United States

The year is 1910. The new entertainment medium, silent movies, is growing into an industry, and a group of innocent odd-balls find themselves in California making a film. Ryan O'Neal is a lawyer who smells success; Burt Reynolds, the leading man, is an ex-referee of alligator wrestling; Jane Hitchcock a myopic dancer who literally stumbles into movies; and Tatum O'Neal a kooky teenager who supplies the props. A series of location mishaps end up on film, proving an unexpected hit, and the film folk become 'stars'. Director Peter Bogdanovich's love for the early days of silent cinema shows in every physical detail lavished on the Hollywood pioneers. The climax is the premiere of D.W. Griffith's mammoth production The Birth of a Nation - clearly feature films are here to stay!