The Other Side of the Wind

After two decades in exile, iconic film director Jake Hannaford (John Huston) has returned to Hollywood. He's trying to complete his final movie, THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND, but is struggling to raise the funds necessary to finance its completion. A long-time friend plays hostess for Hannaford's gala 70th birthday party, a chance for Hannaford to show the Hollywood movers and shakers a sample of the work in progress as a desperate attempt to secure the production money. The party is a who's-who of Tinseltown luminaries, including Brooks Otterlake (Peter Bogdanovich), a young Hannaford acolyte who has recently achieved tremendous success in his own right as a groundbreaking director, and Julie Rich (Susan Strasberg), a film critic who seems to enjoy needling Hannaford every chance she gets. Through the perspective of the partygoers, the conversations -- increasingly animated and drunken -- center on their opinions of the myth of Jake Hannaford and his relevance in an industry being taken over by a younger generation. Hannaford himself, through drunken witticisms and bitter lamentations, pokes fun at and takes stock of his legacy and reputation while confronting his masculinity and mortality.