In this riveting 58-minute videocassette, Jones scholar J. Michael Lennon explores the people, places, and events that influenced the life and literary works of James Jones. Lennon conducts interviews with members of Jones's family, childhood teachers and classmates, associates from early adulthood, fellow novelists (including Norman Mailer), and others. The videotape, published in 1985 by Sangamon State University (now the University of Illinois at Springfield) Television Office, is in color with some astounding black and white sequences taken during Jones's high school years. Among the film clips are brief amateur home movies owned by the Jones family. This videotape, which is essential for anyone interested in Jones, takes viewers to Robinson, Illinois (Jones's birthplace), and the Handy Writers' Colony in Marshall, Illinois. Editor is Jeffrey Van Davis, camera by Steve Dykema, and sound by David Antoine. The film is partially narrated by David Farrell