Plot

A film producer who owes money to a mobster tries to "accidentally" kill his aging movie star for an insurance scam so he can payoff his debt, but he begins to realize that the movie they're shooting is a masterpiece in the making.

In debt to the mob and in need of a new money making scheme to save his skin, greedy grind-house film producer Max Barber (Robert De Niro) decides to produce a dangerous new film, all for the sake of killing his lead actor in a stunt so he can rake in the insurance money. But when he casts Duke Montana (Tommy Lee Jones), an aging, washed up movie star as the lead, Max never expects the depressed old drunk to be revitalized by being in front of the camera again. Unable to kill Duke in a basic stunt, Max ups the stakes, putting Duke into ever more dangerous situations. And as Duke survives stunt after stunt, Max unwittingly starts making the best movie of his career. A cross between "Get Shorty" and "The Producers," THE COMEBACK TRAIL is a fun journey through the underbelly of Hollywood. Littered with a cast of unforgettable and outrageous characters, it will have you giggling.—Anonymous

The second teaming between De Niro and Gallo since the 1988 action comedy Midnight Run, which the latter wrote, follows Max Barber (De Niro) and his partner Walter (Zach Braff) who play down-and-out B-Movie producers who find themselves in trouble with mob boss Reggie Fontaine (Morgan Freeman). To save himself and Walter, Barber has to sell the only great script he's ever had to his former intern and, now, A-Movie producer, James Moore (Emile Hirsch). On the first day of shooting Moore's lead actor dies in a stunt accident and lets him cash in on a huge insurance policy. That gives Barber an idea to do the same. They take a horrible script called The Oldest Gun In The West and hire a washed-up cowboy actor, Duke Montana (Tommy Lee Jones) to play the lead. Known for doing his own stunts during his prime, Montana is poised for an early demise allowing Barber to get away with his get-rich-quick scam. Only one problem...nobody told Montana.—Anonymous