A look at the life and career of acclaimed independent filmmaker Robert Altman...on his own words. The genius director who shook the cinema industry with countless films examines some of his most important works, along with friends and regular collaborators.
Even big stars need to stand in front of the director and audition for their roles, and some of the best screen tests are from the early years of legends. See some of Hollywood's top names and greatest talents in their very first appearances on celluloid. From Dustin Hoffman's 1966 stock and personality tests to Raquel Welch and James Coburn cavorting for Our Man Flint, from The Three Stooges to Rock Hudson, see stars trying to get on film.
The classic story of the mighty Eighth Wonder of the World is given a musical update, utilizing the talents of Disney musical giants The Sherman Brothers. Boosting this family-friendly take on the 1933 film are the acting talents of Jodi Benson and Dudley Moore.
A housewife flees from a policeman's killer on the road between Phoenix and Denver.
Adolf Hitler is hiding out in California under the identity of Adolf Schwartz; however, he is soon murdered by a mysterious assailant. This coincides with the arrival of a mysterious woman in a nearby town. Whatever the case might be, nobody seems interested in investigating the crime, but there are many who are interested in her.
An electronics genius, who is an ex-con, and four of his lady friends devise a plot to steal millions of dollars from the Chicago Transit Authority. A detective, who had been keeping tabs on him since he got out of prison, suspects that he is up to something and tries to catch him at it.
When Harry Walters runs out of gas, he gets picked up by a beautiful young woman. But when she pulls a gun on him and orders him to take his clothes off, Harry puts up no resistance and is sexually assaulted. He reports the incident to the authorities, but they either don't believe him, or, if they do, can't understand why he would consider it a crime - a reaction he also gets from his friends and family.
It seems that masked men are knocking over the floating crap games of Chalky and Pete. Chalky and Pete hire the cool, loose, elegant Mr. T to fix things. Then, the masked manipulators set up the death of a collector for a rival gang lord. It looks like it's up to T to hold a gang war from breaking out, keep the police off his back, and earn his fee from Chalky and Pete.
Near the end of the war in Germany, GI Steve Boland, a self-described "sharp-operator", meets a German girl, Ilsa, and they fall in love. Ilsa's brother Karl, whom she has not seen in three years, and his fellow Nazi Ludwig visit Ilsa. Karl proudly informs her that he and Ludwig are "Werewolves", a group of Nazi assassins parachuted behind Allied lines for the purpose of killing Allied High Command officers. She and Steve go to Army Intelligence with their information, where Steve is immediately arrested for being A.W.O.L. Captain Melton of Army G-2 intervenes on Steve's behalf, as G-2 has had a suspicion about the existence of the "Werewolves" but no concrete info before now.
The captain of a submarine sunk by the Japanese during WWII is finally given a chance to skipper another sub after a year of working a desk job. His singleminded determination for revenge against the destroyer that sunk his previous vessel puts his new crew in unneccessary danger.