An elderly wanderer, a sexy young girl running away from home and a folk singer looking for stardom hitch-hike their way cross-country, trying to get to California.

To avoid the life-threatening dangers of manned space exploration, Professor Nordstrom creates highly advanced form of artificial intelligence capable of piloting a starship to other worlds. In order to transmit alien data, the extraordinary robot is infused with a powerful telepathic device that enables it to instantly read and even feel emotions. Danger strikes when a sinister band of covert agents kidnaps Gadge, the professor's 10-year-old grandson. But Gadge has a powerful ally. For he has developed a psychic, emotional bond with his grandfather's robot. And now Gadge's captors must suffer the wrath of his protective friend. They must face a mechanical monstrosity bent on a killing rampage of revenge and destruction.

The living Volkswagen Beetle helps an old lady protect her home from a corrupt developer.

Hobos encounter a sadistic railway conductor that will not let anyone "ride the rails" for free.

The unintentional shooting by police of a star basketball player has profound personal, political and community repercussions in this acclaimed adaptation of the novel Hog Butcher by Ronald Fair. This was one of the more thoughtful urban dramas produced at the height of the "blaxploitation" craze. Also released under the title Hit the Open Man, it features the screen debut of Laurence Fishburne, who was barely a teenager at the time.