A legendary hobo, A No.1 (Lee Marvin) is renowned for his expertise in riding the rails for free, but he meets his match with Shack (Ernest Borgnine), a fierce railroad conductor who mercilessly kicks stowaways off of his train. Joined by brash young hobo Cigaret (Keith Carradine), A No.1 manages to elude Shack but issues a challenge to the heavily armed conductor, announcing that he will ride the train for its entire route, leading to a violent showdown between the two strong-willed men.

A rich Texan, J.W. Grant, selects three men and invites them to his private train to offer them a contract: Rescue his wife who has been kidnapped by a Mexican revolutionary. The leader of the men, Rico, decides they would be a better team if Grant would hire one more man, an explosives expert. Grant quickly agrees and soon the four are off to complete the contract. However, while on the trail, they discover some interesting facts, like has Mrs. Grant 'really' been kidnapped?

A small southern town has just been rocked by a tragedy: a young woman has been violently raped. The white town fathers immediately declare that the attacker had to be black, and place the blame on Garth, a young black man. Assuming that the men in white sheets aren't intent on holding a fair and impartial trial, Garth takes to the woods as the Klansmen lynching party hunts him down.

During World War II, a shot-down American pilot and a marooned Japanese navy captain find themselves stranded on the same small uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean. Following war logic, each time the crafty Japanese devises something useful, he guards it to deny its use to the Yank, who then steals it, its proceeds or the idea and/or ruins it. Yet each gets his chance to kill and/or capture the other, but neither pushes this to the end. After a while of this pointless pestering, they end up joining forces to build and man a raft…

Having previously fought in World War I, an unnamed sergeant (Lee Marvin) now leads soldiers of the U.S. First Infantry Division through World War II. His men include conflicted marksman Pvt. Griff (Mark Hamill), pulp novel writer Pvt. Zab (Robert Carradine), Sicilian Pvt. Vinci (Bobby Di Cicco) and medic Pvt. Johnson (Kelly Ward). The soldiers adapt to the hardships of war as they see conflict in North Africa and Sicily, take part in the D-Day landings, and liberate a Nazi concentration camp.

During the closing days of WWII, a National Guard Infantry Company is assigned the task of setting up artillery observation posts in a strategic area. Lieutenant Costa knows that Cooney is in command only because of 'connections' he had made state-side. Costa has serious doubts concerning Cooneys' ability to lead the group. When Cooney sends Costa and his men out, and refuses to re-enforce them, Costa swears revenge.

A fugitive on the run from the law and carrying several million dollars hides out in the house of a farm family. The tables turn when the family turns out to be even more criminally oriented than he is, and begins to terrorize him instead of the other way around.