Clifford Odets

American Playhouse is an anthology television series periodically broadcast by Public Broadcasting Service in the United States.

In order to help bring Nazis to justice, U.S. government agent T.R. Devlin recruits Alicia Huberman, the American daughter of a convicted German war criminal, as a spy. As they begin to fall for one another, Alicia is instructed to win the affections of Alexander Sebastian, a Nazi hiding out in Brazil. When Sebastian becomes serious about his relationship with Alicia, the stakes get higher, and Devlin must watch her slip further undercover.

New York City newspaper writer J.J. Hunsecker holds considerable sway over public opinion with his Broadway column, but one thing that he can't control is his younger sister, Susan, who is in a relationship with aspiring jazz guitarist Steve Dallas. Hunsecker strongly disapproves of the romance and recruits publicist Sidney Falco to find a way to split the couple, no matter how ruthless the method.

An embittered woman seeks escape in marriage, only to fall for her husband’s best friend.

A troubled young man discovers that he has a knack for writing when a counselor encourages him to pursue a literary career.

An actor on the skids is given one more chance to regain his stardom, as well as his self-respect, yet his alcoholism may prevent that from happening.

A young Navy sailor has one night to find out why a woman was killed and he ended up with a bag of money after a drinking blackout.

Despite his talent as a musician, a city boy decides to become a boxer. He's successful as a fighter — much to the dismay of his father. When gangsters try to buy a piece of him, he begins to have second thoughts.

A friendly, successful suburban teacher and father grows dangerously addicted to cortisone, resulting in his transformation into a household despot.

China, 1930s, during the ravaging civil war. General Pen entrusts O'Hara, an intrepid American adventurer, with the mission of providing a large sum of money to Mr. Wu with the task of buying weapons in Shanghai to help end General Yang's tyranny that keeps an entire province under his ruthless iron boot.

A classical musician from a working class background is sidetracked by his love for a wealthy, neurotic socialite.

Movie star Charlie Castle draws the ire of Hollywood producer Stanley Hoff when he refuses to sign a new seven-year contract. Castle is sick of the low quality of the studio's films and wants to start a new life. While his estranged wife supports him in the decision, Castle's talent agent urges him to reconsider. When Castle continues to be uncooperative, Hoff resorts to blackmail in order to get his way.

Fictionalized biography of George Gershwin and his fight to bring serious music to Broadway.

When an itinerant reluctantly returns home to help his sickly mother run her shop, they're both tempted to turn to crime to help make ends meet.

A young American soldier, with an honorable discharge, returns home from World War II to his bride, whom he married after a short courtship and has not seen for several years. The two come together with many trials and tribulations in trying to preserve their marriage in the post-war years.

A simple peasant is forced to take up arms to defend his farm during the Spanish Civil War. Along the way he falls in love with a Russian girl whose father is involved in espionage.

An adulterous couple is accused of murder after the woman's husband is shot and killed during a scuffle. A high-profile court case tells the story.

Director Bernie Dodd hires alcoholic has-been actor Frank Elgin and strikes up a stormy relationship with the actor's wife Georgia.

The Bergers, a blue-collar Jewish family living in an overstuffed tenement and undone by the Depression, struggle through hard times and dream of a better future in this 1972 production of Clifford Odets' pungent play. Personalities and politics clash as Odets' mélange of characters try to survive on pennies a day. Walter Matthau plays cynical World War I amputee Moe Axelrod, and Leo Fuchs portrays the family's iron-willed leftist grandfather.

In 1938 New York City, a dentist finds his business and marriage failing as he embarks on a love affair with a young dental assistant.