Johnny is a lift boy by day and a cold-hearted hitman for an unhinged gay gangster called Charn by night. He's also in a gay relationship with Paul, a bartender from Charn's gay club. Jealous of Johnny, Charn orders him to kill Paul.
A dangerous blind gangster, his henchman and his girlfriend hold a meek housewife hostage in her home, claiming that they're there for her husband, who's away. Certain that they've confused them with someone else, she tries to escape.
In 1929, a famed shamus known as the Continental Op is on the trail of a well-known socialite, who ran away with a notorious gangster and is now missing. The case takes the Continental Op to blackmail and murder.
In this grim tale, a secretive man who may or may not be a famous Hollywood actor visits a small town bar. Mistaking him for the town's mayor, a ruthless gang of bank robbers takes him hostage along with the sheriff and his family.
In 1945, African American G.I. is saved from two racist cops by another black soldier. Some years later, the man asks him to return the favor by helping his vamp girlfriend free herself from the manager of the bar where she sings.
An embattled mob boss whose gunsels have just been massacred by a rival, hides out in a hotel room waiting for assistance promised by an out-of-town hood. In the meantime, he tries to hold on to the last vestiges of his sanity as gnawing fear and muzak piped into his room slowly drive him crazy.
In 1940s, sympathetic African American L.A. shamus Philip Marlowe helps a dame in trouble whose lovers are offing each other over a possibly fake pearl necklace. He must also deal with a racist cop that's investigating the murders.
