Jim Brown Movies
Born in Georgia and raised in a black Long Island ghetto,
Jim Brown distinguished himself in high school athletics. Recruited from Syracuse University,
Brown was signed with the Cleveland Browns in 1957, remaining with that organization as star fullback for ten years. Breaking any number of NFL records,
Brown was named Rookie of the Year in 1958 and Player of the Year in 1960; he played in every Pro Bowl game from 1958 through 1965, and in 1971 was elected to the Football Hall of Fame. While still with Cleveland,
Brown made his film debut in the 1963 Western
Rio Conchos, an event deemed worthy of a four-page color spread in Life magazine. He became a full-time actor upon his retirement from the NFL in 1967, co-starring that year in
The Dirty Dozen. Though he had trepidation about the climactic scene in which he blew dozens of helpless Nazi officers and their sweethearts to bits with hand grenades, it was this uncompromising sequence that truly "socked"
Brown over with the audience. He rapidly rose to leading roles in such actioners as
Ice Station Zebra (1968) and
100 Rifles (1969); in the latter film, he stirred up controversy by sharing several steamy scenes with white actress
Raquel Welch.
Brown also headlined the above-average crime capers
Kenner (1969) and
Black Gunn (1972) as well as the ultraviolent Slaughter series. He cut down on his film appearances in the late '70s, devoting most of his time to his many civic activities and business concerns; during this period, he also founded the Black Economic Union. After several years' absence from the screen,
Jim Brown co-starred with fellow blaxploitation icons
Fred Williamson,
Pam Grier, and
Richard Roundtree in the delightfully "retro" action-fest
Original Gangstas (1996). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

- 1969
- PG
- Add 100 Rifles to Queue
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Lyedecker (Jim Brown) is the Arizona lawman who travels to Mexico in search of Yaqui Joe (Burt Reynolds). Joe has made an illegal withdrawal of $6,000 from the band in Phoenix to help finance his tribes's uprising against the Mexican government. Sarita (Raquel Welch) is the local woman who is friendly towards the Indian leaders. Both men are tracked by General Verdugo (Fernando Lamas), the career-minded military man who realizes a victory could boost his station in high-society and politics. Also on hand is the American railroad agent Grimes (Dan O'Herlihy). The battle ensues between the Indians and the government troops as Lyedecker and Joe form a temporary alliance to survive. They are captured by the troops, but the Indians instead of the calvary come to the rescue in this routine western taken from a novel by Robert MacLeod. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Jim Brown, Raquel Welch, (more)

- 1986
-
Dan Haggerty, TV's Grizzly Adams, has a more complex role than usual in Abducted. Haggerty plays the father of a mixed-up mountain boy (Lawrence King-Phillips) who has kidnapped a pretty college student (Roberta Weiss). Though Haggerty tries to explain why his sons behaves the way he does, the girl would just as soon dispense with the backstory and make her escape. But the son has no intention of freeing his captive, thereby setting the stage for a final showdown with his own father. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Dan Haggerty, Roberta Weiss, (more)

- 2004
- R
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A notorious gangster must reconcile his past in order to make a future for his criminally-minded son in this crime-drama starring football superstar Jim Brown and Pulp Fiction star Ving Rhames. James "Animal" Allen (Rhames) reveled in a life of violent crime until he was placed behind bars. Upon meeting an ageing revolutionary during his stint in the slammer, Allen is guided toward the written word of Malcolm X and offered an illuminating historic document by Machiavellian slave owner Willy Lynch, leading him to conclude that his people are being manipulated into killing one another by a higher force. Soon released on a technicality, Allen returns home to find that his son Darius (Terrence Howard) has taken up a life of crime and seems bent on maintaining his father's legacy. Now imbued with a newfound sense of clarity and purpose, Allen must convince his son to break the cycle of violence while he still has the power to do so by his own will. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
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- 1999
- R
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Oliver Stone takes on professional football, a sport whose grace and delicacy are a good match for his filmmaking style. Tony D'Amato (Al Pacino), the head coach of the Miami Sharks, won back-to-back championships four years ago. But new team owner Christina Pagniacci (Cameron Diaz) has little enthusiasm for the finer points of the game and is concerned only with the bottom line. The longtime strongman of Tony's team has been "Cap" Rooney (Dennis Quaid), a 39-year-old quarterback, but Christina balks at renewing his contract. When Cap is injured during a game, third-string rookie quarterback Willie Beaman (Jamie Foxx) goes on in his place and becomes a major star. But Beaman is mostly interested in fame and money, and he has little regard for Tony and his teammates. Any Given Sunday also stars James Woods as the team's doctor, LL Cool J as a star running back, Jim Brown as a former football great turned Sharks' defensive coordinator, Ann-Margret as Christina's alcoholic mother, Bill Bellamy as a wide receiver, Elizabeth Berkley as Tony's favorite prostitute, and Charlton Heston as the football commissioner. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Al Pacino, Cameron Diaz, (more)

- 1972
- R
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This violent blaxploitation film stars Jim Brown as the owner of a Los Angeles nightclub. When his brother, a Vietnam veteran, is murdered by gangsters, Brown gathers some of his brother's fellow veterans and an assortment of ex-convicts to get brutal revenge. Martin Landau, Luciana Paluzzi, and Jeannie Bell head the cast, along with genre regulars Bruce Glover, Bernie Casey, and Gary Conway. Director Robert Hartford-Davis is best known for horror films like Incense of the Damned and Corruption, while Brown went on to more successful genre fare in Slaughter and Slaughter's Big Rip-Off. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
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- 2008
-
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Narrated by Academy Award-winning actor Forest Whitaker, Dogtown and Z-Boys director Stacy Peralta's unflinching documentary chronicles one of the longest-running civil wars in the history of America though a deeply humanistic lens. The Bloods and Crips are two of South Los Angeles' most notorious African-American gangs. While many outsiders simply cannot understand the decades-long cycle of despair and destruction that has come to define their daily lives, the individuals who comprise each gang are not simply mindless, gun-toting thugs, but real people with real families who have become caught up in a struggle from which the only escape is often death. Beginning with an illuminating look at the genesis of L.A.'s gang culture, Crips and Bloods: Made in America follows the bloody feud that would stretch on for a grueling four decades, revealing the turf wars, hierarchy, family structure, gun culture, and stringent rules through interviews with gangsters past and present, as well as experts, activists, and academics. Throughout the film, the numerous issues blanketing the streets of South L.A. with a deep sense of dread are reflected upon by gang intervention experts, former gang members, writers, and academics in an effort to examine the erosion of identity that helps to perpetrate black self-hatred, prison culture, and the disappearance of the black father in the home. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Forest Whitaker

- 1968
-
Curry (Rod Taylor) is a veteran soldier-of-fortune hired by the president of the Congo for a three day mission. He and native Congoan Ruffo (Jim Brown) are to oversee the safe passage of a train through hostile enemy territory and bring back some uncut diamonds and a human cargo of fugitives loyal to the Congo cause. The two employ the drunken Doctor Wreid (Kenneth More) and a suspicious ex-Nazi named Henlein (Peter Carsten). The quartet, along with 40 of the Congo's best soldiers, try to maneuver the train against the rebel forces and save the beautiful missionary Claire (Yvette Mimieux) at no extra charge. The action takes place in the wake of the political unrest that swept the Congo in the 1950s. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Rod Taylor, Yvette Mimieux, (more)

- 1983
- R
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A college professor named Clifford Skridlow (Dan Aykroyd goes undercover as a Chicago pimp disguised by a bushy wig in this comedy from director Michael Pressman. When Smooth Walker (Howard Hesseman gets hunted by his gangster rival, Mom (Kate Murtagh), he foists his bevy of hookers on the professor. Among the four hookers who are suddenly in his undercover life are Fran Drescher in an early role as an archetypal Jewish princess, and Donna Dixon as another of the high-class call-girls (Dixon and Aykroyd were later married). ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Dan Aykroyd, Howard Hesseman, (more)

- 1970
- R
Jim Brown and Lee Van Cleef team up for this western set on the Mexican border. Brown is Luke, who escapes from a chain gang after learning that a fortune in gold is hidden in the Mexican fortress of El Condor. He joins up with the snake-eyed crook Jaroo (Lee Van Cleef) and together they round up a tribe of Apaches, headed by Santana (Iron Eyes Cody), to attack the fort -- convincing the Indian renegades that the fort houses food and guns greatly needed by the Apaches. During their first crack at taking the fort, Luke and Jaroo are captured by the fort's commandant, Chavez (Patrick O'Neal). Claudine (Marianna Hall), the wife of the commandant, falls in love with Luke and she aids them in their escape from the fort. Later on, she is instrumental in getting Luke and Jaroo's band into the fort -- diverting the gaze of the fort's defenders by disrobing in front of a well-lit bedroom window. Chavez escapes, but Santana is shot by Jaroo after discovering that Jaroo deceived him. With Santana shot, the Apaches leave the fort, carrying the food and ammunition. Now the only ones left to defend the defenseless fort are Luke, Claudine, and Jaroo. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Florencio Amarilla, Per Barclay, (more)

- 1978
- R
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Jimmy Angelelli (Harvey Keitel) wants to be a concert pianist. Jimmy's dad, Ben Angelelli (Michael V. Gazzo), wants his son to go into the family business. So far, so banal. But the "family business" depicted in Fingers is organized crime, and therein lies the film's perverse appeal. Fingers represents the directorial debut of screenwriter James Toback, who also wrote the script. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Harvey Keitel, Tisa Farrow, (more)

- 1998
- R
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Denzel Washington and writer-director Spike Lee team for the third time with this contemporary basketball drama focusing on a promising athlete, the son of a convict-father. Jake Shuttlesworth (Denzel Washington) has been in prison for six years when tough prison-warden Wyatt (Ned Beatty) tells him that he's getting a temporary parole with the promise of a commuted sentence. However, there's a trade-off -- Jake must talk his son, Jesus Shuttlesworth (NBA star Ray Allen of the Milwaukee Bucks), the top-ranked high-school basketball player in the country, into signing with the governor's alma mater, Big State. A flashback makes it clear that Jesus' mother (Lonette McKee was accidentally killed by Jake during a violent family fight. After Jake went to prison, the resentful Jesus was left alone to raise his sister Mary (Zelda Harris). Now several colleges are offering Jesus scholarships, and montages satirize the manner in which young athletes are wooed by educators and coaches across the country. However, Jake will soon be back behind bars if he can't get Jesus to sign with Big State within the week. Meanwhile, the greed of other family members begins to surface. John Turturro is seen in a cameo as Coach Billy Sunday, and several real-life coaches can also be spotted in this movie. Music by Aaron Copland (1900-1990) with songs by Public Enemy. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Denzel Washington, Ray Allen, (more)

- 1991
-
This Australian magazine show was dedicated to offering advice on health, finances, and creature comforts. Regular contributors included best-selling author/entrepreneur Peter Wherrett, the series' "resident auto specialist." Among the series' hosts were Michael Dickinson, Brent Meyer, and Jim Brown (not the American action-film star). Healthy Wealthy and Wise began its lengthy TV run in 1992. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Brent Meyer, Jim Brown, (more)

- 1973
- R
In this violent low-budget actioner from Roger and Gene Corman, two battered prisoners decide they've had enough and attempt to escape the notorious island. Papillon it isn't. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
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- 1988
- R
- Add I'm Gonna Git You Sucka! to Queue
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Keenen Ivory Wayans wrote, directed, and starred in this hilarious parody of blaxploitation films in the comedy I'm Gonna Git You Sucka. Jack Spade (Wayans) returns home from a hitch in the army to find his brother Junebug has died from an overdose of gold chains, leaving his widow Cheryl (Dawnn Lewis) and mother Ma Bell (Ja'net DuBois) alone to fend for themselves. Ma throws two inept thugs (Damon Wayans and Kadeem Hardison) sent by the evil white guy Mr. Big (John Vernon) down a flight of stairs. Junebug owes $5,000 to Mr. Big for his gold-chain addiction and tries to force Cheryl into prostitution to pay off the debt. Jack recruits his old friend to go after Mr. Big to seek revenge. John Slade (Bernie Casey), Hammer (Isaac Hayes), Slammer (Jim Brown) Kung Fu Joe (Steve James) and the former Pimp Of The Year Flyguy (Antonio Fargas) join up with Jack to avenge his brother' death. Chris Rock makes a brief appearance as the annoying customer who risks his life by irking rib joint owner Hammer. Funny and fast paced, the writing, acting, sight gags and cameos by Robert Townsend, Peggy Lipton, Clarence Williams III, Eve Plumb (Jan from The Brady Bunch), Kim Wayans, and Gary Owens makes this a must-see for any comedy fan. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Keenen Ivory Wayans, Bernie Casey, (more)

- 1968
- G
- Add Ice Station Zebra to Queue
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A top-secret Soviet spy satellite -- using stolen Western technology -- malfunctions and then goes into a descent that lands it near an isolated Arctic research encampment called Ice Station Zebra, belonging to the British, which starts sending out distress signals before falling silent. The atomic submarine Tigerfish, commanded by Cmdr. James Ferraday (Rock Hudson), is dispatched with orders to get to Ice Station Zebra carrying three passengers, a Englishman going by the name of David Jones (Patrick McGoohan), a Soviet turncoat named Boris Vaslov (Ernest Borgnine), and an American Marine officer, Captain Anders (Jim Brown), who is supposed to command the Marine unit assigned to the mission. Jones is problem enough, as he is in command of the mission and he prefers to withhold as much information as it's possible to do from Ferraday, even at the risk of the Tigerfish's safety. Add to that the fact that Anders is suspicious of Vaslov, and Vaslov seems much too inquisitive and is telling even less of what he knows about the mission, and Ferraday has his hands full trying to get these men to the polar ice -- 600 miles of dangerous travel -- in just two days. When an attempt to break through the ice -- coupled with some timely sabotage -- kills one man and nearly destroys the boat, the men surrounding these contending parties start to understand just how high the stakes are for everyone. It turns out that the Soviets want what was aboard that satellite as much as the West does; indeed, both sides are frantic to get it, and, just as much, to keep the other side from getting it -- and they're prepared to take it by brute force. Once Ferraday and his men arrive at Zebra, they find a disaster and still more mystery, with most of the men dead and the object that Mr. Jones is supposed to secure nowhere in evidence, and he and his two fellow men of mystery suddenly showing their killing instincts quite freely. And with the storm clearing from the Soviet side first, their planes and their paratroops are closing in on Ferraday, and his relative handful of men. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Rock Hudson, Ernest Borgnine, (more)

- 2002
-
- Add Jim Brown: All-American to Queue
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Spike Lee's documentary on the football star, movie actor, and social activist is a no-frills examination of a man who has rarely been out of the public spotlight for over 45 years. Jim Brown talks about the various phases of his life, from his boyhood in the all-black community of St. Simons Island, GA; to his adolescence on Long Island, where he became a multi-sport star athlete; to his college days at Syracuse University; to his nine-year career as the NFL's leading running back with the Cleveland Browns; to his days as an action star in Hollywood films; to his work with various social programs, many designed to help inner city youth. Among the many interview subjects are Art Modell, the onetime owner of the Browns; former Cleveland Brown teammates Dick Schafrath, John Wooten, Bobby Mitchell, Paul Warfield, and Walter Beach; filmmaking colleagues Fred Williamson and Bernie Casey (both football players turned actors), Raquel Welch, Oliver Stone, James Toback, Melvin Van Peebles, and Stella Stevens; Kim Brown and James Brown Jr., two of Brown's children from his first marriage; and Rockhead Johnson, a former Los Angeles gang leader and officer of Brown's Amer-I-Can organization. Lee does address Brown's ongoing legal problems over various assault charges, many of them involving women, and he tracks down a onetime Brown lover who in the mid-'60s wound up in the hospital after an incident at his Los Angeles home. Brown appeared in a supporting role in Lee's film He Got Game. This film, co-produced by HBO's sports division, was released theatrically for a limited run; a version running 114 minutes premiered on HBO several months later. ~ Tom Wiener, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Jim Brown, Dr. Walter Beach, (more)

- 1969
- G
Kenner (Jim Brown) arrives in India to seek revenge on the people who killed his business associate. An Indian lad Saji (Ricky Cordell) befriends the American adventurer and helps Kenner. The boy's mother Anasuya (Madlyn Rhue) is wary of the situation until she discovers Kenner is a good man and falls in love with him. The duo tracks down the villain Tom Jordan (Charles Horvath) to set up the ultimate battle between good and evil. Spectacular scenery of India and one of the movies' earliest interracial kisses dominate this action drama. The feature was filmed in 1967 in Bombay, India and reveals many Hindu customs and rituals. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Jim Brown, Madlyn Rhue, (more)

- 1977
- PG
One of Cannon Films' two 1976 Italian-Israeli co-productions starring Lee Van Cleef and Leif Garrett (Gianfranco Parolini's Pistola di Dio was the other), this spaghetti western was actually shot in the Middle East by American director Joseph Manduke. Pop star Garrett plays Tom, a teenager who teams with a black gunfighter named Isaac (Jim Brown) to avenge his family. The culprit was McClain (Van Cleef), a sadistic outlaw who carried out the brutal rape-massacre, but his role is minor, as most of the film deals with Tom's maturation and coming to terms with his feelings. Omnipresent 1970s character actors Glynnis O'Connor and John Marley co-star. If there is anything remarkable about Kid Vengeance, it is Francesco Masi's fine musical score, but the film is otherwise anemic. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Leif Garrett, Jim Brown, (more)

- 1988
- PG13
- Add L.A. Heat to Queue
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Ex-football great Jim Brown co-stars in this blood-filled police actioner with former Welcome Back Kotter "Sweathog"Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs. In the story, Jon Chance (Jacobs) is a police detective with a very active fantasy life, who must be spurred into action by his captain (Brown). The case at hand involves a super-violent drug-dealer who is giving the police the run-around, and Jon's task is to bring him in. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Jim Brown, Kevin Benton, (more)

- 1985
-
Known variously as "Skirty Harry" and "Dirty Harriet," beautiful but tough lady police detective Katy Mahoney (Jamie Rose) patrols the mean streets of Chicago. In her dealings with dope pushers, rapists, and loan sharks, Katy would just as soon dispense with Due Process and blast every outlaw away with her trusty .357 magnum. But Internal Affairs frowns on such behavior, so Katy is forced to adopt a more civil attitude in her efforts to bring a particularly nasty cocaine kingpin, Dona Maria Theresa (Katy Jurado), to justice -- at least until there are no other options available, allowing the heroine to fire away at her heart's content. Condemned for its overabundance of violence when it originally aired April 15, 1985, on ABC, the made-for-TV Lady Blue nonetheless yielded a weekly series, which ran from September 15, 1985 to January 25, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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- 1996
- PG13
- Add Mars Attacks! to Queue
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This quirky science fiction comedy is a characteristic feature by iconoclastic director Tim Burton, known to moviegoers for Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, and The Nightmare Before Christmas. The storyline affectionately harkens back to the deadpan sincerity of such '50s and '60s science-fiction films as The Day the Earth Stood Still and War of the Worlds. Flying saucers have been reliably seen over the capitals of the world, and the whole world awaits with bated breath to see what will transpire. Among those waiting is the President of the United States (Jack Nicholson), who is assured by his science advisor (Pierce Brosnan) that the coming aliens are utterly peaceful. This advice is hotly contested by the military (led by Rod Steiger), who advices the President to annihilate them. When the aliens land, they are seen to be green, garish, and very cheerful. But appearances prove deceiving when the "friendly" aliens abruptly disintegrate the entire U.S. Congress. Hollywood notables appear in vast quantities in roles (and sub-plots) of all sizes in this zany feature. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, (more)

- 1975
- R
A Vietnam War veteran (Fred Williamson) is discharged from the Army, and becomes involved with mobsters when he is unable to find a job. The gang uses him on a job when one of the thugs (Roddy McDowall) and his girlfriend (Jenny Sherman) decide to provoke a gang war. ~ John Bush, Rovi
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