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Ethan Hunt has retired from fieldwork to live with his fiancée Julia, but he cannot refuse a mission to help recover his protégée Lindsay, captured by arms dealer Owen Davian in Berlin. Lindsay is killed in the mission, but Ethan's team has found intel that Davian will be in Vatican City to sell a mysterious biological weapon called the Rabbit's Foot. Ethan also receives from Lindsay a postcard hiding a microdot. Ethan then plans and execute an unofficial mission to capture Davian in the Vatican (by replacing the real one with a disguised Ethan and then staging his death in a car explosion), but when interrogated the arms dealer only threaten to kill everybody for whom Ethan cares. After landing in the USA, Ethan learns from IMF technician Benji Dunn that the microdot contains a warning about his boss, Theodore Brassel just before the convoy taking Davian into custody is attacked and the prisoner escapes. Ethan rushes to the hospital where Julia works, but she has already been kidnapped by Davian's men who give him 48 hours to deliver the Rabbit's Foot ; Ethan is apprehended by the IMF but director of operations John Musgrave helps him escape, telling him that the weapon is in Shanghai. Ethan travels there and meets his team (sent by Musgrave); Ethan enters the building where the weapon is located by swinging on a rope from a nearby, taller building and then BASE jumps down. He then delivers the weapon but is captured but Davian; the latter threatens to kill Julia in front of him if he doesn't tell him where the real Rabbit's Foot is. As Ethan cannot answer (he is certain of having delivered the real thing), Davian kills her. Soon after Musgrave appears, reveals that the dead woman was Davian's chief of security in a mask, that he planted the misinformation about Brassel and that he works for Davian with the goal of obtaining an excuse to do a preemptive strike in the Middle East. Ethan escapes, knocks Musgrave out and locates Julia thanks to a tracker placed on the weapon, Musgrave's phone and Benji's help. Ethan then kills Davian before freeing Julia and telling her about his work at IMF.

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James Bond est chargé d'enquêter sur un trafic de diamants entre les mines du Sierra Leone et les États-Unis. Il infiltre le réseau en prenant la place d'un passeur et prend contact avec Tiffany Case qui lui transmet les ordres venant du mystérieux chef ABC. James suspecte le gang des frères Jack et Seraffimo Spang d'être à la tête du trafic. À New York, James livre les diamants (cachés dans ses balles de golf) au gangster Shady Tree, reçoit une partie de son payement et l'ordre d'aller gagner le restant dans une course de chevaux truquée à Saratoga. Il rencontre Felix Leiter, maintenant employé par Pinkerton pour démasquer une fraude hippique à Saratoga. Les deux hommes s'y rendent ensemble et Felix soudoie le jockey pour qu'il se disqualifie. Lorsque James se rend à un établissement de bains de boue pour payer le jockey, ce dernier est attaqué par deux tueurs, Wint et Kidd. James se plaint ensuite à Shady Tree de n'avoir pas gagné la somme qui lui avait été promise; ce dernier l'envoie alors au casino Tiara de Las Vegas pour gagner la somme à une table et une heure précise. James y retrouve Tiffany comme croupière, qui lui fait gagner son dû au vingt-et-un, mais contrairement à ses instructions, James continue de jouer (à la roulette) pour provoquer une réaction de Spang. Le lendemain, après une course poursuite il est capturé et emmené à Spectreville, une ville fantôme de l'ouest américain détenue par Seraffimo Spang où ce dernier gare son train privé. Il est torturé mais grâce à Tiffany, qui est la compagne de Spang, ils parviennent à s'échapper en draisine, poursuivis par le train. Bond parvient à faire dérailler le train, tuant Spang. Ils sont récupérés par Felix qui les ramène à Los Angeles d'où ils volent vers New York pour embarquer sur le Queen Elizabeth pour Southampton. À bord du navire, James finit par reconnaitre Wint et Kidd; ces derniers enlèvent Tiffany mais James la libère et tue les deux tueurs, maquillant leur mort en bagarre ayant dégénéré. Plus tard, James se rend en Afrique pour arrêter Jack Spang, alias ABC, qui efface les traces de sont trafic. Accompagné par la garnison de Freetown, James suit le dentiste qui fait sortir les diamants de la mine jusqu'à son rendez-vous à la frontière de la Guinée française et du Libéria; le dentiste est tué par Spang, arrivé en hélicoptère et Spang est tué à son tour lorsqu'il tente de s'enfuir.

The Sirian Empire is technically so advanced that its citizens are immortal and have machines catering to their every needs; the result is that many of them feel they have no reason to exist. To give these people something to do, the Empire colonizes many planets, leading to fighting and losing to the Canopus empire. As a gesture of reconciliation, Canopus invites Sirius to jointly colonize Rohanda, leaving them the southern hemisphere. Ambien II represents Sirius on Rohanda and sets in motion a series of experiments on populations transported various colonies of the empire. But Ambien fails to understand the mysterious Canopus and she mistrusts them as a partner in that vast enterprise. Canopus's attempt to lock the indigenous population in a harmonious state fails and the inhabitants fall under the corrupting influence of Shammat, of the Puttiora Empire; Canopus therefore renames the planet Shikasta. Klorathy, a Canopean colonial administrator invites Ambien to observe events in their territory. They meet multiple times as civilisations come and go (e.g. Attila-like barbarians invading other kingdoms and killing everybody, an Aztec-like society sacrificing humans; a society where “lesser” sentient beings are experimented on without remorse), and despite Canopus' attempt to help the local communities, little progress is made due to Shammat's negative influence. Ambien meets Nasar, another Canopean who got corrupted over the millennia spent on Shikasta by Shammat; she also meets Tafta, Shammat's commander on the planet, and nearly succumbs to his corruption. Ambien eventually abandons the experiments on Rohanda, but despite the wish of the four other member of Sirius' directing committee, she refuses to forget the planet, having grown attached to the planet and starting to understand Canopus' way and how the Sirian Empire went wrong. The Four then send Ambien on exile to Planet 13, where she writs her report of the Sirian Experiments; the Four deny its authenticity upon its release.

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In the American Old West, Bret Maverick needs to find $3,000 to participate in a poker tournament. He first goes to Crystal River to collect on debts. In a poker game, he encounters young con-artist Annabelle Bransford and ill-tempered gambler Angel. Bret is forced to flee without money from his debtor (lost in a bank robbery) and without the winnings he got from Angel. Bret then shares a stagecoach with Annabelle and Marshal Zane Cooper, narrowly escape a fatal plunge into a ravine. They then encounter a group of settlers who have been robbed by bandits disguised as Indians; Bret recovers their money in exchange for a $3,000 reward, but decides to give them back the reward. They are then cornered by a group of real Indians, whose chief Joseph is a friend of Bret's. The latter claims he has to accompany the Indians so that his two companions remain safe, but in reality he wants to collect the $1,000 Joseph owes him. Joseph and Bret swindle a Russian Archduke of the needed amount in a scheme that “allows” him to hunt and kill an Indian (Bret in a disguise). In the meanwhile, Angel receives an telegram instructing him to stop Bret. He and his men catch him and try to hang him, but he escapes and manages to reach the Lauren Bell steamer where the tournament will take place. There he recognizes the Archduke and, pretending to be from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, cons him out of $6,000 to cover his and Annabelle's entry fee. The tournament is organized by Commodore Duvall and Zane oversees the security of the game and of the $500,000 prize money. Bret, Annabelle, Angel and Duvall advance to the final game. During a break, Angel locks Bret in his room, but he manages to climb out of it and join the game just in time. Bret notices that the dealer is bottom-dealing and forces Angel to give him the top card, but refuses to look at it before betting. Bret gets the card he was missing to have a royal flush and wins the tournament. Angel and his men draw their weapons, but get killed by Zane and Bret. During the closing ceremony, Zane steals the prize money and escapes; he later meets Duvall, revealing they were working together and that Angel was working for Duvall. Bret appears and takes back the money. Later in a bath house, Zane is revealed to be Bret's father; they hade been planning together to con Duvall. In the end, Annabelle arrives and steals the satchel with the money, but Bret explains he had hidden half of it in his boots, so they still have $250,000 to enjoy.