Norma Donaldson Movies
A talented and versatile entertainer, Norma Donaldson seemed to find success wherever she chose to perform. Born and raised in Harlem, Donaldson launched her career as a nightclub singer and then toured with Harry Belafonte and Lena Horne. During the 1970s, she was a popular Broadway star and was most famous for portraying the loveless chorine Miss Adelaide, opposite Robert Guillame, in Frank Loesser's all-black revival of Guys and Dolls in 1976. She and Guillame were again paired in Purlie and No Place to Be Somebody. Donaldson's film credits include Willie Dynamite (1973), 9 to 5 (1980), House Party (1990), and Poetic Justice (1993). On television, she guest starred on numerous series, including All in the Family, The Jeffersons, and General Hospital. At the time of her death, she was playing Lilliebelle Barber on the soap opera The Young and the Restless. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 1982
Sitcom stalwart Valerie Harper trades jokes for the judiciary in Farrell: For the People. Valerie stars as New York attorney Elizabeth Farrell ("All she wants to be is a DA", declared the TV Guide ad copy, "but her toughest case is being a woman!"), whose case load runs the gamut from rapists to killers. This TV movie borrows a page from current events by fictionalizing the notorious Norman Mailer/Jack Henry Abbott contretemps. Farrell takes on an ex-convict who has become a best-selling author thanks to the intervention of the Manhattan intellectual elite--and whose latest creative achievement is murder. Farrell: for the People was the pilot for a projected TV series, but the central character was too bland and confining for Valerie Harper's talents. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
All in the Family launched its eighth season on October 2, 1977 (and moved from Saturday to Sunday evening in the process), with the extra-length "transitional" episode "Archie Gets the Business." Tired of working for wages, Archie yearns to fulfill his longtime dream of purchasing Kelcey's Bar. Of course, there's a little matter of collateral, but Archie is certain that Edith will agree to his plan of signing over their mortgage as a security. Unfortunately, Edith doesn't agree -- and that's why Archie ends up forging her name. Written by Mel Tolkin and Larry Rhine, the 60-minute "Archie Gets the Business" has since been re-edited into two 30-minute episodes for syndication purposes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, (more)
- 1975
Rhoda Gemignani is cast as Emily, an employee at George Jefferson's dry cleaning establishment. Though Emily is the most qualified candidate for the position of manager, George (Sherman Hemsley) refuses to give her the job. Can it be that George is prejudiced against Emily's gender? No, his resistance goes a lot deeper -- skin deep, in fact. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sherman Hemsley, Isabel Sanford, (more)
- 1975
Normally the most level-headed member of the Evans family, young Michael (Ralph Carter) has suddenly begun acting in a goofy fashion: getting into fights, cutting classes, and failing exams. With dad James (John Amos) out of town, Florida (Esther Rolle) and her brother Wilbert (Louis Gossett Jr.) try to root out the cause of Michael's strange behavior. The answer is one of the oldest on earth: the youngest Evans has fallen victim to Cupid's arrows. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Across 110th Street is a violent urban thriller about a corrupt, older white cop (Anthony Quinn) and an honest, young African-American cop (Yaphet Kotto) chasing three robbers-cum-murderers who ran away with $300,000 that belonged to the Italian mob. The police must find them before the sadistic Mafia henchman Nick D'Salvio (Anthony Franciosa) reaches them first. The film has reached a cult status; the title song, performed by Bobby Womack, was later used in Jackie Brown, Quentin Tarantino's extended homage to the crime flicks of the 1970s. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Quinn, Yaphet Kotto, (more)
- 1956
British sailors John Mills and Richard Attenborough would like to take Neopolitan lass Lisa Gastoni out on a date. But Gastoni can't leave the house unless her baby brother tags along. During a rowdy evening on the town, Mills is forced to sneak the infant on board his ship. When Gastoni and Attenborough arrive to claim the kid, they find that the ship has already sailed. Essentially a British Abbott & Costello picture, Baby and the Battleship manages to deliver a sufficient supply of hearty chuckles. The film was based on a somewhat subtler novel by Anthony Thorne. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Mills, Richard Attenborough, (more)
R&B star Janet Jackson made an impressive film debut in Poetic Justice as Justice, a hairdresser at a small salon in South Central Los Angeles. Justice uses her poetry to deal with her grief after her boyfriend is killed in a shooting incident at a drive-in. Hired to work at a hair stylists' event in Oakland, Justice is stranded when her car breaks down, until she remembers that her friend Ieasha (Regina King) was going to hop a ride down to Oakland with her boyfriend Chicago (Joe Torry), a postal worker who is heading there with a truck full of mail. Justice tags along to discover that Chicago's driving partner is Lucky (Tupac Shakur), the postman who delivers mail to her shop and keeps asking her out. Ieasha and Chicago have to deal with their own rocky relationship while Justice has to decide if she's ready for a new love -- and if Lucky is the man she's waiting for. Along with strong work from Jackson, Poetic Justice features a surprising turn from Shakur, whose nuanced performance as Lucky is in strong contrast to his "Thug Life" public persona. Justice's poems were written by Maya Angelou, who also appears in a small role. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janet Jackson, Tupac Shakur, (more)
Loosely based on the life and times of several R&B artists (The Dells, The Temptations, Frankie Lymon, Sam Cooke and others) The Five Heartbeats traces the rise and fall of a popular African-American 1950s singing aggregation. The story is told from the point of view of one of the "Heartbeats," played by Robert Townsend (who also co-produced, directed and co-wrote the script with Keenan Ivory Waynans). The film is an amalgam of anecdotes drawn from real-life experiences: the long struggle upward, the first rush of success, the dishonest record-company executives, the hard-nosed but nurturing managers, the sex, the drugs, the isolation and the precipitous downward slide. The film begins and ends in the 1990s, as the middle-aged "Duck" (Townsend) ruminates on the past and makes the best of the present. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Townsend, Michael Wright, (more)
House Party is an infectious, engaging comedy starring the rap duo Kid 'N Play. Kid (Christopher Reid) decides to throw a party where he plans to blow the roof off the joint with his rhyming skills, so he and his friend Play (Christopher Martin) throw a huge party while Play's parents are away. The day of the party, Kid is grounded by his father (Robin Harris) and he has to sneak out of the house to get to the party, where he is confronted by several rival rappers, as well as a bevy of adoring girls. Though House Party follows a standard plot-line straight out of the '50s rock & roll films, the script is inventive, providing many different twists and turns, while Reginald Hudlin's direction is assured and very, very funny. Kid 'N Play are both terrific, but the true standout is legendary comedian Robin Harris in one of his few screen roles. House Party later spawned two sequels and an animated television series. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher "Kid" Reid, Christopher "Play" Martin, (more)
- 1988
- R
Archbishop Mosley (Hal Holbrook) assigns Father Michael (Ben Cross) to a church in New Orleans in this supernatural horror film. The parish church was the site of the throat-slashing murders of two priests two years earlier. While Father Michael tends to the mostly impoverished flock of parishioners and their needs, he launches his own investigation into the mysterious unsolved deaths. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Cross, Hal Holbrook, (more)
Willie Dynamite (Roscoe Orman) is a Manhattan pimp whose life and career are documented in this blaxploitation flick. Willie makes it to the top of his precarious profession, only to hit rock bottom again in record time. In her last movie role, Diana Sands plays an ex-hooker who becomes a social worker. She tries to get Willie to clean up his act before it's too late. Willie Dynamite was produced by Richard Zanuck and David Brown, who shortly afterward collaborated on a more upbeat project, The Sting. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Director Sylvester Stallone proves you really can't go home again in Staying Alive, the absurd sequel to Saturday Night Fever. The story finds Tony Manero (Travolta) six years later working as a waiter in a nightclub while he tries to realize his dreams of dancing on Broadway (what tough street kid from Brooklyn doesn't?) He eventually makes the cut as an extra for "Satan's Alley" (billed as "a musical trip through Hell") and immediately sets his sights on the show's snooty prima-donna star (Finola Hughes, decidedly unsuited for such dancing as her role requires). Meanwhile, the nice girl he's been seeing (Cynthia Rhodes) stands by her man, waiting patiently for him to come around. When the male lead can't cut it, Tony is offered the part, and tensions rise. The action culminates in the show itself and Tony's ultimate realization that he needs to please only himself. Indeed, the horrific dancing combined with Frank Stallone's inane musical score makes one wonder just how accurate the show's billing of "a musical trip through Hell" actually is. As long as one disassociates this film from its predecessor, Staying Alive is highly enjoyable for its schlock value; it may well be an inadvertent camp classic for Travolta's sweaty thongs alone. As for Stallone's direction and screenwriting abilities, he proves he is better off to remain an underdog prize-fighter/ commie-killer/mercenary cop/ double-fisted union leader/etc... ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Travolta, Cynthia Rhodes, (more)
Judy Bernly (Jane Fonda), a housewife whose husband has left her for his secretary, begins her own secretarial career at a huge corporation. Violet Newstead (Lily Tomlin), a feisty, veteran office manager, instructs her on the perils and procedures of office life -- and of working for Franklin Hart Jr. (Dabney Coleman), their chauvinistic, sleazy boss, and his right-hand woman, the crisp, nosy Roz (Elizabeth Wilson). Meanwhile, Hart's endless attempts to seduce his happily married secretary, Doralee Rhodes (Dolly Parton), lead the entire office to think she's a trollop. When Hart unfairly passes Violet over for a promotion, she drowns her sorrows at a local bar with Judy and Doralee, who regales the others with tales of Hart's epic advances. Later, at Doralee's house, the women smoke pot, eat barbecue, and concoct hilarious revenge fantasies -- a rodeo hog-tie, a Wild West shootout, and a gothic Snow White scenario -- about killing their boss. When a mix-up leads the women to think they have accidentally poisoned Hart's coffee, they hatch a scheme to protect themselves by stealing Hart's body from the morgue. When he turns up alive, never having drunk the coffee, they must kidnap him to prevent him from blackmailing them or calling the police. The women then use the occasion of their boss' absence to effect some changes around the office. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, (more)
