Body and Soul explores the work of Robert Aldrich, a producer and director responsible for several notable films, including The Flight of the Phoenix, The Dirty Dozen, Too Late the Hero, The Longest Yard and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? Author Tony Williams examines the relationship of Aldrichs films to the Cultural Front movement of the 1930s as well as to the blacklist of the 1950s He also delineates Aldrichs attempts to follow the progressive ideals of such mentors as Jean Renoir, Lewis Milestone, and Charlie Chaplin From the noir classic Kiss Me Deadly to the controversial thriller Twilights Last Gleaming, Body and Soul focuses on the dilemmas8213both personal and political8213that affect individuals in all of Aldrichs films