Dave Garver (Clint Eastwood) is a KRML radio jockey who broadcasts nightly from a studio in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, often incorporating poetry into his program. He lives a rather freewheeling bachelor lifestyle. At his favorite bar, seemingly by coincidence, he encounters a woman named Evelyn Draper (Jessica Walter). Dave drives Evelyn home, where she reveals that their meeting was not coincidental; she deliberately sought him out after hearing the bar mentioned on his radio show. He guesses correctly that she is a recurring caller who always requests the jazz standard "Misty." The two have sex.
Barry Champlain, a Jewish radio personality in Dallas, Texas, is a host with a caustic sense of humor and a knack for cutting people down with his controversial politically liberal views.
Jeanne Quester is a single mother. As a certified psychologist she works two jobs. During daytime she does social work but at night she is a radio personality who provides live advice for needy callers. Due to the success of her radio show she receives the offer to work for TV.
When a flying saucer lands in Washington, D.C., the U. S. Army quickly encircles the spaceship. A humanoid (Michael Rennie) emerges, announcing that he has come in peace. As he advances, he unexpectedly opens a small cylindrical device and is shot by a nervous soldier who thinks it's a weapon. A tall robot emerges from the saucer and quickly disintegrates the army's deployed weapons with an energy ray. The alien orders the robot, Gort, to stop. He explains that the broken device was a gift for the President, which would have enabled him "to study life on the other planets".
The film consists of three stories that take place on the same night in downtown Memphis. The three stories are linked together by the Arcade Hotel, a run-down flophouse presided over by the night clerk (Screamin' Jay Hawkins) and bellboy (Cinqué Lee), where the principal characters in each story spend a part of the night. Every room in the hotel is adorned with a portrait of Elvis Presley.
In 1939, a new radio network based at station WBN in Chicago, Illinois begins its inaugural night. The station's owner, General Walt Whalen, depends on his employees to impress main sponsor Bernie King. This includes writer Roger Henderson, assistant director Penny Henderson (Roger's wife, seeking divorce), page boy Billy Budget, engineer Max Applewhite, conductor Rick Rochester, announcer Dexter Morris, director Walt Whalen, Jr. and stage manager Herman Katzenback. After King commissions rewrites on the radio scripts, the WBN writers get angry, adding to the fact that they have not been paid in weeks.
Paul Braconnier et sa femme Blandine n'ont qu'une seule idée en tête : trouver le moyen d'assassiner l'autre sans risque. À la suite d'une émission de radio, Paul décide de se rendre à Paris pour rencontrer un célèbre avocat spécialisé dans l'acquittement des assassins. Il fait croire à l'avocat qu'il a tué sa femme. L'avocat interroge Paul pour reconstituer les circonstances du drame. Sans le savoir, il explique, bien malgré lui, la marche à suivre pour que Paul assassine sa femme en mettant de son côté toutes les chances d'éviter la guillotine, voire d'être acquitté…
During 1964, in the months following World War III, the conflict has devastated the northern hemisphere, polluting the atmosphere with nuclear fallout, killing all life there. Air currents are slowly carrying the fallout south; the only areas still habitable are in the far reaches of the southern hemisphere.
Michel Mortez (Jean Rochefort), animateur radio, sillonne la France avec Rivetot (Gérard Jugnot), pour animer depuis plus de 25 ans le jeu quotidien La Langue au chat. Rivetot apprend, alors qu'il téléphone à ses collègues, que l'émission va être supprimée. Par amitié et affection pour Mortez il décide de le lui cacher, détournant les lettres et coups de téléphone, jusqu'à simuler une émission qui n'est en réalité pas diffusée.
A French fishing trawler crew in the North Sea becomes incapacitated after eating contaminated food while in the middle of a storm. The story follows the efforts of an international collection of amateur radio operators to deliver an antidote.
Louise est une jeune chroniqueuse radio qui fait des sujets de société, en particulier en interviewant des femmes sur leur vie (et un peu, accessoirement, sur leur sexualité). Elle a un amoureux, tout va bien pour elle dans le meilleur des mondes... Mais un jour, pendant des ébats avec son homme, elle s'aperçoit qu'elle a perdu son clitoris. Cet événement a pour effet de faire s'effondrer sa confiance en elle, et perturbe de façon importante sa vie de tous les jours, sentimentale et professionnelle. Se posant toutes les questions existentielles possibles, elle n'aura dès lors qu'une seule chose en tête : tout faire pour retrouver son clitoris.
Claire Martin est animatrice de radio sous le pseudonyme de « Mélina ». La nuit, à l’antenne, elle dialogue avec les auditeurs au sujet de leurs problèmes affectifs et sexuels. Si sa voix est célèbre, personne ne connaît son visage.
Ben est en plein échec aussi bien professionnel que sentimental : lui qui se rêvait comique à New York rentre à Paris après avoir échoué. Il rencontre alors Alex, co-animateur vedette d'une matinale sur radio Blast FM, le Breakfast-club. Alex est entouré de Cyril, un quadragénaire mal assumé, et d'Arnold, l'animateur populaire de la bande. Ben est engagé pour écrire des sketches. Mais c'est alors qu'un raz de marée secoue soudainement la station : l’audience du Breakfast-club est en chute libre. La radio envoie alors la bande sillonner en bus les routes de France pour reconquérir leur public.
Aleksey Teodorovic Vlassov (Yul Brynner) is a high ranking KGB official who defects while in France. He has with him highly-classified information as part of a deal with Western intelligence for his arrival in the United States. The debriefing is held at Langley by DCI Allan Davies (Henry Fonda) and MI6 representative Philip Boyle (Dirk Bogarde). Vlassov hands off a list of enemy agents in Western Europe including a deep penetration into NATO. Davies wants to begin operations to arrest the agents; however, those on the list suddenly begin to die off. The CIA also has suspicions over the authenticity of Vlassov's claims. The CIA discovers that a defection photo of Vlassov was taken in the Soviet Union, not in Turkey, judging from the contours of Mt. Ararat in the background. Vlassov also fails a lie detector test after he angrily protests about sexual related questions asked by the CIA during the test.
The film is a road movie that follows a middle aged man who gives a young woman a lift. On the car radio, news bulletins warn the population against a recently escaped sadist who is known to prey on young women and children. Lelouch often cuts away from the main story, if only briefly, to parallel events that are not necessarily crucial to the story but illustrate what is suggested by the radio.