Eileen Brennan

Comic Book Villains -- Two comic book store owners are both after a rare collection of old comic books - potentially worth millions.

Max Baron (James Spader) is a successful St. Louis advertising executive who's been in mourning since the death of his young wife. A chance late-night encounter introduces him to Nora Baker (Susan Sarandon), and unexpectedly turns his life upside-down.

Falling upon a large sum of mob money, Freddie Manning and his cynical, naysaying best friend, Junior, lose in a crazy chase through the city. Freddie and Junior are left owing Asian crime boss Toshiba Ohara and his spicy daughter, Han, $10,000 in seven days! The Hustle will warm your soul and have you rolling on the floor, mobbed by laughter.

Everybody "hustles"-especially in Los Angeles where suicides, strip joints, shootouts, porno movies, the mob and murder combine into a collage. Caught in this web of modern reality is an old fashioned detective (Burt Reynolds). A moralist who still sees the difference between right and wrong, he can hardly reconcile himself to the ugliness of his job. By day he investigates a young girl's suicide; at night he relaxes with Catherine Deneuve, a high-priced Paris call girl. Director Robert Aldrich elicits fine performances from Reynolds and Deneuve while his perceptive direction explains why they're never quite able to escape the hustle they're so uncomfortable with.