Audiences are raving about the greatest trick-shooting act of all time! The Great Flamarion (Erich Von Stroheim) can light a match held by his beautiful assistant Connie from across the stage with a perfectly placed shot. He can even sever the shoulder strap of her evening gown with a bullet from his prized pistol. But offstage, Flamarion's famed steadiness and control are no match for Connie's feminine wiles. She's fed-up with Al, her hard-drinking husband who also stars in Flamarion's show. She seduces the hesitant Flamarion, whose aloof manner masks his emotional naivete, and compels him to "accidentally" shoot her drunken spouse during the performance. Though Flamarion is acquitted of the death, it marks the beginning of a painful descent into betrayal, revenge and murder.

Film-noir auteur Anthony Mann found Erich Von Stroheim's stone face and aristocratic demeanor perfect for the role of the tragic shootist in this dark tale of obsession and loss. With a long career reaching back to cinema's earliest days, Von Stroheim appears in both of D.W. Grifith's silent masterpieces - Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1916). In 1924, Von Stroheim filmed his own masterwork, Greed. With a running time of over 10 hours, the film was unmarketable. The studio slashed the epic tale to 100 minutes. Von Stroheim's arrogance, disregard for budgets and his maniacal obsession with minute detail soured the studios on him as a director. His compelling nature as an actor, however, allowed him to work steadily up through the 1950s. He earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Norma Desmond's faithful servant in Sunset Boulevard.

A woman-hating sideshow performer refuses to let down his guard after being hurt many years before. When his lovely assistant starts to fall for him, he stages an accident which kills her husband and leaves her available. When she runs off with another performer, the Great Flamarion gets burned yet again. Based on the story "Big Shot" by Vicki Baum.