Robert Rossen

A Southern lawyer battles his way to the governorship, with the help of his secretary. Once elected, he becomes a dictator.

Willie Stark is an uncorrupted small-town mayor in 1950s Louisiana. He gets picked by the political machine to run as a wild card candidate in the upcoming gubernatorial race. But, when Willie realizes that he is being manipulated, he veers off on his own to become the darling of the electorate's downtrodden and forgotten hicks. Covering the campaign for a local paper is Jack Burden, whose editorial pieces become so admiring of Willie that he's fired....

Set against the backdrop of the 1916 war against Pancho Villa, Thomas Thorn, a career Army officer, is given the task of leading five Medal of Honor candidates to the military base of Cordura, Texas. Branded a coward during battle, Thorn hopes to learn what these men possess which he lacks. As the journey through the desert progresses, the "heroes" panic, attempting murder, mutiny and rape as the quest for survival reveals their true characters.

Four different love affairs simultaneously wreak havoc in the lives of the inhabitants of a tropical paradise. A wealthy plantation owner plots murder when he suspects his wife of having an adulterous relationship. At the same time, his sister-in-law is drawn to his enemy, a dedicated black labor leader, and a governor's aide is torn over his scandalous affair with a native woman.

A World War I veteran (Cagney) returns to New York, innocently becomes involved in bootlegging, builds up an empire and dies in a gang war. Set against a background of newsreel-like montages and narration.