TIMMY McINTYRE, a one-time child film star, and in his mid-30s, attempts a comeback. Eventually, he succeeds beyond his wildest dreams but discovers that success has cost him something precious which he can never replace.
Synopsis:TIMMY McINTYRE was once a famous film performer but by the age on ten, he was a has-been. Now in this mid-30s, he survives by doing bit parts and TV commercials. On his way to an audition, he passes by an apartment where on the previous night a young actress was murdered. Timmy had known the actress and the police soon make him their prime suspect. At the audition for the host spot on a TV kiddie show, Timmy gives a good performance but is competing against two excellent actors. Discouraged and on the verge of being evicted from his seedy hotel, he takes a job showing real estate property for a couple of elderly, eccentric sisters. He also becomes involved with a less-than talented struggling actress whom he has met at the audition, who for reasons of her own offers to help Timmy win the job on the TV show. They are a perfect match as they both occasionally harbor dangerous delusions. Attempts are eventually made on the lives of the other two finalists. The police zero in on Timmy, tracking him through a bizarre world filled with former show-business people who feel most alive when dwelling on the town’s fabled past and only occasionally face up to reality. Eventually, the one-time child film star is cleared of all charges and thereafter makes a great comeback—but his success has cost him his innocence, which many brutal years of utter failure had never been able to do.