Martin Ritt

The pending case: The People of the State of New York vs. Claudia Draper. The issue: Is Claudia mentally competent to stand trial? Sure, she's shocking, outspoken, explosive. But is she "nuts?" Claudia holds nothing back as she takes on the judicial system, modern psychiatry, personal demons and anyone in her way.

In 1928 Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings moves to Florida's backwaters to write in peace. She feels bothered by affectionate men, editor and confused neighbors, but soon she connects and writes The Yearling, a classic of American literature.

Hud Bannon has always preferred drinking, fighting and womanizing to the very traditional ways of his father. Hud is a man who cares more for himself than he does his young nephew, his dad, or even their understanding housekeeper. When disease threatens the cattle on the Bannon Ranch, the conflict between Hud and his old-line father reaches an all time high.

Ben Quick, an industrious con artist who's known throughout the country as a barn burner, gets run out of a Mississippi town. He meets up with Clara Varner, whose father is pressuring her to get married and provide him with grandchildren. It isn't long before he decides Ben and Clara should marry, and when she resists, it sets up a dramatically escalating clash of wills.