Going For Broke

Two struggling songwriters fly out of a Hollywood booking agent’s office: wise-cracking Sullivan and his wacky partner, Dog, who has an unusual affinity for canines. The two rescue a Yorkshire Terrier from an abusive trainer and wind up adopting the animal. When their landlady seizes Dog's piano for back rent, both Sullivan and Dog hop onto it and take it on a desperate ride into a lake. They lose their jobs at a telemarketing boiler room. Wander into a tavern and meet the Colonel, a middle-age British dipsomaniac. They get into a Three Stooges-type bar fight with the other customers and are arrested. While they’re in jail, the Colonel tells his hard-luck story. He’s the victim of two con men who cheated him. As he narrates the tragedy, a bum in the corner of their cell takes a harmonica from his bulky coat and accompanies the Colonel with the spiritual “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”. This upsets a hulkish man on the opposite wall. He gets up and destroys the harmonica. When he returns to his place, the bum produces a guitar from the large coat and continues to accompany the Colonel’s sad tale. The hulk smashes the guitar to bits, but the bum replaces the instrument with a slide trombone, then a keyboard. Dog stops the destruction by handing the hulk a pair of earmuffs. The Colonel’s daughter, Patricia, bails them out, and this starts a long term relationship between her and Sullivan. She doesn’t appreciate his wise-guy attitude, but little by little, he manages to worm his way into her affections by the end of the story. Sullivan and Dog investigate the con men, but police ignore their evidence. The Colonel suggests they take matters into their own hands. They recruit Bullfrog, a conspiracy theorist, who built a homemade helicopter from stolen spare parts. Patricia gets suspicious. She tails them and tags along when they rob the con men and escape in Bullfrog’s copter, from the helipad at the top of the building. Unfortunately, in the confusion, Dog’s beloved Yorkie gets left behind. They fly off into the desert. But, a dust storm damages the helicopter, and it loses altitude. The Colonel tumbles out of the vehicle and disappears, while the aircraft plummets into a deep desert pit and strands the others. A series of absurd attempts to wriggle out of their predicament fail, including using the helicopter landing skids and fan belts as a crude human slingshot. In two days, panic sets in. Another copter lands. It’s the con men, who hired a pilot. The castaways risk losing the money and being stranded again. Somehow, Sullivan and Dog turn the tables on the con men. They leave them and the pilot in the pit. Bullfrog steers the helicopter out of there with the loot. However, greed and paranoia from the cranky Bullfrog cause a commotion inside the aircraft. He slides out and grabs onto a skid. Sullivan tries to control the copter, but it flies into the open loft of a farmer’s barn. There's a chaotic episode when Dog accidentally stuffs a turkey with popcorn kernels. It escapes from the oven and propels around the farmer’s kitchen, until Bullfrog grabs a shotgun and shoots it down. The gang buys a junker truck from the farmer and takes off. Cops stop them because of a busted tail light. The con men show up in a sports car they just stole. They overpower the cops, recover the money, and take the junker truck. The quartet can’t fit into the tiny sports car. Dog and Bullfrog put on the cops' uniforms. Sullivan and Patricia squeeze into the trunk of the patrol car, and they drive into Mexico to track down the bad guys. The con men and heroes wind up in the tiny village of Pueblo Del Phlegm when both vehicles break down. And, a stunned Dog reunites with his long-lost Yorkshire Terrier. Another miracle materializes. Sullivan and Dog find the Colonel in a bar that matches the Hollywood one, including its customers and girl dancers. The final chase: the con men pull out of the village livery stable in a horse-drawn wagon and head for the next town. Sullivan, Dog, the Colonel, and Patricia are on their heels in another wagon. Bullfrog follows in a scooter. And, various townspeople pursue all of them. In a series of bizarre physical stunts, the good guys win. Back in LA, they collect a huge reward for capturing the con men. Except Bullfrog, who must pay back the stolen copter parts or go to prison. The boys agree to handle his debt. But, he has to repay them. Working in Dog’s new Canine Hotel. Located in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Sullivan opens a fancy nightclub in the city. The Colonel and Patricia attend. Oddities from the booking agency: a fat lady, a little person, black & white Siamese Twins, a two-headed man, and a fire eater serve as club employees. The entertainment? Sullivan and Dog play their unique, weird songs, including one entitled “When You’re Rich Like Me, It Makes It Hard To Sing The Blues”, as the fire eater accidentally triggers the sprinkler system. And, the audience goes wild.