises his dislike for the bawdy material, and CC is surprised to learn that Hillary has quit her job to become a housewife. At CC and John’s new uptown apartment, John greets Hillary too warmly for CC’s liking. The women become increasingly competitive, and the strain in their relationship comes to blows during a shopping trip when Hillary suggests CC is too selfish to be a good mother. Livid, CC accuses Hillary of jealousy, and Hillary suggests CC ended up with John “by default.” Later, on the airplane home, Hillary cries in the bathroom, hiding her torment from Michael. In time, CC writes more letters to Hillary, but they are returned. Meanwhile, both women’s marriages deteriorate. Visiting Leona in Florida, CC tells her mother that John no longer pays enough attention to her. Leona reprimands her daughter for needing too much attention, but upon returning to New York, CC cannot convince John to stay. She goes to work on a film and fights with the director, while, in San Francisco, Hillary catches Michael cheating on her. After being fired from the movie, CC comes to perform at a tacky San Francisco club. Hillary surprises her there and admits to being jealous of CC’s talent. In turn, CC confesses that she envies Hillary’s beauty, and commiserates when she discovers that Hillary has left Michael despite being pregnant with his child. Admitting that she and John also broke up, CC stays to help Hillary prepare her nursery. CC engages in a whirlwind romance with Dr. Richard Milstein, Hillary’s obstetrician, but leaves him to take the lead in one of John’s plays. In the next few years, CC re-establishes herself as an actress and singer, Hillary returns to her law career, and her daughter, Victoria, grows up to be precocious and strong-willed. When Victoria is eleven years old, an exhausted Hillary is diagnosed with viral cardiomyopathy, a debilitating heart disease. She is placed on a waiting list for a heart donor, but a match is unlikely. CC agrees to spend the summer at Hillary’s beach house, and although her relationship with Victoria is initially rocky, the child becomes more dependent on CC as Hillary weakens. One day, Hillary observes CC teaching a dance to Victoria on the beach and becomes jealous, but CC encourages Hillary to act livelier as long as she can. As the summer ends, Hillary returns home with Victoria, who plans to see CC’s upcoming show at the Hollywood Bowl. However, on the day Victoria is meant to fly out, Hillary faints. Abandoning the concert, CC rushes to the hospital in San Francisco and convinces the staff to release Hillary so that Victoria will not have to see her there. The three return to the beach, where Victoria and Hillary spend their final moments together. CC discovers that Hillary has left Victoria in her care, and offers the girl the option to come with her to New York or live with Aunt Vesta. Victoria chooses CC, and sometime later, watches from backstage as CC performs “That’s The Glory Of Love.” After the show, CC tells Victoria the story of how she and Hillary met.
Tony Hunter, a dancing star whose movie career is in a slump, returns to New York and meets with his old friends, writers Lester and Lily Marton. The Martons reveal that they have written a show as a comeback vehicle for Tony, to be staged by the hot new director Jeffrey Cordova. Tony accompanies the Martons to the Broadway theater where Cordova is starring in his own adaptation of Oedipus Rex , and after watching the heavy-handed dramatics onstage, is skeptical about Cordova's ability to direct a musical comedy. After the play, they meet with Cordova, and Lester and Lily describe their show as a comic romp about an illustrator of children's books who writes lurid murder mysteries on the side. The Martons are taken aback when the flamboyant Cordova announces that he sees the show as a modern version of Faust , and casts himself in the role of the devil. Cordova then surprises them by vowing to cast sought-after ballerina Gabrielle Gerard as the female lead. Tony is wary of Cordova's concept, but the director insists it is time for Tony to remake his image. Later that night, Cordova summons Paul Byrd, Gaby's possessive boyfriend and choreographer. He offers Paul the job of choreographer on the new show and, through flattery and manipulation, succeeds in getting Gaby for his leading lady. The following evening, Tony and the Martons go to the ballet to watch Gaby perform, and Tony is intimidated by both her height and her classical training. They then convene at Cordova's home, where the director is meeting with potential backers. Lester and Lily overhear part of Cordova's histrionic pitch to the investors--emphasizing the "fiery furnaces of doom"--and are alarmed at how little it resembles their original story. Tony and Gaby meet and immediately rub each other the wrong way. The quarreling stars are about to walk out when Cordova comes out of his meeting and introduces the artists to his new backers. Rehearsals begin, and Tony grows increasingly frustrated with Cordova's directorial style, Gaby's patronizing attitude and the changes to his role. Tony walks out, and is venting his anger in his hotel room when Gaby comes to see him. She is impressed to see that he has decorated his room with pieces from his valuable art collection, and the two performers speak openly with each other for the first time. Tony and Gaby take a moonlit buggy ride through Central Park, and begin to fall in love. Relations are stormy between the Martons, however, as Lester accuses his wife of letting Cordova influence her too strongly. They are still feuding when the company moves to New Haven for out-of-town tryouts, and numerous last-minute problems with the production's elaborate special effects try everyone's patience. The New Haven opening is an abysmal failure, and the show's backers depart in a funereal mood. Tony, Gaby and the Martons revive their spirits at the cast party, and Tony informs Cordova that the show will not close, but will be changed back to the light-hearted entertainment it was originally intended to be. Cordova agrees to put Tony in charge of the show, and when he points out that they have lost their funding, Tony decides to sell his art collection. Paul orders Gaby to quit the show, but she refuses and the two part ways. The revised version of The Band Wagon completes a successful pre-Broadway tour, and one night Tony admits to Lester that he has fallen in love with Gaby, but fears she may still prefer Paul. The Broadway opening is a hit, and the cast pays Tony a heartfelt tribute after the show. While expressing the company's gratitude, Gaby also makes it clear that she has come to love Tony, and they kiss.
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.
Writer: Dalton Reymond , Morton Grant, Maurice Rapf
Editor: William M. Morgan
Cinematographer: Gregg Toland
Genre: Comedy-drama
Production Company: Walt Disney Productions
Composer: Charles Wolcott
In the late nineteenth century, newspaperman John and his wife Sally travel from their home in Atlanta to the rural plantation of Sally's mother, Miss Doshy, accompanied by their young son Johnny and his black nursemaid, Aunt Tempy. Johnny is excited about meeting Uncle Remus, a legendary black storyteller who amused John and Sally during their childhood, but is confused by his parents' anger toward each other. John, whose controversial writings have strained his marriage, returns to Atlanta alone, and Sally remains at the plantation with Johnny. Hurt by what he perceives as his father's desertion of him, Johnny sneaks out of the house with the intention of running away. As he walks along, Johnny finds the elderly Uncle Remus telling stories to a group of black children. Johnny stops to listen but runs off when Tempy and another servant, Chloe, come looking for him. Remus catches Johnny in the woods and agrees to run away to Atlanta with him, but insists on stopping at his cabin for provisions. While there, Remus tells Johnny a story of Brer Rabbit, who also tried to run away despite Remus' warning that there is no place far away enough to escape trouble: Brer Rabbit is captured by Brer Fox and Brer Bear, who intend to make a tasty meal of him, but the rabbit easily outwits them, escapes and returns to his briar patch. Strengthened by the story's moral, Johnny goes home with Toby, the young black servant assigned to look after him. Sally is devastated by his attempt to run away, however, and unfairly blames his behavior on Uncle Remus. Later, Sally orders Johnny to wear a suit with a lace collar, and while the boy wanders about miserably, he is taunted by Joe and Jake Favers, poor white youngsters who are threatening to drown their sister Ginny's puppy. Ginny and Johnny become friends, and she gives him the puppy, Teenchie. Sally refuses to let him keep the puppy, however, and orders him to return it. Instead, Johnny takes Teenchie to Uncle Remus, who agrees to keep it for him, but the next day, the Favers boys threaten Johnny with violence unless he returns the puppy. Uncle Remus tells the distressed Johnny about the time Brer Fox and Brer Bear used a tar baby to trap Brer Rabbit, but were once again outwitted by Brer Rabbit, who begged them not to fling him into the briar patch. Johnny uses the lesson of reverse psychology to get the Favers boys to complain to their mother about the puppy, and Mrs. Favers gives them a sound whipping. The angry boys then tell Sally their story, and Sally accuses Uncle Remus of "warping" Johnny with his stories and orders him to stop telling them to her son. Heartbroken, Uncle Remus returns Teenchie to the Favers boys, then roughly tells Johnny to leave him alone. A week later, Sally throws a birthday party for Johnny and allows him to invite Ginny, despite her misgivings about Ginny's humble upbringing. Johnny happily skips to Ginny's house, but her brothers muddy her only good dress. After fighting with the boys and becoming disheveled himself, Johnny tries to placate Ginny but only makes her cry more. Uncle Remus cannot resist comforting the children with a story and tells them about the time Brer Rabbit again freed himself from the clutches of Brer Fox and Brer Bear by leading them to his "laughing place." The wise old man informs the children that everyone has a laughing place, and when they run off to look for theirs, Sally finds them and chastises them for missing the party. Sally then upbraids Uncle Remus and orders him to stay away from Johnny completely. The old man decides that he is of no use anymore and, after packing his few belongings, prepares to depart. Johnny, who has realized that Uncle Remus' cabin is his laughing place, sees his friend leaving and cuts through a field to stop him. The bull in the field chases Johnny and knocks him down, and the unconscious child is rushed to the plantation house. John immediately comes down from Atlanta, but even his presence does not help his delirious son, who calls for Uncle Remus. Miss Doshy sends for him, and as Uncle Remus holds Johnny's hand and tells him another story, the child revives. Finally realizing that they must set aside their problems for the sake of their son, John and Sally decide to stay at the plantation. Later, Uncle Remus contentedly watches Johnny, Ginny and Toby play with Teenchie. He is amazed to see Brer Rabbit and his other story folk join the children, but soon runs after them and enters their joyous world.
Production Company: Paramount Pictures Corp., Filwite Productions, Inc.
Composer: Bernard Herrmann
While on an extended European vacation following a medical conference in Paris, American physician Ben McKenna and his family are traveling on a bus in French Morocco when his young son Hank accidentally pulls the veil off a Moslem woman. An international incident is avoided when Louis Bernard, a Frenchman, intercedes on the McKennas' behalf. While Ben is happy to tell Louis all about his family and their planned excursions in Marrakech, his wife Jo is suspicious of the Frenchman's constant questioning. That night, Louis meets the McKennas in their hotel room for dinner, but suddenly cancels their supper plans when Rien, a hired assassin, appears at the McKennas' door. Later, at an Arab restaurant, Ben and Jo meet a British couple, the Draytons, who claim to be fans of Jo, who was a well-known singer prior to her marriage to Ben. The next morning, the McKennas and Draytons meet at the local marketplace. The usual frivolity of the market crowd is broken when a man being chased by the police collapses in Ben's arms, having been fatally stabbed in the back. It is Louis, disguised as an Arab, who, with his dying breaths, tells the physician that there is a plot to assassinate an unnamed statesman in London. While the McKennas are taken to the police station for questioning, Mrs. Drayton agrees to care for Hank in their absence. In the midst of being interrogated, Ben receives a phone call from a kidnapper, threatening his son with grievous harm if he tells the authorities what Louis said to him. After giving the high-strung Jo a sedative, Ben informs his wife that their only son has been abducted. Aware that the Draytons left Marrakech on a private plane, Ben and Jo decide to go to London and search for Hank there. Greeted at the airport by both Jo's fans and the police, the McKennas are interviewed by Inspector Buchanan of Scotland Yard, who tells them that he is well aware of the reason why their son was kidnapped. Despite his wife's pleas, Ben refuses to tell the inspector what Louis said to him, claiming that the British secret agent had spoken to him in French. Jo then receives a phone call from Mrs. Drayton, who allows the McKennas to briefly speak to Hank. Checking into a London hotel, the McKennas attempt to call Ambrose Chappell, the name Louis told Ben, but they are interrupted by the arrival of Jo's old acquaintances: Val and Helen Parnell, Jan Peterson and Cindy Fontaine. While Jo stays behind with her friends, Ben sneaks out through the hotel's service entrance to meet Chappell. At the Ambrose taxidermy shop, Ben is slow to realize that neither Ambrose Sr. nor Ambrose Jr. is involved in his son's kidnapping, and is forced to make a quick escape before the police arrive. Meanwhile, at the hotel, Jo realizes that "Ambrose Chapel" is a place, not a person, and she is soon met there by Ben. Inside the church, Hank is being held captive by the Draytons, with the help of their assistant, Edna. Also there is Rien, who is being instructed by the Draytons as to the exact moment during an Albert Hall concert that he is to commit the assassination: at a climactic cymbal crash in the performance of a cantata. The McKennas enter the chapel just as the service, administered by Mr. Drayton, is about to begin. While Ben stays inside, Jo leaves to call the police, so the Draytons cut short the service. Hearing his son's voice, Ben rushes to Hank's aid, only to be knocked unconscious by one of Draytons' henchmen. By the time the police arrive at the chapel, the Draytons have made their escape with Hank. Refusing to enter the locked church without a search warrant, the police leave, so Jo calls the police station, begging for help. She asks to speak to Buchanan, but is told that he is at an important diplomatic function at a concert at Albert Hall. When the policeman refuses to contact Buchanan, she heads off alone to Albert Hall to find him. When Rien sees her there, the assassin reminds Jo that Hank's safety depends on her silence. Meanwhile, Ben escapes the locked chapel by climbing the church bell's rope and also makes his way to the concert. Realizing that Rien is about to shoot a visiting foreign prime minister, Jo screams, causing the startled assassin to merely wound the dignitary in the arm. Ben then jumps Rien, and in his attempt to escape, the assassin falls from the balcony to his death. Back at the embassy, the Draytons are informed by the ambassador that their assassination attempt on the prime minister has failed. Despite Mrs. Drayton's objection, the ambassador then orders her husband to kill Hank. With the police unable to go into the embassy due to diplomatic immunity, the McKennas enter alone, as the invited guest of the grateful prime minister. Jo is asked to perform for the guests, and her singing voice is soon recognized by Hank. Under Mrs. Drayton's instruction, the young boy whistles along with her singing, guiding Ben to the room in which his son is being held. Mr. Drayton then appears, but rather than killing them, he decides to use Ben and Hank as human shields during his escape from the embassy. As they make their way down the grand staircase, Ben pushes Drayton, and the spy is killed when he falls on his own gun. The reunited McKennas then head back to their hotel room, where Jo's friends have been waiting the entire time.
Cast: Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds
Directors: Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen
Producer: Arthur Freed
Writer: Adolph Green, Betty Comden
Editor: Adrienne Fazan
Cinematographer: Harold Rosson
Genre: Musical comedy
Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.
Composer: Lennie Hayton
In 1927, fans gather at Hollywood's Chinese Theatre for the premiere of Monumental Picture's latest romantic epic, The Royal Rascal, starring the popular silent screen couple Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont. Don tells radio commentator Dora Bailey that his motto has always been "dignity" and relates the idyllic story of his childhood and rise to fame, all of which is complete fabrication. The audience applauds enthusiastically at the end of the swashbuckling film and asks for speeches from its stars, whom they think are a couple off-screen as well as on, but Don, who loathes his screechy-voiced co-star, insists that Lina merely smile. Assisted by studio boss R. F. Simpson, Don slips away from the cloying Lina and drives with his best friend, studio pianist Cosmo Brown, to the premiere party. On Hollywood Blvd., Cosmo's car breaks down, and Don is surrounded by fans. To escape the screaming mob, who have torn his tuxedo, Don jumps onto a passing car driven by Kathy Selden. She is frightened at first, but when a policeman tells Kathy who Don is, she offers him a ride to his house in Beverly Hills. Although Kathy says that she is a stage actress, who has seen only one of Don's films, she is actually a chorus girl at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub. After dropping Don off to change his clothes, Kathy drives to the party at R. F.'s house, where she will be performing. Don arrives at the party in time to see a short talking picture. Most of the guests are unimpressed by the new phenomenon, even when R. F. says that the Warner brothers are about to release a feature-length talking picture. When the entertainment starts, Don is surprised, but happy to see a scantily clad Kathy jump out of a cake, and tries to talk with her, but she thinks that he only wants to ridicule her. Just as a jealous Lina takes Don's arm, Kathy throws a cake at him, but misses, and hits Lina instead. Kathy quickly runs away, and Don cannot find her. Some weeks later, Warner Bros.' The Jazz Singer is a box office smash and audiences are clamoring for more talking pictures. As Don and Lina start their next film, The Dueling Cavalier, Cosmo makes a crack about all of their films being alike, and Don is stung, thinking that Kathy was right about words being necessary for real acting. Lina continues to complain about Kathy, whom she had fired, which makes Don dislike Lina even more, as he has not seen Kathy since the party. During a break in filming, R. F. announces that they are shutting down production and will resume in a few weeks as a talking picture. Cosmo happily anticipates unemployment, but R. F. makes him head of the new studio music department. Some time later, when a musical number is being filmed for another picture, Cosmo sees Kathy in the chorus. When Don shows up just as R. F. is about to offer Kathy another part, she confesses what happened at the party, but Don tells R. F. that it was not her fault and R. F. agrees. Later, when Kathy and Don are talking, he tells her that his "romance" with Lina is completely fabricated by fan magazines and Kathy confesses that she has seen all of his pictures. Don has difficulty revealing his feelings to Kathy until he takes her to a romantic setting on a sound stage. Soon preparations for The Dueling Cavalier begin with diction lessions for Lina and Don. Although Don is fine, Lina's voice shows little improvement. When filming resumes, director Roscoe Dexter becomes increasingly frustrated by Lina's voice and inability to speak into the microphone, but the picture is completed. When it is previewed on a rainy night in Hollywood, the audience laughs at Lina's voice, howls at synchronization problems, and leaves the theater saying it was the worst film ever made. Later that night, Cosmo and Kathy try to console Don, who thinks his career is over until Cosmo comes up with the idea to turn the film into a musical comedy and have Kathy dub Lina's voice. Don worries that this plan is not good for Kathy, but she convinces him by saying it will be for just one picture. The next day, R. F. loves the idea and they all conspire to keep Lina from finding out. To enhance the picture, they add a modern section in which Don can sing and dance the story of a Broadway hoofer. After the picture is finished, Don tells Kathy that he wants to tell the world how much he loves her, but as they kiss, Lina interrupts them and flies into a rage. She then starts her own publicity campaign proclaiming herself Monumental's new singing star. R. F. is angry, but Lina shows him her contract and he reluctantly agrees that she controls her own publicity. Lina then threatens to ruin the studio unless Kathy continues to dub her singing and speaking voice, but do nothing else. At the picture's premiere, the audience loves "Lina's" voice. Feeling triumphant, Lina boasts that Kathy will keep singing for her, and Don is furious. When the audience clamors for a song from Lina, Don hatches the idea of having Kathy stand behind a curtain and sing into a microphone as Lina pantomines the words. While Lina silently mouths "Singin' in the Rain," Don, R. F. and Cosmo pull the curtain and the audience laughs hysterically when they realize that Kathy is actually singing. Lina does not know what is happening until Cosmo takes the microphone from Kathy and starts singing himself. Lina runs off screaming, and an embarrassed Kathy starts to leave the theater, until Don tells the audience that she is the real star of the film and has her join him in a song. Finally, a billboard proclaims that Don and Kathy are co-stars of the new Monumental film Singin' in the Rain.
As Richard Dadier, a soft-spoken ex-serviceman, accepts his first teaching job in a tough New York City high school, he asks his new principal, Mr. Warnecke, about the school's discipline problem and is assured that at North Manual High, "there is no discipline problem." The other teachers, particularly the cynical Jim Murdock, who calls the all-male school a "garbage can" and cautions Dadier not to turn his back on the students, do not lessen his anxiety. That evening, Dadier celebrates his new job with his wife Anne, who, although deeply in love with her husband, worries not only that her pregnancy will make her unattractive to him, but that she will miscarry as she had once before. Dadier's first day teaching English is discouraging. The pupils, mostly lower-class juvenile delinquents, ignore his requests and call him "Daddy-O," and when he asks Gregory W. Miller, a bright but alienated black student, to use his leadership abilities to promote cooperation in the classroom, the young man just shakes his head. That afternoon, Lois Judby Hammond, another new teacher who seems attracted to Dadier, is nearly raped by one of the students. Dadier severely beats the boy, and the next day, the students greet him with threatening glares and angry silence. After work, Dadier accompanies Joshua Y. Edwards, a new math teacher who passionately loves jazz and swing, to a bar, where they have a drink too many and bemoan the students' hostility. While cutting through an alley to the bus stop, both teachers are beaten by Dadier's student Artie West and his gang of hoodlums. Anne urges Dadier to leave the school, but he declares, "I've been beaten up, but I'm not beaten." While recuperating, Dadier visits his former professor, who assures him that students do want to learn, but that urban schools need more instructors who care. Dadier returns to school, and when the police question him, he refuses to identify his attackers. In class, Artie calls fellow student Pete Morales a "spic," whereupon Dadier remarks that calling one another names, like "spic, mick, and nigger," can lead to big trouble. Later the principal, acting on a confidential student complaint, accuses Dadier of bigotry, but Dadier angrily defends himself. Warnecke finally apologizes and puts Dadier in charge of the Christmas play. Soon afterward, West destroys Josh's prized record collection while his class looks on, leading the discouraged math teacher to resign. Meanwhile, Anne begins receiving anonymous letters and phone calls accusing her husband of infidelity. Unaware of Anne's growing suspicion, Dadier concentrates on his students. He convinces Miller and his singing group to perform their version of "Go Down, Moses" in the Christmas play, and he stimulates an animated class discussion by showing a "Jack and the Beanstalk" cartoon in class. Summarizing the discussion, Dadier encourages the young men to consider the real meaning of what they hear and to think for themselves. Miller later tells Dadier that because black people have limited options, he will drop out of school at term's end, but Dadier maintains that blacks can succeed in the modern world and that some teachers do care. At Christmas, Anne, tormented by the letters, gives birth prematurely, and when Dadier learns what has happened, he assumes the students are responsible for the letters and decides to resign. Defeated, Dadier bemoans that, after everything teachers must endure, they earn less even than cooks. Murdock, cured of his cynicism by Dadier's dedication, and Anne, admitting that she should not have doubted her husband, encourage Dadier to remain, and he does take heart when the doctor says his baby son is out of danger. Back at school, Dadier orders West to see the principal when the gang leader flagrantly cheats in class. West threatens him with a knife, ordering the other gang members to jump the teacher. To West's surprise, only Belazi obeys his orders. Following a scuffle, Dadier accuses West of having sent the anonymous letters and then drags him and Belazi to Warnecke's office. Later that day, Miller, having heard that Dadier plans to quit, promises to remain in school if Dadier will do the same.
In New York City, teenaged actors, musicians, and dancers audition for enrollment in the prestigious High School of Performing Arts. Among those accepted are Montgomery McNeil, an aspiring actor who grapples with his “closeted” homosexuality; Lisa Monroe, a fussy, unmotivated ballerina who prefers gossip over dancing; Coco Hernandez, a street smart singer-dancer with unwavering ambition; the shy and awkward Doris Finsecker, who is bullied by her overbearing “stage mother”; Raul Garcia, an arrogant compulsive liar who masks his Puerto Rican descent by changing his name to “Ralph Garci”; pianist Bruno Martelli, who vexes the conservative music teachers by infusing classical compositions with electronic synthesizers; and Leroy Johnson, a gangster with a special talent for dance, but no interest in school. On the first day of freshman year, homeroom English teacher Mrs. Sherwood insists the teens must excel in their academic studies as well as their performance skills. Throughout the afternoon, the students are warned that their ambition will most likely lead to rejection, as well as physical and emotional hardship. Only the strongest will survive high school, and the chance of gaining fame after graduation is highly unlikely. At the cafeteria, the students improvise a chaotic music and dance party with Bruno on piano and Coco singing about the school’s “hot lunch.” Aspiring actors Doris Finsecker and Montgomery McNeil are intimidated by the ruckus and huddle outside the cafeteria, becoming fast friends. Later, singer-dancer Coco Hernandez tracks down Bruno Martelli, her accompanist during the “hot lunch” jam session. She suggests they form a duo and perform at social events to earn a living, but the young man does not wish to collaborate. By sophomore year, however, Bruno hesitantly allows Coco to record lyrics over some of his compositions. When Bruno’s taxi driver father, Angelo Martelli, discovers a cassette tape of Bruno and Coco’s song “Fame,” he parks his cab on 46th Street in front of the school and blasts the tune through makeshift bullhorn speakers. Students love the song and create a traffic jam, dancing in the road and on top of cars. Bruno scolds his father for broadcasting the unfinished song, but Coco is elated to hear her voice resounding through the busy street. Sophomore year also marks a transition for dancer Leroy Johnson, whose illiteracy is exposed by Mrs. Sherwood. Although Leroy is enraged by the school’s high standards, he wants to keep dancing and slowly trains himself to read. Meanwhile, Leroy catches the attention of a new addition to the dance department, a wealthy and highly talented ballerina named Hilary van Doren. The overconfident girl fends off Coco, who is already courting Leroy. In the sophomore year drama program, students are instructed to recreate their most painful personal memories, and Montgomery reveals his homosexuality to the class. Although jokester Ralph Garci maliciously teases Montgomery and his best friend, Doris, he later reveals his own vulnerability while performing a monologue about the recent death of his idol, Freddie Prinze. As the year comes to a close, Miss Berg, the dance department head, tells her awkward and distracted student, Lisa Monroe, that she does not have the talent or ambition to be a professional dancer. Despite Lisa’s protests, she is expelled from school and terrifies her friends by walking toward an oncoming subway train. When the train passes, Lisa declares she will stay in school and transfer to the drama department. By junior year, Montgomery McNeil and Doris Finsecker become allied with Ralph Garci, and Ralph and Doris fall in love. One night, while the friends rehearse, Ralph’s five-year-old sister is attacked by drug addicts at their home in the Bronx, and the Ralph blames himself for not being there to protect her. He later tells Montgomery and Doris about his abusive father, who beat Ralph when he entertained his sister with comedic antics. On one occasion, Ralph’s sister was caught in between the two men, and her father smashed her head into a wall, leaving her disabled. Ralph’s father is now in prison, but the young man believes his gift for comedy provoked the attack. As Doris comforts her sobbing lover, Montgomery tosses his apartment keys on the bed and leaves. Doris and Ralph later bond at a raucous midnight screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show while Montgomery stays home, playing guitar in solitude. As the kids head into senior year, Ralph auditions at a comedy club called “Catch a Rising Star” and his stand-up routine is received by a cheering audience, as well as an offer for future work. However, his success leads to alcoholism and drug abuse. One evening at the club, Doris accuses Ralph of emulating Freddie Prinze and begs him to follow his own path. As Ralph takes the stage, Doris storms away and he botches his routine. Ralph mourns the loss of his girl friend and his good standing at the club, but Montgomery consoles his companion backstage. He reminds Ralph that fame comes at a cost. High school offers them training and a “hot lunch,” but in the real world, they may never be satisfied by their own success, just like Freddie Prinze. Senior year also brings tragedy to ballerina Hilary van Doren, who becomes pregnant with Leroy Johnson’s baby. She secretly decides to get an abortion, drop out of school, and move to San Francisco, California, where she has been offered a place with the city’s ballet company. Meanwhile, Coco and Bruno continue to collaborate and become close friends. One day, a shady American named “François Lafete” approaches Coco in a diner, and offers to make her a star if she takes a screen test. She expects to audition for a blockbuster, but finds herself in a seedy apartment, sitting in front of an amateur camera set-up. Lafete suggests she “make love to the camera” and orders her to expose her breasts. When she objects, he accuses her of being unprofessional, and she cries as he films her naked body. Back at school, Leroy learns that his nemesis, Mrs. Sherwood, is at the hospital with her mortally ill husband. There, Leroy tries to bully the English teacher into giving him a passing grade, because he will not be able to join the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater company if he fails to graduate. As the two argue, Leroy realizes that Mrs. Sherwood has problems of her own. He lets down his guard and comforts her. At graduation, the students who began their journey four years earlier showcase their talents with new ingenuity and confidence. Their song-and-dance performance is cheered by teachers and parents, who championed the youths all along.
Cast: Sidney Poitier, Sammy Davis, Jr., Pearl Bailey
Directors: Otto Preminger
Producer: Samuel Goldwyn
Writer: N. Richard Nash
Editor: Daniel Mandell
Cinematographer: Leon Shamroy
Genre: Musical
Production Company: Samuel Goldwyn Productions, Inc.
At Catfish Row, the courtyard home to a southern, African-American fishing community, the men shoot dice one evening while the women gossip about the wanton Bess, who for five years has lived with Crown, a local bully. The women declare that Porgy, a cripple who gets around on a cart pulled by a goat, is "soft on Bess," but Porgy denies this and laments that the life of a cripple is meant to be lonesome. When Crown and Bess come to the courtyard and Crown joins the dice game, Sportin' Life, a slick drug pusher, sells Crown some "happy dust," or cocaine, against Bess's wishes, and Crown snorts it. When Robbins, one of the dice players, wins his point, a fight ensues in which Crown kills Robbins with a blow. Bess sends Crown away to protect him from the police, then asks Sportin' Life for some happy dust. Sportin' Life suggests that they leave for New York together, but Bess turns him down in disgust. When the police arrive, Bess tries to take refuge with her neighbors, but they all turn her away. Desperate, Bess knocks at Porgy's door, he agrees to let her stay. Serena, the God-fearing woman who was married to Robbins, tries to collect money from the community to pay for her husband's burial, and although she refuses Bess's contribution, Porgy encourages the neighbors to be generous and Bess collects their offerings. When a white detective accuses old "honey man" Peter of the murder and threatens him, Peter reveals that he saw Crown kill Robbins. Peter is then locked up as a material witness until Crown is caught. The detective warns Serena that if Robbins is not buried by the next day, the board of health will turn his body over to medical students. After Serena pleads with the undertaker to accept the fifteen dollars she has collected and let her pay the rest when she earns it, and he agrees to bury the body. Bess continues to live with Porgy, and the neighbors soon notice that he is happier. One day, lawyer Frazier comes to give Bess a divorce from Crown so she can marry Porgy, for which Porgy pays him a dollar, but when Frazier learns that Bess never married Crown, he demands an extra half-dollar. When they balk, Frazier accuses them of living in sin, and Porgy reluctantly pays the amount. On the day of a church picnic, Sportin' Life again tempts Bess to go to New York and offers her happy dust, but Porgy threatens to break his neck unless he leaves Bess alone. Porgy then tells Bess that she is now his woman and she agrees to stay with him. After the picnic, Crown, who is hiding in the woods, confronts Bess when she is alone. She struggles to resist him, but when Crown kisses her, she embraces him and lets him carry her off. Bess returns to Catfish Row two days later and remains in a state of delirium for more than a week as Porgy tends to her. Peter, who has been released from jail, recommends that Porgy take Bess to the county hospital, but he refuses and instead asks Serena to pray for Bess. After reciting a prayer, Serena states that Bess will be well when the church bell strikes six times. The next morning, when the bell chimes, Bess comes out of her delirium and calls for Porgy. Realizing she betrayed him with Crown, Bess cries but Porgy forgives her. Although Bess confesses that she loses control when Crown touches her, she tells Porgy she loves him and asks him not to let Crown seduce her. He assures her that he will protect her from Crown and that she has a man now. When a hurricane hits after some of the men have gone out in their fishing boats, the people congregate at Serena's home, where Clara, a new mother, worries about her husband Jake. Crown also comes to the house where he taunts Porgy about his relationship with Bess, then laughs at those who are afraid of the storm. Anxious, Clara gives her baby to Bess and runs out in search of Jake, after which Crown also leaves, saying that he will be back for Bess. Following the storm, the community mourns for the lost men and Clara. When Serena tries to get Bess to give up Clara's baby, saying it needs a proper Christian raising, Porgy implores Serena to let Bess keep the child, and Serena relents. Later, Crown sneaks into the courtyard and goes to Porgy's window, and when Porgy awakens, they fight. When Crown draws his knife, Porgy throws him down, killing him. As the people repair their buildings from the storm damage, the detective returns with a coroner to find a witness to Crown's killing. Suspecting that Serena killed Crown for revenge, the detective questions her, but she has an alibi. The detective then orders Porgy to come to the jail to identify the body. Porgy refuses, not wanting to look at Crown, and Sportin' Life says that if Porgy looks at Crown's face, the dead man's wounds will begin to bleed, proving that Porgy killed him. The detective then carries Porgy into the police wagon as he screams that he will not look at Crown's face. Sportin' Life finds Bess crying and tells her that Porgy will "give himself away" and end up dying in jail. He offers her some happy dust, and after she accepts, Sportin' Life's talk of New York and living in a mansion appeals to her in her drugged state. Sometime later, the police bring Porgy back to the courtyard. He tells his friends that the wounds did not bleed when he looked at them and brings gifts he bought with money he won from shooting craps in jail. When he asks for Bess, however, the people scatter. He then sees Serena with Clara's baby and demands to know where Bess is. Porgy finally learns that Bess went to New York with Sportin' Life after he convinced her that Porgy would never return from jail. Stating that he cannot go on without Bess, Porgy starts off for New York in his goat cart, cheered on by his friends.
Production Company: Danjaq, S. A., Eon Productions, Ltd.
Composer: John Barry
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.
Production Company: Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.
In 1862, Anna Leonowens, a young, widowed English schoolteacher, arrives in Bangkok, Thailand, with her son Louis, having accepted a job teaching English to the children of the King of Siam. Greeted by the king's stern prime minister, the Kralahome, and his half-naked minions, Anna puffs up her courage. After the Kralahome informs her that she is to live in the palace rather than being granted her own home as previously promised, the plucky Anna charges into King Mongkut's chambers just as the graceful Tuptim is being presented as a gift from the Prince of Burma. When the king refuses her an audience, Anna unceremoniously charges forward. Although entrenched in tradition, the imperious king sincerely desires to usher his country into the modern era of scientific enlightenment, and so decrees that Anna should also teach his bevy of wives. Charmed by Mongkut's myriad children, Anna agrees to stay even though the king refuses her request of a house. Curious about this Western woman, the king's wives, led by Lady Thiang, the Number One wife who learned English from the missionaries, address Anna as "Sir," because her knowledge of science places her above the status of a "lowly woman." When the wives deride Tuptim because she longs to be with her lover, Lun Tha, rather than the king, Ann fondly recalls her beloved late husband. To spite the king, Anna teaches her pupils songs and proverbs about houses and honor. When Anna introduces a new map of the world challenging the supremacy of Siam, the children rebel until the king appears and admonishes them to take advantage of their education. Later, Prince Chulalongkorn, the heir to the throne, impugns Anna when she criticizes slavery, an institution that is embraced by his country. Late one night, the king summons Anna to take his dictation of a letter to President Lincoln. Mongkut, reclining, proclaims that no subject's head may be higher than his, and so orders Anna to lower hers. As Anna sweeps out of the palace, she comes upon Lun Tha, pining for Tuptim. Touched, Anna arranges a meeting between the lovers, and Lun Tha promises he will return one day to free Tuptim. Troubled by reports of English imperialism, the king becomes incensed when Anna's pupils persist in singing "Home Sweet Home." When the king asserts that Anna is his servant, she resigns and runs out of the room in tears. Afterward, Lady Thiang pleads with Anna to help guide Mongkut, who is apprehensive over rumors that the British regard him as a barbarian and hence intend to overthrow his kingdom and turn Siam into a protectorate. Swallowing her pride, Anna goes to the king and offers her help. Upon discovering that the British ambassador, accompanied by his aide, Edward Ramsay, is coming to Siam, Anna, an old sweetheart of Ramsay, suggests staging a sophisticated banquet in honor of their guests. In gratitude, the king finally promises her a home of her own. At the banquet, Tuptim narrates The Small House of Uncle Thomas , a play about an innocent girl, the victim of the evils of slavery. After the play comes to an end, Tuptim condemns slavery and is about to plead for her own freedom when the king snaps his fingers and the room breaks into applause. By the time the audience calls for the play's author, Tuptim has disappeared. After the British leave that evening, the king gives Anna one of his rings in appreciation of her efforts. When she challenges his right to keep a harem, he retorts that while women must remain faithful, men are entitled to a plentitude of wives. Anna replies that in reality, one man can love only one woman, and then recalls her first dance and invites the king to dance with her. They swirl around the room, but their mood of merriment is shattered by the news that Tuptim has been found running away with Lun Tha. For her dishonor, the king orders Tuptim beaten, and Anna charges that he never loved anyone and never will. Taking the whip into his own hands, the king is about to strike Tuptim when he crumples and runs from the room. When the Kralahome then accuses Anna of destroying the king, she announces that she will leave on the next boat and hands him the ring to return to Mongkut. Several weeks pass, and on the night that Louis and Anna are to sail, Lady Thiang appears with news that the king is dying, having shut himself away, refusing to eat or sleep since the banquet. After the prince states he does not want to be king and begs for Anna's help, Lady Thiang hands her a letter written by the king. When Anna reads the letter, which voices the king's deep gratitude and respect, she breaks into tears and hurries to visit him on his deathbed. As the king hands her the ring once more, his children beg Anna not to leave them in darkness, and when the ship's horn sounds, Anna sends Louis to tell the captain to return their luggage. Passing his title to the prince, Mongkut asks Chulalongkorn what his first act as king will be. After issuing a proclamation against bowing to the king, Chulalongkorn declares that his subjects should look upon each other with a kindness of spirit. Satisfied that he is leaving his kingdom in capable hands, the king quietly dies.
Cast: Jennifer Beals, Michael Nouri, Belinda Bauer
Directors: Adrian Lyne
Producer: Don Simpson, Jerry Bruckheimer, Peter Guber, Jon Peters
Writer: Tom Hedley, Joe Eszterhas, Tom Hedley
Editor: Bud Smith, Walt Mulconery
Cinematographer: Don Peterman
Genre: Drama, Romance
Production Company: PolyGram Pictures
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, eighteen-year-old Alex Owens works as a steel mill welder by day and a nightclub dancer by night, but she dreams of becoming a prima ballerina. One evening at Mowby’s Bar, Alex’s seductive dance routine catches the attention of Nick Hurley, who owns the plant where Alex works. He introduces himself to the girl the next day, but she does not wish to pursue a relationship with her boss, and is determined to succeed on her own merits. Alex loses confidence, however, when she goes to the prestigious Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre to apply for an audition. The school requires candidates to have previous formal education, and Alex’s working-class family could not finance her studies. Instead, she is self-trained under the tutelage of a retired ballerina named Hanna Long. When Alex visits the elderly woman, Hanna encourages her protégé to pursue her dreams, despite her lack of training. Back at Mowby’s Bar, Alex seeks comfort from her co-workers, who struggle with their own unfulfilled ambitions. Alex’s best friend, Jeanie Szabo, is preparing for an ice-skating competition that will determine her future in the sport, and Jeanie’s boyfriend, Richie, is a short order cook who aspires to be a stand-up comedian. Although Alex and Jeanie are offered high pay at an erotic nightclub called Zanzibar, they do not wish to become nude dancers. Zanibar’s owner, Johnny C., who is infamous for exploiting women, is upset by Alex’s rejection and attacks her one night after work. Coming to Alex’s rescue, Nick Hurley offers to escort her home in his sports car, but she insists on riding her bicycle. When Nick follows Alex to her converted warehouse and asks for a date, she reiterates her objection to mingling with her boss, so he playfully declares she is fired and returns the following evening for their first rendezvous. The two attend Jeanie Szabo’s much-anticipated ice-skating competition, but the girl falls and loses out on her dream to become a champion skater. After consoling her friend, Alex joins Nick for pizza, and they later make love. Over time, the couple’s affection grows and Nick encourages Alex to devote her life to ballet, but she remains insecure about her working-class upbringing, and does not believe she has the proper education or sophistication to be a true ballerina. However, Alex continues to seek inspiration from her mentor, Hanna Long, and the two attend a ballet performance. Alex is delighted to learn about the tradition in which a prima ballerina receives a bouquet of roses upon her final bow. Outside the theater, Alex sees Nick with another woman and assumes he is having an affair. Although she throws a rock through his bedroom window in retaliation, she is comforted to learn that Nick’s ballet companion was his former wife. Nick explains that he befriended a member of the city arts council during his marriage. The committee member has connections at the ballet, and treats Nick and his ex-wife to tickets once a year. With renewed self-confidence, Alex finally applies to the dance academy. Nick is thrilled by his lover’s determination and secretly telephones his friend on the arts council to guarantee Alex an audition. When Alex shares the news of her accomplishment, Nick drives her to a celebratory dinner and mentions that he made restaurant reservations in advance. Nick’s unexplained foresight prompts Alex to realize that he arranged the audition, and she is insulted by his meddling. Enraged, Alex declares that she does not want a benefactor and runs away. Alex seeks solace from her friend, Jeanie, and discovers the girl is now a nude dancer at Zanzibar. Alex goes to the club, drags her friend outside, and reminds the young woman of her talents. With Jeanie safe, Alex returns home to find Nick waiting on her doorstep, arguing that Alex is avoiding the audition because she is afraid of rejection. When Alex seeks advice from her mentor, Hanna, she discovers the old dancer has passed away. With all hope lost, Alex decides to leave her job and returns to Mowby’s Bar to collect her belongings. There, a fellow dancer encourages her to persevere, and Alex goes to the ballet audition, after all. Although she gets off to an awkward start, Alex gives the performance of a lifetime and is accepted at the academy. Outside, Nick presents her with a bouquet and she hands him back a single rose.
Cast: Leslie Caron, Maurice Chevalier, Louis Jourdan
Directors: Vincente Minnelli, Charles Walters
Producer: Arthur Freed
Writer: Alan Jay Lerner
Editor: Adrienne Fazan
Cinematographer: Joseph Ruttenberg
Genre: Musical, Romantic comedy
Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp., Arthur Freed Productions, Inc.
Composer: Frederick Loewe
In 1900 Paris, Honoré Lachaille, elderly connoisseur of beauty and fashion, strolls through the Bois de Bologne, appreciating the splendor of youth personified by spirited school girl Gigi Alvarez. Later, Honoré meets his elegant nephew Gaston, the wealthy heir to a sugar empire, who declares his weariness at being the center of Paris society. To Honoré’s surprise, Gaston admits the only place that he can relax is at the modest flat of Honoré ‘s former paramour, Mme. Alvarez, Gigi’s grandmother and guardian. Meanwhile, at her weekly etiquette lessons with her regal great-aunt Alicia, Gigi struggles to stifle her natural buoyancy while learning about the intricacies of dining. When Gigi laments that she is never allowed to accept invitations and has no friends, Alicia explains that she is not to mingle with ordinary people who live ordinary lives. Gigi concedes she is aware that the women in her family are unusual in that they never marry, but remains puzzled by it. Alicia then advises Gigi of the importance of recognizing expensive jewelry and cautions her never to accept second-rate baubles or men. After showing Gigi how to distinguish fine cigars, Alicia reminds her niece that everything she is learning has a purpose and admonishes her to remember that love is an art. Confused about what eating, jewelry and tobacco have to do with art, Gigi heads home and runs into Gaston, who has been visiting Mme. Alvarez. Delighted by Gigi’s guileless nature, Gaston invites her for a glasé at the skating rink, where his current lover, Liane d’Exelmans, is taking skating lessons. Gigi startles Gaston when she declares that she finds Liane common and coarse. That evening while dining with Liane and Honoré at Maxim’s restaurant, Gaston realizes that despite Liane’s effusive attentions, her thoughts are elsewhere. The next morning Gaston tells Honoré that he is deeply insulted to have learned from private detectives that Liane is secretly seeing her skating instructor. When Gaston hints that he will end his relationship with Liane through a note, Honoré insists that the break-up must be in keeping with Gaston’s stylish reputation. Taking Gaston’s brand new automobile, the two men follow Liane to Honfleur where Gaston pays the skating instructor to leave Liane, then rebukes her in a restaurant and declares their association over. Honoré then encourages Gaston to attend all of the upcoming fashionable parties in order to show that the break-up has had no effect on him. Gigi and her grandmother follow Gaston’s subsequent revelries through the society newspaper columns and several weeks pass before he visits them again. Arriving one evening bearing chocolates and champagne, Gaston reveals that he will soon be going to Trouville-by-the-Sea. After Mme. Alvarez convinces Gaston to pass up a party with two hundred guests at the Eiffel Tower, Gigi offers to play cards with him and bets that if Gaston loses he must take her and her grandmother to Trouville. When Gigi wins the game, Gaston gallantly agrees to fulfill his part of the wager, despite Mme. Alvarez’s protests, and admits that he has more fun with Gigi than anyone else. At Trouville, Gaston accompanies the exuberant Gigi on the beach, playing tennis and riding burros. Honoré, who has also come to the seaside, is startled to find Mme. Alvarez and the two reminisce about their romantic past. Upon returning to Paris, Mme. Alvarez is summoned by Alicia, who scolds her for accepting Gaston’s invitation to Trouville when Gigi has not been properly prepared. Aghast at the suggestion that Gigi is old enough to be groomed for a romantic alliance with Gaston, Mme. Alvarez nevertheless reluctantly accepts her sister’s advice. While Gaston is away resting in Monte Carlo, Gigi visits Alicia’s daily, but her great-aunt is discouraged that Gigi remains too immature to appreciate her lessons. Although Gigi is ill at ease in the flattering gowns purchased for her by Alicia, when Gaston returns she tries one on for him. Gaston is so outraged by Gigi’s unexpected grown-up transformation that he storms out of the flat, only to return moments later to ask Gigi to tea at the swank Reservoir club. Mme. Alvarez forbids it, and in private tells Gaston that if Gigi is to be seen in society spots with him, they must have a formal understanding. Infuriated by the idea, Gaston departs, angrily walking the streets berating Gigi as a mere child until he realizes that she is indeed becoming a young lady. Gaston returns to the Alvarez flat and presents an offer to Mme. Alvarez, who in turn seeks approval from Alicia. After Alicia consents to the terms for Gaston to formally take up with Gigi, the women agree that for the time being Gigi will not be told of the arrangement. Later, Gaston drops by the flat with flowers for Gigi and an invitation to dinner. When Gaston attempts to explain the change in their relationship to Gigi, he is stunned when she flatly refuses him. Gigi reveals that she understands that she is now to be Gaston’s lover and she is also aware that when he becomes tired of her she will be expected to go on to another man. Gigi concludes that it is not in her nature to live this way. Shocked at her frankness, Gaston is embarrassed, but Gigi points out that he was not embarrassed to make the arrangements for her to become his mistress with Mme. Alvarez. Gigi then confesses her wish that she and Gaston could go on as they have in the past, but Gaston declares they cannot because he loves her. Stunned, Gigi berates him for wanting her as a mistress if he truly cares for her and flees to her room. Confused and angry, Gaston scolds Mme. Alvarez for bringing Gigi up improperly and departs. While Gaston meets with Honoré to complain about the situation, Mme. Alvarez telephones Alicia with the news. Horrified, Alicia leaves her apartment for the first time in years to come to her sister’s flat. The women are surprised when Gaston arrives, having received a note from Gigi. To Alicia’s relief, Gigi tells Gaston that she would rather be unhappy with him than without him and agrees to the arrangement. Although unsure about the undertaking, Gigi, beautifully dressed, accompanies Gaston to join the society crowd at Maxim’s. Using all of Alicia’s tips, Gigi plays the perfect companion, which unsettles Gaston, who nevertheless presents her with a beautiful emerald bracelet. When Honoré congratulates Gaston for finding so young a companion who will keep him happy for many months, Gaston abruptly takes Gigi home without a word. Gaston then walks the streets of Paris in a state on confusion until he comes to a sudden realization and, returning to the flat, asks Mme. Alvarez for the honor of Gigi’s hand in marriage.
Production Company: The Mirisch Corporation, Simkoe, Solar Productions, Inc.
Composer: Michel Legrand
In a Boston hotel room, Erwin Weaver finds himself being blinded with a bright spotlight and informed by a man, using a microphone to disguise his voice, that he can earn $50,000 for buying a Ford station wagon and driving it as instructed, whenever he is called. The mysterious man is millionaire businessman Thomas Crown, who later, bored with his various successes and disenchanted with the establishment of which he is a part, places phone calls to five men stationed at various phone booths around town. The men, who call him “Charlie,” then agree to field calls again at precise intervals until each receives the signal from Tommy to “go.” At the signal, the men head to the Mercantile Bank, where two of them commandeer an elevator, another quietly holds up the security guard, and another takes control of the elevator bank on the ground floor, holding bystanders at gunpoint and forcing to the ground two guards transporting over $2.5 million in cash. When one customer tries to run, he is shot in the leg, after which the robbers carry the bags of money out the front door, where Erwin waits in the station wagon. Dropping smoke bombs down the hallway, the robbers signal Erwin to drive off and then casually stride down the street. Erwin, nervous and inexperienced, is briefly caught in traffic jam, where he watches the police speed to the bank and round up the witnesses. Finally, he is able to drive away and, unaware that Tommy is following in his Rolls Royce, proceeds to the agreed-upon meeting point at a cemetery. As instructed, Erwin deposits the bags of money in a garbage can, changes the car’s license plates and drives off. Posing as a mourner, Tommy retrieves the money and returns to his mansion, where he enjoys a celebratory drink in solitude. Meanwhile, Lt. Eddy Malone leads the police investigation, but finds few clues to the meticulously organized crime. After a witness identifies the station wagon, Eddy orders all similar cars searched, and although Erwin is stopped, the car passes inspection and he is released. Tommy flies to Geneva, where he deposits some of the cash in a secret bank account, easily convincing the bank manager to accept the new account without any personal information. Insurance investigator Jamie McDonald, furious that his company must pay off the bank, insists that Eddy work with a specialist, Vicki Anderson. Eddy is at first dismissive, but upon meeting the charming and sophisticated Vicki, allows her access to his files. She tells him that every crime has a personality, and despite disdaining her intuitive approach, he soon recognizes her intelligence. While they mull over how the crime has been accomplished, Tommy pilots his private plane and relaxes with his girl friend, Gwen. After a week of contemplation, Vicki deduces that the robber has transported the money to a bank in Switzerland over multiple airplane flights, knowing that the country’s customs agents rarely inspect baggage. Realizing that a check of airline records would reveal repeat passengers, Eddy grows more enthusiastic about Vicki’s unorthodox methods. She then wonders if the robber’s cohorts could have been strangers, paid off in installments, and suggests that they place an advertisement offering a reward for anyone who has noticed a loved one who was out of town during the robbery and suddenly come into possession of a sudden influx of cash. Later, the two consider photographs of the short list of men who lately have made multiple trips to Switzerland. After instinctively discarding most of the suspects, Vicki sees Tommy’s picture and is instantly attracted to the urbane entrepreneur. Attending his polo game soon after, she brazenly attracts his attention by filming him with a home movie camera, and later declares to an unconvinced Eddy that Tommy is definitely the culprit. Knowing he will be there, she attends an art auction, prompting Tommy to outbid her on a set of lithographs in order to have an excuse to approach her. As they talk, she reveals immediately that she is investigating him as a suspect in the bank robbery, causing him to laugh incredulously at her candor. Over dinner, the two well-matched adversaries spar verbally, their attraction growing. Later, while Tommy notes that his house is being watched, Eddy wonders to his assistant why a man as wealthy as Tommy would rob a bank, concluding it must be “for kicks.” The newspaper ad attracts the attention of Erwin’s irritable wife, who calls with information about Erwin’s suspicious behavior. Although Eddy expressly forbids Vicki from pursuing Erwin using illegal means, she hires private detectives to steal Erwin’s station wagon and kidnap his son, demanding $5,000 in ransom. Refusing to call the police, Erwin delivers the money only to find Vicki, who returns the boy and cash, which she points to as proof of his involvement in the robbery, and extracts a full confession. Eddy, jealous at how impressed Vicki is with Tommy’s plot and appalled by her unethical techniques, questions her morality, causing her to admit with anger that she is indeed immoral and interested only in her compensation, ten percent of the recovered money. Vicki then invites Tommy to meet her at the police station, where she and Eddy watch through a two-way mirror as he waits in a room with Erwin. Erwin, however, has no idea what Tommy looks like, and Tommy reveals no glimmer of recognition. After Vicki introduces Eddy to Tommy and the two greet each other warily, Tommy brings her to his house, where she admires his refined taste. Over drinks, she taunts him that he will eventually lose their rivalry, then challenges him to a game of chess. During the intense game, their sexual chemistry reaches a peak, and finally he pulls her to him for a long kiss. As the pair continues to date, their romance deepens, as does their psychological struggle. Weary of being trailed by police and audited by the IRS, Tommy deliberately begins dating Gwen again, knowing Vicki will be informed. Upset, she confronts him about Gwen, but he replies that he is merely testing her devotion. They visit his unbuilt beach house, which consists only of a foundation and fireplace, and happily wander the cozy town. In a spa sauna, Vicki urges Tommy to let her cut a deal for him, but when he instructs her to call Eddy, as he has presupposed, Eddy refuses any deals. Confused by her feelings of guilt, Vicki is further shocked when Tommy declares that he is planning another robbery. One night soon after, he announces that the robbery will take place the following day and informs her of the cemetery at which he will pick up the money, stating that he is testing her to ensure that she is on his side. Despite her dismay and hesitance, Vicki informs Eddy about the pickup, and the next day they await Tommy at the cemetery. When it appears that he is not coming, Eddy angrily questions Vicki if she has been honest, but just then, the Rolls Royce drives in with a funeral procession, then veers off toward them. Eddy triumphantly has the car surrounded, but when Vicki opens the door, the driver, a messenger, hands her a telegram from Tommy. It states that he has “left early,” asks her either to join him with the money or keep the car, and is signed “All my love, Tommy.” As Tommy jets away to safety, wondering what Vicki will do, she tears up the telegram and searches the sky, overcome by emotion.
Producer: Irwin Winkler, Robert Chartoff, Gene Kirkwood
Writer: Sylvester Stallone
Editor: Richard Halsey, Scott Conrad
Cinematographer: James Crabe
Genre: Drama
Production Company: Chartoff-Winkler Productions, Inc.
Composer: Bill Conti
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.
Production Company: Beta Productions, The Mirisch Company, Inc., Seven Arts Productions, Inc., B & P Enterprises, Inc.
Composer: Leonard Bernstein
In the slums of the upper West Side of Manhattan, New York, a gang of Polish-American teenagers called the Jets compete with a rival gang of recently immigrated Puerto Ricans, the Sharks, to “own” the neighborhood streets. The tension between them is marked by their bullying and tormenting of one another, and when a series of incidents erupts into a fistfight on a playground, two policemen, the bigoted Lt. Schrank and Officer Krupke, arrive in time to break it up. Afterward, Riff, the leader of the Jets, suggests to his companions that they settle their differences with the Sharks once and for all by challenging them to a “rumble,” which is their term for a street fight. Although Riff warns that the Sharks may choose to fight with zip guns or knives rather than fists, the Jets are enthusiastic about his idea. For support, Riff meets with Tony, a former member of the Jets who is like a brother and who now works in a candy store owned by good-hearted Doc. Riff asks Tony to attend a dance at the gym, an area considered neutral territory where Riff can present the challenge to Bernardo, the Shark’s leader. Tony, who has lost interest in promoting violence, reluctantly agrees to accompany him out of friendship. When Tony confides that he has been having premonitions that something special is about to happen to him, Riff suggests that it may be waiting for him at the dance. Meanwhile, Bernardo’s younger sister Maria and his girl friend, Anita, both of whom work at a bridal shop, are finishing a dress for Maria to wear to the dance, which will be her first since immigrating to America a month earlier. Although Bernardo has hopes of her marrying his comrade Chino, Maria tells Anita that she does not have special feelings for her brother’s friend. That evening, at the gym where the dance is held, Bernardo is introducing Maria to other Puerto Ricans, when several members of the Jets arrive. Both gangs are poised to fight, when Glad Hand, the social worker, and Krupke intervene. The dancing continues and soon becomes a competition between the rival gangs and their women, who refuse to intermingle. From opposite sides of the dance floor, Tony and Maria spot each other and, entranced, move toward each other and begin to dance. Seeing them together, Bernardo protectively pulls Maria away, telling her that Tony is only interested in sexual favors, and orders Chino to take her home. Before Bernardo leaves, he and Riff agree to meet later at Doc’s for a “war council,” where they will determine the time and place of the rumble. At his family’s apartment, Bernardo lectures Maria about the dangers in America, but Anita half-jokingly scolds him, saying that in their new country, women are free to see whom they wish. Anita and Bernardo meet with their friends on the rooftop, where they engage in a lively discussion about the pros and cons of living in America. Although the women tease the men that life in America is better than in their home country, the men complain that it is only better if you are white. Meanwhile, Tony walks the streets in a daze, bewitched by the thought of Maria. She is in her room, preparing for bed, when she hears Tony calling out her name from the alley below and climbs through the window to the fire escape to be with him. Believing that Maria is the fulfillment of his premonition, Tony is eager to acknowledge publicly his love for her, but Maria is aware that their families will not approve. After admitting their love for each other and marveling at how their lives have changed in one evening, they part, agreeing to meet the next day at the bridal shop after closing time. At Doc’s shop, the Jets are restlessly waiting for the Sharks to arrive, when the police drive up. Although Krupke is suspicious that the gang is up to mischief, he is called away and the boys then make fun of him, as well as social workers, judges, psychiatrists and all those who have failed to alleviate the poverty and violence in which they have been reared. When the Sharks arrive, the two gangs decide the time and location of the fight, but as they discuss weapons, Tony, who has by then returned to help close the shop for the evening, convinces them to have a “fair fight,” using nothing but fists. Schrank enters, prompting the two gangs to pretend to get along, and demands to know what they are planning. When no one will talk to him, he harasses the Puerto Ricans, ordering them out, and then tells the Jets that he wants his beat clear of the immigrants as much as they do. When the Jets still refuse to confide in him, he tauntingly refers to their family members as drug addicts and prostitutes. After everyone leaves the shop, Doc expresses his dismay at Schrank’s behavior, but Tony, who is buoyed by love, believes that everything will be all right. The next day, Maria’s co-workers notice her happiness and she admits that she feels “pretty.” Anita is still at the shop when Tony arrives, but grudgingly allows them time together. Although Tony has no plans to attend the fight, Maria urges him to go and stop it from happening. Then, they playfully pretend to have a wedding, with store mannequins in attendance. Later, in the evening, the Jets and the Sharks prepare for the rumble, while Anita prepares for a romantic interlude with Bernardo when he returns. While helping Doc, Tony can think of nothing but Maria, who is at home, waiting impatiently for the end of the evening, when she and Tony can be together. At the appointed place, the Sharks and the Jets meet, and the best fighter from each gang, Bernardo and Ice, respectively, prepare to fight as the others look on. When Tony arrives, his efforts to stop the fight inadvertently escalate the battle into a knife fight between Riff and Bernardo. When Bernardo unexpectedly kills Riff, Tony, in a fit of passion, takes the dead Riff’s knife and stabs Bernardo. Although Tony is immediately overcome with shame for killing Maria’s brother, the other gang members join the fight, but all flee when they hear the sound of a police siren. Waiting on the rooftop for Tony, Maria is surprised when Chino arrives to tell her that Tony killed Bernardo. Praying that he is lying, Maria runs to her room and finds Tony, who confesses. Although she wants to hate him, she finds she cannot and says that the problem is not with either of them, but everything around them. Together, they envision a place where they can go that is free of prejudices. Outside, the police cruise the streets, but the gang members evade them. The Jets meet, stunned, because they never expected anyone would be killed. When their anxiety leads to internal bickering, Ice, who is now their leader, tells them to be “cool.” When they learn from an eavesdropping tomboy, Anybodys, that Chino is carrying a gun and bent on revenge against Tony, they organize to protect him. Anita, who discovers that Maria has been with Tony, is offended that she would remain faithful to a boy who would kill her brother, but is soon won over by Maria’s love for Tony and warns her about Chino’s mission. Although Maria and Tony had planned to rendezvous at Doc’s and leave town together, when Schrank detains Maria to question her about Bernardo’s death, Anita agrees to tell Tony that she will soon be with him. However, when Anita enters the candy store, the Jets, suspicious of her motives, prevent her from finding Tony, then attempt to rape her. Doc enters in time to stop them, but, in anger, Anita says that Chino, jealous of Maria’s love for Tony, shot her dead. When Doc informs Tony, who is hiding in the cellar, of Maria’s presumed death, Tony goes out to the street, yelling for Chino to kill him, too. When he arrives at the playground, Tony sees Maria, alive, and runs toward her, but Chino steps out of the shadows and shoots him. Tony falls into Maria’s arms and as he dies, he and Maria talk about the place of which they had dreamed. Members of both gangs are gathering, and as they edge toward each other menacingly, Maria steps between them and takes the gun from Chino. Threatening both gangs with the gun, she accuses all of them of killing Tony, Riff and Bernardo. When Schrank and Krupke arrive, Maria kisses Tony and after she says “Te adoro, Anton,” members of the two gangs, united at least for a while, help to carry Tony’s body away.
Production Company: Castle Rock Entertainment, Nelson Entertainment
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.
Jane Falbury, a Connecticut farm owner, has worked hard to keep her family farm productive, but three years of bad crops have left her nearly destitute. Despite her financial crisis, Jane continues to pay for the expensive education of her sister Abigail, who is studying acting in New York. After her farm hands, Frank and Zeb, quit to take jobs in Hartford, Jane realizes that she must get an expensive tractor to help her with the heavy work on the farm. However, because she does not have enough money to pay for the new tractor, Jane tries to get a loan through her boyfriend, Orville Wingait, whose father, Japser G. Wingait, owns a general store in town and is a leader in the community. Jasper initially balks at Jane's extravagant request, but because he knows that his son is in love with Jane, he tells her that she can have the tractor if she consents to marry Orville. Jane refuses to accept Jasper's terms, but Jasper provides her with a new tractor regardless. Jane returns to her farm only to discover that it has been overrun by a troupe of actors that Abigail has brought in from New York to stage a musical in the farm's barn. Furious with Abigail for not asking her about the musical, Jane tells the troupe that they must leave. Joe D. Ross, who is Abigail's boyfriend and the director of the show, is also angry with Abigail for not having asked Jane's permission, but he uses his natural charm to persuade Jane to let them stay. Jane insists, however, that if the actors stay, they must perform some of the daily chores on the farm. The troupe begrudgingly agrees to the arrangement, and Jane immediately gives them lessons on how to maintain a working farm. One day, while helping her housekeeper, Esme, in the kitchen, Jane improvises a little tap dance, unaware that Joe is watching her. She becomes embarrassed when she notices Joe, but Joe admires her dancing and tells her that she has real talent. As word begins to spread through town that an acting troupe from New York is staying at Jane's farm, Jasper becomes concerned about the sudden influx of show business people in the quiet community. Jane is summoned to town to explain the situation and address the protests of the town leaders. Meanwhile, Herb Blake, one of the actors, accidentally crashes Jane's new tractor. When Jane returns to the farm and learns about the accident, she orders the troupe to leave and demands that Abigail stay on the farm to help her. Jane later reverses her decision when the troupe pools all its money to buy her a new tractor. Joe continues to encourage Jane's interest in the theater, and Jane and Joe soon realize their attraction for each other. When Abigail and Harrison I. Keath, the show's leading man, suddenly leave the farm to star in a play in New York, Joe decides to take over the male lead and asks Jane to take her sister's part. Orville sternly objects to Jane's involvement with the troupe, and when Jasper learns that Jane is in the show, he threatens to use his influence to stop it. Jane responds by threatening to call off her engagement to Orville. Just before the first performance of the show, Abigail returns to the farm and demands that Jane relinquish her role. Jane refuses to give up the part, and when Abigail sees that Jane is in love with Joe, she decides to stop interfering with their romance. Joe proposes marriage to Jane just before the show begins and Jane gladly accepts.
Production Company: Walt Disney Pictures , Silver Screen Partners IV
Once upon a time, a spoiled young prince turned away an old beggar woman when she offered him a rose in exchange for shelter. The woman warned him not to be deceived by appearances, then transformed into a beautiful enchantress. The prince apologized, but it was too late. The enchantress turned him into a beast, and put a spell on his castle and its inhabitants. She gave him the rose and told him it would wilt by his twenty-first birthday. If he did not fall in love with someone, and win her love in return, by that time, the spell would never lift and he would remain a beast forever. Sometime later, in rural France, a bookworm named Belle dreams of finding adventure outside her small town. She is seen as a misfit, as is her inventor father, Maurice. However, because she is the prettiest girl in town, she is pursued by a handsome, brutish man named Gaston, who intends to marry her. One day, Gaston follows Belle home from the library, and suggests they go to the tavern to view his hunting trophies, but she rejects the offer. Belle finds her father, Maurice, working on his latest invention, an automated wood-cutter he plans to unveil at a fair the next day. Belle’s father leaves for the fair that evening, but gets lost in a forest. He and his horse, Philippe, are chased by wolves to the gates of a dark castle. He wanders inside and is startled by Lumiere, a talking candlestick who invites Maurice to warm himself by the fire. Maurice soon discovers a host of household objects that talk, including a clock named Cogsworth, a teapot named Mrs. Potts, and her son, Chip, a teacup. Although they are very welcoming, the servants cower at the sight of their master, the Beast, a hulking monster who reprimands Maurice for trespassing and takes him captive. The next day, Gaston surprises Belle with a marriage proposal, but she turns him down. Maurice’s horse returns home alone, and Belle panics. She instructs Philippe to take her to her father, and they ride back to the Beast’s castle. There, Belle is frightened by the Beast, but offers to take her father’s place as his prisoner. The Beast complies, and throws Maurice out. Belle weeps over her father’s abrupt departure. The Beast tries to control his temper as he shows Belle to her quarters. He invites her to explore the castle but forbids her from going to the west wing. That evening, Belle is supposed to join the Beast for dinner, but she refuses. In turn, he forbids Lumiere, Cogsworth, and Mrs. Potts from serving her dinner. Meanwhile, Maurice goes to the tavern and announces his daughter has been taken prisoner by a beast. Gaston and the other patrons ridicule him and ignore his pleas for help. In his quarters, the Beast regards the magical rose, which has begun to wilt. He looks into his magic mirror and asks it to show him Belle. In the mirror’s reflection, he sees Belle saying she wants nothing to do with him. Although Belle is his only hope for breaking the spell, he worries she could never fall in love with a Beast. Late at night, a hungry Belle wanders into the kitchen, and although the Beast instructed them not to, the servants treat her to an elaborate meal. Afterward, Belle sneaks into the west wing. In the Beast’s quarters, she sees a torn portrait of a handsome young man and discovers the magical rose. The Beast appears and flies into a rage. He immediately regrets losing his temper, but Belle has already fled the castle. She rides Philippe into the forest, but they are cornered by wolves. The Beast appears and fends them off, but is wounded in the fight and loses consciousness. Back at the castle, Belle tends to his wounds. They argue over his temper, but Belle eventually thanks the Beast for saving her life. Gaston bribes Monsieur D’Arque, owner of an insane asylum, to commit Maurice, and release him only if Belle agrees to marry Gaston. In the meantime, the Beast begins to fall in love with Belle. As a romantic gesture, Lumiere suggests he take her to the castle library. There, Belle admires the collection of books, and the Beast tells her the library is hers. When they dine together, Belle is appalled, then amused, by Beast’s lack of table manners. They play outside in the snow, and she realizes she is growing fond of him. He plans a romantic evening, and the two dress up and dance together in the ballroom while the servants look on, hopeful that Belle and the Beast will fall in love and break the spell. Later that night, the Beast asks Belle if she is happy. She tells him yes, except she wishes she could see her father again. He grants her wish by offering her the magic mirror. Belle sees Maurice in the mirror’s reflection, alone in the woods and looking unwell. She frets over his safety, and the Beast tells her she is free to go. He gives her the magic mirror so she will always have a way to remember him. After Belle leaves the castle, Cogsworth asks why the Beast let her go. He explains that he had no choice because he loves her. Belle finds Maurice and takes him home. There, she discovers Chip, the teacup, among her things. Outside, Gaston arrives with Monsieur D’Arque and an angry mob. When D’Arque throws Maurice into his carriage, Gaston offers to have him released in exchange for Belle’s hand in marriage. Belle defends her father’s sanity, but the townspeople insist he is crazy for claiming she was held captive by a Beast. Using the magic mirror, Belle proves the Beast exists. Gaston senses that she cares for him, and incites the angry mob to storm the castle. Belle and Maurice are locked in the basement of their home, but Chip frees them with the help of Maurice’s wood-cutter. Gaston and his cohorts attack the castle, and the household items fight back. Heartbroken and resigned to failure, the Beast does nothing when Gaston forces him onto a ledge. Just then, Belle arrives, giving Beast the inspiration to fight for his life. He overpowers Gaston, but takes pity on the brute when he begs for mercy and lets him go. Belle summons the Beast to a balcony, but just as she grabs his hand, Gaston stabs him in the back. Gaston falls to his death, and Belle embraces the Beast as he loses consciousness. Believing he is dead, she cries and says she loves him. At that moment, the magical rose loses its last petal, and the Beast is transformed back into a handsome prince. The castle is returned to its former glory, and the servants become human again. Maurice joins them in celebration as they watch Belle and the prince dance in the ballroom.
Writer: Walter DeLeon, Francis Martin, Ken Englund, Frederick Hazlitt Brennan, Howard Lindsay, Russel Crouse
Editor: Eda Warren, Chandler House
Cinematographer: Harry Fischbeck
Genre: Musical comedy
Production Company: Paramount Pictures, Inc.
Composer: Boris Morros
Radio announcer Buzz Fielding's girl friend, Dorothy Wyndham, bails him out of jail, where he landed after skipping alimony payments to his three ex-wives, in time to board the S. S. Gigantic for the race against the S. S. Colossal , to cross from New York to Cherbourg in two and a half days. T. Frothingill Bellows, president of the line that owns the Gigantic , buys his accident-prone brother S. B. a ticket on the Colossal . S. B. delays boarding with a vigorous round of golf, using a motorized cart that turns into a small plane which he eventually uses to land on the deck of the Gigantic . The ship is equipped with a special turbine engine invented by Bob Hayes, but S. B. breaks it with his umbrella and then refuses to allow its use, causing the ship to fall behind in the race. Dorothy and Bob fall in love while he fixes the engine. Buzz announces the ship's entertainment in radio broadcasts, while he and his three ex-wives, eager for their alimony, anticipate winning the race and $50,000. Grace, one of Buzz's ex-wives, diverts S. B.'s attentions from Bob while he fixes the engine. Cleo, another ex-wife, reminisces with Buzz, and they slowly rekindle their love. S. B.'s daughter Martha, also accident-prone, is rescued at sea and wreaks havoc aboard the ship. Finally, Buzz fixes the engine and the Gigantic speeds ahead, at one point with S. B. at the helm. They win the race by a nose, and Buzz and Cleo happily reunite, leaving Dorothy and Bob free to continue their romance.
Cast: Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Eleanor Parker
Directors: Robert Wise
Producer: Robert Wise
Writer: Ernest Lehman
Editor: William Reynolds, Larry Allen
Cinematographer: Ted McCord
Genre: Drama, Musical
Production Company: Argyle Enterprises, Inc., Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.
The antics of tomboyish Maria, a novice at the abbey in Salzburg, concern the Mother Abbess, who is unsure of Maria's intensions. Encouraging the girl to test her feelings, the Mother Abbess sends Maria to be the governess for the seven children of the widower Baron Georg von Trapp, a retired naval officer. The children are at first hostile to Maria, but she soon wins them over. The baron, who is a strict disciplinarian, leaves to visit his love interest, Baroness Elsa Schraeder. While he is gone, Maria allows the children greater freedom, and teaches them to sing. The youths become so excited when the baron returns that they fall out of a rowboat in the lake. The accident precipitates an argument between Maria and the baron, and he orders her to leave; but when he goes into the house and finds the children entertaining his friend Max Detweiler and the baroness with a song, he asks Maria to stay. Max later suggests that they enter the Salzburg Festival as a singing group, but the baron refuses. Maria becomes aware that she is falling in love with the baron and returns to the abbey. The children follow and try to persuade her to return; when the Mother Abbess learns of their visit, she sends Maria back to the Trapp home. Maria again decides to leave when she hears that the baron plans to marry the baroness. However, the baroness soon realizes her suitor is in love with Maria, and releases him. Maria weds the baron, and while they are away on their honeymoon, the Nazis take over Austria. Taking advantage of the baron's absence, Max enters the children in the Salzburg Festival. When the baron returns with his new bride, Maria, he forbids the children to appear at the festival, and learns that the Nazis, to whom he is violently opposed, have ordered him to take command of a ship. The Trapps plan an escape, but are stopped by Stormtroopers. Max convinces the Nazis that the family is on its way to the Salzburg Festival, and that he plans to leave for his ship immediately after the performance. The Trapps win first place at the show and, using their exit song to escape, take refuge in the town abbey. The Nazis learn their whereabouts and surround the building, but the family escapes through a secret tunnel to the nearby mountains.
Producer: Lawrence Kasdan, Jim Wilson, Kevin Costner
Writer: Lawrence Kasdan
Editor: Richard A. Harris, Donn Cambern
Cinematographer: Andrew Dunn
Genre: Drama
Production Company: Warner Bros. Pictures , TIG Productions , Kasdan Pictures
Composer: Alan Silvestri
When someone begins stalking Rachel Marron, an actress and singer at the height of her career, her head of security, Bill Devaney, hires ex-Secret Service member Frank Farmer. Arriving at Rachel’s Beverly Hills, California, mansion, Frank is appalled by the lack of security on the premises. He learns that Devaney and Rachel’s publicist, Sy Spector, have not told Rachel about the stalker; thus, Rachel sees no point in replacing her longtime bodyguard, Tony Scibelli. Despite his misgivings about the job, Frank Farmer agrees to stay on when Devaney shows him the threatening letters they have received, and reveals that the stalker has broken into the house at least once. Frank performs a security overhaul, installing a new gate and numerous surveillance cameras, and establishes a strict protocol for visitors. He gets to know Fletcher, Rachel Marron’s precocious eight-year-old son, and Nikki, her sister and personal assistant. On a Sunday, Frank accompanies Rachel to her regular weekly brunch, where she goes against his wishes by signing autographs and interacting with fans. On the way home, Frank notices a sport utility vehicle (SUV) trailing them, but the vehicle speeds off before he can get its license plate number. Rachel loses patience with the heightened security, and suggests that Frank takes his job too seriously. When she acknowledges her reputation as a difficult woman, Frank offends her by claiming that people are who they choose to be. Sy Spector, Rachel’s publicist, arranges a surprise concert at the Mayan nightclub. Frustrated by the short notice, Frank rides to the Mayan with Rachel. Upon arrival, Rachel finds a letter from the stalker in her waiting room. Frank insists on cancelling the show, but Rachel decides to go on with it. Fanatic audience members storm the stage, and Rachel is dragged into the crowd. Frank uses a fire extinguisher to clear a path and rescue her. Back at home, Frank and Rachel check on her son, Fletcher. Frank tucks the exhausted star into bed. The next day, Rachel complains that she cannot go on a date without Frank watching her. She asks if he would take her out, instead. Although initially embarrassed by the proposition, Frank takes Rachel to a movie. Afterward, they go to a bar and dance. Rachel accompanies Frank to his house. They make love, and she tells him she has never felt so safe. However, in the morning, Frank rises early. Rachel becomes hurt when he acts standoffish. Frank insists he cannot properly guard her if they are in a romantic relationship. Soon, Rachel agrees to perform at a charity event in Miami, Florida. There, at a party in Rachel’s suite, Frank runs into Greg Portman, an ex-colleague from the Secret Service. In an attempt to make Frank jealous, Rachel flirts with Portman and leads him into her bedroom. However, Portman becomes forceful, and she throws him out. The next day, Frank loses his composure when he believes Rachel has gone missing. She returns from a shopping trip, and he announces he is quitting once they return to Los Angeles. Making his security rounds in a huff, he beats a man for blocking a path in the hotel kitchen, but stops when the man’s wife begs for mercy. Meanwhile, Rachel receives a disturbing phone call from the stalker. Rattled, she begs Frank to stay on and promises to follow his commands. He suggests she cancel upcoming concert dates and go away with him. Rachel agrees. They take her sister, Nikki, and son, Fletcher, with them to a mountain home owned by Frank’s father, Herb Farmer. When Frank is in the other room, Herb reveals that Frank came to the mountain house for six months after President Ronald Reagan was shot. Frank had been a part of Reagan’s security detail, although he had not been on duty the day of the shooting. Frank never forgave himself for not being there, and Rachel is sympathetic. Nikki notices as her sister warms to Frank again. Later that night, after Rachel goes to bed, Nikki tries to kiss Frank, but he rebuffs her. The next day, Frank panics when he sees footprints in the snow outside the house. He sees Fletcher get in his father’s motorboat and runs after him, jumping into the icy lake and snagging the boy from the boat. He drags Fletcher back to the dock, where Rachel berates Frank for endangering her son, who cannot swim. They are interrupted when the motorboat explodes. Hurrying back to the house, Frank discovers the phone lines have been cut and the cars are dead. As night approaches, he and Herb decide the only safe escape plan is to leave on foot in the morning. That night, as Frank stands watch, he finds a drunken Nikki in tears. She confesses to being so wrought with jealousy that she hired a hit man to kill her sister. She says the man is paid in full and will not stop until Rachel is dead. Frank hears his father’s dog growling and tells Nikki not to move. He goes upstairs to check on Rachel, and hears a gunshot. Downstairs, he finds Nikki shot to death. He chases the hired killer into the woods, but does not catch him. The next day, Frank calls an associate in Los Angeles, who tells him Rachel’s stalker has been caught. Frank realizes the stalker is not the man Nikki hired. Since he is only suspected of writing letters, the stalker can only be held for forty-eight hours, pending further evidence. Nikki’s funeral takes place back in Los Angeles. Afterward, Rachel, who has been nominated for an Academy Award for “Best Actress,” tells Frank she desperately wants to go to the award show. He obliges her, but is tense when they arrive. Frank paces backstage and runs into Greg Portman, whom he last saw in Miami. Portman claims he is guarding the Academy Awards host. However, Frank becomes suspicious, and asks the host about Greg Portman, but the man has never heard of him. Frank searches for Portman backstage. Meanwhile, Rachel wins the Best Actress award and goes onstage to accept it. Frank finally spots Portman in the audience, holding a firearm that doubles as a video camera. Frank runs in front of Rachel just as Portman shoots. The bullets hit Frank, who returns fire, gunning Portman down. Rachel stays with Frank as he is wheeled to an ambulance. The stalker, no longer in police custody, observes from the crowd. Sometime later, with his arm in a sling, Frank bids goodbye to Rachel and Fletcher on an airport tarmac. Just before her plane takes off, Rachel tells the pilot to stop. She runs back to Frank and kisses him passionately. They part ways again, Rachel going back to her life as a performer, and Frank taking on a new client in the clergy.
Cast: Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Tom Skerritt
Directors: Robert Altman
Producer: Ingo Preminger
Writer: Ring Lardner Jr.
Editor: Danford B. Greene
Cinematographer: Harold E. Stine
Genre: Comedy
Production Company: Aspen Productions
Composer: Johnny Mandel
During the Korean War, Col. Henry Blake commands the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH), only miles from the front line. A lax military leader, the married Blake is more concerned with his lover and running the hospital than following any military protocol. Meanwhile, his right-hand man, Corp. “Radar” O’Reilly, who has an uncanny ability to recite Blake’s every command before he can utter it, manages the necessary bureaucratic red tape. In crowded and bloody operating tents, the short-handed staff, equipped with rapidly diminishing supplies, deals with dozens of wounded soldiers in twelve-hour shifts. Even the sincere yet ineffective Father John Mulcahey, also known as “Dago Red,” must stop reading the last rights to a dying man to assist in surgery. Upon Blake’s request for additional help, surgeons Duke Forrest and Hawkeye Pierce are sent to the 4077th. While extremely competent, the recently drafted Duke and Hawkeye lack any respect for military decorum. To maintain their sanity amidst the constant flow of death and mayhem, they flirt with the nurses, arrogantly quip in surgery and play practical jokes on their roommate, the fanatically pious and taciturn Maj. Frank Burns. After watching Burns teach Korean mess hall boy Ho-jon to learn English by reading the Bible out loud, Duke and Hawkeye decide the sixteen-year-old would have more fun practicing with Playboy and then teach him how to make martinis as their cabin boy. Fed up with Burns’ pious and humorless behavior, Duke and Hawkeye demand that Blake remove him from their tent. Pressured by the impending arrival of more wounded, Blake agrees to remove Burns and to get a “chest cutter,” the doctors’ other stipulation before they concede to operating. Days later, Hawkeye and Duke welcome thoracic surgeon and new roommate Trapper John McIntyre to The Swamp, their newly renamed tent. Trapper easily wins the men’s affection by providing hard-to-get olives for their martinis, but coyly eludes their questions about his past. Days later, Hawkeye finally recognizes Trapper as a former college football star when Trapper expertly catches a football pass, and also realizes Trapper is a preeminent surgeon. The two then become fast friends. One day at the hospital, Trapper watches as Burns, covering for his own malpractice, blames a patient’s death on Private Boone, who is stricken with despair over the incident. Furious about the irreparable harm Burns inflicts with his inept work, Trapper punches him just as Blake and the officious new chief nurse Major Margaret Houlihan pass by. Houlihan is incensed by the lack of decorum and further insulted by Hawkeye’s practice of addressing the staff by their first names. After she insists to Hawkeye that Burns is an excellent military doctor, he caustically replies that not only is he no longer interested in sleeping with the prudish Houlihan, but thinks she is a “regular Army clown.” One night as Houlihan and Burns draft a letter to protest Hawkeye and Trapper’s behavior, they are sexually aroused by their mutual respect for military law. Meanwhile, Radar sets up a microphone in Houlihan’s tent and broadcasts their passionate cries over the camp intercom system until the horrified couple realizes that the entire camp is listening in. The next morning Duke and the others taunt Houlihan with her new nickname “Hot Lips” and provoke Burns with questions about his sexual acts. When Burns physically attacks Hawkeye, Blake, believing the fight to be unprovoked, sends Burns away in a straight jacket. Days later, dental officer Capt. Waldowski, famous for sexual prowess and thus nicknamed “Painless Pole,” admits to Hawkeye that he has experienced one night of impotence. Believing psychological texts suggesting that his overt heterosexuality is just a cover for latent homosexuality, Painless decides to commit suicide to avoid facing his three fiancées back home. When Painless asks for assistance, Hawkeye suggests the “black capsule,” a quick end to his life. Dressed in white lab coats, the surgeons and friends prepare a suicide “last supper” in which they break bread and drink wine with Painless, before he climbs into a coffin to take his pill and die. That night, Hawkeye convinces the soon-to-be-discharged Lt. Dish, a married nurse with whom he has been having an affair, that she is obliged to have sex with the now-unconscious Painless to restore his “health.” The next morning, Painless wakes fully restored, while Dish leaves for home blissfully satisfied by Painless. Days later, the surgeons decide to bet on whether Houlihan is a “real” blonde and, needing proof, gather the camp outside the women’s shower and pull up the tent while Houlihan bathes. Humiliated and enraged, Houlihan demands that Blake fire Hawkeye and the others, threatening to resign her commission, but Blake instead suggests that she resign. Later, when Ho-jon is forced to have a medical examination to determine his eligibility to serve in the Korean army, Hawkeye gives him medication to cause temporary heart acceleration and low blood pressure to ensure that he is rejected. Suspecting the ruse, the Korean doctor keeps the boy as Hawkeye watches powerless to stop him. Soon after, Trapper receives orders to go to Kokura, Japan to tend to a United States congressman’s son and takes Hawkeye with him. Arriving at the Kokura hospital with their golf clubs, Hawkeye and Trapper demand to start the operation immediately so they can play a round before dark, despite the head nurses’ protests that they must first have commanding officer Col. Merrill’s approval. When Merrill barges into the operating without scrubs demanding an explanation, Hawkeye tells him that he will be to blame if the boy dies from infection caused by Merrill’s unsterilized intrusion. During surgery, anesthesiologist “Me-Lay” Marston, Hawkeye’s old friend, invites them to visit a brothel after surgery, explaining that the establishment doubles as a children’s hospital, where Me-Lay moonlights for surgeries. While being entertained by the prostitutes, an emergency arises involving a child of an American soldier and Japanese prostitute. Hawkeye and Trapper take the child to the military hospital, but Merrill refuses to serve “natives.” To prevent any military action against themselves or the child, Melay and the surgeons use the sedation gas on Merrill and take compromising photographs of him with a prostitute to use as blackmail. Returning to 4077th in their golf attire, complete with knickers and argyle socks, Hawkeye and Trapper go straight into surgery. Later, when Gen. Hammond arrives at the camp to investigate Houlihan’s formal complaints about the surgeons, Hawkeye, Duke and Trapper, aware of Hammond’s football obsession, distract him with the suggestion that they stage a football match between Hammond’s 325th and the 4077th, a team that has yet to be created. Hammond agrees on the condition that Blake place a $5,000 bet on the outcome of the game. Needing a fail safe team fast, the surgeons tell Blake to request surgeon Oliver Harmon “Spearchucker” Jones, once a star player for the Philadelphia Eagles. After several weeks of training, the 4077th team plays Hammond. Hawkeye, realizing that Spearchucker is their only real chance of winning, hides his identity from Hammond and keeps him out of the game until the second half. During the first half, Blake orders a 4077th player to inject a sedative into the opposing team’s star player, ensuring his removal from the game. In retaliation for a racial slur from a 325th player, Spearchucker coaches his teammate to insult the player’s sister, which results in a fight that leads to another 325th player being banned from the game, thus ensuring the 4077th’s victory. Days later back at camp, Hawkeye and Duke receive immediate orders to be relieved of their duty and return home. Unsure of what welcome awaits them, the men prepare to leave, while Mulcahy blesses their Jeep from his prayer book and the war continues on around them.
Both a British Ranger nuclear submarine and the nuclear Soviet submarine Potemkin disappear without a trace. When agent James Bond’s orders type out on his miniature telex wristwatch, he navigates a treacherous trail with steep slopes and tunnels made out of ice on skis in the Austrian Alps, as he dodges bullets from the enemy. One of his ski poles transforms into a gun and he kills one of his attackers. He skis over a precipice, free falls and floats to safety when his parachute opens. Agent XXX also known as Major Anya Amasova meets with General Gogol, the head of the Soviet spy agency. He wants her to find out what has happened to the submarine and track down a lead in Cairo, Egypt. At a briefing, “M,” head of British Intelligence, tells Bond that somebody with the capability to track nuclear submarines wants to sell the technology to the highest bidder. James’ mission is to capture the dealer and neutralize the threat. After shipping magnate Carl Stromberg congratulates professors Markovitz and Bechmann on the creation of their submarine tracking system, Stromberg says that the plans have been stolen and are being offered to competing world powers. In his headquarters, Atlantis, a floating marine laboratory that bubbles to the surface of the ocean, Stromberg summons his henchmen, Sandor and Jaws, to retrieve the microfilm blueprints of the tracking system. Their orders are to kill anyone who gets in their way. In the Egyptian desert, Bond arrives at the lavish tent of an old friend, Sheikh Hosein, and is told that a contact named Asiz Fekkesh will lead him to dealmaker Max Kalba. At Fekkesh’s stylish home, he escapes to a roof courtyard to avoid being Sandor’s target. Before he falls to his death, Sandor tells Bond to find Fekkesh at the pyramids. At a night lecture on the history of the Valley of the Kings, Amasova sits in the audience, and Jaws, known for his menacing set of metal teeth, follows Fekkesh into a secret chamber at the base of a pyramid and kills him. As he leaves, Bond holds Jaws at gunpoint but there is a blackout and Jaws escapes. Bond finds Fekkesh dead and sees Kalba’s name in his appointment book. Amasova’s men attack Bond but he extricates himself and meets Amasova again at the Mashava Club. Meeting Kalba, the club’s owner, Bond says he wants to buy the microfilm blueprints that Kalba is selling. Amasova appears with Bond’s drink and wants a chance to bid on the microfilm as well. Kalba takes a call in a private phone booth, where Jaws kills him and takes the microfilm. After Bond finds Kalba dead, he and Amasova hitch a ride in the back of a telephone repair truck that Jaws is driving. Jaws parks the truck among some remote Egyptian ruins and makes several attempts to kill them with falling boulders. The men fight while Amasova pulls a gun and demands the microfilm. She grabs the cartridge and runs off as Bond fights the giant, who becomes buried in the rubble of collapsed scaffolding. When Amasova tries to leave in Jaws’ truck, she doesn’t have the keys. However, Bond has the keys and grabs the microfilm sitting on the dashboard. Soon the truck breaks down and the couple trudges through the desert, hopping on a boat at the river that takes them to Cairo. Bond examines the microfilm while Amasova naps. Bond lights Amasova’s cigarette and Amasova blows drug-laced smoke from her cigarette at Bond, which puts him to sleep. When Bond awakens, he finds that Amasova has disappeared along with the microfilm. He reports to British Intelligence inside an Egyptian tomb, where “M” tells him that they have orders to pool resources and cooperate with the Soviets. The Soviets surrender the microfilm but Bond tells them it is worthless because the most important information has been deleted. However, the plans contain a clue: The Stromberg Laboratories logo. On a train ride to find Atlantis, Stromberg’s marine laboratory off of Sardinia, Jaws attacks Amasova and knocks her unconscious. Bond overpowers Jaws with an electrical shock from a broken light bulb that sends him flying out the window, stunned but alive. In Sardinia, British agent “Q” gives Bond a white Lotus sports car. Bond impersonates marine biologist Robert Sterling and the agents meet with Stromberg in his laboratory. Bond meets with Stromberg alone in his lounge-aquarium, but Stromberg cuts the meeting short. Afterward, Jaws tells Stromberg that Bond and Amasova are the couple he battled on the train before he was thrown overboard. Bond and Amasova depart in the Lotus and Jaws makes several unsuccessful attempts to kill them on a treacherous mountain road. Bond drives the Lotus into the ocean, where it converts to a mini-submersible. Stromberg sends his own mini-submersible to destroy them, but the Lotus’ smoke screen and depth charge destroys the scientist’s vehicle. The two agents are transported to an American submarine to get a closer look at the Stromberg’s tanker Liparus. The tanker maneuvers behind them and its hull opens, swallowing the U.S. submarine, which docks next to the two missing submarines inside. Bond and Amasova are captured when the crew disembarks. Stromberg explains that nuclear missiles from his two submarines will be launched to destroy New York City and Moscow as part of his plan to create a better world underwater. Stromberg launches his two submarines. Bond is a prisoner on the tanker, while Stromberg escapes on a speedboat with Amasova. Bond breaks free of his captors and escapes to a monorail car. He overpowers Stromberg’s men and frees both the British and Soviet submarine crews. They grab weapons and ammunition from an arsenal room and attack Stromberg’s soldiers at the loading dock. In a firefight, the prisoners take over the dock, hoping to penetrate the control room. When a grenade is unable to pierce the control room’s steel plates, Bond recruits one of crewmembers to open a submarine nuclear missile so he can remove its magnetized detonator. He rides the tanker’s video camera monitor and attaches the detonator to the steel plated control room, where it blows a hole. Commander Carter, the American submarine captain, tells Bond that he is too late to stop the missiles, which will launch in four minutes. Bond has Carter reprogram the missiles to destroy the two Stromberg submarines. They watch the monitor as each Stromberg submarine launches a missile that strikes the opposing Stromberg submarine. Mushroom clouds signal that the mission is accomplished. Both Soviet and American crews run to the remaining submarine as a series of explosions rock the tanker. Inside the submarine, Carter launches a torpedo that blows a hole in the tanker’s hull, allowing the craft to escape. Bond and the crew watch from the open sea as the tanker explodes and sinks. Carter receives orders to destroy Atlantis, but Bond is granted an hour to rescue Amasova before they complete the order. With a portable sea ski sent by “Q,” Bond races toward Stromberg’s laboratory, avoids being dropped into a shark tank and comes face to face with the scientist. When Bond says he has come for Amasova, Stromberg shoots him with a special gun mounted to the underside of his dining table but misses. Bond points the nose of his gun into the barrel of Stromberg’s gun and kills him. While searching for Amasova, Bond and Jaws fight along the edge of the shark tank when Bond activates a magnet that immobilizes Jaws and leaves him dangling by his metal teeth; Bond drops him into the tank. Still, Bond finds Amasova after the hour deadline. Carter aims a torpedo at Stromberg’s laboratory and blows it up. Water rushes in, causing the laboratory to sink. Bond finds a submersible, and the two agents escape as it careens into the ocean. Bond opens a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne to share with Amasova, but since the mission is over, she is intent on killing Bond to avenge the death of her Soviet agent boyfriend. Bond’s dying request is to make love to her and she accommodates him. Although the laboratory is gone, Jaws survives. On the deck of a ship, “M,” “Q,” and General Gogol peer in the window of the submersible and ask Bond what he is doing. “Keeping the British end up,” he replies as he closes the curtain and slides back into Amasova’s arms.
Producer: Edward Saxon, Jonathan Demme, Gary Goetzman, Kenneth Utt, Ron Bozman
Writer: Ron Nyswaner
Editor: Craig McKay
Cinematographer: Tak Fujimoto
Genre: Drama
Production Company: TriStar Pictures , Clinica Estetico
Composer: Howard Shore
Andrew "Andy" Beckett is an attorney at the firm of Wyant, Wheeler, Hellerman, Tetlow & Brown in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One night, while working late at the office, Andy’s mentor, Charles Wheeler, assigns him to represent Highline, a new corporate client, in a high-profile lawsuit. Andy is told there are ten days to file Highline’s complaint before the statute of limitations runs out. When Walter Kenton, one of the partners, points out a mark on his forehead, Andy lies that he was hit in the head with a racquetball. In truth, the mark is a Karposi sarcoma (KS) lesion caused by acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) – a deadly disease with no cure that prompts fear and disgust in people who associate the condition with a reckless, homosexual lifestyle. In fear of discrimination, Andy conceals the fact that he is homosexual and has AIDS. With more lesions cropping up on his face, he works from home to avoid being seen. The night before the Highline complaint is due, he delivers the paperwork to his office with instructions for filing. The next day, Andy experiments with makeup, hoping to disguise his lesions enough to return to the office. He falls ill and is taken to the emergency room, where he is met by his live-in partner, Miguel Alvarez, who advocates for him when the doctor recommends a painful colonoscopy. They are interrupted by an urgent phone call from Andy’s co-worker, Jamey Collins, who informs him the Highline complaint has gone missing. Andy panics, aware that the statute of limitations runs out in seventy-five minutes. One month later, visibly deteriorated, Andy goes to the office of personal injury attorney Joe Miller, seeking representation in a wrongful termination lawsuit against Wyant, Wheeler, Hellerman, Tetlow & Brown. Although they have met in the past, Miller does not recognize Andy at first. Andy believes that, after noticing his lesions, the partners realized he had AIDS and purposely misplaced the Highline complaint in order to fire him. Miller, who harbors homophobic feelings, rejects the lawsuit, claiming Andy does not have a viable case, and makes haste to his doctor’s office, worried he might have contracted AIDS by shaking Andy’s hand. The doctor assures him that AIDS is only transmitted through the exchange of bodily fluids such as blood or semen. Miller goes home to his wife, Lisa, and baby daughter. He tells Lisa about Andy, and she accuses him of being homophobic. Two weeks later, Miller spots Andy at a law library. While the patrons around him squirm at the sight of his lesions, a librarian suggests Andy conduct his research in a private room. Miller interrupts, prompting the librarian to leave. Andy has decided to represent himself in his case against the firm, but Miller changes his mind and offers to represent him. Andy points out a Supreme Court ruling which resulted in the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973, barring discrimination against handicapped workers. He also notes that AIDS has been legally classified as a handicap due to the physical limitations it imposes and the prejudice surrounding the disease. Later, Charles Wheeler is incensed when Miller delivers him a court summons. Attorney Bob Seidman suggests they make a settlement offer, but his colleagues reject the idea. Wheeler wants to highlight Andy’s “deviant” lifestyle in court. He insists Andy was fired for incompetence, and no one knew about his disease. However, Seidman hints that he might have suspected it. Seven months later, Joe Miller gives his opening statement in the civil suit. He vows to prove Andy is a brilliant lawyer whose decision to conceal his AIDS was legal. He claims the firm panicked upon discovering Andy had AIDS, and illegally fired him. The firm’s defense attorney, Belinda Conine, tells the jury that Andy was a duplicitous, mediocre lawyer who is angry about dying and wants revenge. At a bar, Miller is teased for representing a homosexual. He answers that homosexuality makes him sick, but that does not negate the law. In court, paralegal Melissa Benedict testifies that Walter Kenton, who noticed the lesion on Andy’s forehead, worked with her at a different firm when she contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion. She disclosed her disease and had visible lesions that caused Walter Kenyon to recoil anytime he saw her. African American paralegal Anthea Burton testifies that she suspected Andy had AIDS and believes the partners must have, too. She was discriminated against by Wheeler, who complained that her earrings were too “ethnic.” At a drugstore, a University of Pennsylvania law student approaches Miller, recognizing him from television news reports. The student commends him and asks him on a date. Offended, Miller attacks the young man. The next day in court, Miller questions attorney Jamey Collins on the witness stand. He abruptly demands to know if Collins is a homosexual, using several homophobic slurs. The judge calls for order, and Miller explains that he is simply pointing out what the lawsuit is really about: the general public’s hatred and fear of homosexuals, and how it played a part in Andy’s firing. At home, while Andy works on the case, Miguel administers his AIDS medication through an intravenous drip feed (IV). When Miguel complains that Andy is not giving him any time, Andy decides to boost morale by hosting a costume party. The Millers attend, and Joe Miller stays after to prepare Andy for the witness stand. Opera plays in the background. Miller admits he knows nothing about opera music, and Andy, attached to the IV drip, turns up his favorite aria, explaining its meaning as he walks around the room, trailing the IV stand behind him. Both Miller and Andy are moved to tears as Andy translates the lyrics about love overcoming tragedy. When Andy is called to the witness stand, he is extremely weak. Defense attorney Belinda Conine questions him about the gay pornographic theater where he contracted the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS. To characterize his behavior as reckless and immoral, she points out that Andy was living with Miguel at the time. Andy clarifies that Miguel never contracted AIDS, himself. She asks Andy to point out any lesions on his face. He has only one small lesion by his ear. She uses a mirror to prove the point that his colleagues could not have noticed such a lesion from three feet away. In his redirect, Miller borrows the mirror and asks Andy if he has any lesions that resemble the ones he had on his face when working for the firm. Andy removes his shirt, and Joe holds a mirror up to prove that the lesions are highly visible. Shortly after, Andy collapses and is rushed to the hospital. In his absence, attorney Bob Seidman testifies that he suspected Andy had AIDS. Three days later, the jury finds Wyant, Wheeler, Hellerman, Tetlow & Brown guilty. Andy is awarded over $4 million in punitive damages, in addition to back pay, and compensation for mental anguish and humiliation. Miller visits Andy in the hospital. Barely able to speak, Andy removes his oxygen mask and tells Miller a lawyer joke. He thanks him for his excellent work, and Miller lovingly readjusts Andy’s oxygen mask. Miller and Andy’s family bid him good night. Miguel stays at Andy’s side, kissing his hand. Andy says he is ready to die. Soon after, Miller and his family attend Andy’s memorial service, where guests watch home videos of Andy as a happy child.
Writer: William Conselman, David Butler, Edwin Burke
Cinematographer: Arthur Miller
Genre: Comedy-drama
Production Company: Fox Film Corp.
Composer: Samuel Kaylin
Five-year-old Shirley Blake, whose father, an aviator, died in a crack up, lives with her mother Mary, a maid in the home of the snooty nouveau-riche Smythe family. She spends much time with aviator Loop Merritt, her father's best friend and her godfather, who lives nearby at the Glendale Airport. The Smythes would like to fire Mary, but they cannot because they must remain in the good grace of their Uncle Ned Smith, a crabby, wheelchair-bound old man who made a fortune in sewers. Uncle Ned likes Shirley but despises the Smythe's daughter Joy, who is a spoiled brat. On Christmas, Adele Martin, Mrs. Smythe's cousin from New York, arrives as the aviators give Shirley a party in a taxiing plane. Mary rushes to take a cake to her, and she is hit and killed by a car. Adele earlier had broken her engagement to marry Loop, and when they meet, he snubs her. Adele then breaks the news of Mary's death to Loop, who thanks her for her concern. He takes Shirley up in the plane to explain that her mother has joined her father in heaven. Uncle Ned, who calls Shirley "Bright Eyes," refuses to allow the Smythes to place Shirley in an institution, and they give in to his demand that she continue to live with them. Loop grudgingly agrees to the setup for now, but plans to make enough money for Shirley to live with him. Shirley is happy that Adele will live with her. When Loop overhears Joy cruelly tell Shirley that her parents have said she is "charity," he offers to take Shirley, but Uncle Ned, who wants to adopt her, threatens a court case. Adele sides with Loop. On a stormy night, Shirley overhears the Smythes complain about her and runs away to Loop. The next day, when air traffic has been halted by the worst blizzard in years, Loop accepts $1,000 to fly a package to New York. He sends Shirley back to the Smythes, but she surreptitiously climbs in the baggage area, and after he hears on the radio that he is suspected of kidnapping, she appears in the cockpit. They have to parachute out when the gas line breaks, and once they land, they are nearly blown off a cliff. In the subsequent custody battle, Shirley tells the judge that she would like to live with Loop, Uncle Ned and Adele. The judge then dismisses all the lawyers and arranges for Adele and Loop to talk alone. When Loop decides that he wants to marry Adele, Ned reveals to the Smythes that he will now live with Loop, Adele and Shirley. When Joy remarks she is happy that she and her parents do not have to be nice to Uncle Ned anymore, Mrs. Smythe slaps her, and she is dragged crying out of the courtroom.
Cast: John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing
Directors: Randal Kleiser
Producer: Robert Stigwood, Allan Carr
Writer: Bronté Woodard, Allan Carr
Editor: John F. Burnett
Cinematographer: Bill Butler
Genre: Musical comedy
Production Company: Allan Carr Enterprises, Inc., Stigwood Group, Ltd.
Composer: Charles Fox
As teenagers Danny and Sandy frolic on the beach, Sandy laments that they may not see each other again when the summer holiday ends and she returns to Australia, but Danny insists that their romance is just beginning. Sometime later, on the first day back to class at Rydell High School, Danny brags about his beach lover to his friends in the “T-Bird” gang of boys, also known as “greasers.” However, Danny is unaware that Sandy has not gone back to Australia, after all, and he does not see her as she arrives for her first day of class at Rydell. Meanwhile, a group of tough girls called the “Pink Ladies” rejoice at their newfound authority as high school seniors. At lunch, Sandy’s friend, Frenchy, introduces Sandy to the Pink Ladies: Rizzo, Jan, and Marty. Sandy describes her virtuous summer romance to the girls while Danny, on the other side of campus, recounts his lusty conquest to the greasers. When Sandy reveals the name of her suitor, the girls giggle and Rizzo, who once dated Danny, declares that Sandy may discover her “Prince Charming” where she least expects him. Later, at a pep rally for Rydell’s failing football team, Sandy performs with the cheerleading squad and flirts with football player Tom Chisum. Meanwhile, T-Bird greasers Doody, Sonny, and Putzie inspect a jalopy that the gang’s leader, Kenickie, purchased with earnings from his summer job. Kenickie insists that with a little work, the car will be a perfect place to seduce young women. The Pink Ladies plot a surprise reunion between Sandy and Danny, then lead their Australian friend to Kenickie’s car. Although the couple is initially delighted to reconnect, Danny realizes that his friends disapprove of his chivalrous banter and assumes a disaffected tone to shrug her off. Confused and hurt, Sandy calls Danny a “fake” and runs away in tears. Frenchy consoles Sandy by inviting her to a Pink Lady slumber party. There, Sandy tries in vain to smoke cigarettes, drink wine, and have her ears pierced to fit in with the girls, but the girls mock Sandy’s prudery. Frenchy announces that she is dropping out of Rydell to attend beauty school. When the T-Birds arrive in search of Sandy, Rizzo climbs out the window and seduces Kenickie. Frustrated by breaking with Sandy, Danny storms away as Kenickie and Rizzo drive off in the jalopy. Back at the slumber party, Sandy mourns the loss of Danny and reflects that she is “hopelessly devoted” to him. Meanwhile, at a lovers’ lookout, Kenickie realizes the condom he bought in 7th grade is broken and Rizzo, in the heat of passion, decides to make love anyway. The couple is interrupted by Leo, the leader of the Scorpions, a rival gang, and his girl friend, Cha Cha, who back into the jalopy and leave another dent. Back at Rydell, the T-Birds convene at shop class with Kenickie’s car and Danny tells his friends how they can transform the vehicle into “greased lightning.” Sometime later at Frosty Palace, a local diner, Danny is upset at seeing Sandy sharing an ice cream sundae with Tom Chisum, the football player. When Sandy goes to the jukebox, Danny apologizes for his behavior and makes fun of Tom, but Sandy accuses him of jealousy and criticizes his poor athleticism. Back at Rydell, Danny seeks physical education from Coach Calhoun, but the boy is unable to conform to game rules and, as a last resort, Calhoun puts Danny on the track team. Sometime later, Sandy sees Danny trip over a track hurdle and consoles him; the couple rekindles their romance and plan to go to the upcoming dance contest. On a date at Frosty Palace, Danny is eager to conceal their relationship but the T-Birds and Pink Ladies congregate at their table. As Rizzo and Kenickie fight, the diner closes and the friends disperse. Lingering behind, Frenchy confesses to Vi, the waitress, that she dropped out of beauty school. She fantasizes about a teen angel, who encourages her to go back to Rydell. Later, at school, Rizzo makes Kenickie jealous by seducing his rival, Leo, and then arriving at the nationally televised dance contest as Leo’s date. In response, Kenickie partners with Leo’s girl friend and Danny’s former lover, Cha Cha. After Principal McGee and Coach Calhoun explain the rules of the contest, National Bandstand host Vince Fontaine launches the dance-off and begins eliminating contestants. With Sandy and Danny in the lead, Cha Cha breaks into their routine. Sandy runs away in tears as Danny and Cha Cha are declared champions and sway to “Blue Moon.” Sandy and Danny later reunite at a drive-in movie theater, even though she is still upset about Cha Cha. Her mood improves when Danny gives her a ring to symbolize his loyalty. Meanwhile, in the bathroom, Rizzo tells Pink Lady Marty that she might be pregnant and the rumor spreads throughout the drive-in. Kenickie assumes he is responsible, so he offers to help Rizzo, but she claims the baby belongs to another boy and Kenickie is hurt by her infidelity. In Danny’s car, Sandy is dismayed by his attempts to kiss her and runs away after tossing his ring into the car. Danny laments their split and hopes they will one day stay together forever. Sometime later, shop class teacher Mrs. Murdock admires Kenickie’s refurbished car and wishes the T-Bird boys well in their race against Leo and the Scorpions at Thunder Road. In a dry concrete riverbed, Leo announces that the winner of the race will be awarded ownership of their rival’s vehicle. When Kenickie is momentarily knocked unconscious by the car door, Danny takes over as driver. Sandy watches from afar as Danny wins the race and is celebrated as a hero. She wishes to fit into Danny’s crowd and asks Frenchy to help her transform her uptight image. At a carnival on the last day of school, Rizzo tells Kenickie that she is not pregnant after all, and they make up. Danny arrives in a letterman sweater that he earned on the track team, hoping his new look will impress Sandy. He tells the T-Birds that he will stop at nothing to win Sandy back. Just then, Sandy shows up in a skin tight, black ensemble. Electrified by Sandy’s new appearance, Danny peels off his sweater and falls at her feet, where she stamps out her cigarette and warns him that he “better shape up.” The T-Birds and Pink Ladies worry they might not remain friends after graduation, but Danny insists they will always be together.
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.
Cast: Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds
Directors: Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen
Producer: Arthur Freed
Writer: Adolph Green, Betty Comden
Editor: Adrienne Fazan
Cinematographer: Harold Rosson
Genre: Musical comedy
Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.
Composer: Lennie Hayton
In 1927, fans gather at Hollywood's Chinese Theatre for the premiere of Monumental Picture's latest romantic epic, The Royal Rascal, starring the popular silent screen couple Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont. Don tells radio commentator Dora Bailey that his motto has always been "dignity" and relates the idyllic story of his childhood and rise to fame, all of which is complete fabrication. The audience applauds enthusiastically at the end of the swashbuckling film and asks for speeches from its stars, whom they think are a couple off-screen as well as on, but Don, who loathes his screechy-voiced co-star, insists that Lina merely smile. Assisted by studio boss R. F. Simpson, Don slips away from the cloying Lina and drives with his best friend, studio pianist Cosmo Brown, to the premiere party. On Hollywood Blvd., Cosmo's car breaks down, and Don is surrounded by fans. To escape the screaming mob, who have torn his tuxedo, Don jumps onto a passing car driven by Kathy Selden. She is frightened at first, but when a policeman tells Kathy who Don is, she offers him a ride to his house in Beverly Hills. Although Kathy says that she is a stage actress, who has seen only one of Don's films, she is actually a chorus girl at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub. After dropping Don off to change his clothes, Kathy drives to the party at R. F.'s house, where she will be performing. Don arrives at the party in time to see a short talking picture. Most of the guests are unimpressed by the new phenomenon, even when R. F. says that the Warner brothers are about to release a feature-length talking picture. When the entertainment starts, Don is surprised, but happy to see a scantily clad Kathy jump out of a cake, and tries to talk with her, but she thinks that he only wants to ridicule her. Just as a jealous Lina takes Don's arm, Kathy throws a cake at him, but misses, and hits Lina instead. Kathy quickly runs away, and Don cannot find her. Some weeks later, Warner Bros.' The Jazz Singer is a box office smash and audiences are clamoring for more talking pictures. As Don and Lina start their next film, The Dueling Cavalier, Cosmo makes a crack about all of their films being alike, and Don is stung, thinking that Kathy was right about words being necessary for real acting. Lina continues to complain about Kathy, whom she had fired, which makes Don dislike Lina even more, as he has not seen Kathy since the party. During a break in filming, R. F. announces that they are shutting down production and will resume in a few weeks as a talking picture. Cosmo happily anticipates unemployment, but R. F. makes him head of the new studio music department. Some time later, when a musical number is being filmed for another picture, Cosmo sees Kathy in the chorus. When Don shows up just as R. F. is about to offer Kathy another part, she confesses what happened at the party, but Don tells R. F. that it was not her fault and R. F. agrees. Later, when Kathy and Don are talking, he tells her that his "romance" with Lina is completely fabricated by fan magazines and Kathy confesses that she has seen all of his pictures. Don has difficulty revealing his feelings to Kathy until he takes her to a romantic setting on a sound stage. Soon preparations for The Dueling Cavalier begin with diction lessions for Lina and Don. Although Don is fine, Lina's voice shows little improvement. When filming resumes, director Roscoe Dexter becomes increasingly frustrated by Lina's voice and inability to speak into the microphone, but the picture is completed. When it is previewed on a rainy night in Hollywood, the audience laughs at Lina's voice, howls at synchronization problems, and leaves the theater saying it was the worst film ever made. Later that night, Cosmo and Kathy try to console Don, who thinks his career is over until Cosmo comes up with the idea to turn the film into a musical comedy and have Kathy dub Lina's voice. Don worries that this plan is not good for Kathy, but she convinces him by saying it will be for just one picture. The next day, R. F. loves the idea and they all conspire to keep Lina from finding out. To enhance the picture, they add a modern section in which Don can sing and dance the story of a Broadway hoofer. After the picture is finished, Don tells Kathy that he wants to tell the world how much he loves her, but as they kiss, Lina interrupts them and flies into a rage. She then starts her own publicity campaign proclaiming herself Monumental's new singing star. R. F. is angry, but Lina shows him her contract and he reluctantly agrees that she controls her own publicity. Lina then threatens to ruin the studio unless Kathy continues to dub her singing and speaking voice, but do nothing else. At the picture's premiere, the audience loves "Lina's" voice. Feeling triumphant, Lina boasts that Kathy will keep singing for her, and Don is furious. When the audience clamors for a song from Lina, Don hatches the idea of having Kathy stand behind a curtain and sing into a microphone as Lina pantomines the words. While Lina silently mouths "Singin' in the Rain," Don, R. F. and Cosmo pull the curtain and the audience laughs hysterically when they realize that Kathy is actually singing. Lina does not know what is happening until Cosmo takes the microphone from Kathy and starts singing himself. Lina runs off screaming, and an embarrassed Kathy starts to leave the theater, until Don tells the audience that she is the real star of the film and has her join him in a song. Finally, a billboard proclaims that Don and Kathy are co-stars of the new Monumental film Singin' in the Rain.
Cast: Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Charlie Ruggles
Directors: Rouben Mamoulian
Writer: Samuel Hoffenstein, Waldemar Young, George Marion Jr.
Cinematographer: Victor Milner
Genre: Musical, Romantic comedy
Production Company: Paramount Publix Corp.
Struggling Parisian tailor Maurice Courtelin finds he has been bilked on a bill for fifteen suits by the Vicomte Gilbert de Vareze. When he discovers that de Vareze has a bad reputation with tailors all over Paris, Maurice becomes outraged and goes to the Chateau d'Artelins to collect his bill. Along the road to the chateau, Princess Jeanette narrowly avoids a collision of her buggy with Maurice's car. Maurice immediately falls in love with Jeanette and, although flustered and haughty, she is delighted by him. Neither are aware of the other's social status. When Jeanette goes home to the Chateau d'Artelins she faints, and the doctor recommends marriage to a man her age as a curative. Maurice arrives and de Vareze, afraid to expose his indebtedness, nervously introduces him to the Duke as a baron, thereby enabling Maurice to join the other guests of rank. While Maurice is on a royal hunt, Count de Savignac discovers that Maurice has no lineage, and informs the Duke. De Vareze then intimates that Maurice is actually royalty traveling under a nom de plume . A costume ball is thrown in honor of Maurice and he comes dressed as a Parisian "Apache." He then follows Jeanette into the garden where they proclaim their love for each other. The next morning, Maurices dismisses Jeanette's seamstress and the insulted seamstress tells everyone that Maurice intends to sew Jeanette's riding habit. Soon Maurice must confess his true identity, appalling Jeanette and everyone in the chateau. Maurice collects his bill and boards a train for Paris, but when Jeanette realizes that she loves Maurice despite his lowly profession, she takes the fastest horse and catches up with the train, shouting that she would love to be a tailor's wife. Maurice does not accept this proclamation, so Jeanette stands on the train tracks until the train is forced to stop, and Maurice and Jeanette joyfully embrace.
A group of eclectic performers, known as the Muppets, assemble in a private screening room at World Wide Studios in Hollywood, California, to watch their feature film debut in The Muppet Movie. The affable leader of the raucous troupe, Kermit the Frog, tells his nephew that the story is an approximate account of how the group got started: The film begins in a Southern swamp as Kermit sits on a log and plays the banjo. Passing by in a boat, a tourist named Bernie frantically asks the frog for directions. Bernie, who happens to be a Hollywood agent, admires Kermit’s talent and humor and shows him a notice in the Hollywood trade paper, Variety, announcing a casting audition for frogs next week. Bernie encourages Kermit to try his luck in California and “make millions of people happy.” Although content in his swamp home, Kermit is inspired to follow his dream and starts the journey to Hollywood on a bicycle. While riding through town, Kermit is distracted by a billboard advertising Doc Hopper’s Frog Leg restaurant chain and crashes his bicycle. That evening, Kermit stops at a saloon, called the El Sleezo café and watches as the crowd heckles comedian Fozzie Bear. Kermit tries to help by joining the struggling entertainer on stage for a dance routine. Meanwhile, Doc Hopper and his assistant Max observe the dancing frog with enthusiasm through the café window. The rowdy patrons, however, are not interested and toss Kermit and Fozzie around the place. Escaping the scene, Fozzie agrees to accompany Kermit to Hollywood, and the two aspiring performers continue the journey in Fozzie’s Studebaker. As they leave town, Hopper, a crafty businessman, intercepts the twosome and offers Kermit a $500 advance to be the spokesman for the frog leg restaurant, but Kermit refuses and drives away with Fozzie. Hopper orders Max to follow the Studebaker. Later, Kermit and Fozzie pass a Doc Hopper billboard featuring Kermit’s face on a basket of “french fried frog legs.” Hopper appears from behind the sign to cajole the frog again, but Kermit does not want to work for a business that leaves frogs in crutches and tells Fozzie to drive on. Irate, Hopper plans to be more aggressive next time. Along the way, Kermit and Fozzie encounter a hippie band named Electric Mayhem practicing in a church, and a plumber known as “the Great Gonzo.” Even though Gonzo would rather be a movie star in India, he and his girl friend, Camilla the chicken, join Fozzie and Kermit for the trip to Hollywood. With the help of Sweetums, a friendly, hairy ogre who works at a used car lot, the group trades Gonzo and Fozzie’s battered vehicles for a big station wagon. Kermit invites Sweetums to travel with them, but the ogre appears to run off, and the group leaves without him. Sweetums, however, was merely retrieving his bag and runs after them, following their trail. Next, the group stops at the Bogen County Fair and watches a beauty contest judged by ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his dummy, Charlie McCarthy. As the winner, Miss Piggy, is crowned, she becomes infatuated at the sight of Kermit and imagines various romantic scenarios with him. The prima donna pig immediately introduces herself and tells Kermit that she is an actress-model. Although Kermit invites Miss Piggy to join him and his friends for ice cream, she packs her suitcase and is ready to ride with them to Hollywood. After retrieving Gonzo, who was lifted into the air by a bunch of balloons, the group is back on the road. That evening, Miss Piggy and Kermit enjoy a romantic dinner together. Just as Kermit is about to kiss her, Miss Piggy leaves the table to take a telephone call and does not return. Kermit is disappointed and shares his troubles with the restaurant’s piano player, Rowlf the dog. Kermit then receives a telephone call from Hopper, who announces that he is holding Miss Piggy hostage and orders the frog to surrender outside. Hopper’s henchmen take Kermit to a hideout where he is tied to a post, alongside Miss Piggy. Professor Krassman, a German scientist, intends to perform a celebrectomy on Kermit, which will make the frog obedient to Hopper. As the professor locks Kermit into a machine, Miss Piggy becomes enraged, escapes from the post, karate chops Krassman and the henchmen, and rescues her beloved frog. She then receives a phone call from her talent agent, who has arranged a commercial for her, and she promptly says goodbye, leaving the frog broken-hearted, once again. Later, however, the group finds Miss Piggy hitchhiking and she rejoins the trip, despite Kermit’s annoyance with her. When the car breaks down, the friends camp overnight in the desert and Kermit is despondent, since he will miss the frog auditions tomorrow. Wandering off alone, he feels guilty for dragging his new friends to the middle of nowhere. Kermit is relieved, however, when he returns to the campfire and sees Electric Mayhem playing. Thanks to The Muppet Movie screenplay Kermit left them, the musicians were able to locate the group in the desert. While continuing to Hollywood in the band’s tour bus, the group is pulled over by Max, disguised as a motorcycle cop. The assistant, who now opposes the thuggish tactics of his boss, warns Kermit that Hopper has hired an expert frog killer. Tired of being bullied, Kermit arranges to meet Hopper and his henchmen in the nearby ghost town. There, the group encounters Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his assistant, Beaker, who maintain a laboratory in an old storefront where they work on inventions. At noon, Kermit confronts Hopper and his gang in the middle of the street and tries to appeal to the businessman, but Hopper is not interested and orders his men to kill the frog. Suddenly, the earth shakes, and Animal, Electric Mayhem’s crazed drummer who ate a handful of Dr. Honeydew’s Insta-Grow pills, appears as a menacing giant. Hopper and his henchmen immediately flee, as Kermit and his friends cheer and proceed to Hollywood. Arriving at World Wide Studios, the group finds their way to the office of executive Lew Lord. However, Miss Tracy, his secretary, refuses to let them enter. Once the group discovers that she is allergic to animal hair, they bombard her with fur and walk past. Despite the executive’s imposing manner, Lord agrees to sign Kermit and his friends to the standard “rich and famous” contract. Later, on a soundstage, Kermit directs a musical finale starring himself and his fellow Muppets. Although the set collapses, the group carries on performing. When the movie ends, Sweetums bursts into the screening room, relieved that he has finally caught up to the Muppets.
In Seattle, Washington, Zack Mayo finds his father, Byron Mayo, in bed with a prostitute. Remembering his youth, Zack recalls meeting Byron in the Philippine Islands, where his father was stationed with the United States Navy. Zack’s mother had recently committed suicide and the boy blamed his father for deserting them. Although Byron was an alcoholic philanderer, who wanted to avoid his parental responsibilities, Zack protested going home and raised himself in a community of prostitutes and thieves. Now grown up, Zack announces to his father that he is joining the Navy to become a pilot. Despite Byron’s objections, Zack drives his motorcycle to the Port Rainier Naval Air Station and joins a group of new recruits. Drill instructor Sergeant Emil Foley warns the men and women that they must devote six years of their lives to the Navy and reprimands enlistee Sid Worley for failing to refer to him as “Sir.” When Zack snickers at Foley’s sexually suggestive language, Foley yells at him for looking him in the eye. Foley cautions the recruits that he will use any means necessary to weed out those who are unworthy of being pilots. Meanwhile, at a nearby paper factory, employees Paula Pokrifki and Lynette Pomeroy finish their work and head to the base to look for mates. With shaved heads and new uniforms, the recruits file into their rooms, then follow Foley’s command to line up outside. When a young woman named Casey Seeger laughs at Sid and Zack’s comments about people who feign pregnancy as an excuse to get married, Foley punishes them with fifty push-ups. Paula and Lynette walk past and tell Zack and Sid that they’ll see them in a month’s time when they are on “liberty.” During training, Foley pushes the endurance of his class and complains they are the worst he has ever seen. Back in the dormitory, Zack’s roommate, Perryman, warns that Zack’s covert operation, polishing boots and belt buckles for cash, will get the whole unit expelled. While Zack excels at physical training, he struggles with his academic studies and when Sid discovers Zack buying polished boots and buckles from a middleman, the friends agree that Sid will help Zack pass Aerodynamics in return for free goods. Later, at a dance, Zack and Sid reunite with Paula and Lynette. While Sid and Lynette discover they both have brothers who died in the Vietnam War, Paula encourages Zack to fulfill his dream of becoming a pilot and they kiss. Sometime later, the ladies meet Zack and Sid at a bar, but the men are hassled by locals and Zack breaks a man’s nose. After driving to the Tides Inn motel, Zack regrets the fight and rejects Paula’s attempt to console him, but, after Zack apologizes, the couple spends the night together. Back at the base, trainee Topper Daniels panics in a plane crash simulator and Foley dives into the water to save him. After Topper willingly drops out of the class, Foley inspects the dorm room to discover the stashed inventory from Zack’s covert business. When Zack refuses to withdraw from training, Foley vows to break the young man’s will by subjecting him to a weekend of abuse. As Zack works out in a pool of mud, Foley tells the young man that his childhood experiences have guided his life on a course of failure. At the end of the weekend, Zack remains resolute. Although Foley decides to expel him anyway, Zack cries that he has nowhere to go and Foley agrees to give him another chance. Back at the Tides Inn, Zack and Paula make love. Zack reveals that his mother overdosed, but when he claims to be unaffected by her suicide, Paula does not believe him. Later, on a ferryboat, Lynette admits to Paula that she has considered getting pregnant to trap Sid into a marriage. After an uncomfortable dinner with Paula’s family, Zack tells her that he will move to a base in Penascola, Florida, after graduation in three weeks. When Zack says he has no interest in marriage and family, Paula shows him a picture of her “real father,” a Naval officer candidate who left her mother. The next weekend, as Zack is dismissed on “liberty,” Paula calls him from the factory, but he refuses to answer. Although Paula is determined to go after Zack, her mother, Esther, stops her, warning that Paula might resort to dishonesty to “trap” him. After dinner with Sid’s parents, a Naval captain and his wife, Zack learns that his friend is planning to marry Susan, a girl who was engaged to his brother before he died in Vietnam. When Sid admits he has a date with Lynette that evening, Zack suggests that his friend “break it off clean” with Lynette the way he did with Paula. At a bar, Zack sees Paula flirting with a flight instructor and although he apologizes, she leaves with her date. Meanwhile, at the Tides Inn, Sid asks Lynette about her late period and she swears that, if pregnant, she would take responsibility for it herself. Back at the base, Sid tells Zack that Lynette’s pregnancy is confirmed by a doctor and she refuses to get an abortion because she is Catholic. When Sid says he will marry her out of duty, Zack suggests that his friend takes too much responsibility for others, including the death of his brother. Later, during a training exercise in an oxygen decompression chamber, Sid panics and refuses to put his mask on. Zack comes to his rescue, but Foley is not impressed and Sid is expelled. When Zack swears at Foley, claiming that Sid is the best candidate in the class, Sid admits that he voluntarily dropped out and says he was only in training because of his brother. Sid takes a cab to Lynette’s house after spending his life savings on a wedding ring, but when she learns he is no longer an officer candidate, she says she is not pregnant. Although Sid still wants to get married, Lynette refuses, explaining that she only wants to marry an officer so she can live overseas. Meanwhile, Zack picks up Paula to look for his friend and she takes him to see Lynette, who tells them she rejected Sid. Checking into the Tides Inn motel, Sid swallows the engagement ring with a bottle of alcohol, and, soon after, Zack and Paula discover his dead body hanging in the shower stall. Outside, Paula consoles Zack and reminds him that he is not responsible for the deaths of his mother and Sid. Although Zack tries to brush her off, Paula argues that she is not like Lynette. When she declares her love for him, Zack runs away, claiming that he does not want to be loved. At the base, Zack requests to see Foley privately, and when Foley refuses, Zack threatens to quit. Challenging Zack to a fight, Foley is surprised by Zack’s skills, but he overcomes Zack by kicking him in the groin. As Zack lies on the ground, Foley permits him to drop out of training. However, at the candidate’s graduation ceremony, Zack takes a pledge of allegiance with his class and, upon Foley’s order, they toss their hats in celebration. When Foley personally congratulates his graduates with their first official salutes, Zack tells the drill instructor that he would not have made it through without him. As Zack drives away, he sees Foley initiating a new class using the same orders he heard on his first day. In his officer’s uniform, Zack strides through the paper factory to collect Paula and, as he carries her away, her fellow workers, including Esther and Lynette, applaud.
In St. Louis, in the summer of 1903, seventeen-year-old Esther Smith fantasizes about meeting John Truett, the shy boy-next-door, while her older sister Rose frets about her beau, Warren Sheffield, who is off at Yale. Sure that Warren, who is calling Rose at 6:30 that evening, is finally going to propose to her sister, Esther arranges with Katie, the Smiths's housekeeper, for the family to eat dinner early, so that Rose will have some privacy while talking on the telephone. Esther's cantankerous father Alonzo, who has not been told about the expected call, ruins her plan, however, when he insists on eating at the usual time. During dinner, everyone, including Esther's five-year old sister "Tootie," tries to hurry Lon along, but the phone rings just as the main course is being served. As her family eavesdrops on the entire conversation, Rose attempts to prod Warren into a proposal, but he gets mired in small talk and hangs up without uttering a single romantic word. Later, at Esther's urging, Rose invites John to a farewell party for her older brother Lon, Jr., who is going to Princeton. At the party, Esther at first feigns indifference to John, but hides his hat to keep him at the house and then asks him to help her turn off all the lights. Although John is clearly attracted to the flirtatious Esther, he is too shy to kiss her, and instead gives her a hearty handshake. Before he leaves, Esther invites him to join her family that Sunday for a tour of the St. Louis Exposition fairgrounds, and he tentatively accepts. On Sunday, Esther waits eagerly for John at the trolley stop, but he has not arrived by the time the trolley is scheduled to leave. As the trolley is pulling away, however, John appears and, to Esther's joy, hops on next to her. Months later, Tootie and her slightly older sister Agnes dress up as goblins and go out to celebrate Halloween with the neighborhood children. Anxious to prove herself, Tootie, who is preoccupied with death, insists on calling feared neighbor Mr. Braukoff to his door and, following the local custom, blows flour in his face. After Tootie is declared the "most horrible," she throws her family into a panic when she returns home, crying, bruised and cut. Tootie claims that John hit her by the trolley tracks, and although Esther at first refuses to believe her, she changes her mind when a clump of hair is discovered in Tootie's hand. Enraged, Esther storms over to John's house, accuses him of being a bully and then beats and bites him. Later, however, Tootie and Agnes confess that John actually saved them from being arrested after they almost caused an accident on the trolley tracks. Esther rushes back to John's house to apologize, and John not only forgives her, but flirts with her as well. Later that evening, Lon, a lawyer, returns home to announce that his firm is transferring him to New York. Although Lon is enthusiastic about the transfer, which involves a promotion, Anna and the children react with shock and worry. Eventually, however, Anna agrees to the move, and the Smiths plan to leave St. Louis after Christmas. Weeks later, on Christmas Eve, Rose is upset because the visiting Warren has invited Lucille Ballard, an Easterner, to the local Christmas dance instead of her. Back from Princeton, Lon, Jr., also is frustrated because he wanted to ask Lucille to the dance. After Katie convinces Lon, Jr., to escort Rose to the dance, Esther's plans are disrupted when John is forced to break his date with her because he did not get to the tailor's soon enough to pick up his tuxedo. Although Esther assures John she is not upset, she later breaks down in tears and refuses to be escorted by Lon, Jr. When Esther's grandfather, however, offers to take her, she gratefully accepts. At the dance, Esther and Rose scheme against Lucille, whom they have never met, by filling out her dance card with the names of clods. Their plan backfires when Lucille turns out to be nice and insists that Rose be with Warren, while she goes with Lon, Jr. Embarrassed, Esther gives Lucille her dance card, then braves the clods. To her delight, John eventually shows up and, under a wintery moon, kisses her and proposes. As soon as Esther starts to think about being separated from her family, however, she has second thoughts about marrying. Later, at home, Tootie cries to Esther about the impending move and, as her bewildered father watches from a window, runs outside and angrily begins smashing the snow people she helped build. After calling the family together, Lon then announces that that they are staying in St. Louis. Months later, the Smiths and John head for the just-opened Exposition and are thrilled by the thought that such incredible sights are in their very own town.
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Eva Marie Saint
Directors: Vincente Minnelli
Writer: Dalton Trumbo, Michael Wilson, Irene Kamp , Louis Kamp, Martin Ransohoff
Editor: David Bretherton
Cinematographer: Milton Krasner
Genre: Drama
Production Company: Filmways, Inc., Venice Productions
Composer: Johnny Mandel
Laura Reynolds, a freethinking artist, lives with her 9-year-old illegitimate son, Danny, in a beach house near Monterey. The boy's uninhibited upbringing has brought him into conflict with the law, and Laura is ordered by the court to enroll him in the private school headed by Episcopal clergyman Edward Hewitt or risk losing him. Convinced that she can better educate the boy herself, she complies reluctantly, resentful of the judge's interference. She is surprised, however, at the ease with which Danny settles down to the school routine. Despite the initial hostility between Laura and Hewitt, who is married and the father of two boys, they are drawn into a passionate love affair. Antagonized by her nonconformist friends, Hewitt nevertheless yields to his passion, though he is tormented by guilt and humiliation. He reveals his affair to his wife, Claire, who withdraws, brokenhearted; and he subsequently makes a public admission. Laura condemns him for making their private relationship into public gossip, and they sever their liaison. Hewitt now confronts the self-seeking politicians who have been using him and his school for their own ends, and he resigns his headmastership. Leaving both Claire and Laura behind, he sets off to regain his former ideals as a minister.
Writer: Colin Higgins, Patricia Resnick, Patricia Resnick
Editor: Pembroke J. Herring
Cinematographer: Reynaldo Villalobos
Genre: Comedy
Production Company: IPC Films , Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.
Composer: Charles Fox
Newly divorced housewife Judy Bernly reports for her first day of work, and senior supervisor Violet Newstead shows her around the office. Suddenly, Roz Keith, administrative assistant to the boss, Franklin M. Hart, Jr., reprimands Violet for the sloppiness of the workers she supervises. In Hart's office, Hart gives Judy a pep talk on teamwork, then asks Violet to buy a scarf for his wife. When she refuses, he accuses her of not being a team player. Once Judy is assigned a desk, she nervously types, clumsily works the phone, and fumbles with the Rolodex. While shopping for a scarf for Hart’s wife, Violet explains there is a rumor circulating that secretary Doralee Rhodes is Hart’s mistress. The news resonates with Judy, whose husband has left her for his secretary, while Violet asserts that Hart will never leave his adoring wife. However, Hart confesses to Doralee that he is madly in love with her, gropes her against her will, and they fall to the floor right when his wife, Missy Hart, enters to chat about cruises for their next vacation. Suddenly, Violet sees Doralee wearing the scarf intended for Hart’s wife, and assumes the rumors are true that Doralee and Hart are indeed lovers. The next day, Violet reluctantly fixes a cup of coffee for Hart, who ignores her report on improving office efficiency. Later, when the company president, Mr. Hinkle, announces that he is going to implement all of Hart’s efficiency suggestions, Violet realizes Hart has taken credit for her work. At home, Violet complains to her son, Josh, who encourages her to confront Hart, but she explains that she prefers to avoid controversy while she is in line for a promotion. Soon, Violet learns that the promotion has been given to Bob Enright, a colleague whom she trained and who has five years less experience than her. Hart insists customers prefer to work with a man when it comes to finances. Enraged, Violet demands that Hart stop referring to her as a “girl,” confronts him about his affair with Doralee, then heads to a nearby bar. When Doralee hears the false accusation, she tells Hart she is tired of his sexual advances and threatens to shoot him with the gun in her purse. Violet, Doralee, and Judy commiserate over drinks about the unjust firing of another secretary. When Violet finds her son’s marijuana cigarette in her purse, they take the party to Doralee’s house, where the women fantasize about giving Hart a taste of his own sexism. Judy dreams of hunting Hart like an animal and mounting his head on the wall. Doralee would hog tie Hart after she rejects her sexual advances and Violet, as Snow White, would spike Hart’s coffee with poison and eject him out the window. Later, Violet fixes coffee for Hart, and confesses to another secretary, Betty, that she is close to the breaking point. Hart never has a chance to drink the coffee because the broken mechanism on his chair causes him to hit his head and become unconscious. While Doralee rides with Hart in an ambulance to the hospital, Violet believes that she accidentally put rat poison in Hart’s coffee, mistaking the poison box for sugar substitute. She and Judy race to the hospital, where they overhear the doctor say a patient has died from poison. The women assume it is Hart, causing Violet to panic. She kidnaps the dead body, stuffs it in the trunk of her car, and speeds off while Judy and Doralee try to calm her. When Violet crashes the car, Doralee searches for a tire iron in the trunk, and realizes that the dead man is not Hart. The women return the corpse to the hospital, still unaware of what has happened to their boss. The next day, Hart returns to work as if nothing has happened. The three women think they have avoided trouble, but Roz overhears their bathroom conversation and reports back to Hart, who threatens to go to the police unless Doralee sleeps with him. When she refuses, the three women kidnap Hart and keep him tied up at his mansion while his wife is on vacation. Violet then discovers evidence that Hart has embezzled from the company, so they keep him hostage, covering up his absence at the office. When the invoices that will prove Hart’s guilt are delayed for several weeks, they send Roz away to take an immersive course in foreign language study when she becomes suspicious. As Violet, Judy and Doralee count the days, they make welcomed policy changes at the office. Meanwhile, Hart’s wife, Missy, returns early from her cruise to find her husband held captive, but he convinces her that he is trying out a new fitness program and sends her to a hotel. When Doralee finds out Missy is back, the women scramble to save their plan, but Hart grabs Doralee’s gun and orders Judy and Doralee back to the office. In an effort to save himself, Hart restocks a warehouse and alters the invoices Violet planned to use as evidence. However, Hart panics when he receives an unexpected visit from Russell Tinsworthy, the chairman of the board. Tinsworthy hands Hart a bottle of champagne and congratulates him on achieving a twenty percent increase in productivity in six weeks. As Violet points out program changes like flexible hours and in-house day care, Tinswothy gives Hart a bonus as an incentive to head up company operations in Brazil. Judy, Violet, and Doralee drink the champagne and toast their good fortune.
In New York City, Arthur Bach is happily drunk when Bitterman, his chauffeur, stops so that Arthur can hire a prostitute named Gloria. He takes Gloria to the Plaza Hotel for dinner and runs into disapproving relatives. The next morning, Arthur’s train set wakes them up and Hobson, his loyal butler, sends Gloria on her way so that Arthur can prepare for a meeting with his father. As Arthur lounges in his bubble bath, he asks Hobson to bring a pitcher of martinis because he cannot face his father if he is sober. Later, Stanford Bach insists that his son marry Susan Johnson, the daughter of a business acquaintance. Arthur does not love Susan and refuses. His father and grandmother, however, have decided that if Arthur does not marry Susan, they will cut him off financially and he will lose his $750 million inheritance. Arthur reluctantly agrees. His father hands Arthur his grandmother’s ring to give to Susan, the invitations are ready to go out and the wedding will be in one month. Arthur relieves his frustration by spending a lot of money in the Men’s Department at Bergdorf-Goodman’s and notices a woman shoplift a tie. A security guard also notices the theft and trails the woman. Intrigued, Arthur and Hobson follow them outside. When the security guard confronts the woman, she brazenly creates a scene. Amused, Arthur steps in and pretends they were shopping together, and he forgot to pay for the tie. The woman plays along and Arthur kisses her before telling the security guard to put the tie on his bill. Linda Marolla introduces herself and admits she stole the tie for her father’s birthday. Arthur asks her out for dinner the following evening and has Bitterman drive her home to Queens. As the Rolls Royce pulls up outside her building, Linda asks Bitterman if he can wait until one of the neighbors has a chance to see her arrive in style and Bitterman complies. Linda’s unemployed father, Ralph, likes the tie, but is more excited to learn she has a date with a millionaire. Arthur and Linda enjoy dinner and games at an arcade, and he learns that she works as a waitress in a diner while studying acting. The next day, Arthur meets with his grandmother, Martha, and tells her he cannot marry Susan because he has met Linda. Martha says she loves him, but, if Arthur does not marry Susan, she will cut him off without a cent. She advises him to marry Susan and have an affair with Linda. That night, Linda is cooking dinner for him when Arthur calls to cancel and admits he is getting engaged that evening. Linda is upset, but it is her father who bursts into tears. Before driving to Susan’s home, Arthur checks on Hobson, who is uncharacteristically resting, but Hobson claims he just has a cold. Arthur confides that he thinks Linda is special and when Hobson makes a joke about her, Arthur gets mad and storms out. He quickly returns and apologizes for raising his voice. Hobson thinks Arthur might actually be growing up, and also apologizes for his comment about Linda. Arthur drinks and drives to the Johnson’s home, and is drunk when Burt Johnson confronts him. Burt wants Arthur to stop drinking and come work for him. He also warns Arthur to make Susan happy or Burt might kill him. Arthur drinks his way through dinner, and tries to dissuade Susan from accepting his proposal, but she will not give up. Arthur gives her the ring and cuts their date short. Arthur drunkenly shows up at Linda’s apartment in the middle of the night. He gives her a check for $100,000 but Linda refuses the money and asks him to leave. The next day, Arthur complains to Hobson about the situation. Hobson admonishes him to marry Susan, but also says that fate might help everything work out. Hobson arrives at Linda’s apartment with a dress for her, and suggests that she go to Arthur’s engagement party if she is serious about him. He tells her that he can recognize a man in love. She realizes that Hobson is a good friend and kisses him on the cheek. She also recognizes that Hobson is not feeling well and worries. Arthur is surprised to see Linda at the engagement party. They walk to the stables and Arthur admits he is going to marry Susan, but Linda is still glad that she came to the party. Susan interrupts them and Linda pretends that she came to beg Arthur for money to help pay for her husband’s gambling debts and her sick child’s operation. Susan believes her but says she did not come to spy on them, rather she received an urgent call notifying Arthur that Hobson is in the hospital. Hobson is dying and Arthur is determined to care for the man who is like a father to him. Arthur postpones the wedding and stays at Hobson’s side. He brings Hobson’s furniture to the hospital room, gives him presents and has food delivered from all the finest restaurants. Arthur also stays sober for the last month of Hobson’s life. Before he dies, Hobson tells Arthur that he can do anything he wants with his life and asks if Arthur has seen Linda recently. After Hobson’s death, Arthur gets drunk in a dive bar. The wedding is in less than five hours when Bitterman arrives to get him. Outside the church, Burt warns Stanford that if Arthur doesn’t show up, Burt will kill him. Meanwhile, Arthur, quite drunk, arrives at the diner where Linda works as a waitress. He knows he will lose his money, but proposes to her anyway and she accepts. They head to the church to tell Susan. Arthur heads through the packed church to the ante room where Susan and her wedding party are getting ready. When he calls off their wedding, she yells for her father. Burt attacks Arthur and, when Linda comes to his aid, Burt insults her, pushes her aside and hits Arthur again. As Burt grabs a knife to kill them, Martha storms in, slaps Burt and orders him not to "screw" with her. Arthur drunkenly informs the guests that the wedding is off and he will not see them again because he is going to be poor. Then he passes out. Later, Linda tends to his cuts as they talk in the almost empty church. Martha watches quietly as they declare their love for each other, but when Arthur talks about getting a job, she interrupts and declares that there has never been a “working class” Bach and there never will be. She insists that Arthur takes his $750 million, but Arthur refuses. Money has not made him happy. As Linda and Arthur start to leave, Martha insists he take the money. He ignores her and she gets in her limousine, saying she will never offer him the money again. Arthur joins Martha in her limousine for a moment, and then rejoins Linda to announce that he turned down Martha’s invitation for dinner, but did accept the money. Happily, Arthur and Linda get in the Rolls Royce and Bitterman drives them to Central Park.
Production Company: Crossbow Productions , Sidney Glazier , Springtime Productions
Max Bialystock, a seedy, disreputable, has-been Broadway producer, ekes out a living by charming love-starved elderly ladies into investing in his disastrous productions. One day, a timorous and neurotic accountant, Leo Bloom, arrives at Max's office to check the books on his latest theatrical fiasco. Max pressures Leo to analyze his ledger books in less than a minute, prompting Leo to panic and rub a blue baby blanket on his face, admitting that he has a minor compulsion surrounding the blanket. When Leo finds a $2,000 difference in the books and naively mentions that a producer could make a lot of money by finding a sure-fire failure, over-financing it, and pocketing the remainder of the investors' money after the show closes, Max becomes excited. He cons the reluctant Leo into becoming his partner in producing the worst play in theatrical history, fantasizing that they will run away with the stolen money to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. After rejecting hundreds of manuscripts, they finally find the ideal script in Springtime for Hitler, a musical comedy about Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun romping in Berchtesgaden. The play is written by Franz Liebkind, an unregenerate Nazi who keeps pigeons and staunchly maintains that Hitler was "a swell guy with a song in his heart." After oversubscribing by 25,000 percent, Max and Leo insure disaster by hiring Roger De Bris, a flamboyant, homosexual man generally regarded as the world's worst director, to stage their play, and Lorenzo “LSD” St. Du Bois, a spaced-out hippie, to play “Adolf Hitler.” Max also hires Ulla, a beautiful Swedish woman, to be their receptionist. On opening night, they add a final touch to their scheme by wrapping a one-hundred dollar bribe around the ticket of a New York Times drama critic. However, the play and production are so unremittingly awful that the audience interprets it as satire and roars with approval. Stunned to discover they are stuck with a box-office success, Max, Leo, and Liebkind frantically try to close their show, even to the point of blowing up the theater. Apprehended and sent to jail after a trial in which they are found "incredibly guilty," they soon revert to their former tactics by producing a prison show called Prisoners of Love and selling shares, well over one-hundred percent, to their fellow inmates and the warden.
Producer: Robert Altman, Martin Starger, Jerry Weintraub
Writer: Joan Tewkesbury
Editor: Sidney Levin, Dennis Hill
Cinematographer: Paul Lohmann
Genre: Comedy-drama, Musical
Production Company: ABC Entertainment, Inc.
Five days before a U.S. presidential primary election, Replacement Party candidate Hal Phillip Walker’s “Walker Talker Sleeper” van, which is fitted with loudspeakers on the roof, is driven from early morning until night through the streets of Nashville, Tennessee, broadcasting Walker’s message that the current political system is failing. Elsewhere, during a recording session, country western veteran singing star, Haven Hamilton, insists that Opal, who claims to be a BBC journalist, leave his studio. Bud, Haven’s son and business manager, escorts Opal to the session of white gospel singer, Linnea Reese, and her black chorus of Fisk University students. The incessantly chatty Opal, who says she is preparing a documentary, compares the rhythmic movements of the singers to Kenya natives and asks Bud whether they “carry on like that in church.” A little later, at Nashville Airport, music fans and a marching band wait on the tarmac for the plane carrying beloved country singer Barbara Jean. A television newsman at the scene reports that Barbara Jean spent several weeks at a Baltimore burn care unit after a fire baton accident. From within the crowd, Pfc. Glenn Kelly watches the fragile Barbara Jean intently, and Haven is also there at the microphone to officially greet her. Also at the airport is Haven’s attorney, Delbert Reese, who meets with John Triplette, a smooth-talking political aide from Los Angeles. Triplette asks for Delbert’s help in convincing country western singers to perform at a televised pre-election rally for Walker. Wade, a dishwasher, and his neighbor, Sueleen Gay, a tone deaf waitress, are two airport employees hoping for a “big break” in their musical careers. After they finish their shift, they go outside to watch Barbara Jean. Mr. Green, an elderly man whose wife Esther is dying in the hospital, has come to the airport to pick up his niece Martha, a celebrity groupie who calls herself “L.A. Joan.” Thoughtless of her uncle’s grief, the scantily clad Martha asks for the autograph of singer Tom Frank, a member of a folk-rock singing trio, “Bill, Mary and Tom.” The trio has come to Nashville to cut a record album that will include Tom’s signature song, “It Don’t Worry Me.” Although Tom gets a ride into the city from female fans, Bill and Mary are driven in by an eager-to-please chauffeur, Norman, who has his own dreams of becoming an entertainer. After Barbara Jean addresses the crowd with platitudes and homely sayings, she collapses and is taken by ambulance to the local hospital. The other people at the airport conclude their various tasks, get into their cars, and become ensnared in a traffic jam caused by a sixteen-car collision. While waiting for the road to be cleared, a party atmosphere ensues, in which the celebrities give out autographs and people visit between cars. Hitchhiking toward Nashville is Albuquerque, whose real name is Winifred. Although she plans to have a singing career, she keeps an eye out for her husband Star, a farmer who is intent on finding and taking her back home. At the hospital, Barbara Jean’s room is soon filled with well-wishers. Although Green brings Martha to visit Esther, Martha instead flirts in the hall with Glenn and Bud. Later in the evening several musicians gather at Lady Pearl’s Old Time Picking Parlor. Lady Pearl, a close friend of Haven, announces to her customers that singer Tommy Brown, known as “the pride of Nashville,” is one of the celebrities in the audience, but when Wade, who is drunk, calls him a “white nigger,” Brown leaves. At another club, Deeman’s Den, it is amateur night. Sueleen sings a tuneless rendition of a song she wrote and is unaware of the impression made by her sexy clothes and erotically charged movements. Her performance prompts the bartender, Trout, to suggest her to Triplette and Delbert as a performer for a smoker they are arranging for Walker’s big money contributors. That night at home, Linnea receives a call from Tom Frank, who she met while on a musical tour. He invites her out, but she turns him down, in order to protect her unhappy marriage to Delbert, who shows polite indifference to her and their two deaf children. During the night, as Barbara Jean sleeps in her hospital room alone, Glenn, carrying flowers, sneaks in and sits beside her until early the next morning. Kenny Fraiser, a young man with a violin case who recently arrived in town, answers Green’s newspaper ad for a room to let. He arranges to board with Green, but says little about himself. When Martha again accompanies Green to the hospital to see Esther, she instead talks to Glenn. In the morning, Tom awakens with Opal in his bed, but ignores her to call Linnea. Aware that Delbert might be listening, Linnea pretends not to know Tom and hangs up. That day, Haven has a barbecue at his home. There, Triplette asks Haven to perform at the rally, but Haven is reluctant. Opal arrives uninvited and charms Bud into confiding his suppressed desire to be a singer, but then abruptly drops him when she spots the famous actor, Elliott Gould, at the party. At the Grand Ole Opry that evening, Brown and Haven perform, and after them, singer Connie White, Barbara Jean’s rival who is substituting for her. At the hospital, Barbara Jean listens to the show’s radio broadcast, and, feeling sorry for herself, instigates a quarrel with Barnett, her husband and manager. After the Opry performance, several of the musicians and their friends attend a nightclub. Actress Julie Christie, who is passing through town, drops by, and Barnett stops in to thank Connie for filling in for Barbara Jean. An inebriated Pearl becomes tearful as she tells Opal about her support of former president John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert. Triplette asks Haven if Connie would perform with Barbara Jean at the rally. Haven, who is miffed when the nightclub emcee introduces Connie and overlooks him, says that the women do not appear together, but that he will perform with Barbara Jean. Also at the club is Bill, who confides to Norman his suspicion that Mary, his wife and fellow singer in the trio, is having an affair. Although Norman assures him he is wrong, Mary is, at that moment, at the hotel in Tom’s bed. The next morning is Sunday and many of the performers go to their respective churches. Barbara Jean sings for a service in the hospital chapel. Opal wanders through an automobile junkyard, where she dictates her observations about race relations in America into her portable tape recorder. In an attempt to be thought-provoking, she compares the junkyard with a secret burial ground for elephants. Albuquerque performs at a stock car race, but cannot be heard over the loud motors. After Mary returns to their hotel room and oversleeps, Bill confronts her about her infidelity, but their quarrel is interrupted by the arrival of Triplette, who asks them to participate at the rally. Bill is willing, but Mary tells Triplette they are Democrats and that Walker is crazy. When Barbara Jean is released from the hospital, Glenn and Green bid her goodbye at the elevator. Just after Green learns from a nurse that Esther died during the night, Glenn, unaware of the sad news, tells Green that he came to Nashville to fulfill the wish of his mother, who saved Barbara Jean’s life in a fire and wanted him to see her. In another part of town, Opal is with Triplette, explaining her theory that country western musicians influence innocent people into buying guns and becoming assassins. At Green’s house, Frasier stops Martha from looking into his violin case. He calls his mother, but after failing to assure her that he is safe, he hangs up. Before Barbara Jean’s next performance, Delbert asks Barnett if she will headline the rally, but he declines, as he does not want her involved in politics. After performing a couple songs, Barbara Jean commences a rambling speech that convinces Barnett, who senses a nervous breakdown, to cancel the rest of the show. At first Barnett begs the booing crowd to consider that she has been ill, but then he impulsively promises that Barbara Jean will appear at the rally. When Tom Frank again calls Linnea, she is alone at home and agrees to meet him at a club. There, musicians onstage invite Tom to sing and, after performing with Bill and Mary, Tom, alone, sings a recently written song that he dedicates to an unnamed special woman. Mary, Martha and Opal, each of whom have slept with Tom, believes herself to be the special person, and Linnea, too, is moved by the song. Meanwhile, at the benefit smoker, Sueleen becomes confused when the crowd boos her performance, because no one told her she was hired to strip. Delbert and Triplette convince her to remain by offering to let her perform at the rally, and claim she will share the stage with Barbara Jean. Humiliated but eager for the promised opportunity, Sueleen reluctantly removes her clothing, item by item, then walks out. Later, Tom and Linnea make love, but it is Linnea rather than Tom who gets up to leave. Tom asks Linnea to stay, but she says she cannot. To hurt her, he calls another conquest, a woman in New York, but Linnea simply gives him a kiss and departs. At her apartment, Sueleen tells Wade about her ordeal and he is outraged, but feels he must warn her that she lacks talent and will be exploited. However, Sueleen is unwilling to believe the truth and tells him she will soon perform with Barbara Jean. On the day of the rally, a television newscaster describes how Walker is gaining support. Meanwhile, Green leaves Esther’s graveside to find Martha, who never paid last respects to her aunt. Frasier, carrying his violin case, accompanies Green to the rally, where Martha is in the audience holding hands with Bill. As Haven and Barbara Jean sing a duet, Star searches the crowd for Albuquerque, who is in the wings with other musicians. As Barbara Jean continues to perform, Frasier opens his violin case, pulls out a gun and fires several shots at her. Glenn and others apprehend him, while the dying Barbara Jean is carried away. Despite being nicked by a bullet, Haven attempts to calm the crowd, telling them, “This is Nashville, not Dallas.” As Delbert leads the injured Haven from the stage, Albuquerque takes the microphone and begins to sing. The gospel choir joins her and, as the crowd claps in time, she sings, “You may say that I ain’t free, but it don’t worry me.”
Writer: Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, Edgar Allan Woolf, Noel Langley
Editor: Blanche Sewell
Cinematographer: Harold Rosson
Genre: Fantasy, Musical
Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.
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.
Production Company: Marvin Worth/Aaron Russo Productions, Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.
The parents of Rose, a popular blues singer, walk into their garage with a press photographer, who takes pictures of walls that are covered with images of Rose’s life. Years earlier, an intoxicated Rose descends the stairs of her touring airplane as her promoter, Rudge Campbell, steadies her. They drive to a stadium filled with adoring fans. After the show, Rose complains to Rudge that she’s tired and wants to take a year off, but Rudge is worried about canceling $3 million worth of concerts and tells her to be tough. Backstage before her next concert, Rose removes songs from the playlist because she lacks the energy to perform a full set. Onstage, Rose drinks from several liquor bottles and her managers become angry that her alcoholism is out of control. After the show, Rose complains again to Rudge about her health and he produces a syringe filled with Vitamin B-12, which she injects. Later, Rudge introduces Rose to country singer Billy Ray, a musician she’s admired for many years, and Rose is humiliated when Billy Ray criticizes her talent. Livid that Rudge doesn’t defend her, Rose realizes that her promoter wants to work for Billy Ray. Storming out, Rose has a limousine chauffeur, Houston Dyer, drive her to a familiar club of female impersonators. There, Rose performs a duet with a drag queen of her own likeness as impersonators of Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross and Dolly Parton join her on stage. Back at a hotel, Houston and Rose make love. Later, when Rudge berates Rose for missing a recording session, Rose blames at Houston and jumps into the limousine as Houston drives away. Houston stops the vehicle in the middle of the street and disappears into a men’s bathhouse. There, Rose finds Houston in the steam room, and he reveals his own problems; Houston left his post as an army sergeant three weeks ago and is considered AWOL. Rose invites Houston to join her entourage. On her airplane, Rose cries that all the clouds look the same and she doesn’t know where she is. After a show in St. Louis, Missouri, Rudge introduces her to several important contacts, but Houston cuts Rose’s conversation short and Rudge warns him to stay away from Rose’s business. On the next leg of the tour, Rose and her entourage sit in an airport waiting room because of inclement weather and Rose strikes up a conversation with a few soldiers. One soldier, Mal, agrees to be her bodyguard and masseur for the rest of the tour. At a concert, Houston rescues Rose from a rush of fans storming the stage and carries her to her dressing room where she smothers him with kisses. At another show, Sarah Willingham, one of Rose’s former lovers, comes backstage and Houston walks in on their embrace carrying a bottle of champagne. When Rose tries to explain, Houston hits her and she hurls the bottle of champagne at the wall, then knees him in the stomach. Later, Houston disappears and Rose and Mal drive to her next show, which is located in her hometown. Walking into Leonard’s, the neighborhood grocery store, Rose orders a moon pie and a Dr. Pepper, triggering Leonard’s memory of her as a young girl. Leonard doesn’t realize that Rose is a famous singer and Rose becomes upset, believing that people in her hometown are not aware of her success. As roadies assemble the stage for Rose’s concert on the high school football field, Rudge worries that Rose won’t show up in time and quits upon her arrival. Rudge announces that he is cancelling the concert and leaves as Houston appears. Elated, Rose falls into Houston’s arms and agrees to go with him to Mexico. Meanwhile, Rudge hears Rose’s fans waiting for the concert to begin and believes he has called her bluff. On the road, Rose and Houston stop at Monte’s, the first venue Rose ever performed. Fortified with alcohol and drugs, Rose performs one of her songs, accompanied by the house band. However, Houston fights a redneck and drags Rose from the club before she has a chance to finish. In the car, the couple is interrupted by a phone call from Rudge, who begs Rose to perform. Houston realizes that they are not going to Mexico after all and leaves Rose at Monte’s, where Sam, a drug dealer, slips her some drugs. Later, Rose calls Rudge from a phone booth, asking him to collect her as she swallows several tablets with alcohol. When a helicopter delivers Rose to her hometown audience, Rudge helps her stagger onto the stage. The adoring fans revive Rose and she summons the will to sing, but she collapses after the first song. Back at Rose’s parents’ garage, the photographer finishes taking pictures and Mal turns off the light.
Writer: E. A. Ellington, Joe Eisenger , Marion Parsonnet
Editor: Charles Nelson
Cinematographer: Rudolph Maté
Genre: Film noir
Production Company: Columbia Pictures Corp.
Composer: M. W. Stoloff
When Johnny Farrell, a callous young gambler new to the Argentine, is held up in a dark alleyway by a thief who demands his money or his life, a sinister man steps from the shadows and banishes the robber with a knife he has concealed in his walking stick. The man then directs Johnny to a posh Buenos Aires casino, where he then enjoys a winning streak. Johnny is cashing in his chips when he is summoned to the office. There, he is met by the man from the alley who, after introducing himself as Ballin Mundson, the owner of the casino, accuses Johnny of cheating. When Johnny proposes that he work for the casino, Ballin hires him with the warning that gambling and women don't mix. Johnny quickly wins Ballin's confidence, and one day, soon after the end of World War II, Ballin grimly informs Johnny that he is leaving on a trip and appoints Johnny casino manager. Several weeks later, Ballin returns, beaming, and introduces Johnny to his alluring new wife, Gilda. Johnny is stunned to discover that Ballin has married his erstwhile sweetheart, the woman he now loathes as much as he once loved. Although Ballin is unaware of their former relationship, Uncle Pio, the philosophical washroom attendant, senses their passion. That night, Obregon, an agent of the secret police and a constant observer at the casino, introduces himself to Johnny. As Ballin holds a disagreeable meeting with two Germans, Gilda flirts with one of the customers, thus inflaming her husband's jealousy. Gilda and Johnny's hostile repartee finally prompts Ballin to suspect their previous alliance, and he cruelly offers a toast, wishing disaster to the "wench" who wronged Johnny. After Ballin appoints Johnny as Gilda's watchdog, Gilda taunts him by continuing her flirtations with other men. Ballin, who covertly controls a tungsten cartel, is visited one day by a man he has driven out of business. After Ballin ignores his entreaties, the man fires a gun at Ballin, misses and then shoots himself as Obregon silently watches. Questioned by Johnny about the incident, Ballin shows him the safe he has hidden in his office and provides him with the combination. As Johnny continues to hide Gilda's indiscretions, his hatred toward her deepens. One night, Gilda admits to Johnny that she married Ballin on the rebound from him, but her confidence only inflames his fury. On the night of the big carnival, two Germans burst into Johnny's office and demand to see Ballin, and Ballin agrees to meet them in one hour. Superstitious, Gilda portends doom, and later, Obregon warns Johnny of impending trouble. Later that night at the casino, Ballin murders one of the Germans, while at the Mundson house, Gilda seductively dances with Johnny. As they embrace, the door slams and Johnny glimpses Ballin running down the stairs and speeding away in his car. Johnny follows Ballin, who is also pursued by Obregon. As they race onto the beach, Obregon and Johnny see Ballin board a small plane that explodes soon after takeoff. Unknown to them, Ballin has staged the explosion and parachutes from the craft to the safety of a waiting launch. With Ballin's presumed death, Johnny weds Gilda, who has inherited her husband's estate, and assumes control of the cartel. Johnny, who has married Gilda for revenge, refuses to live with her but makes her his captive, assigning his thugs to guard her day and night. One day, a German visits Johnny and asks for the return of the tungsten patents, explaining that the Nazis allowed Ballin to buy the patents as a front and now want them back, but Johnny refuses. Slowly realizing that she is a virtual prisoner, Gilda flees to Montevideo to file for divorce. There she is advised by Tom Langford, an attorney seemingly smitten by her charms, to return to Buenos Aires and file for an annulment instead. Gilda follows his advice, but upon arriving in Buenos Aires, she finds Johnny in her hotel room and realizes that Langford is in his employ. Defeated, Gilda performs a drunken dance of seduction onstage at the casino while Obregon counsels Johnny to turn over the patents to the police and reconcile with Gilda. When Obregon discloses that Gilda's infidelity was only an act to torment Johnny, Johnny contritely approaches her to apologize. Just then, Ballin appears and accuses them of betrayal. As Ballin trains his gun on them, Uncle Pio stabs him in the back with his own walking stick. Obregon magnanimously declares the killing self- defense, thus freeing Gilda and Johnny to leave the country and begin life anew.
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, John Leguizamo
Directors: Baz Luhrmann
Producer: Martin Brown, Baz Luhrmann, Fred Baron
Writer: Baz Luhrmann, Craig Pearce
Editor: Jill Bilcock
Cinematographer: Donald M. McAlpine, Steve Dobson
Genre: Musical, Romance
Production Company: Bazmark Films
In 1900, young English poet Christian sits in his room in the Montmartre district of Paris, France, and begins to write about his love affair with Satine, the star of the notorious Moulin Rouge nightclub: A year earlier, the idealistic Christian ignores his father’s advice and moves to Montmartre to join the Bohemian revolution that has swept through Europe. Eager to write about truth, beauty and freedom, but above all else, love, Christian realizes that he cannot because he has never been in love. At that moment, an Argentinean, unconscious from a bout of narcolepsy, crashes through Christian’s ceiling. The Argentinean is joined by his friends--Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, the Doctor, Audrey and Satie--who are rehearsing Spectacular, Spectacular, a musical play espousing their Bohemian ideals. The group persuades Christian to stand in for the Argentine, and when Christian surprises them with his talent, Toulouse suggests that he write the play with Audrey. Audrey leaves in a huff, but the remaining Bohemians persuade Christian that despite his inexperience, he must write their play, which will be staged at the Moulin Rouge. In order to persuade Harold Zidler, the club’s impresario, to hire Christian, Toulouse schemes to get Christian a private audience with Satine, who is known as “The Sparkling Diamond.” To stiffen Christian’s resolve, Toulouse plies him with absinthe, and, fueled by the hallucinogen, Christian enters the Moulin Rouge. Dancers such as Nini Legs in the Air, Arabia, China Doll and Môme Fromage take the stage, and Christian joins the throng of wildly gyrating men. Christian is awestruck by Satine’s entrance as she is lowered from the rafters on a trapeze, and while she performs, Zidler whispers to her that the wealthy Duke of Monroth is in the audience. Satine, a courtesan, is fearless in her determination to seduce the Duke and obtain his help in becoming a legitimate actress, but mistakes Christian for the real duke. Toulouse sneaks Christian into Satine’s boudoir, which is shaped like a giant elephant, and there, Christian recites poetry to the courtesan. Satine is baffled by his shy reaction to her attempted seduction, but when Christian sings a song about his feelings for her, the couple fall in love. As they are embracing, however, Satine learns that Christian is merely one of Toulouse’s penniless protégés. As she attempts to usher Christian out, Zidler approaches with the Duke, and Satine is forced to hide Christian. The Duke is mystified by Satine’s erratic behavior, but is so consumed by lust that he is swayed by her repetition of Christian’s poem. When Satine begins to make love to the Duke, however, a glare from Christian persuades her to throw the Duke out with a promise to consummate their relationship on the show’s opening night. Unknown to Satine, she is suffering from consumption, and the exertion causes her to collapse. The Duke re-enters to find Satine in Christian’s arms, and it is only through the Bohemians’ quick action that she is able to persuade him that they are rehearsing Spectacular, Spectacular. After convincing the Duke to invest in the show, which tells the story of a Hindu courtesan who must chose between a penniless sitar player and a rich maharajah, the Bohemians celebrate, while Christian is preoccupied by thoughts of Satine. Christian returns to Satine’s boudoir, and although she protests that she was acting when she proclaimed her love for him, she succumbs to his charming words. The next morning, the Duke demands that in exchange for his financial backing, Satine be bound to him exclusively, and that Zidler put up the deed to the Moulin Rouge as security. Zidler reluctantly agrees, and so begins an intense and happy period of rehearsals. While continuing to tempt him, Satine eludes the Duke’s advances in order to spend time with Christian, always on the pretext of working. Meanwhile, Toulouse, who is to play the magical sitar, struggles to learn his one line: “The greatest thing you’ll ever learn, is just to love, and be loved in return.” After several weeks, the Duke grows impatient and warns Zidler that if he cannot possess Satine soon, he will depart. As Zidler cajoles the Duke to stay, he spots Satine and Christian kissing, and promises that Satine will come to the Duke that night. After Christian plans a rendezvous with Satine for that night, he leaves, and Zidler storms up to Satine, ordering her to end her relationship with the writer. Satine collapses, however, and while Christian and the Duke wait for her, she languishes under a doctor’s care. Zidler is able to persuade the Duke that Satine, anxious to come to him “like a virgin,” is confessing her sins to a priest, but after he returns home, Zidler learns that Satine is dying. The next morning, the jealous Christian has difficulty accepting Satine’s explanations, and she attempts to end their affair. Christian promises to control his jealousy, however, and composes a song to signal that they will always love each other, “come what may.” Swept away by Christian’s passion, Satine relents, although during a rehearsal, the envious Nini hints to the Duke about Satine’s romance, which is illustrated in the show when the courtesan chooses the sitar player over the maharajah. The Duke then demands that the ending be changed, and in order to protect her friends, Satine agrees to dine with him. Christian pleads with Satine not to sleep with the Duke, but she reminds him of their vow to love each other come what may, then leaves. While the entertainers wait at the club, the Duke lavishes a diamond necklace on Satine and agrees that Zidler can keep the show’s “fairy tale” ending. While standing on the balcony, however, Satine sees Christian in the street and cannot bear to have sex with the Duke. The angry Duke’s attempt to rape Satine is forestalled by a blow from Le Chocolat, one of the club’s performers, who takes Satine to Christian. While Satine and Christian are planning to run away, the Duke warns Zidler that his servant, Warner, will kill Christian if Satine sees him again. When Satine returns to the Moulin Rouge to pack, Zidler tells her of the Duke’s threat, and when that does not stop her, informs her that she is dying. Heartbroken, Satine agrees that the only way to save Christian is to hurt him, and so lies to him that she is choosing the Duke. Despite her failing health, Satine goes on with the show, while Christian, determined to learn the truth, sneaks into the club. Christian confronts Satine and demands that he be able to pay her, like her other customers, and follows her backstage. Just as Warner is about to shoot Christian, the curtain rises and Christian and Satine find themselves onstage. Christian tosses Satine to the ground and throws money at her, then tells the Duke that she belongs to him. As Christian walks away, however, Toulouse remembers his line and shouts it out. The weeping Satine then begins to sing their love song, and Christian rejoins her onstage. The audience roars with approval as the lovers embrace, and Warner’s attempt to shoot Christian is foiled by a dancer. The Duke seizes the pistol but is punched by Zidler and leaves. After the curtain falls, Satine collapses, and as she dies, makes the sobbing Christian promise to write their story. Back at his room, Christian concludes that after overcoming his grief, he was inspired to write the story of their love, a love that will live forever.
Producer: Linda Gottlieb, Mitchell Cannold, Steven Reuther
Writer: Eleanor Bergstein
Editor: Peter C. Frank
Cinematographer: Jeff Jur
Genre: Drama, Romance
Production Company: Vestron Pictures , Great American Films Limited Partnership, Dancing Productions
Composer: John Morris
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.
Sharpshooter and outlaw Calamity Jane is released from prison in order to catch renegades who have been smuggling guns to the Indians. She is ordered to Fort Deerfield, where she plans to join up with lawyer Jim Hunter and pose with him as a pioneer couple traveling West. Hunter is killed before Jane reaches him, but has left word for her to contact a friend of his named Hank Billings in the small town of Buffalo Flats. Jane is followed there, and makes a narrow escape with "Painless" Peter Potter, a timid, quack correspondence school dentist, whom she marries for the wagon train trip. Painless, completely oblivious to Jane's ulterior motives for marrying him, attempts to make love to her, but is met with a sharp thud on the back of his head every time he tries to kiss her. During an Indian attack on a pioneer camp, Jane deftly kills nearly a dozen Indians singlehandedly, but lets everyone, including Painless, believe he did the killing, hoping that the renegades will believe he is a federal agent. Meanwhile, in Buffalo Flats, Toby Preston, the renegades' leader, receives word that a new federal agent is about to arrive with the wagon train. When the wagon train pulls into town, Jane learns from Hank that two loads of dynamite came with them. Believing him to be the agent, Preston's men immediately attempt to get rid of Painless by ordering a saloon girl named Pepper to seduce him, thereby inciting the lethal jealousy of her boyfriend Joe. Painless talks tough and gives Joe until sundown to get out of town, and Jane decides to let him be killed in order to get rid of him. At the last minute, as Painless walks out into the street to meet Joe for a duel, Jane decides to save Painless in order to use him as bait, and shoots for him from a window, killing Joe. Hank later enters Jane and Painless' room with an arrow in his back and tells her that the dynamite is in the undertaker's parlor. Jane sends Painless after the dynamite, and he bravely holds up the renegades, but then is abducted by an Indian. He and Jane are then taken hostage at an Indian camp, where she confesses that she married him to aid her in catching the outlaws, but now loves him. Also at the camp is the white turncoat, Jasper Martin, whom Jane recognizes as one of the governor's aides. As Jane is tied to a stake and prepared for burning, Painless, transformed by Jane's love, rigs the dynamite to blow, and they escape. Later, as Jane and Painless leave for their honeymoon, she is pulled from the wagon by one of the horses and dragged off into the distance.
Cast: Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Eleanor Parker
Directors: Robert Wise
Producer: Robert Wise
Writer: Ernest Lehman
Editor: William Reynolds, Larry Allen
Cinematographer: Ted McCord
Genre: Drama, Musical
Production Company: Argyle Enterprises, Inc., Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.
The antics of tomboyish Maria, a novice at the abbey in Salzburg, concern the Mother Abbess, who is unsure of Maria's intensions. Encouraging the girl to test her feelings, the Mother Abbess sends Maria to be the governess for the seven children of the widower Baron Georg von Trapp, a retired naval officer. The children are at first hostile to Maria, but she soon wins them over. The baron, who is a strict disciplinarian, leaves to visit his love interest, Baroness Elsa Schraeder. While he is gone, Maria allows the children greater freedom, and teaches them to sing. The youths become so excited when the baron returns that they fall out of a rowboat in the lake. The accident precipitates an argument between Maria and the baron, and he orders her to leave; but when he goes into the house and finds the children entertaining his friend Max Detweiler and the baroness with a song, he asks Maria to stay. Max later suggests that they enter the Salzburg Festival as a singing group, but the baron refuses. Maria becomes aware that she is falling in love with the baron and returns to the abbey. The children follow and try to persuade her to return; when the Mother Abbess learns of their visit, she sends Maria back to the Trapp home. Maria again decides to leave when she hears that the baron plans to marry the baroness. However, the baroness soon realizes her suitor is in love with Maria, and releases him. Maria weds the baron, and while they are away on their honeymoon, the Nazis take over Austria. Taking advantage of the baron's absence, Max enters the children in the Salzburg Festival. When the baron returns with his new bride, Maria, he forbids the children to appear at the festival, and learns that the Nazis, to whom he is violently opposed, have ordered him to take command of a ship. The Trapps plan an escape, but are stopped by Stormtroopers. Max convinces the Nazis that the family is on its way to the Salzburg Festival, and that he plans to leave for his ship immediately after the performance. The Trapps win first place at the show and, using their exit song to escape, take refuge in the town abbey. The Nazis learn their whereabouts and surround the building, but the family escapes through a secret tunnel to the nearby mountains.
Production Company: Gruskoff/Venture FIlms, Crossbow Productions, Inc., Jouer Limited
Composer: John Morris
On a dark and stormy night in Transylvania, on the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Baron Beaufort von Frankenstein and fifteen years after his death, the box containing his will is removed from his casket and read. Not long after, in Baltimore, the Baron’s great-grandson Frederick, a pre-imminent brain surgeon who insists that his surname is “Fronkensteen,” learns that he has inherited Beaufort’s estate. Despite his desire to distance himself from the notorious legacy of his deceased grandfather Victor, who animated stolen corpses, Frederick temporarily takes leave of his fussy fiancée Elizabeth to go to Transylvania. At the train station there, Igor, a hunchback who pronounces his name “Eye-gor” introduces him to Inga, a buxom blonde lab assistant and, at the candlelit Frankenstein castle, Frederick meets its fearsome housekeeper, Frau Blücher, whose very name frightens horses. During the night, the haunting strain of a tune played on a violin lures Frederick to investigate its source, and he discovers a secret passage that leads to Victor’s laboratory. In Victor’s private library off the lab, Frederick finds the violin, still warm from being played, and a book by Victor, entitled How I Did It, that inspires him to recreate Victor’s experiments. The next day at breakfast, when Frederick says he will need a corpse with a very large brain, Inga makes the point that the other organs would also be large. After Igor informs Frederick that a huge man is being hanged that day, the following night, they dig up the corpse. Frederick then sends Igor to a brain depository to steal a brain that formerly belonged to an intelligent and good-hearted man. However, during the theft, Igor accidentally damages that brain and instead takes one that is marked “abnormal.” Unaware of the switch, Frederick surgically fits the stolen brain into the corpse. With Igor and Inga’s help, the corpse is wired to Victor’s equipment and to flying kites being used to harness the electrical power of lightning. During a thunderstorm, Frederick has Igor turn on the machines and hopes that an electrical charge will spark life into his creation, but despite the flashing and buzzing, nothing happens. Frederick is despondent, believing that the experiment failed, until the corpse later comes to life. When the monster, who shows a tendency to violence when frightened, almost strangles Frederick after Igor lights a match, Igor admits that he took the brain of someone named “Abbie Normal.” Meanwhile, at a town meeting, the villagers are concerned about having another Frankenstein scientist in the neighborhood, as some of them still suffer injuries from the monster Victor created. Police Inspector Kemp, despite having lost an arm fighting Victor’s monster, attempts to calm the crowd by offering to talk to Frederick about his intention of repeating his grandfather’s work. Later, when Kemp arrives, Frederick has just become aware of the danger he has created and guiltily conceals the presence of the sedated monster locked up in the laboratory. Kemp then returns to the villagers planning to allay their fears. Afterward, Frederick discovers that Frau Blücher has released the monster and shows Frederick that his creation, like Victor’s monster, can be calmed by playing the haunting violin tune. Revealing that Victor was her "boyfriend," Frau Blücher admits that she played the tune that prompted Frederick to find the laboratory, because she wants his work to be continued. As they talk, the monster stumbles against electrical equipment, causing sparks that panic him and send him floundering out the castle. Some time later, the monster encounters Helga, a little child who does not fear him, then is beguiled by the music of a gramophone at the hut of a blind hermit. Eager for company and mistaking the monster’s moaning sounds for muteness, the hermit shares his meal, oblivious that he ladles hot soup into his guest’s lap and smashes the wine out of the monster’s hand while making a toast. When the blind man offers a cigar, he inadvertently sets the monster’s thumb on fire, causing him to leave, roaring in pain. By playing the violin, Frederick lures the monster to him, while Inga and Igor capture him in a net and inject him with a sedative before returning him to the castle. Believing that love will help the monster, Frederick risks his life to embrace him, then speaks tenderly to him, until the creature weeps in his arms. Frederick then educates the monster and later presents him to the Bucharest Academy of Science. During a demonstration, Frederick shows that the monster is a “cultured, sophisticated man about town” by performing the song, “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” with both wearing top hat and tails. Although the audience applauds enthusiastically, the success is short-lived when the monster becomes agitated by the pop of a stage light that he accidentally bursts. The audience then boos its disapproval and throws food, further panicking the monster, who knocks down Frederick and lunges at a policeman. As the audience flees, the monster is apprehended. Later, while the monster sits forlorn in a dank prison cell bound by several chains, Frederick searches for a way to equalize the imbalance of the his spinal fluid, which, he believes, will make his creation normal. Frederick also finds solace with Inga, who relieves his tension with sex. Immediately afterward he receives a cable from Elizabeth, announcing her arrival seconds later. Meanwhile, at the prison, a sadistic jailor torments the monster with lighted matches until the desperate creature breaks his chains and escapes. Everyone is concerned about the monster being loose, except the practical Elizabeth. After insisting that she and Frederick remain chaste until their wedding night, she is alone preparing for bed, when the monster enters through the window and carries her off to a cave. Lustful, he initiates sex and Elizabeth experiences such pleasure that she falls in love with him and sings, “Ah, sweet mystery of life.” After more sex, she feels abandoned when the monster is lured away abruptly by the sound of a violin. The music, emanating from high up in the castle, is being played by Frederick, amplified by a megaphone and accompanied by Igor on French horn. After the monster struggles up the side of the castle wall toward the music, Frederick instructs Inga and Igor to strap the monster and himself to two separate platforms and hook their brains together with wires. After explaining the importance of having the electrical current constant between them for exactly fifteen minutes, Frederick orders that the procedure commence. During the last two minutes, the rioting villagers led by Kemp break down the castle door using Kemp’s false arm. Despite Inga and Igor’s plea to wait three more seconds, they break the electrical connection and attempt to lynch Frederick. However, the monster, now able to talk, orders them to stop. Then he eloquently explains that people’s hate created his desire to inspire fear, rather than his natural inclination, love. He talks affectionately about Frederick, who considered him beautiful and risked his life to give him a calmer brain. Acknowledging that the situation has changed, Kemp offers his hand in friendship, then invites everyone to his cottage for sponge cake and wine. Some time later, Elizabeth, who is living in happy domesticity with the now civilized monster, eagerly seduces him into laying aside his Wall Street Journal. Frederick and Inga also marry, and on their wedding night Inga discovers that in exchange for part of Frederick’s brain, Frederick received something substantial from the monster. She begins singing, “Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life,” while, on the castle balcony, Igor plays the French horn.
Editor: Ralph Rosenblum , A.C.E., Wendy Greene Bricmont
Cinematographer: Gordon Willis , A.S.C.
Genre: Romantic comedy
Production Company: United Artists Corp.
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.”
Cast: Harrison Ford, Sigourney Weaver, Melanie Griffith
Directors: Mike Nichols
Producer: Douglas Wick, Robert Greenhut, Laurence Mark
Writer: Kevin Wade
Editor: Sam O'Steen
Cinematographer: Michael Ballhaus
Genre: Romantic comedy
Production Company: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Composer: Carly Simon
In New York City, secretary Tess McGill takes the Staten Island Ferry on her way to work at Petty Marsh, a Wall Street financial firm. During the ferry ride, Tess’s friend Cyn presents her with a cupcake for her thirtieth birthday and asks about her plans. In addition to work, Tess says she has a speech class and an emerging markets seminar. She guesses correctly that a surprise birthday party has been arranged for her and agrees to be home by 7:15 p.m. At her desk, Tess changes out of the tennis shoes she wears for commuting and into high heels. She becomes despondent when she learns she has been rejected, yet again, by the company’s “entrée program,” but David Lutz, her superior, suggests she meet with his friend, Bob Speck, who works in the company’s arbitrage department. Tess agrees to the meeting, but when Speck picks her up in a limousine and snorts cocaine in the backseat, Tess realizes he intends to have a sexual tryst and nothing more. Back at Petty Marsh, she complains to the personnel director, Ruth, who discourages Tess’s ambition but offers her one last chance in the mergers and acquisitions department. Tess meets her new boss, Katharine Parker, and is surprised to find that Parker is a few months younger than her. As she goes over some ground rules, Parker tells Tess to dress impeccably and suggests she wear less jewelry. Parker claims she is open to new ideas, so Tess comes to her one morning with a proposal for one of their clients, Trask Industries. Although Trask has been attempting to acquire television stations, Tess suggests they should look into radio networks instead. She explains that owning radio stations would protect the company from being acquired by a foreign competitor because the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) forbids foreign ownership of U.S. radio entities. Parker likes the idea, and Tess suggests it might help her get into the entrée program if Parker supports it. When Parker agrees, Tess excitedly relays the news to her live-in boyfriend, Mick Dugan. The next day, Parker prepares to leave for a ski trip in the Alps and tells Tess she is expecting a marriage proposal from her boyfriend on the trip. Tess asks what she will do if he does not propose, but Parker argues that she makes things happen in her life and recommends that Tess do the same. Before she leaves, Parker informs Tess that Trask Industries did not respond well to her radio idea. Soon after, Parker breaks her leg on the ski slopes. She calls Tess from the hospital and asks her to take care of her house plants and mail for the next few weeks while she recuperates. Tess goes to the apartment and finds Parker’s tape recorder on her desk. Using the recorded messages to practice her speech, Tess discovers a dictated letter Parker planned to send to Jack Trainer at a company called Dewey Stone about the Trask radio acquisition. Although she has not sent the letter yet, Parker is planning to implement Tess’s idea without her knowledge. Dejected, Tess returns home to find Mick in bed with another woman. After sleeping at Parker’s apartment, Tess calls Jack Trainer and pretends to be an executive so that she can propose her idea for Trask Industries herself. Once the meeting is set up, Tess asks Cyn to cut her hair shorter and dons one of Parker’s expensive cocktail dresses for a Dewey Stone company party, where Tess hopes to have a casual run-in with Jack before their meeting. However, when Jack flirts with her at the bar and Tess asks where she can find “Jack Trainer,” he does not reveal his identity and says that “Jack” already left. Jack encourages her to have a drink with him, and Tess becomes inebriated after one shot of tequila because she took an antihistamine before the party. Seeing her colleagues from Petty Marsh, Tess flees and Jack follows her into a taxicab. She is too drunk to recall Parker’s address, so he takes her back to his apartment. Tess awakes in Jack’s bed the next morning and sneaks out. Later that day, she goes to her meeting at Dewey Stone and becomes flustered when she recognizes Jack from the night before. Tess proposes her idea for Trask, but Jack’s colleague, John Romano, rejects it. That afternoon, Tess tells Cyn that she botched her proposal, but Jack shows up to Petty Marsh, saying he wants to work together and has already found the ideal acquisition target – the family-owned Metro Radio Network. He asks her out to dinner, but Tess says she does not want to get romantically involved as long as they are working together. At Cyn’s engagement party, Mick attempts to make up with Tess and proposes to her in front of their friends. Tess responds with “Maybe,” prompting Mick to storm out and break up with her. The next day, Cyn comes to Tess’s office, begging her to give Mick another chance. Distracted, Tess wonders aloud if she could meet Oren Trask, the head of Trask Industries, by attending his daughter’s wedding, uninvited. They are interrupted by a call from Katharine Parker, who announces plans to return in a week. Later, Tess tells Jack she is going to meet with Oren Trask, but when he accompanies her, he discovers her scheme to infiltrate his daughter’s wedding reception. On the dance floor, Jack helps Tess approach Trask, switching dance partners with him. Tess introduces herself as a Petty Marsh associate and pitches her idea for a radio acquisition, and Trask agrees to meet with her the following week. The morning of their meeting at Trask’s office, Tess and Jack learn that another company has made an offer to buy Metro Radio Network. However, Tess argues that Metro is a family-oriented company and says its owner, Mr. Armbrister, would rather sell to Trask. She promises Armbrister will meet with him in person the next day. Back at his apartment, Jack and Tess and make love. Afterward, she starts to reveal her real job, but a phone call interrupts. Jack admits the call was from a girl friend with whom he plans to break up. When he mentions that the woman recently broke her leg on a ski trip, Tess realizes the girl friend is her boss, Katharine Parker, and rushes out. The next day, Parker returns home and instructs Tess to perform the menial tasks of carrying her luggage and picking up her prescriptions. When Jack comes to the apartment, Tess hides and overhears as he attempts to break up with Parker. Tess accidentally leaves her notebook on the bed, and Parker reads it after she leaves, discovering Jack’s phone number and notes about her next meeting with Trask. Livid, Parker barges into the meeting just after Armbrister accepts Trask’s offer of $68.5 million for his company. Identifying Tess as her assistant, Parker claims Tess stole her idea and feigns a fainting spell. Tess apologizes to everyone and leaves. The next week, Tess goes to Petty Marsh to pack up her desk. On the way out, she sees Jack and Parker enter the lobby with Trask. When Jack refuses to board the elevator with Parker and Trask unless Tess comes along, Trask is persuaded to join Jack and Tess in another elevator. Tess shows Trask her old files with the newspaper clippings that inspired her idea. When they arrive outside Parker’s office, Trask asks Parker how she came up with the idea, and Parker becomes flustered and says she cannot recall. Trask announces that he plans to have Parker fired and asks Tess to work for him. The next morning, Jack helps Tess get ready for her first day of work for Trask and presents her with a monogrammed lunch box. Tess finds her desk outside an office and sits down. However, her assistant, Alice Baxter, informs Tess that the office is hers. Thrilled, Tess calls Cyn from her new office to share the good news.
Writer: Virginia Van Upp, Marion Parsonnet, Paul Gangelin, Erwin Gelsey
Editor: Viola Lawrence
Cinematographer: Rudolph Maté, Allen M. Davey
Genre: Romance
Production Company: Columbia Pictures Corp.
Composer: M. W. Stoloff
Eager to attain fame and glory, chorine Maxine Martin enters a contest to be a Vanity magazine cover girl. Inspired by Maxine's initiative, Rusty Parker, a fellow dancer at Danny Maguire's Brooklyn nightclub, also enters the contest. The women are interviewed by Cornelia Jackson, the assistant to magazine publisher John Coudair. When Jackson expresses an interest in Rusty, Maxine sabotages her rival's chances by telling her that Jackson is looking for a model with a brash personality. Consequently, when Rusty sashays into her office, Jackson dismisses her as a "gland case." Jackson then proposes Maxine as a candidate for the cover, and Coudair insists on going to Danny's club to see her in her "natural environment." At the club, Coudair is enchanted by Rusty, who reminds him of his long-lost sweetheart, Maribelle Hicks. Coudair recalls a night forty years earlier when he saw Maribelle dance at Tony Pastor's club and fell hopelessly in love. After her performance that night, Rusty joins Danny and Genius, another entertainer at the club, at Joe's oyster bar, where they engage in their Friday night ritual of searching for a pearl to bring them luck. When the three return to their apartment house, Rusty finds a telegram from Coudair, inviting her to his office the next day. Fearful that Coudair's offer will endanger the trio's close friendship, Genius tears up the telegram, but after he retires to his room, Rusty pieces it back together. Rusty keeps her appointment with Coudair, and when the publisher learns that Maribelle Hicks was her grandmother, he awards her his magazine's cover. Danny is crestfallen when Rusty's issue appears on the newstands, arguing that she should achieve success with her feet and not her face. Drawn by Rusty's notoriety, crowds begin to flock to Danny's club, and one day, Coudair brings Broadway theater owner Noel Wheaton to meet Rusty and offer her a job. After Rusty rejects his overture, Wheaton tries to woo her with armloads of roses. When Wheaton's strategy fails, Coudair joins forces with him to lure Rusty to Broadway. To achieve his goal, Coudair sends Rusty an invitation to Vanity 's 50th anniversary dinner. Rusty informs Danny that she plans to miss her performance at the club to attend the party, prompting an argument. Coudair summons Danny to pick up Rusty after the party, and Danny arrives at the Coudair mansion to find the house deserted except for his host. After admonishing Danny to free Rusty so that she can move on to a better life, Coudair recalls the day he introduced Maribelle to his society matron mother. When his mother disapproved of their romance, Maribelle threatened to return to her piano player sweetheart. As Coudair remininsces about the past, Wheaton drives Rusty to his luxurious Broadway theater, and she cavorts on the deserted stage. After leaving Coudair's house, Danny joins Genius at Joe's to wait for Rusty. When she fails to appear, Danny, after tortuous self-reflection, decides to sever his relationship with her. The next day, Rusty is late for rehearsal, and Danny gives her song to Maxine to perform. Rusty protests and storms out of the club, bound for Broadway. After making Rusty a star, Wheaton offers to make her his wife, and she agrees to give him an answer the following day. That night Rusty drives to Danny's club and discovers that Danny has closed his establishment and left town with Genius to entertain at army camps. She then goes to Joe's, where Wheaton and Coudair later find her, drunk. Although she accepts Wheaton's proposal, Coudair realizes that she is desperately unhappy. When Danny and Genius learn of Rusty's impending marriage, they come home to Brooklyn and Joe's. As Joe informs them that Rusty's wedding is to take place that night, Danny cracks open an oyster and finds a pearl. Determined to reunite the lovers, Genius takes the pearl to Coudair and asks him to deliver it to Rusty. Aware that Rusty is a most unhappy bride, Jackson exhorts Coudair to rectify his mistake of breaking up Rusty and Danny. As Coudair escorts Rusty down the aisle to the sound of the wedding march, he hands her the pearl and completes his story of his romance with Maribelle, revealing that Maribelle deserted him at the altar for her piano player. Heartened by Coudair's tale, Rusty realizes that she belongs with Danny, and as the minister recites the wedding vows, she announces that she is leaving. Still dressed in her wedding gown, Rusty hurries to Joe's and is there reunited with Danny and Genius in a joyful dance.
Producer: Brian Grazer, Curtis Hanson, Jimmy Iovine
Writer: Scott Silver
Editor: Jay Rabinowitz, Craig Kitson
Cinematographer: Rodrigo Prieto
Genre: Drama
Production Company: Universal Pictures , Imagine Entertainment
Composer: Eminem
In Detroit, Michigan, young Jimmy Smith, Jr. is an aspiring rapper who goes by “B-Rabbit” onstage. During the day, he toils for little money at an auto stamp plant. He has recently moved back in with his mother, Stephanie, and sister, Lily, in the family’s trailer home. Also living there is Greg, Stephanie’s latest boyfriend and a former schoolmate of Jimmy’s. Partly inspired by his new friendship with a pretty co-worker named Alex, Jimmy takes on extra shifts and exhibits a better attitude at the plant. Meanwhile, Stephanie receives an eviction notice, which prompts a fight with Greg. Jimmy intervenes on his mother’s behalf, and Greg leaves, breaking off his relationship with Stephanie. Another relationship is tested when Jimmy discovers that his friend Wink, a radio deejay with connections to the music industry, promotes a rival group called the Leaders of the Free World. During a confrontation between Jimmy and the Leaders, Jimmy’s friend, Cheddar Bob, accidentally shoots and wounds himself. Back at work, Jimmy observes a rap “battle” between some of the plant workers. One of them attacks a worker named Paul for his homosexuality, and Jimmy enters the battle to come to Paul’s defense, as Alex looks on approvingly. Jimmy and Alex sneak away to have sex. Later, Jimmy goes to meet Wink and some record producers at a recording studio, where he walks in on Wink and Alex having sex. Jimmy flies into a rage and assaults Wink, which leads to another altercation, in which Wink and the Leaders of the Free World attack Jimmy outside his trailer. Papa Doc, the head of the Leaders, threatens Jimmy at gunpoint, but Wink stops him from shooting. Later, Stephanie returns home with the news that she won enough money at a bingo tournament to save them from eviction. Jimmy is encouraged by his best friend, Future, to participate in a rap battle against the Leaders of the Free World at the Shelter nightclub, where Future works as an emcee. Jimmy cannot commit to showing up, as he is scheduled to work a late shift. That night, Alex stops by the plant to say goodbye, as she is about to leave for New York to pursue a modeling career. She tells him she was hoping to see him perform at the Shelter that night, which moves him to go, after Paul agrees to cover his shift. At the Shelter, Jimmy wins the first two rounds before he is pitted against Papa Doc. In his final freestyle rap, Jimmy draws attention to his own lower class upbringing, while ridiculing Papa Doc’s relatively privileged life. A humiliated Papa Doc returns his microphone in defeat. Future congratulates Jimmy as the winner of the battle, and offers him a permanent position hosting rap battles at the Shelter. Jimmy refuses the position, telling Future that he must carve his own path.
Producer: Michael Shamberg, Marcia Nasatir, Lawrence Kasdan
Writer: Lawrence Kasdan, Barbara Benedek
Editor: Carol Littleton
Cinematographer: John Bailey
Genre: Comedy-drama
Production Company: Carson Productions Group, Ltd.
In Richmond, Virginia, athletic shoe company owner Harold Cooper bathes his young son as his wife, Sarah, receives a telephone call, informing her of the suicide of the couple’s closest friend, Alex. He was living in their antebellum vacation home in Beaufort, South Carolina, with his young, offbeat girl friend, Chloé. Her plans to renovate a country cabin with Alex were cut short when he slashed his wrists in the Coopers' bathtub. The news of Alex’s death spreads among his group of seven companions from the University of Michigan, and they reunite for his funeral. Along with Harold and Sarah, the friends include Meg, an edgy, childless career woman with plans to use one of her male friends as a sperm donor; Michael, an uppity writer who compromised his talent to work as an investigative journalist for People magazine; Sam Weber, an actor cast in the title role of a tawdry but successful television series called J. T. Lancer; Nick, a derisive Vietnam War veteran who left his job as a radio show therapist to become a drug dealer; and Karen Bowens, a suburban housewife who was always the object of Sam Weber’s affection, even though she dated Nick in college. After the ceremony, the Coopers host their friends for the weekend. The group rekindle past grievances, reflect upon their transformations into adulthood, and reveal secrets about their pasts. Sam, the actor, is recently divorced and still has his heart set on Karen. When he blames Michael for exploiting his failing marriage in People, Michael apologizes and vows to leave the magazine. He announces his plan to open a nightclub, and Sam feigns interest in being an investor. The evening after the funeral, the friends gather in their pajamas and reminisce while Nick snorts cocaine in his makeshift attic bedroom. When Meg creeps upstairs and propositions him for sex, Nick explains that the Vietnam War left him impotent. Later, Nick and Sam discuss their conflicting affections for Karen and are surprised to find her husband, Richard, in the kitchen. He explains he is a secret insomniac who is deeply unsatisfied with his work, but is willing to prioritize responsibility over happiness. Richard wonders why Alex was unable to tolerate the realities of adult life. The next morning, Harold convinces Nick to go jogging with him and violates federal law to reveal an insider trading secret that only Alex knew: Harold’s shoe company will soon be purchased by a conglomerate, making its shareholders incredibly wealthy. Harold explains that Alex used the opportunity to buy a cabin, and encourages Nick to invest, so he can profit from the merger and get out of the drug trade. Meanwhile, Karen’s husband, Richard, returns home to care for their children and Karen couples with Sam to go food shopping. As the day progresses, Chloé overhears Nick filming a satirical video documentary about his failed radio show. While Harold drives Michael, Nick, and Chloé to Alex’s cabin, Meg and Sarah prepare dinner. Meg announces that she is ovulating, and has decided to recruit Sam as a sperm donor since Nick is no longer a viable candidate. However, Sam later denies her request. That night, the friends prepare a feast and laugh over the opening sequence of Sam’s television show, J. T. Lancer. At dinner, Sarah cries about Alex, and regrets that the group compromised their liberal ideals. Later, Nick notices Michael flirting with Chloé and prevents further interaction between the two by sedating his friend with a Quaalude pill. As Michael sleeps, Nick tells Chloé that he left the radio show because he didn’t believe his own advice, and the girl reveals she was a regular listener as a child. She called him at the station one night and his blunt advice helped her feel better. The following morning, Harold surprises each of his friends with their own pair of sneakers. Later that day, the companions watch their alma mater’s football game, but Nick drives back to Alex’s cabin. During the game, Michael offers to impregnate Meg but she declines his offer, effectively ending her list of potential mates. Elsewhere, on the front porch, Sarah tells Karen about her brief affair with Alex five years earlier, and admits she loved him throughout her marriage to Harold. During halftime, Nick is escorted back to the Cooper home by a policeman, who suspects he is a drug dealer. However, the officer recognizes Sam from J. T. Lancer and agrees to let Nick go if Sam can demonstrate his character’s signature stunt, jumping into a car through an open window. When Sam fails and injures himself, Harold makes good with the policeman and the officer drives away. Nick insults Harold for being a conformist, but Harold defends his choice to be an upright citizen and reproaches Nick for his failure to come of age. After dinner that night, the friends contemplate Alex’s suicide and cannot make sense of his decision. Nick alienates his companions by arguing that they could not have saved Alex, and that they are over-sentimentalizing their friendships. He claims that life was easier when they were young, and that the “real world” of adulthood is much more complex, and difficult to endure. When Sam storms outside in anger, Karen follows and they make love. Meanwhile, Sarah absolves herself of guilt over her liaison with Alex by asking her husband, Harold, to impregnate Meg. Chloé invites Nick to the basement apartment she shared with Alex, and cries as she goes through her dead lover’s clothes. Back in the living room, the two uncoupled outliers, Michael and Sarah, enjoy each other’s company and Michael announces he is scrapping his nightclub plan to write a novel about the friends’ weekend. When the group reunites the next morning for breakfast, they prepare to return to their ordinary lives. Karen decides to continue her marriage with Richard, and Sam will resume his role as a television action hero in Hollywood, California. Sarah and Harold experience newfound passion for each other, and Meg is beaming with the hope of being pregnant. Nick, who spent the night going through Alex’s papers, wields a college newspaper article Michael wrote. The column explains that Alex became the college celebrity when he turned down the coveted “Rutledge Fellowship” to live a life of non-conformity. Nick decides to remain at the Coopers' home with Chloé, working on the cabin and picking up where Alex left off.
When two stowaways, Jeff Peters and Orville "Turkey" Jackson, accidentally cause a freighter to explode off the coast of North Africa, they float to shore on a makeshift raft, encounter a camel, and ride it across the desert to Morocco. Once there, they spend their time trying to get food without money until Jeff sells Orville into slavery for two hundred drachmas. Orville is carried away by his Arabian owner, and Jeff is unable to locate him. When someone directs Jeff to the palace at the end of a street, a note from Orville floats down from the wall, advising him that he is being tortured and that Jeff should give up the search and flee the city for his own safety. Jeff instead climbs the palace wall and finds his friend dressed like a prince and being "tortured" by the caresses of the Princess Shalmar. Orville is deliriously happy that Shalmar has chosen to marry him and resents Jeff's intrusion, but Shalmar immediately falls in love with Jeff and invites him to stay for the wedding. Unknown to both men, Shalmar has decided to marry Orville, rather than Mullay Kasim, her real fiancé, because her prophet has determined that her first husband will die violently within the first week of marriage. Orville backs out of the marriage when he learns the truth from a harem girl who is in love with him, and when the prophet later reveals that his forecast was erroneous because of some insects in his telescope, Shalmar then chooses to marry Jeff. Jeff, Orville, Shalmar and the harem girl try to flee the city, but an angry Kasim kidnaps them. After leaving the men for dead in the desert, Kasim takes the women to his encampment. Jeff and Orville wander through the desert and see mirages of a drive-in hamburger stand and an alluring singing image of Shalmar until they stumble on an oasis near Kasim's camp. They are captured and imprisoned by Kasim, who refrains from killing them only because it is his wedding night. Jeff and Orville outwit their guards and escape, then wreak havoc on the wedding party by poking holes in the drinking cup of the guest of honor, a former enemy of Kasim, putting gunpowder in the cigarettes, and igniting the guests's clothing. Kasim's angry guest declares war, and a huge brawl erupts in the tent, which Jeff and Orville cause to collapse. Jeff, Orville, Shalmar and the harem girl then escape on horseback, eventually boarding an ocean liner for the United States. When Orville lights a cigarette, he mistakes the "Powder Room" for the bathroom and causes the ship to explode. The two couples raft the rest of the way to New York City.
Producer: Lewis J. Rachmil, Craig Zadan, Daniel Melnick
Writer: Dean Pitchford
Editor: Paul Hirsch
Cinematographer: Ric Waite
Genre: Drama, Romance
Production Company: Paramount Pictures , Indieprod
Following the break-up of her marriage, Ethel MacCormack and her teenage son, Ren, move to the small town of Bomont from Chicago, Illinois, and stay with relatives, Wes and Lulu. On Sunday, they attend Reverend Shaw Moore’s frenzied sermon, which includes comments about “obscene” rock ‘n’ roll music. Although the preaching bores Ren, he is intrigued with Moore’s beautiful daughter, Ariel. When Ren arrives for his first day at Bomont High playing loud music in his car and wearing a leather jacket, the other students stare. He befriends Willard Hewitt, who informs him that public dancing is illegal in Bomont, ever since a group of teenagers were killed in a car accident, while partying. Believing rock ‘n’ roll and dancing provoked the tragedy, the entire town supported the new law. Ren experiences the strict principles when police stop him and confiscate his cassette tape. After talking back to Ariel’s conceited boyfriend, Chuck Cranston, Ren is challenged to a “chicken race” on tractors. Before the start, Chuck smokes marijuana, while “city boy” Ren receives a quick lesson on operating the equipment from Willard and his other new friend, Woody. At the height of the race, Ren prepares to give in, but realizes his shoelace is caught on the pedal and is unable to leave the seat. He wins the bravery contest when Chuck jumps off his tractor before they collide. Ren’s victory encourages Ariel’s crush on the cute newcomer. Meanwhile, Ren continues to draw unwanted attention at the school, despite his best efforts to remain out of trouble. Although he does not use illegal drugs, a teacher falsely accuses him of possessing a marijuana cigarette. At home, Ren defends himself when the stern Wes hears about the incident. Needing to release tension, Ren drives to a warehouse and dances to loud music blaring from his car, until the flirtatious Ariel interrupts him. She takes him to a secret hideout, called “the Yearbook,” where the walls are lined with forbidden writings. As Ariel arrives home late, her disappointed father forbids her to see Ren again, calling him a “troublemaker.” The reverend later arranges to have Ren removed from the gymnastics team. Tired of the attacks, Ren prepares to fight back and suggests to Willard that they organize a prom dance. The personable Rev. Moore, meanwhile, routinely visits residents around Bomont, confirming his influence and authority. One night, Ren drives Ariel, Willard, and Willard’s girl friend, Rusty, across the state line to introduce them to a dance club. Everyone enjoys the evening, even though Willard is embarrassed about his inability to dance. On the way home, Ariel reminds Ren about the daredevil stunt at Crosby Bridge that killed a group of teenagers, prompting the town to outlaw public dancing. She informs him that her older brother, Bobby, was one of the victims. At the Moore residence, the reverend slaps his daughter for the first time when she is impertinent regarding her whereabouts the previous night. Moore’s unassuming wife, Vi, speaks up and criticizes her husband for his failure to communicate with Ariel. To get approval for the prom dance, Woody informs Ren that he must face the town council, whose members include Rev. Moore. In the meantime, Ren teaches his friend Willard how to dance. When Chuck confronts Ariel about her relationship with Ren, a brawl ensues and Ariel is left with a black eye. She seeks support from Ren and gives him a music box for standing up to her father. Their relationship progresses as Ren finally kisses her. The night before the council meeting, a group of bullies throw a brick with the phrase, “Burn in Hell” through the window of Ren’s residence. The brick lands in bedroom of Wes and Lulu’s young daughters, who wake up screaming. Blaming Ren, Wes mentions other incidents of harassment against the family. Although Ethel loses her job on account of Ren’s actions, she supports her son’s cause. The meeting room is packed as Ren calls for the abolishment of the public dancing ban. When Moore explains that alcohol, drugs, and “spiritual corruption” often accompany certain types of music and dancing, several adults in the audience applaud, and the council appears ready to oppose Ren’s motion. However, Ren is given the chance to respond and cites passages from the Bible that refer to dancing. His argument leaves everyone speechless. At the mill where Ren works part-time, his boss, Andy Beamis, suggests he hold the dance on the other side of the railroad tracks, which marks the town limits of neighboring Bayson, and prove to Moore that no one will be corrupted. At the church, Ariel argues with her father about his position and confesses she is not a virgin. Before the shocked reverend can react, he is called to the library where members of his congregation are burning “unsuitable” books. He objects to their actions and orders everyone to go home. In a final appeal, Ren visits Moore, and the two appear to develop more respect for each other, but the reverend tells Ariel he is still struggling with the issue. At his Sunday sermon, a repentant Moore discusses the lessons of parenting and learning to trust one’s children. He concludes by accepting the plan to host the dance at a warehouse in Bayson. The senior class immediately begins decorating the space. On the night of the event, Moore and Vi drive to the warehouse, but remain outside. They embrace, realizing the conflict has brought them closer together. The bully Chuck and his friends start a fistfight with Willard, but Ren comes to his friend’s aid, and they defeat the thugs. The two return to the party with their girl friends and show off their dance moves, along with the rest of their classmates.
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.
Producer: Martin Richards, Craig Zadan, Neil Meron, Sam Crothers, Bob Weinstein, Dan Gallagher, Michael Milton
Writer: Bill Condon
Editor: Martin Walsh
Cinematographer: Dion Beebe, Peter Benison, Michael Kohnhorst, James Chressanthis, Jens Sturup
Genre: Musical comedy
Production Company: Producer Circle Co.
On a January night in 1920s Chicago, Velma Kelly is arrested at the Onyx Club for murdering her husband and dancing-partner sister, who were having an affair. That same night, aspiring performer Roxie Hart begins an affair with furniture salesman Fred Casely, after Fred promises to introduce her to the club’s manager. A month later, Fred has had enough of Roxie and callously tells her he does not know the manager, she has no talent and they are through. When Roxie loudly protests, Fred pushes and threatens her, prompting her to grab a gun and shoot him three times. By the time the police arrive, Roxie has convinced her gullible husband Amos that the dead man was an intruder. Amos tells the police that he arrived home from his job at a garage and shot a burglar to protect his sleeping wife. However, when Amos learns that the dead man is Fred, who sold them their furniture, he knows Roxie has lied and lashes out at her, revealing everything. The police immediately arrest the defiant Roxie, and as she is taken away, Assistant District Attorney Harrison tells her that she has committed a hanging offense. Now frightened, Roxie is taken to the women’s prison where she is held on “murderesses’ row” with several other women accused of killing their lovers or husbands. Roxie’s spirits are temporarily revived by meeting the shrewish Velma, but she quickly learns that life in jail will be miserable unless she has money to bribe the prison matron, Mama Morton. Roxie learns how to advance herself, and although Velma remains hostile, Mama advises that she could use all of the publicity she has gotten not only to win her case, but fulfill her dream of going on the stage. For one hundred dollars, Mama says she will call criminal lawyer Billy Flynn, who has never lost a case. The still-loyal Amos goes to see Billy in his swank office, but has to admit that he can only raise $2,000 of Billy’s $5,000 fee. The high-living, greedy Billy initially refuses, then decides to take the case anyway, figuring he can raise the rest by auctioning off Roxie’s personal belongings through an intense publicity campaign. Velma is incensed that Billy, who is also her lawyer, would take the case and disgusted when she sees the change in Roxie that Billy has effected. Following Roxie’s arraignment, Billy tells eager reporters at a press conference on the courthouse steps, that Roxie, who now sports marcelled, light blonde hair, admits to shooting Fred, but it was self-defense: they both reached for the gun at the same time. Giving Roxie a fabricated background as an orphaned Southern belle reared in a convent school, Billy tells the press that her innocence was corrupted in Chicago by a combination of liquor and jazz. He tries to orchestrate Roxie’s remarks, but Roxie, who has decided to heed Velma’s warning that Billy is only out for himself, blurts out “I bet ya wanta know why I shot the bastard.” Reporter Mary Sunshine and the others love the tale that she and Billy concoct, and soon Roxie is headline news, pushing Velma’s story to the back pages. Everyone in Chicago seems to be enchanted by the innocent-looking Roxie, and the auction of her belongings brings in enough money to cover Billy’s fee and ensure Roxie a comfortable existence in jail. One night, Hawaiian pineapple heiress Kitty Baxter kills her lover and two women when she finds them in bed together. Seeing the press and Billy swarm around the snarling Kitty as she is brought into jail, Roxie feels her fame slipping away and feigns a collapse. When Mary Sunshine and Billy rush to her, Roxie shyly says she hopes the fall did not hurt “the baby.” Now a media darling again, Roxie tells the press that she is now only interested in protecting her unborn child. Velma is enraged by Roxie’s publicity, especially as Billy has lost interest in her own case, and complains to Mama, who tells her that she needs to play up to Roxie. Although Velma initially refuses to do that, she soon relents and asks Roxie if she would like to take over her sister’s part in her act. No longer impressed by Velma, Roxie coldly turns her down. Preparing for the start of her trial, Roxie objects to the demure-looking dress that Billy wants her to wear in court. The two argue over who is in charge and Roxie fires Billy, confident that her fame will get her acquitted without his help. A short time later, Katalin Hunyak, the only innocent woman on murderesses’ row, loses her last conviction appeal and is hanged, the first woman executed in Chicago in forty-seven years. Frightened now, Roxie gets Billy back on her case and promises to do whatever he wants to win. Despite Harrison’s best efforts, Billy dazzles the jurors and the judge with his tactics during Roxie's trial. While Roxie sweetly knits baby clothes, Amos takes the stand and admits that he has started divorce proceedings against her because he is not the father of her unborn child. Billy seizes the moment to make the befuddled Amos believe that he is the father, and after testifying, Amos embraces the misty-eyed Roxie and says that he wants to take her back. When Roxie takes the stand, she coyly raises her skirt to the all-male jury and testifies that she killed Fred in self-defense after she tried to break off their affair and he threatened her. Meanwhile, as Velma and Mama listen to Mary Sunshine’s radio broadcast of the trial, Velma seethes and Mama says that Roxie has abandoned all of her friends. They both brighten, though, when Mama shows her that she has Roxie’s diary in her possession. In court the next day, Velma is called by Harrison as a surprise rebuttal witness. During her testimony, she reads pages from Roxie’s diary that state she deliberately shot Fred and would do it again. Now faced with seemingly damning testimony, Billy cross-examines Velma and makes her admit that Harrison got her testimony in exchange for dropping all charges against her. Billy then suggests that Harrison concocted the phony diary pages to falsely convict Roxie. The jury quickly finds Roxie not guilty, but immediately after the verdict is read, shots ring out on the courthouse steps as a woman shoots her attorney dead. The reporters rush away, leaving the perplexed Roxie to ask what went wrong. Billy, who reveals that he arranged for the diary testimony, shrugs and tells her "this is Chicago" before leaving. Once alone with Roxie, Amos asks her to reconcile with him for the sake of the baby, but she turns him down, snarling that there was no baby and with all of her publicity, she will soon be a star. Over the next few weeks, Roxie tries to get a nightclub job but has no luck. After an unsuccessful audition at the Onyx, Velma grudgingly admits to her that she has talent and suggests that they team up because one "jazz killer" is nothing anymore, while the two of them together would be sensational. Roxie is reluctant at first, because she hates Velma, but Velma assures her that there is only one business in which that is not a problem. A short time later, Roxie and Velma are headliners at the Chicago Club, much to the delight of Billy, Mama and everyone else in Chicago.
Cast: Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Matthew Broderick, James Earl Jones
Directors: Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff
Producer: Don Hahn
Writer: Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, Linda Woolverton
Editor: Ivan Bilancio
Genre: Adventure
Production Company: Walt Disney Pictures
Composer: Hans Zimmer
King Mufasa, a lion who rules over the Pride Lands of Africa, and his queen, Sarabi, present their newborn son, Simba, to a gathering of the animal kingdom. Poised to take his father’s place, Simba is taught the responsibilities of his role, and about the “circle of life” that joins all living things. As Simba grows, Mufasa’s jealous younger brother, Scar, plots to overtake his brother’s throne. He sends Simba and his girl friend, Nala, to wander around an elephants’ graveyard, where they are ambushed by three hyenas—Banzai, Shenzi, and Ed. Mufasa’s aide, a tropical bird named Zazu, alerts him of the attack, and Mufasa comes to Simba’s and Nala’s rescue. Afterward, Mufasa explains to his son that the stars in the night sky are past kings who watch over them. Scar hatches another scheme to defeat his brother. This time, he lures Simba into a stampede of hyenas and wildebeest. Scar tells Mufasa about the stampede, so that Mufasa will go to save Simba, thereby putting himself in peril. The plan works: Scar manages to kill Mufasa, then convinces Simba it was all his fault. Simba escapes another attempt on his life, and ends up in exile in the jungle, along with new friends, Timon the meerkat and Pumbaa the warthog. They teach the young lion their motto, hakuna matata, which means “no worries.” Time passes, and one day Simba rescues Timon and Pumbaa from a lioness attack. The hungry hunter turns out to be Nala. She and Simba reconnect, and she convinces him to return to the Pride Lands, which has languished under Scar’s tyrannical rule. In a standoff between uncle and nephew, Scar reveals to Simba that he purposely killed Mufasa. Simba overpowers Scar, who then tries to save himself by blaming his actions on the hyenas. Simba takes mercy on him, but bans him from the Pride Lands. However, when Scar attacks again, Simba throws him from the heights of Pride Rock. After surviving the fall, Scar is killed by the hyenas, who overheard his betrayal. Peace is restored, and the Pride Lands once again flourish under Simba’s rule. One day, from the top of Pride Rock, Simba and Nala proudly present their newborn cub, and the circle of life continues.
Cast: Tom Cruise, Rebecca De Mornay, Joe Pantoliano
Directors: Paul Brickman
Producer: Jon Avnet, Steve Tisch
Writer: Paul Brickman
Editor: Richard Chew
Cinematographer: Reynaldo Villalobos, Bruce Surtees
Genre: Comedy, Satire
Production Company: The Geffen Film Company
In an affluent suburb of Chicago, Illinois, high school senior Joel Goodsen is eager to lose his virginity, but worries that an upsurge in his social life might distract him from his studies. Aside from his preoccupation with sex, Joel is obsessed with getting into a good college to study business and secure a lucrative career. Joel’s promiscuous friend, Miles, encourages the boy to have a party while his parents are out of town, claiming the event will provide an opportunity for Joel to have sex. However, Joel is hesitant to defy his parents, and, after dropping them off at the airport, he celebrates his independence by dancing around the living room in his underwear. Sometime later, Miles comes by the house to chide Joel for his lack of sexual initiative and browses newspaper advertisements for a prostitute. Despite Joel’s protests, Miles makes an appointment, and a transvestite named “Jackie” arrives at Joel’s doorstep. Although Joel turns her away, Jackie demands payment before leaving and gives the boy a telephone number for “Lana,” assuring him that the young woman will fulfill his desires. Plagued by sexual dreams, Joel finally telephones Lana, who comes to his house for an evening of lovemaking. Observing the opulence of Joel’s home in the light of day, Lana demands a $300 fee, but he does not have enough money and leaves the house to cash a bank bond. When Joel returns, he finds Lana missing and realizes the girl has stolen the centerpiece of the living room mantle, his mother’s beloved crystal egg. Joel telephones Jackie for advice, steals his father’s sports car, and tracks Lana down at an upscale hotel, where she slips into the vehicle and orders him to drive away because she is in trouble with Guido, her “manager.” Joel refuses to help until Lana returns the egg, but Guido wields a gun and they speed off, with Guido in pursuit. Joel gets away and returns home with Lana, who spends another night in his bed. When Joel prepares for school in the morning, Lana convinces him to let her stay home alone and vows to procure the egg once she retrieves her belongings from Guido. While Joel attends classes, Lana rifles through the Goodsen house for valuables and invites her fellow prostitute, Vicki, to join her. When Joel comes back, he is relieved to discover his home intact, but irritated that Vicki has “serviced” one of his friends. Although she offers Joel a commission, he has no desire to become a pimp and orders the girls to leave. As they walk away, Guido arrives and they run back inside, claiming Joel is their new boss. Guido warns he will return to get revenge and Joel grudgingly allows the girls to stay until morning. Despite Joel’s attempts to focus on homework, he is lured out on a date with Lana, and they drive to the shore of Lake Michigan to smoke marijuana and eat ice cream. Noting Joel’s interest in free enterprise, Lana proposes a business partnership in which she supplies prostitutes for Joel’s wealthy friends for one night, while his parents are still out of town. In return, Lana promises to share the profits and be Joel’s girl friend for the weekend, free of charge. When Joel declines, Lana grabs her pocketbook from the sports car to leave, but she accidentally shifts the car into gear, and walks away as it rolls toward the lake with Joel clinging to the hood. The boy believes he has successfully stalled the car on a pier, but the wood buckles, and the vehicle plunges into the lake. After spending the night at a car dealership and learning of the prohibitive repair cost, Joel arrives late for school and is unable to convince the nurse that he deserves an excused absence. Losing his composure, Joel threatens the nurse and his outburst results in suspension. With nothing more to lose, Joel agrees to Lana’s business plan, hoping they will gross enough earnings to fix his father’s car. Lana returns the crystal egg in good faith. Preparing for the party, Joel hones his skills as a salesman and convinces his classmates that a one-time investment in a professional sex worker is more cost-effective than paying for repeated dates with reluctant schoolgirls. The event is overflowing with customers and Joel basks in his success, but he fails to remember an interview that evening with Bill Rutherford from Princeton University. After an awkward meeting, in which Rutherford is perplexed by Joel’s enterprise, the gentleman enjoys the services of several ladies. Joel is convinced he has lost his opportunity to attend an Ivy League school, but Lana reminds Joel that he is already a prosperous businessman, raking in cash while providing a valuable service. To celebrate, Lana invites Joel to make love on a train and they ride the subway all night. The next morning, Joel retrieves his father’s repaired sports car and prepares for his parents’ homecoming, but he discovers the Goodsen house was stripped of its belongings while he was on the train with Lana. When Joel telephones the girl in a panic, Guido picks up the phone, declares that he has the furniture, and arrives at the Goodson home with a packed moving truck. As Joel’s parents ride home from the airport in a taxi, Joel buys back their possessions with his remaining profits from the party. The final object in the truck is the crystal egg, but Joel has only $40 left and Guido wavers at the low price. However, he agrees to sell it back on condition that Joel be indebted for a future payment. Guido’s prostitute, Vicki, who has returned to help with the sale, throws the egg across the lawn, and Joel catches it in just in time. With his friends, Joel reassembles the house and his parents return home to find everything in its place, although his mother is outraged to find a tiny crack in her egg. Joel believes he is finally in the clear, but his father receives a telephone call from Bill Rutherford, the Princeton recruiter. Bracing himself for condemnation, Joel is surprised to learn his entrepreneurial efforts have been rewarded with admission to the university. Joel celebrates with Lana, who has returned to prostitution, and asks if she lured him onto the train so Guido could rob his house. Lana claims innocence and propositions Joel for one last night of sex before they part ways. Reassured that their affair was not just business, after all, Joel playfully asks Lana if she can afford his services.
