Hattie Winston Movies
One of the first feature-length productions from Black Entertainment Television's Arabesque Films, After All was based on the same-named novel by Lynn Emery. Having single-handedly yanked herself out of the ghetto, ambitious TV anchorperson Michelle Toussaint (Holly Robinson Peete) is determined not to let anyone or anything stop her upward climb in the important Los Angeles news market. Consequently, Michelle has put her own personal values and racial pride on hold, the better to succeed in a white male-dominated profession. But the heroine has not counted upon the return of her former sweetheart Anthony Hilliard (D.B. Woodside), now a TV cameraman and community activist. Egged on by Anthony, Michelle puts her career on the line by investigating public-housing corruption in her old South Central neighborhood -- and along the way champions the cause of a young activist who may have been framed for murder.After All made its American cable TV debut on December 3, 1999. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Holly Robinson Peete, D.B. Woodside, (more)
Investigative reporter Steve Everett (Clint Eastwood) has just relocated to the west coast after getting fired from the New York Times. Thanks to his old friend, Alan Mann (James Woods), the editor-in-chief of The Oakland Tribune, Everett still has a job, but that's hardly the end of his problems. An alcoholic and a womanizer, he's been sober for two months and his marriage to Barbara (Diane Venora) is in as bad a shape as his car. Everett has also earned the hatred of city editor Bob Findley (Denis Leary), and not without reason -- Everett has been sleeping with his wife. One day, when another reporter dies in an automobile accident, Findley asks Everett to take over her assignment -- the final interview of condemned murderer Frank Beachum (Isaiah Washington). Everett researches the case before the interview, and finds Beachum was convicted of a robbery and homicide in an Oakland convenience store. But the reporter finds several discrepancies in the story, and a visit to death row only confirms Everett's suspicions that Beachum was not the killer. The reporter begins a hurried search for information that will stay the execution. Plagued by his inner demons, the reporter has 12 hours left to save the life of a man he knows is innocent. ~ Ron Wells, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clint Eastwood, Isaiah Washington, (more)
- 1999
Nanci Rossov directs this cross-cultural drama about captured Native Americans enrolled in a turn of the century "Negro" college. The film opens with Richard (Chuma Hunter-Gault) and Cleola (Tembi Locke) announcing their engagement. Though the college prides itself on its integrationist philosophy, the sharp-witted Cleola soon chafes under Richard's and the school's patronizing attitudes toward women. Meanwhile, three Lakota braves are accepted into the school at the behest of a U.S. Army officer who wants to prove that Indians can function in mainstream culture. The trio's reluctance to participate is more and more pronounced as their upwardly mobile Black classmates antagonize them with racial asides. Unbowed won Best Feature at the 1999 American Indian Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tembe Locke, Jay Tavare, (more)
Quentin Tarantino wrote and directed this adaptation of Elmore Leonard's 1995 Rum Punch, switching the action from Miami to LA, and altering the central character from white to black. Ruthless arms dealer Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson), who lives with perpetually stoned beach-babe Melanie (Bridget Fonda), teams with his old buddy Louis Gara (Robert De Niro), just released from prison after serving four years for armed robbery. ATF agent Ray Nicolette (Michael Keaton) and cop Mark Dargus (Michael Bowen) bust stewardess Jackie Brown (Pam Grier), who was smuggling money into the country for Ordell. Ordell springs Jackie, but when middle-aged bail bondsman Max Cherry (Robert Forster) picks her up at the jail, he's attracted to her, and they choose a romantic route with detours. Mistrust and suspicions surface after Jackie pits Ordell and the cops against each other, convincing Ordell that she's going to double-cross the cops. Tarantino commented on the film's budget: "Jackie Brown only cost $12 million. You can't lose. You absolutely, positively can't lose. And you don't have to compromise." ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, (more)
The third entry in the popular Beverly Hills Cop series finds Detroit cop Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) returning yet again to Southern California, this time on the trail of two car thieves turned murderers. As he teams up again with L.A. cop Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold), Foley's investigation leads him to Wonder World, a theme park that is also the front for a major counterfeiting ring. More action and less wit are the trademarks of this film, which features Murphy dishing out his usual wisecracks, but with less flair and freshness than in the original film. Alan Young plays the old man who runs the amusement park, an interesting setting that still adds little to the tired premise. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, (more)
In this thriller, television reporter Kate Ryan de Melendez (Amy Irving) investigates the death of two radical Puerto Rican activists, whom she begins to believe may have been framed and murdered by undercover American agents. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amy Irving, Robert Duvall, (more)
- 1988
- PG13
In this sentimental coming-of-age drama, directed by Richard Mulligan (To Kill a Mockingbird) and written by Mark Medoff (Children of a Lesser God), Whoopi Goldberg plays Clara Mayfield, whom Leona Hart (Kathleen Quinlan) meets up with in Jamaica, where Leona retreats to mourn the death of her baby daughter. Leona comes from a rich Maryland family and she leaves her husband, Bill (Michael Ontkean), and her young son, David (Neil Patrick Harris), back in the States in order to achieve some personal healing. She tells Clara she is in mourning and Clara responds knowingly, "I knew the fact, but not the substance." Hearing this kind of cryptic Charlie Chan-like aphorism, Leona can't resist Clara and hires her as her maid, taking her back with her, like a pet, to Maryland. "Come meet the most wonderful person," she tells her husband, and, to be sure, Clara is out-of-this-world wonderful, and since David's self-absorbed parents are neglecting him for their own private flirtations and obsessions, Clara takes up the slack and becomes, in effect, David's family. Clara dispenses worldly advice and has him spend weekends with her in the inner-city Jamaican community, where David learns how the other half lives. But just as David is letting his guard down and permitting Clara to become his 30-year-old buddy, Clara reveals a chilling past life that includes rape, incest, and suicide. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Whoopi Goldberg, Michael Ontkean, (more)
- 1986
- R
The beat of "go-go" music -- hip-hop oriented dance music with a heavy emphasis on percussion -- provides the backdrop for this drama about corruption and racism in Washington D.C. There are the good guys who play and promote the music, the bad guys who deal in drugs and crime, the bad racist cop out to close the go-go clubs once and for all, and the powerless reporter (Art Garfunkel) who is caught in the middle. While the script raises interesting points about police persecution of African-American men and journalistic credibility in coverage of issues regarding the black community, music is the dominant force in this film, with performances by Trouble Funk, Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers and edds & The Boys. The film also deserves credit for portraying a side of Washington, D.C. not often shown on screen. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Art Garfunkel, Robert DoQui, (more)
Young divorced mother Kate Nelligan refuses to go into a panic when her six-year-old son disappears. She manages to maintain an even emotional keel even when detective Judd Hirsch unearths several clues which point to sexual molestation. After several false leads, the truth is revealed. We won't divulge the ending, but we will note that we found it pretty hard to swallow-especially when compared to the actual case upon which Beth Gutcheson's novel and screenplay were based. Despite its cop-out denouement, Without a Trace deserves to take its place among such superior missing-children dramas as the made-for-TV Adam and Just Another Missing Kid. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kate Nelligan, Judd Hirsch, (more)
- 1979
Hollow Image is an occasionally overwritten but generally impressive screenwriting debut for Lee Hunkins. Saundra Sharp plays an African-American career woman who has become a success in Manhattan's high-fashion world. She has risen from the grinding poverty of Harlem, but her roots are deeper than she's willing to admit. Dick Anthony Williams plays the new man in Ms. Sharp's new world. His friend (Morgan Freeman) is not supportive concerning the new relationship. Hollow Image was originally telecast as an ABC Theatre special on June 24, 1979. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
