Freddye Chapman Movies
- 1996
- PG
- Add Once Upon a Time...When We Were Colored to QueueAdd Once Upon a Time...When We Were Colored to top of Queue
Actor Tim Reid (WKRP in Cincinnati) made his directorial debut with this filmed adaptation of Clifton L. Taulbert's autobiography. Set in an African-American community in the segregated South, Once Upon a Time...When We Were Colored follows a young Taulbert through three decades, beginning with his birth in a cotton field in 1946. As he grows up, Taulbert is faced with the harsh realities of being black in the mid-20th century: first from the lessons of his great-grandfather (Al Freeman Jr.), later in his trips to the local segregated library, and finally in 1962, when a 16-year-old Taulbert watches as his community deals with a racist white business owner trying to run a local black ice man out of town. Once Upon a Time...When We Were Colored was the recipient of the Audience Choice Award at the 1995 St. Louis International Film Festival. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- 1988
It has been nearly a year since drug kingpin Bogota was killed in the episode "Love, Hate, and Sporty James", but the million dollars that Bogota had on him when he died is still missing. Hunter (Fred Dryer) and McCall (Stepfanie Kramer) suspect that the money was stolen by street hustler Sporty James (Garret Morris), the man who helped them mete out justice to the drug lord. Trouble is, a bunch of Colombian tough guys also think that Sporty has the dough, and they're willing to kill him to get it back. In an ironic turn of events, Sporty ends up being charged with the murder of one of the Colombians, prompting Hunter to call in a number of favors from the Underworld to find the real trigger man. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
Much of the original cast from the popular television series Police Story reunited for this edgy drama, in which the detectives search for a killer loose on the roads. This entry was one of several TV-movies in the late 1980s to feature the familiar cast in the Police Story format. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
"Daddy" is Dermot Mulroney--a high-school-age kid who has no clue of what he's in for. Mulroney has gotten his girlfriend Patricia Arquette pregnant, less out of callousness than naivete. Arquette drops out of school, thinking she can drop back in anytime, while Mulroney puts his music lessons on hold for the "duration," also treating the situation as temporary. The film is remarkable in conveying the principles' utter lack of preparedness for their upcoming parental responsibilities. Some critics felt that the film should have been required viewing for teens who think themselves wise beyond their years simply because they've discovered sex. Made for TV, Daddy was first telecast April 5, 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1986
- R
Daniel Stern plays an up-and-coming stockbroker; Christopher Plummer is his boss; and Arielle Dombasle is the boss' wife. As a sort of litmus test for future executives, Plummer invites Stern and coworker Martin Mull for a weekend in the country. The sexy Dombasle takes a liking to Stern, who wonders if cohabiting with the boss' wife will improve his chances at promotion. This is but one element of writer/director Ziggy Steinberg's Felliniesque script, which throws in all sort of eccentrics and bizarre situations to pad out what is essentially a one-joke situation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Stern, Arielle Dombasle, (more)
- 1985
Jessica (Angela Lansbury) pays a visit her niece Tracey (Linda Grovenor), an up-and-coming jockey. After winning a race, Tracey has a confrontation with the horse's owner, indicating that she was supposed to have thrown the race. Not long after, the owner turns up murdered--and Tracey is the prime suspect. Naturally, Jessica isn't about to let her niece take the rap for a crime she didn't commit...and besides, she has a pretty good idea "whodunit" (especially since the revelation of the actual culprit follows the most reliable of the Murder She Wrote guidelines!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
The two-hour debut episode of Murder, She Wrote finds former substitute teacher Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) reluctantly thrust into the limelight when her first mystery novel, "The Corpse Danced at Midnight," becomes a best-seller. Invited to a costume ball held by her publisher, Jessica comes face to face with a genuine murder when guest Dexter Baxendale (Dennis Patrick), wearing a Sherlock Holmes costume, turns up dead. Suspicion immediately falls upon Jessica's nephew Grady (Michael Horton), forcing our heroine to turn sleuth herself. Throughout the story, the widowed Jessica must also wrestle with her growing attraction to handsome Preston Giles (Arthur Hill). Watch for future Murder, She Wrote semi-regular Herb Edelman in a role other than Lt. Artie Gelber, and also for a young Andy Garcia in a bit part as a tough guy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
In this made-for-TV drama, a spunky waitress (Deborah Raffin) is left to support herself, her two small children, and her unborn baby when her no-good husband runs off. Determined not to spend her life in a dead-end job, the woman quits waitressing and sets out to become a truck driver. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1978
Future Magnum,P.I. star Tom Selleck makes his first Rockford Files appearance in the role of the dazzlingly handsome and insufferably successful private eye Lance White. Reluctantly teamed with Lance, Jim tackles the case of Veronica Teasdale (Karen Austin), the allegedly kidnapped daughter of a prominent weapons industrialist (Bill Quinn). The investigation veers off into unexpected twists and turns thanks to a covert scheme to sell arms to Palestine, and an elderly gangster who wants to die in Israel. Through it all, Jim is driven crazy by Lance White's "perfection" and incredible good fortune ("Things have a way of working out" is his infallible motto)--to say nothing of the fact that Jim's perennial nemesis Lt. Chapman (James Luisi) has no qualms about fawning all over Mr. White. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
