J.D. Hall Movies

This original HBO production documents, in dramatic form, the rivalry between Jackie Robinson, Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson to see who would be the first African-American to play Major League Baseball. Paige (played by Delroy Lindo) and Gibson (Mykelti Williamson) are more aggressive about seizing the opportunity that arose in the mid-'40s with the death of baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who had publicly avowed that the color line in baseball would never be broken. Branch Rickey (Edward Herrmann), the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, is the first to seize that opportunity, sending his scouts to check out all the stars of the Negro Leagues. He narrows his choice down to Robinson, in part because of Paige's age (he was around 40) and Gibson's health (he behaved erratically in public, though it rarely affected his game). Rickey was looking for a player with the talent to compete in the big leagues and the character not to allow the inevitable harassment that would come his way to get to him. Robinson was signed in October 1945 and made his big-league debut in April 1947. Paige made it to the big leagues in 1948; Gibson died at the age of 36 in 1947 of a brain tumor. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide

Kit Walker is the 21st Century Phantom, one of a long line of superheroes who have lived in the jungles and dutifully defended mankind's precious natural resources. After the cataclysmic Resource War, Kit moves to the urban jungles of Metropia, looking to thwart the baddies. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

When his daughter Renee Witherspoon is stricken with leukemia, father Bruce Davison hopes to find a bone-marrow transplant within his own family. The most likely candidate is Renee's half-brother Joe Mazzello. But Joe's natural mother (and Renee's stepmother) Joanna Kerns, fearful that her son might endanger his own life, refuses permission for the operation. This being a TV movie rather than a weekly series, there are no easy answers to the dilemma, either morally or legally. Desperate Choices: To Save My Child was first telecast October 5, 1992. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a troubled 17-year old is involuntarily committed to a sleazy behavioral treatment center. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

"Fatal attraction" has become a household term for love turned to murderous obsession, thanks to the success of Adrian Lyne's 1987 movie. Dan (Michael Douglas) is a family man whose one-night affair with Alex (Glenn Close) turns into a nightmare when she insists on continuing the relationship, claiming to be carrying his baby. Alex systematically terrorizes Dan, even temporarily kidnapping his daughter, in her attempts to win back his affection. Douglas' besieged family man guiltily tries to preserve his marriage and family from the consequences of his own indiscretion. Close's performance as the love-struck psycho-siren remains her signature role: She conveys the buried feminist message of the film in her challenge to Dan to take responsibility for his sexual behavior. Though many critics acknowlegded the film's striking similarities to Clint Eastwood's 1971 film Play Misty for Me, Fatal Attraction spawned numerous other movies about middle-class families besieged by a lone psychotic intent on infiltrating and destroying the fabric of the family unit, including The Stepfather (1987), Pacific Heights (1990), The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992), and Fear (1996). ~ Laura Abraham, All Movie Guide

In the first episode of a two-part story, a reluctant Hunter (Fred Dryer) is teamed with sleazy Manhattan detective Jackie Molinas (Dennis Franz), who has allowed cocaine dealer Sally LaPone to escape from his custody during extradition from Los Angeles. While Hunter and Molinas scour the city in search of LaPone, McCall (Stepfanie Kramer) goes undercover as a singer at a night spot owned by drug kingpin Vic Terranova (Dennis Farina). Little does anyone suspect that Molinas himself is in cahoots with Terranova--and he has no intention of bringing LaPone back alive. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Inasmuch as Mark Twain thoughtlessly neglected to mention all the "secret adventures" of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn in his own books on these colorful characters, this CBS TV movie performed a public service by taking up the slack. According to Rascals and Robbers, Hannibal's own Tom (Patrick Creadon) and Huck (Anthony Michael Hall in his first important role) enabled a slave to purchase his sister's freedom, saved an entire town from a confidence scam, came to the rescue of a failing circus, and foiled a particularly scurrilous villain, "in between" their more familiar exploits up and down the Mississippi. A strong supporting cast helps to make this film palatable for Twain purists. Rascals and Robbers: The Secret Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn originally aired on February 27, 1982. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide