Hearts of the West (1975)

Naive Iowa farm boy Lewis Tater dreams of being a famous Western novelist like his hero, Zane Grey. He leaves home to answer a writing correspondence course's ad for on-campus classes, only to discover that the school consists of a row of postboxes at an isolated Nevada train depot. On the run from the con men responsible, Lewis stumbles across "real" cowboys--cowboy actors shooting a movie in the desert. The would-be writer soon finds himself instead acting in Westerns, for the rundown Tumbleweed Productions studio, in Depression-era Hollywood.

Directed by: Howard Zieff

Starring: Jeff Bridges, Alan Arkin, Blythe Danner, Andy Griffith, Alex Rocco, Richard B. Shull

Links: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, IMDb, Movie posters, Movie stills

No set