Barbara Chaney Movies
- 1989
William Blinn's teleplay for The Outside Woman smacks of the most exaggerated of contrivances--but it's all based on truth. Sharon Gless, who tries really hard to look dowdy, stars as a Southern mill worker. Highly susceptible to the possibility of romance, Gless falls for the smooth line of Scott Glenn--a convict at Los Angeles state prison. Her common sense clouded by love, Gless agrees to help hijack a helicopter in order to bust Glenn and a fellow convict out of the slammer. Made for television, The Outside Woman was perhaps deliberately slated for its premiere just before Valentine's Day of 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1979
Muhammad Ali made his TV-movie dramatic debut in this adaptation of Howard Fast's novel Freedom Road. Though some of the names are changed, the story concerns the true-life efforts of senators Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens to bring political order and racial equality to the post-Civil War South. Ali is cast as Gideon Jackson, an ex-slave who is elected to the U.S. senate during the Reconstruction Era. Interestingly enough, the character upon whom Jackson is based was depicted as the villain of D.W. Griffith's 1915 Civil War epic Birth of a Nation. Just as Griffth offered his own biased slant on the facts, so too did Fast rewrite history to promote his own political ideology. As for Muhammad Ali, his performance is no threat to Olivier, but he acts with sincerity and a commendable lack of bravado. Made for TV, Freedom Road represented the final film effort of Czechoslovakian director Jan Kadar. It was first telecast in two parts on October 29 and 30, 1979, an event that warranted a cover story in TV Guide. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1976
Part 2, Sounder was the sequel to the 1973 filmization of William H. Armstrong's novel Sounder, with the same scenarist (Lonnie Elder III) but with a different director (Graham) and releasing company (Gamma III). Still set amongst Depression-era black sharecroppers in Louisiana, Part 2 features Harold Sylvester and Ebony Wright stepping into the roles originated in first film by Paul Winfield and Cicely Tyson. They're still struggling against poverty and prejudice, but have now been given a ray of hope by activist teacher Anzanette Chase (taking over from first film's Janet McLachlan). Her school is closed down by the white landowners, who don't want the "coloreds" to get too "uppity." The sharecroppers band together to build their own school, so that their children can learn to create a better world. Musician Taj Mahal is back from the first film, doubling in a supporting role and providing the musical score. Originally designed as a made-for-TV movie, Part 2: Sounder was redirected to theatres instead. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Harold Sylvester, Ebony Wright, (more)
- 1974
- Add The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman to Queue Add The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman to top of Queue
Cicely Tyson ages from 19 to 110 in the role of Jane Pittman, a fictional African-American woman whose life began in slavery and ended at the inception of the Civil Rights Movement. Northern journalist Quentin Lerner (Michael Murphy) travels to the racially polarized south of 1962 to interview Ms. Pittman for a potential book. Her life unfolds in flashbacks, many painful and unpleasant, but just as many are uplifting and hopeful. Based on the novel by Ernest J. Gaines and filmed on location in Baton Rouge, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman won nine Emmy Awards, including Best Actress (Tyson), Director (John Korty), and Screenplay (Tracy Keenan Wynn). The film premiered January 31, 1974, on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Cicely Tyson, Barbara Chaney, (more)
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