This adaptation of Ionesco's absurdist classic was part of the American Film Theater series, conceived in the 1970s by producer Ely Landau and meant to be shown theatrically just like a play, with tickets sold in advance. Gene Wilder stars as Stanley, a depressive young man who abhors virtually all of humanity with the exception of his neighbor John (Mostel, in a bravura performance) and a beautiful young coworker named Daisy. Morosely cultivating his nonconformity, Stanley is disturbed at first when the inhabitants of his town begin turning into human rhinos, explained initially as rhinoceritis by local pundits. However, when just about everyone in town begins falling prey to the disease except for himself, Stanley wonders whether something else may be responsible for the phenomenon.