#2. Kansas City Confidential (1952)

Storyline: A down-on-his-luck ex-G.I. finds himself framed for an armored car robbery. When he's finally released for lack of evidence, after having been worked-over by the police, he sets out to discover who set him up, and why. The trail leads him into Mexico and a web of hired thugs and a corrupt cop.—frankfob2@yahoo.com

Plot Keywords: bank robber, ex-convict, police officers, daughter, suspenseful, crafty, brooding ...

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#3. Kansas City (1996)

Storyline: Robert Altman's jazz-scored film explores themes of love, crime, race, and politics in 1930s Kansas City. When Blondie O'Hara's husband, a petty thief, is captured by Seldom Seen and held at the Hey Hey Club, she launches a desperate plan to release him. She kidnaps the wife of a powerful local politician in an attempt to blackmail him into using his connections to free Johnny. Despite this being election time, he risks exposure by putting the political machine into action to free Johnny and thereby save his wife. Mrs. Stilton, meanwhile, has befriended Blondie and is impressed by her love and devotion to Johnny, especially in contrast to her own loveless marriage.—Tad Dibbern <DIBBERN_D@a1.mscf.upenn.edu>

Plot Keywords: wife, thief, mobster, politician, husband, tense, cool ...

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#4. Mail Order Bride (1964)

Storyline: In 1890, former lawman Will Lane arrives in Montana to keep a promise made to a friend who died. His promise is to take care of his dead friend's son, Lee Carey. Will Lane has the title to the partially built Carey ranch and its livestock. He is to hand over this inheritance to young and immature Lee but only when the lad becomes a responsible and mature man. According to Lee's father's wishes, Will Lane should also see to it that Lee gets married to a responsible woman having her head on her shoulders. This could help keep Lee out of trouble and prevent him from gallivanting around with his no-good, care-free, prankster friends. As Will Lane arrives in the outskirts of Congress, Montana, he unexpectedly runs into young Lee Carey at a rough river crossing. The first encounter with Lee isn't too promising. Later, when Will Lane reveals to Lee Carey his identity and his mission, Lee adopts a rebellious attitude and does everything possible to aggravate the old ex-lawman and sabotage the plan to get Lee married and on the straight-responsible track in life. Eventually, Will Lane will discover that it's hard to get Lee to obey his father's last wishes and even harder to force Lee to marry. Of course, Lee's irresponsible bachelor friends also do the utmost to sabotage old man Lane's plans regarding Lee. They aim to keep Lee irresponsible and single for as long as possible. But old man Lane has a little trick up his sleeve. He places wife-wanted ads in the newspapers and he even travels to Kansas City to interview a few prospective candidates willing to marry Lee, a man they've never met before. It turns out that it's easier to find a wife for Lee than it is to persuade Lee to stay married to her.—nufs68

Plot Keywords: father figure, frontiersman, mail-order bride, outlaw, young man, engaging, heartwarming ...

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#5. Jeanne Eagels (1957)

Storyline: A largely fictionalized account of the career of actress Jeanne Eagels, whose fame was both on stage and on the screen in the 1910s and 1920s, is presented. After losing in a rigged carnival beauty pageant, winning which she believed would be her first step to becoming a serious actress, Jeanne joins the traveling carnival itself under the guidance of the pageant organizer, Sal Satori, who features her in a variety of carnival stage shows. But it's when the carnival approaches New York City that Jeanne demonstrates how she truly mapped out her road to acting fame even before meeting Sal. Under the tutelage of renowned acting coach Nellie Neilson, Jeanne, who does possess true acting talent, is given her big acting break and does achieve fame on the Broadway stage, and ultimately also in Hollywood films. Jeanne is not averse to doing whatever is required to advance her career, even at the expense of others. Achieving fame so quickly takes its toll on Jeanne, who turns to alcohol and drugs which would lead to her tragic end. Although other men would come and go over her life, Sal, who ends up joining forces with his brother in operating lucrative Coney Island attractions, is one constant, he who fell in love with and wanted to marry her.—Huggo

Plot Keywords: dancer, waitress, actress, carnival worker, understudy, passionate, dark ...

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#6. Mad Money (2008)

Storyline: Don and Bridget Cardigan's upper middle class lifestyle is threatened since Don, who has been out of work for a year, seems to have given up looking for a job, and housewife Bridget has been out of the workforce for most of her life. They are close to $300,000 in debt. Finding out this information, Bridget comes to the conclusion that she needs to get a job - any job - that at least provides them with some benefits. She reluctantly takes a job as a janitor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Almost immediately, Bridget is enthralled with all the old worn out money that is being shredded. She comes up with a plan to get her old lifestyle back by stealing much of that money, which she believes is an easy job since the locks used on the money carts are standard equipment and as she notices that no one ever checks the garbage as she goes about her work. Her plan needs the cooperation of one person who works the shredder and one person who pushes the carts of money. The two people ...

Plot Keywords: housewife, husband, coworker, janitor, supervisor, bank manager, lighthearted ...

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#7. The Delinquents (1957)

Storyline: Scotty White (age 19) must stop 'going steady' with Janice Wilson (age 16) when Janice's parents intervene. Frustrated, idle and without Janice's restraining influence, Scotty encounters Cholly and his band of disorganized, fun-loving delinquents. Soon he has Janice (who seems considerably the more mature of the two) mixed up in their doings, which begin to seem less and less like harmless fun...—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>

Plot Keywords: teen boy, girlfriend, father, mother, friend, gang leader, gritty ...

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#8. All Creatures Here Below (2018)

Storyline: Gensan (David Dastmalchian) and Ruby (Karen Gillan) live on the fringes of society in Los Angeles, struggling to survive in the face of abject poverty. On a fateful night, they strike out to seize something that has always been denied them, which sets in motion a series of events with dire consequences. Their impulsively committed crime puts them on run from the police. They seek refuge in their hometown of Kansas City, a place filled with the dark secrets that have haunted them since they fled years ago.

Plot Keywords: young man, young woman, baby, boss, police detective, bleak, brooding ...

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#9. City Heat (1984)

Storyline: Kansas City in the 1930s: Private Investigator Mike Murphy's (Burt Reynolds') partner is brutally murdered when he tries to blackmail a mobster with his secret accounting records. When a rival gang boss goes after the missing records, ex-policeman Murphy is forced to team up again with his ex-partner Lieutenant Speer (Clint Eastwood), even though they can't stand each other, to fight both gangs before Kansas City erupts in a mob war.—Tom Zoerner <Tom.Zoerner@informatik.uni-erlangen.de>

Plot Keywords: police officer, private investigator, secretary, mobster, partner, socialite, wild ...

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