The plot of the film is simple and mundane; just as in many actual documentaries the drama and interest (and here, humor) comes from the characters and their quirks, foibles, and interactions. Five dogs and their owners and handlers travel to Philadelphia to compete in the Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show.

Based on a novel by Lew Wallace (sometime Civil War general, governor of the New Mexico territory and envoy to the Ottoman empire) the movie is about a wealthy Jew in Palestine seeking revenge for a severe injustice.

The Bad Sleep Well is a Kurosawa that doesn't feel like a typical Kurosawa movie. Known mostly here for samurai films set in or near the sengoku jidai period of Japanese history, Kurosawa has crafted a contemporary crime thriller about corruption in government and business and one man's quixotic quest for revenge and justice.

There's murder, mystery, love, and betrayal; all filtered through the setting of a California high school shortly after the turn of the century.