Hearts of the West

Jeff Bridges decides to leave his family home in Iowa to go to the University of Titan in Nevada. He arrives to find that there is no university, only a mail order correspondence course scam run by two crooks. He escapes his attacker and steals their car, pulling over when it runs out of gas. He wanders through the desert and happens upon a threadbare film-unit grinding out "B" westerns called Tumbleweed Productions. After proving himself as a stuntman, unit manager Kessler offers him a speaking role.