- During the 1930s, Lewis Tate aspires to be the next great American Western writer. When he travels to California, he's recruited by Bert Kessler, a Hollywood unit manager, to star in a series of low-rent Westerns.
- Lewis Tater writes Wild West dime novels and dreams of actually becoming a cowboy. When he goes west to find his dream, he finds himself in possession of the loot box of two crooks who tried to rob him. During his escape, Lewis stumbles on to the set of a Wild West movie, and through mishap and chance, becomes a star of Hollywood Westerns.—Bree Humphries <mhumphri@brynmawr.edu>
- 1933. Iowa hayseed Lewis Tater wants to be the next Zane Grey, doing whatever needed to get his western novel published and to be a better western writer. As such, he enrolls in a correspondence writing course with the University of Titan which he learned about from a magazine ad. He decides to head to Titan, Nevada to soak in the western atmosphere and to attend the classes in person, he not realizing that the university does not exist and that it is all a scam. In Titan, he, by chance, stumbles across Hollywood-based Tumbleweed Productions' latest filming locale, they who specialize in B-westerns. Tumbleweed studio head Bert Kessler hires Lewis, who needs a job to live, to be among the stable of stock "cowboys" appearing in his movies. As enthusiastic but naive Lewis works his way through his new-found movie career while still clinging to the notion of getting his novel published, he changes his role model from Grey to Billy Pueblo, who was not only a famed western writer but also a star in B-westerns before he supposedly retired from both careers to live on a weasel farm in Montana. Lewis is assisted in navigating through his Hollywood life primarily by two people: Howard Pike, the lead stock cowboy in Tumbleweed's movies, he who is also seen as an expert in all things culturally western; and "Troutie" - Miss Trout - Kessler's production manager, who is attracted to Lewis, and he to her. Lewis also has to steer clear of the con artists behind the University of Titan, they who are after him because of an incident that occurred before Lewis left Titan, and who only know that Lewis has headed to Hollywood.—Huggo
- In the early 1930s, Lewis Tater (Jeff Bridges) is an young Iowa farmer who has great ambition to be a Western fiction writer like his idol Zane Grey. Although Lewis registers for a correspondence course offered by the University of Titan in Nevada, he decides he will benefit more by studying on campus, where he can experience the "real West." After leaving his parents' farm, he takes a train to Titan, which turns out to be an isolated whistle stop. The ticket agent tells him that no university exists and that the correspondence school is merely several post office boxes that are checked once a week by two con men. Ignoring the agent's advice to return home, Lewis gets a ride into town and checks into a hotel that happens to be the con men's base of operations.
During the night, one of the con men attempts to rob Lewis' room, but Lewis awakens and fights, then hastily packs his suitcase, jumps into the con men's car and drives off into the desert. When the car runs out of gas, Lewis grabs his suitcase, as well as a second case that he finds in the boot of the car, and starts walking. The con men retrieve their car, but finding their case missing, begin a search for Lewis.
Unprepared for the desert heat, Lewis walks for hours, fantasizing that he is a stoic character in dire circumstances, until life imitates art and he is almost trampled by Howard Pike (Andy Griffith) and other gun slinging cowboys riding horses. The men, who are actors making a "talking picture" for a "Poverty Row" studio named Tumbleweed Production Company, take Lewis to their camp, where his sunburn and black eye are tended by Miss Trout (Blythe Danner), who is assistant to Kessler (Alan Arkin), the film director.
When the troupe returns to Hollywood, Lewis accompanies them and takes a room in a local boardinghouse. Meanwhile, the con men arrive at the vacated shooting site and find a scrap of cardboard bearing the name of the Rio Café, a Hollywood restaurant that supplies the troupe's meals on location.
In his boardinghouse room, Lewis continues to write stories, but soon returns to the production company office to ask for a job and Trout gives him an application to fill out. Overhearing them talk, Howard Pike sends Lewis to the Rio, where he is hired as a dishwasher. Not long after, Lewis is cast as an "extra" to work with Pike and his colleagues, Wally and Jackson.
One day, when Kessler asks for a volunteer to do the risky stunt of jumping from a balcony onto the back of a horse, the veteran stuntmen feign reluctance, forcing Kessler to raise the fee he is willing to pay them. The experienced men continue to hesitate, but Lewis enthusiastically volunteers to do the stunt for no extra money. He accomplishes the task successfully but, afterward, suffers great pain while getting off the horse. Pike explains that when a special stunt is needed, Lewis should wait until enough money is offered to make it worth the risk; otherwise, Lewis will ruin the business and be disliked by his co-workers.
Meanwhile, the con men suspect that the Rio is a clue to finding Lewis and proceed there. When Lewis sees them, he runs away before they can confront him. Back in his room, Lewis looks into the purloined case, where he discovers University of Titan stationery, a gun and a few thousand dollars in cash and money orders.
Later, after Kessler fires an actor for demanding a raise, he replaces him with Lewis. Although Lewis' acting is at first wooden and unconvincing, he soon becomes so good that Kessler gives him a screen test. Trout, who grows attracted to Lewis, invites him to her home. Charmed that Lewis would rather be a writer than a star, she suggests that he talk to Pike, who, she reveals, is secretly paid by Kessler to help him create realistic cowboy characters.
Lewis goes to Pike's apartment and tells him that he is a writer, but is pointedly informed that a person is a writer only when someone else says he is. Despite this rebuke, Pike agrees to look at Lewis's manuscript, which is titled Hearts of the West . Meanwhile, after seeing Lewis's screen test, Kessler decides to invest in him as an upcoming star. The Rio hangs Lewis' head shot on the wall next to photos of famous film cowboys. Among the photos is one of Lewis' heroes, former cowboy star, Billy Pueblo, who seems to have disappeared from the movies. When Lewis wonders aloud about what happened to Billy, Pike says wistfully that the actor became independently wealthy and bought a ranch. Knowing that Lewis will be negotiating with Kessler, Pike advises him not to accept anything less than $150 a week, and if Kessler refuses, to walk out of the room.
However, when Lewis follows Howard's advice, Kessler fires him. Trout later explains to Lewis that even the star of the film does not earn that much money and that Pike is not financially savvy. When Lewis refuses to believe that Pike would mislead him, Trout explains that Pike used to known as Billy Pueblo, but his career declined. Trout arranges for Lewis to meet Eddie Polo, a film director and brother-in-law of A. J. Nietz (Donald Pleasence), a major pulp fiction publisher. When Polo is unwilling to introduce Lewis to Nietz, Lewis offers to raise $2,000 for the director's special film project.
Using Titan stationary to write a letter of introduction, Lewis proceeds to a bank, opens an account and cashes the con men's money orders. After Lewis presents the $2,000, Polo directs Lewis to visit Nietz's seaside mansion. There, Nietz agrees to look at Lewis' manuscript and a few days later, invites him back for brunch. A lively party is in progress when Lewis arrives, but Nietz takes him aside to meet with Pike, who has submitted "Hearts of the West" to Nietz for publication under his own name. Pike explains that alimony payments and other bills made him desperate, but Lewis, hurt that his role model would stoop to plagiarism, refuses to listen and tells him that Billy Pueblo stood for something positive.
Returning to Hollywood, Lewis discovers that the con men have searched his room and are waiting in their car in front of his boardinghouse. Lewis sneaks to Trout's apartment, but, finding Kessler there, presumes she is romantically involved with him and leaves. Trout searches for Lewis, unaware that the con men are following her.
At the Rio, where Kessler, Pike and the rest of the production crew are holding a stag party in a back room, Trout learns that Lewis is at the apartment of a friend and proceeds there. Shortly after she arrives, the con men burst into the apartment and hold them at gunpoint, as they search for the money. In an unsuccessful attempt to confront them, Lewis is shot twice. Unexpectedly, Pike, ready to make amends for betraying Lewis, enters and, armed with a six-shooter, forces the con men into the closet to wait for the police.
Later, as Lewis is being placed into an ambulance, he suggests to Pike that a story of their experience might make enough money to fulfill Pike's dream of independent wealth. However, the former cowboy star plans for Lewis to get the glory. As the con men are led to a paddy wagon to take them away to jail, they ask Pike the identity of "the kid." Pike answers, "Lewis Tater, a writer." While Lewis is driven away in the ambulance, he continues to create a story in his head.
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