Bill Overton Movies
- 1992
Will's widowed mother Vy (Vernee Watson-Johnson) has a new boyfriend named Robert (Bill Overton), who despite his inherent likability simply cannot get Will (Will Smith) to warm up to him. It turns out that Will doesn't want to share Vy with a stranger--and may be willing to go to any lengths to sabotage her romance. In the course of events, Will experiences a curious bonding moment with Robert's young daughter Claudia (played by former Cosby Show regular Raven-Symone, whose longtime TV costar Malcolm-Jamal Warner directed this episode). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Small-town banker Robin Williams has never been able to live down the fact that he dropped an important pass during a crucial high-school football game. Likewise tainted for life is the team's star quarterback Kurt Russell, now a garage owner. Fed up with living his life under a cloud, Williams hits upon a brilliant idea: he will stage a rematch-13 years after the fact--with the members of the rival team. Trouble beckons when Williams' father-in-law announces that he's rooting for the opposition. Williams is determined to win, and in pursuit of that goal he pushes his former teammates to hitherto untapped brilliance. Directed by Roger Spottiswood, The Best of Times was written by Ron Shelton, future writer/director of such delightful sports films as Bull Durham, White Men Can't Jump and Tin Cup; it was Shelton, in fact, who directed most of Best of Times' climactic football game. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robin Williams, Kurt Russell, (more)
Based on the best-selling memoirs of Lillian Rogers Parks, the NBC miniseries Backstairs at the White House traces over five decades of American political history as witnessed from the vantage point of the servants' quarters. Played by Tania Johnson as a teenager and by Leslie Uggams as an adult, Lillian Rogers Parks served for 52 years as a maidservant at the White House. Though crippled early on with polio, Lillian diligently and loyally stuck to her duties -- and her own rock-solid set of principles and ideals -- through eight highly different Presidential administrations, often (and occasionally reluctantly) acting as friend and confidante to the First Lady of the moment. The large and stellar cast included a number of top-rank film and TV actors, obviously having the time of their lives impersonating such presidents as William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and Dwight D. Eisenhower, and their respective wives. Also in the cast were several African-American veterans from the landmark TV miniseries Roots. Earning 11 Emmy Award nominations, the nine-hour Backstairs at the White House was seen in five installments from January 29 to February 19, 1979. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Uggams, Olivia Cole, (more)
- 1977
Cover Girls isn't really a Charlie's Angels rip-off. Honest! Look: there are three girls in Charlie's Angels and only two girls (Jayne Kennedy and Cornelia Sharpe) in Cover Girls. Besides, the Angels are private eyes, working on behalf of boss John Forsythe; the Cover Girls are fashion models, doubling as secret agents on behalf of boss Don Galloway. Just because Cover Girls premiered on May 18, 1977, six months into Charlie's Angels' fabulous first season, doesn't mean that there was any conscious copycatting. Does it? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jayne Kennedy, Cornelia Sharpe, (more)
- 1976
- PG
Invisible Strangler tells the story of a boy who strangles his mother and while in a mental institution finds books which give him the key to making himself invisible. He then escapes from the hospital and goes on a murder spree, strangling his mother's friends in a series of unintentionally hilarious episodes, while they sit in their comfortable, expensive homes. The detective assigned to the case, Lt. Charles Barrett (Robert Foxworth) devises an unusual way to dispose of the killer. Sue Lyon, previously seen in Lolita, has a tiny role, as does Elke Somer. Originally shot in 1976 and titled The Astral Factor, this silly, obvious film sat on the shelf for 10 years before being released directly to video ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Foxworth, Stefanie Powers, (more)
- 1975
- R
In this horror film, black African Christians confront the traditional religion of their peers when a Yoruban priest is drowned after attempting to stop the Christian baptism of a young girl and her mother. Trouble ensues when the priest comes back to life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lawrence Cook, Marlene Clark, (more)
