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Actress Georgia Lorrison, writer James Lee Bartlow and
director Fred Amiel each receive a trans-Atlantic phone call from
producer Jonathan Shields. While Georgia and Fred refuse to speak
to him, Jim snarls "Drop dead" before hanging up. Later, the three
drive together to Shields Pictures to see their old friend, studio
manager Harry Pebbel. When they scoff at Harry's suggestion that
Jonathan, whom they have not seen in some time, wants them to make a
picture for him, Harry ponders their responses and asks Fred, who has
known Jonathan for eighteen years, how they met.
At the funeral of Jonathan's hated studio mogul father,
aspiring director Fred is a hired mourner. When Fred makes snide
comments about the deceased, however, Jonathan refuses to pay him.
Remorseful over his behavior, Fred later apologizes and learns from
Jonathan that he wants to make movies but his father died broke, and he
has no assets. Fred admires Jonathan for the drive he himself
lacks, and Jonathan sees talent in Fred. The men become friends
and, for the next two years work at every movie job they can find.
One night, when Fred, Jonathan, Fred’s girlfriend Kay,
and their friend Syd Murphy crash a Hollywood party, Jonathan gets an
idea when he sees Harry and several producers playing poker.
Pawning everything they can, the friends finance Jonathan's entry in a
high stakes poker game. After the game, a bemused Jonathan reveals
that he won $6,000 but eventually lost that and $6,351 more to Harry.
The next day, Jonathan goes to Harry to say he cannot
cover his bet but proposes that Harry, who was started in the movie
business by the elder Shields, hire him so that he can work off the
loss. Harry says he needs good pictures, not money, and is happy
to give the arrogant Jonathan a chance to fail. Jonathan then
hires Fred as his director and for several years they make low-budget
films together.
One day, frustrated over their meager budgets, Jonathan
comes up with an idea to turn a routine horror film into something
unique. Although audiences are enthusiastic about the picture,
Harry only offers a sequel as their next assignment. Fred later
tells Jonathan it is time for them to make a "real" picture and shows
him the script for The Far Away Mountain. Harry approves
the project, but Jonathan takes credit for the idea, disappointing Fred.
Wanting to have a big star for the lead, Fred suggests Victor "Gaucho"
Ribera and, with Syd’s help, they meet Gaucho at a club. To their
surprise, Gaucho agrees to do the film because he likes the script, and
Harry allocates $1,000,000 for the picture. Although Jonathan will
produce, he tells Fred that studio bosses have insisted on hiring
veteran Von Ellstein to direct. Hurt and angry over Jonathan’s
betrayal, Fred severs their friendship.
When he ends his story, Fred looks contemptuously at the
Oscar Jonathon won for The Far Away Mountain, but Harry reminds
him that Jonathan forced Fred to become independent and thus win two of
his own Oscars. He now is one of Hollywood’s most sought-after
directors and has a happy family with Kay.
Harry then asks Georgia about Jonathan. The
daughter of alcoholic screen legend George Lorrison, a teenaged Georgia
is left penniless and shattered when he dies. She tries to get
small acting jobs but, as her career founders, she turns to alcohol and
men. One day, Georgia gets a small part in one of Jonathan’s
pictures. Intrigued by her, Jonathan goes to her one-room
apartment that night, then lambastes her for being a drunk and building
a shrine to her father rather than emulating his class and talent.
She then hits him and sobs hysterically until he gently puts her to bed.
The next day, she shows up for the screen test, which
impresses no one but Jonathan, who sees inherent star quality in her.
Georgia agrees to give up alcohol and men and works hard for Jonathan,
with whom she falls in love. The night before her film is to
begin, Georgia disappears and Jonathan finds her drunk in her old room.
Jonathan takes her to his mansion and, realizing what she needs,
passionately kisses her.
After weeks of shooting, the film is completed and
Georgia is happy, sure that Jonathan loves her. The film is a
great success but, on the night of the premiere, Jonathan does not
attend the party. Thinking he does not want to take the spotlight
away from her, Georgia goes to his house to celebrate but finds that he
is with a starlet named Lila. The stunned Georgia drives away
after Jonathan lashes out at her, screaming that he feels empty at the
end of a picture.
At the conclusion of Georgia’s story, she says she will
never work with him again, though Harry reminds her that Jonathan turned
her from a drunk and a tramp into a star, one of the most popular in the
world.
Now Jim recalls his relationship with Jonathan. As
a well-respected professor at a Virginia college, Jim gains moderate
success with his first novel, The Proud Land, a racy story of old
Virginia. When Jonathan, who has bought the screen rights, calls
Jim to come to Hollywood for two weeks to discuss the script, Jim turns
him down, but his flighty, ambitious wife Rosemary convinces him to
accept. Rosemary quickly becomes dazzled by life in Hollywood. Jim
is less than enthusiastic but at her urging agrees to stay and work on
the script. Jonathan soon realizes that Rosemary is too much of a
distraction to Jim and suggests to Gaucho that he romance Rosemary while
he and Jim go to Lake Arrowhead for two weeks of uninterrupted work.
Despite Jim’s initial hatred of Jonathan, they work well together and
become friends by the end of the two weeks. As the men drive back
from Arrowhead, Jim confesses that he missed Rosemary’s distractions.
When they stop for gas, he is stunned by a newspaper headline stating
that Gaucho and Rosemary are believed dead in a mountain plane crash.
Later, Jonathan and Syd keep the press, who know that the
plane was headed for Acapulco, from revealing the truth in the
newspapers. Jonathan comforts Jim, who blames himself because he
left Rosemary alone, and feigns ignorance of Gaucho and Rosemary's
affair.
Four days after production begins on The Proud Land,
Jonathan’s constant second guessing of Von Ellstein causes him to quit,
and Jonathan takes over the picture’s direction. Although he works
hard and is very patient with the crew, when the picture is finished
Jonathan realizes that it is terrible and it is his fault. Jim
cheers Jonathan up by suggesting that they go to Lake Tahoe but, while
Jonathan is getting ready he lets it slip that he knew about Gaucho and
Rosemary before the plane crash. Jonathan tells the stunned Jim
that he is better off without Rosemary, who was a fool, after which Jim
punches him and leaves. When Jim finishes talking, Harry points
out that he won a Pulitzer Prize for his book based on Rosemary and is
one of the most successful screenwriters in Hollywood. Harry then
says that he is proud to have worked with Jonathan, even if Jonathan
considered him little more than a penny-pinching bookkeeper.
When a call comes through from Jonathan, Georgia, Fred
and Jim leave Harry’s office, but have a change of heart. Georgia
picks up an extension phone in the outer office and, as the three huddle
over the receiver, they hear Jonathan describe his idea for the new
picture and are intrigued. |
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