Jester Hairston Movies
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, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Keenen Ivory Wayans, Bernie Casey, (more)
- 1987
- R
This comedy was inspired by the true story of Cynthia Payne, a former waitress who gained fame as England's best-known (and best-liked) madame. Christine Painter (Julie Walters) is a working-class single mother who sub-leases a few inexpensive flats as a way of bringing in extra money. Christine has no particular interest in selling her body, but when she finds herself in a tight spot financially -- and notices that the prostitutes who rent her apartments are the only ones who consistently pay on time -- she decides to open a brothel. With the help of Shirley (Shirley Stelfox), an experienced prostie, and Morton (Alec McCowen), a former RAF commander with a fondness for women's undergarments, Christine opens a little place where elderly businessmen can indulge their fondness for kinky lingerie and being spanked by younger women. Soon Christine's business is booming and everyone is happy -- until the police pay her a visit. Personal Services was directed by Terry Jones, best known as a member of the Monty Python troupe; the real-life Cynthia Payne served as a technical advisor. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julie Walters, Alec McCowen, (more)
- 1979
Originally made for television as a sequel to the classic Lilies of the Field, this film concerns an ex-soldier turned handyman (Billy Dee Williams) who returns to the Arizona chapel he built earlier. Encouraged by five nuns, he builds both an orphanage and a small school. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Billy Dee Williams, Maria Schell, (more)
- 1975
The basic premise of the ABC sitcom That's My Mama remains intact as the series enters its second season. Clifton Davis is still top-billed as Washington D.C barber Clifton Curtis, a would-be "swinging bachelor" who lives with his widowed "Mama," Eloise Curtis (Theresa Merritt). And Mama continues to urge Clifton to settle down and get married, much against his hedonistic nature. However, a couple of changes have been implemented within the series. For one, Joan Pringle has replaced Lynne Moody in the role of Tracy, Clifton's sister and the wife of straitlaced engineer Leonard Taylor (Lisle Wilson). And Earl Chambers (Theodore Wilson) has forsaken his letter-carrying job to become Clifton's partner at the barbershop, driving our hero crazy with his nonsensical get-rich-quick schemes. Having never been able to gain a toehold in the ratings thanks to the stiff competition of NBC's Little House on the Prairie, and saddled with the weak lead-in show When Things Were Rotten, That's My Mama was canceled midway through its second season, with only 13 new episodes in the manifest. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clifton Davis, Theresa Merritt, (more)
- 1974
Offered up as ABC's "urban" challenge to the bucolic NBC series Little House on the Prairie, That's My Mama premiered opposite Little House on Wednesday, September 4, 1974. In typical sitcom shorthand, the series wastes no time establishing the fact that bachelor barber Clifton Curtis (Clifton Davis) runs a small neighborhood barbershop in Washington D.C. and lives with his widowed "Mama," Eloise Curtis (Theresa Merritt). Having already married off her daughter Tracy (Lynne Moody) to ambitious but stuffy engineer Leonard Taylor (Lisle Wilson), Mama sees no reason why her "swinging" son Clifton should not settle down with a wife himself. But Clifton prefers to play the field -- a habit that tends to reap variable results, as witnessed by the opening episode, in which one of Clifton's exes (played by Judy Pace) shows up at the barbershop claiming that he is the father of her child! Although Ed Bernard is seen as mail carrier Earl Chambers in the first two episodes, Theodore Wilson permanently takes over the role in episode three. Other casting choices worth noting include Berlinda Tolbert (The Jeffersons) in the episode "Clinton's Dubious Romance," Kim Hamilton (Sanford and Son) and Emestine Wade (Amos 'N' Andy) in "Clinton's Sugar Mama," Tim Reid (Sister, Sister) in "Clifton's Persuasion," and Gordon Jump (WKRP in Cincinnati) in the recurring role of Officer O'Reilly. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Theresa Merritt, Clifton Davis, (more)
Diana Ross plays the magnificent, tragic song stylist Billie Holiday, who while writhing in a strait jacket in a prison cell, awaiting sentencing on drug charges, reflects on her turbulent life. Raped in her youth by a drunk (Adolph Caesar), then compelled to work as a domestic in a Harlem whorehouse, Holliday is encouraged to try for a singing career by the bordello's pianist (Richard Pryor). She rises as high as it is possible to go in the white-dominated show business world of the 1930s, but can't handle the pressure and turns to narcotics. The film takes several liberties with the 44-year existence of "Lady Day." Among the Billie Holiday standards performed by Ross are "My Man," "I Cried for You," "Lover Man," "Them There Eyes," and the title song. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Diana Ross, Billy Dee Williams, (more)
Nearly 20 years after it opened on Broadway, the E.Y. Harburg/Fred Saidy musical Finian's Rainbow was committed to film. Set in the mythical southern state of Missitucky, the story involves the whimsical Irishman Finian (Fred Astaire) and his daughter Sharon (Petula Clark) arriving in the community carrying a crock of gold, which they've stolen in the Auld Sod from Ogg the Leprechaun (Tommy Steele). Finian believes that if he buries the crock on American soil, it will grow into an even larger treasure--just as Fort Knox did (or so he thinks). Sharon falls in love with sharecropper Woody Mahoney (Don Francks), who like everyone else in the community is being threatened by the perfidy of Senator Rawkins (Keenan Wynn). While Finian haggles over three wishes with the tricky Ogg, Sharon runs afoul of the racially bigoted Rawkins. She wishes that Rawkins would turn black so that he could walk in someone else's shoes for a change--and this, thanks to Ogg, is exactly what happens. To rescue Sharon and Woody from being burned as witches, Ogg grants a last wish, which turns him into a human being; this is not an altogether bad thing, for Ogg has fallen in love with mysterious mountain gal Susan the Silent (Barbara Hancock). The racial tolerance subtext of Finian's Rainbow, considered radical in 1948, seemed rather antiquated in 1969, though it did allow for a hilarious scene in which a white associate of Judge Rawkins attempts to instruct young black botanist Al Freeman Jr. on the proper way to "act Negro". As Finian, Fred Astaire requested that the role be expanded to allow him to dance a little (as written, the character barely even sings). Most of the original score remains intact, including the hit song "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?" Francis Ford Coppola seemed a curious choice to direct a musical, and indeed the production was a troubled one due to Coppola's inexperience in the genre. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Astaire, Petula Clark, (more)
The winner of the 1967 Oscar for Best Picture (as well as four other Oscars), In the Heat of the Night is set in a small Mississippi town where an unusual murder has been committed. Rod Steiger plays sheriff Bill Gillespie, a good lawman despite his racial prejudices. When Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier), a well-dressed northern African-American, comes to town, Gillespie instinctively puts him under arrest as a murder suspect. Tibbs reveals himself to be a Philadelphia police detective; after he and Gillespie come to a grudging understanding of one another, Tibbs offers to help in Gillespie's investigation. As the case progresses, both Gillespie and Tibbs betray a tendency to jump to culture-dictated conclusions. Still, the case is solved thanks to the informal teamwork of the two law officers. Based on the novel by John Ball, In the Heat of the Night inspired two sequels, both starring Poiter as Virgil Tibbs. In 1987, a TV series version of In the Heat of the Night appeared, with Carroll O'Connor as Gillespie and Howard Rollins as Tibbs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, (more)
Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiographical novel was translated to film in 1962 by Horton Foote and the producer/director team of Robert Mulligan and Alan J. Pakula. Set a small Alabama town in the 1930s, the story focuses on scrupulously honest, highly respected lawyer Atticus Finch, magnificently embodied by Gregory Peck. Finch puts his career on the line when he agrees to represent Tom Robinson (Brock Peters), a black man accused of rape. The trial and the events surrounding it are seen through the eyes of Finch's six-year-old daughter Scout (Mary Badham). While Robinson's trial gives the film its momentum, there are plenty of anecdotal occurrences before and after the court date: Scout's ever-strengthening bond with older brother Jem (Philip Alford), her friendship with precocious young Dill Harris (a character based on Lee's childhood chum Truman Capote and played by John Megna), her father's no-nonsense reactions to such life-and-death crises as a rampaging mad dog, and especially Scout's reactions to, and relationship with, Boo Radley (Robert Duvall in his movie debut), the reclusive "village idiot" who turns out to be her salvation when she is attacked by a venomous bigot. To Kill a Mockingbird won Academy Awards for Best Actor (Peck), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Art Direction. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gregory Peck, Mary Badham, (more)
- 1961
Tennessee Williams' Broadway play Summer and Smoke (expanded from his one-act piece Eccentricities of a Nightingale) was brought to the screen by adaptors James Poe and Meade Roberts and director Peter Glenville. Geraldine Page repeats her stage role as minister's daughter Alma Winemiller, who lives a spinsterish existence in her WWI-era Mississippi home town. Though her hateful mother (Una Merkel) has nothing but nasty things to say about men, Alma carries a torch for her handsome next-door neighbor and lifelong friend, Dr. John Buchanan (Laurence Harvey). The doctor prefers the companionship of Rosa (Rita Moreno), a "wrong side of the tracks" girl who is as open and freewheeling as Alma is shy and repressed. Desperate for Buchanan's attention, Alma begins behaving with uncharacteristic affection towards him. He misreads her signals and attempts to seduce her. Already on the edge, Alma goes ballistic, literally running out of Buchanan's life. When the doctor throws an engagement party for himself and Rosa, the neurotic Alma tells Buchanan's father (John McIntire) that a wantonly immoral get-together is taking place in the doctor's home--an act of vengeance that has long-range tragic consequences. By film's end, the previously strait-laced Alma, unhinged by previous events, has become as misguidedly passionate as her spiritual sister, A Streetcar Named Desire's Blanche DuBois. Summer and Smoke earned Academy Award nominations for both Geraldine Page and Una Merkel; while Merkel would never win an Oscar, Ms. Page finally collected her statuette for 1985's A Trip to Bountiful. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laurence Harvey, Geraldine Page, (more)
John Wayne's directorial debut The Alamo is set in 1836: Wayne plays Col. Davy Crockett, who, together with Colonels Jim Bowie (Richard Widmark) and William Travis (Laurence Harvey) and 184 hardy Americans and Texicans, defends the Alamo mission against the troops of Mexican general Santa Ana. There's a lot of macho byplay before the actual attack, including the famous "letter" scene in which Wayne craftily rouses the patriotic ire of his subordinates. Also appearing are Richard Boone as Sam Houston, and Chill Wills (whose somewhat tasteless Oscar campaign has since become legendary in the annals of shameless self-promotion) as Beekeeper. Wayne's production crew was compelled to reconstruct the Alamo in Bracketville, Texas, about a hundred miles from the actual site. Dimitri Tiomkin's score, including The Green Leaves of Summer, received generous airplay on the Top-40 radio outlets of America. Rumors persist that Wayne's old pal John Ford directed most of The Alamo; cut to 161 minutes for its general release, the film was restored to its original, 192-minute length in 1992. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Richard Widmark, (more)
- 1960
The story of a boy and his fish is chronicled in this heartwarming children's drama. The story centers around Raymie, a young boy who is determined to catch 'Old Moe,' a big barracuda who has become a local legend. Along with a variety of older fisherman, he sets up his gear on a California pier and patiently begins fishing for his prize; when he finally catches it, the tender-hearted lad decides to release the great creature. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Ladd, Julie Adams, (more)
- 1956
Doc Adams (Milburn Stone) reacts with uncharacteristic violence when snake-oil peddler Lute Bone (John Abbott) shows up in town. Though everyone (including Chester [Dennis Weaver) falls for Professor Bone's line of patter, Doc is convinced that the man is not only a fraud but a potential murderer, distributing "medicine" that is virtually 100 per cent opium. As it turns out, Bone is not really dishonest, just pathetically misguided--but in any event, Matt has no legal grounds to stop the Professor until tragedy strikes. Based on the Gunsmoke radio broadcast of November 14, 1953, this episode features a rare TV-western appearance by legendary African American entertainer/songwriter Jester Hairston. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1955
By 1955, the original Tarzan, Johnny Weissmuller, had long since retired, and RKO Pictures tried several replacements. Tarzan's Hidden Jungle was the first of six films starring Gordon Scott as the ape man. It also was the last of 12 Tarzan pictures released by RKO Studios, and other studios subsequently stepped in to try to carry on the long-running franchise. The villain is a bounty hunter named Burger (Jack Elam), who has invaded the jungle in search of ivory, lion skins, and even animal fat. Tarzan thwarts his schemes with the help of the usual herd of elephants. He also spends a lot of time aiding a noble physician, Dr. Celliers (Peter Van Eyck) and his nurse, Jill Hardy (Vera Miles). Miles and Scott were married after the film was shot. Cheta the Chimp is joined by fellow chimps Lucky and Zippy, the latter of which was a mainstay on television's Howdy Doody series. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gordon Scott, Vera Miles, (more)
- 1954
Gypsy Colt was based on a story by Eric Knight, better known for his enduring dog saga Lassie Come Home. This time, a beautiful black colt subs for Lassie, undergoing all sorts of perilous adventures out of love for its mistress, little Meg McWade (Donna Corcoran). Living with her mother and father (Ward Bond, Frances Dee) in a drought-ridden farming community, Donna is dismayed to learn that her parents may be forced to sell her beloved colt to pay off their mounting debts. But the colt manages to escape its new owner, making a 500-mile journey back to Meg's waiting arms. Future spaghetti-western star Lee Van Cleef has a meaty supporting role as a dour groom. A 60-minute version of Gypsy Colt was made available in 1967 as part of the weekly TV anthology Off to See the Wizard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donna Corcoran, Ward Bond, (more)
- 1954
Despite its title, Tanganyika was largely filmed in the wilds of Universal City. Set in 1900, the film stars Van Heflin as safari guide John Gale, hired to launch a manhunt for the murderous Abel McCracken (Jeff Morrow). Deep in the territory controlled by the Nukumbi tribe, McCracken has been using the natives for his own reign of terror agains the British settlers of Tanganyika. Along for the chase are McCracken's honest brother Dan (Howard Duff), schoolmarm Peggy (Ruth Roman), and two precocious kids (Noreen Corcoran, Gregory Marshall). Gale's motives have nothing to do with justice, or even the charms of Peggy; he hopes to stake a claim on a piece of valuable African real estate. A climactic man-to-man battle between Gale and McCracken brings the proceedings to a rousing conclusion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Van Heflin, Ruth Roman, (more)
- 1942
- NR
In This Our Life is not a "for the ages" classic of the Golden Age of Cinema, but as a highly effective and entertaining melodrama, it more than fits the bill. Howard Koch's screenplay is a trifle predictable, but it's well structured and provides the requisite juicy roles for its pair of female stars. It also provides a number of little surprises -- a sympathetic and (for the time) non-stereotypical portrayal of a black character and two characters living not only in sin but adulterously so -- that give it some distinction. The script's main drawback is its initial lack of focus; it doesn't seem to quite know exactly what its story is and where the real conflict will lie. Ultimately, this doesn't really matter, for John Huston knows where it's going, and he shepherds the story along very efficiently, throwing in a little social commentary here, heightening the atmosphere there, tossing in a hint of the unsavory elsewhere. Although he doesn't really know what to do with the male actors (save for Charles Coburn and Frank Craven, each of whom is just right in entirely different ways), he handles the women in exactly the right way, including Billie Burke as the coddling, neurotic mother. It's Bette Davis, of course, who gets the showiest role, and she sinks her teeth into it and plays it for all it's worth. It's a great Davis performance, but she's still outdone by Olivia de Havilland, whose quiet, understated work anchors the film and ultimately makes the greater impression. It's terribly fine film acting, and immensely satisfying. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, (more)
Adapted by Barre Lyndon from his own Saturday Evening Post short story, Sundown takes place in Africa during WW2. British army major Coombes (George Sanders) cannot abide the local Arab population, and he has even less time for district commissioner Crawford (Bruce Cabot), who has befriended the natives. Crawford is particularly fond of the beautiful Zia (Gene Tierney), whom Coombes suspects of being a Nazi sympathizer. But when the British troops must make their way through treacherous uncharted territory, they are forced to rely upon the guidance of the enigmatic Zia. Cedric Hardwycke spouts reams and reams of symbolic dialogue as the local British bishop, while among the native extras is a very young Dorothy Dandridge. Impressively photographed (by Charles Lang) and directed (by Henry Hathaway), Sundown just misses being as profound as it obviously wants to be. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Cabot, Gene Tierney, (more)
