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Plot
After being fired from eleven major newspapers due to his behavior, temper, and alcoholism, Charles "Chuck" Tatum winds up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and offers himself to the publisher of the small Sun-Bulletin. Skeptical of Tatum, editor and publisher Jacob Boot hires him for $60.
A year later, Tatum has grown bored with the slow pace of Albuquerque life. Boot sends Tatum and the newspaper's young photographer, Herbie Cook, to cover a rattlesnake hunt. When they stop for gas, the pair learn about Leo Minosa, a local man trapped in a collapsed cliff dwelling, and the two investigate. Tatum talks his way past the deputy sheriff and enters the cave with Cook. Despite falling rocks, Tatum ventures close enough to Leo to pass him some amenities. Tatum takes photographs of the trapped man, tries to cheer him up, and begins scheming his big story.
Leo's wife Lorraine is eager to leave Leo and their struggling gas station, but as tourists flock to the rescue site, the financial windfall leads her to go along with Tatum's scheme. After filing an initial report on the accident, Tatum persuades local sheriff Gus Kretzer to give him exclusive access to Leo in return for reportage that will guarantee Kretzer's reelection.
Kretzer and Tatum convince construction contractor Sam Smollett to drill down to Leo from above rather than through the cave, extending the rescue time from twelve hours to a week to keep the story going. The rescue site becomes an all-day carnival and Tatum starts drinking again. Cook loses his idealism and dreams of selling pictures to high-profile papers. Tatum quits the Sun-Bulletin, persuading Cook to quit with him, and talks Nagel, his former boss in New York, into hiring him to report exclusively from the scene for $1,000 a day.
Five days into the event, Leo develops pneumonia and is given twelve hours to live. Tatum sends a news flash to Nagel: Leo will be rescued in twelve hours. However, Smollett tells him that shoring up the cave walls is now impossible due to the drilling. Leo tells Tatum that there is a fifth-year anniversary present for Lorraine in their bedroom. Tatum forces a reluctant Lorraine to open the gift, a fur stole, and Tatum makes her wear it. She protests, and Tatum begins to choke her with the stole. She stabs Tatum with a pair of scissors, and he drives away.
Tatum takes the local priest to Leo to administer his last rites, and Leo dies shortly thereafter. Tatum announces this to the crowd, proclaiming that "the circus is over." The other reporters send off the story to their newspapers ahead of Tatum. The carnival and crowd pack up to leave, and Lorraine hitch-hikes out of town. Tatum stumbles into his room, where Cook tells him that Nagel has fired him for letting other newspapers break the story of Leo's death. Tatum calls Nagel and tries to confess to killing Leo and purposely delaying the rescue, but Nagel hangs up on him without hearing his confession. Tatum and Cook drive back to the Sun-Bulletin offices, where a drunken Tatum asks Boot for his job back. He collapses from his stab wound and dies beneath an embroidered sign reading "Tell The Truth".
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