Bill Duke Movies
Although many would likely recognize Bill Duke from his roles in such high-profile releases as Predator, Menace II Society, and Red Dragon, perhaps only a few connect the face in front of the camera with the name of the man who also directed such features as A Rage in Harlem and Hoodlum. A native of Poughkeepsie, NY, and the first in his family to graduate from college, the actor/director studied speech and drama at Boston University before earning his M.F.A. from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Subsequently penning off-Broadway plays and launching a film career with roles in Car Wash (1976) and American Gigolo (1979), Duke's early breakthrough came with a featured role in the critically acclaimed Alex Haley miniseries Palmerstown U.S.A. in 1980. Deciding to refine his skills behind the camera, the burgeoning actor later studied at the American Film Institute, where his student project The Hero earned him a solid reputation as a director to watch. In the years that followed, Duke earned a reputation as an efficient and effective television director as he took the helm for episodes of Hill Street Blues, Fame, Miami Vice, Spenser: For Hire, and Matlock. He soon moved into feature territory with the PBS drama The Killing Floor (which screened at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival and earned the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival). In 1989, Duke's adaptation of A Raisin in the Sun showed that, although his directing had thus far been limited to the small screen, he also had the potential to launch a lucrative career in theatrical features.After acting in such features as Commando (1985), Predator (1987), and Bird on a Wire (1990), Duke's first theatrical feature, A Rage in Harlem, was released in 1991. An effective crime drama featuring a gangster's moll, a trunk load of gold, and a slew of unsavory heavies, the film was unfairly interpreted by audiences to be a rip-off of the popular 1989 comedy Harlem Nights. For the dark crime thriller Deep Cover, Duke teamed with future collaborator Laurence Fishburne for the first time, and after lightening things up a bit with The Cemetery Club (1993), Duke earned a direct hit at the box office with the popular sequel Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit the same year. The remainder of the '90s found the actor/director evenly dividing his duties on both sides of the camera, and, in 1997, he re-teamed with Fishburne for the throwback gangster drama Hoodlum. With all of his directorial duties, Duke found little time to accept onscreen roles, though performances in Payback and Fever in 1999 reminded audiences that he was still a compelling screen presence. Duke returned to the small screen the following year to direct an episode of City of Angels and the Nero Wolfe mystery The Golden Spiders, and remained in television to shoot episodes of Fastlane and Robbery Homicide Division. In 2003, Duke directed the moving, made-for-TV drama Deacons for Defense. As roles in Red Dragon (2002) and National Security (2003) continued to fuel his feature career, Duke was also seen on the small screen in episodes of Fastlane and the Out of Sight (1998) spin-off Karen Sisco. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 2006
Lee is appointed to investigate a black-market operation within the fleet after the Pegasus commander is found murdered in his quarters with a cache of cigarettes, liquor and jewelry. ~ Michael Chant, All Movie Guide
- 2006
Andrea Kalin's documentary The Pact relays the inspiring account of three young African American men from the inner-city projects - Rameck Hunt, George Jenkins and Sampson Davis - who vowed to collectively resist the crime, poverty and drug trade that claimed the lives of so many in the neighborhoods of their youth. The three friends banded together and promised to do anything and everything necessary to each fight their way through undergraduate work and medical school, helping and supporting each other along the way. Years later, with their goals accomplished, the men returned to the communities as accredited physicians and set up inner-city practices, not only aiding residents of the ghetto on a grass-roots level, but inspiring youngsters to stay off of the streets and out of drugs, and to each accomplish their full potential. Kalin filters the account through the eyes of a young man immeasurably touched by the physicians. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dr. Sampson Davis, Dr. George Jenkins, (more)
Miracle's Boys tells the tale of African-American brothers who must survive many daily stresses by trusting, relying on, and loving each other. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Nelson, Pooch Hall, (more)
- 2003
This 60-minute entry in the PBS American Experience anthology chronicles the unorthodox medical partnership between Alfred Blalock, chief of surgery at Johns Hopkins, and Vivien Thomas, a black man with little more than a high school education. When Thomas applied for a janitorial post at Johns Hopkins in the early '40s, Blalock was impressed by the man's medical knowledge and took him on as a technician. Ultimately, it was Thomas who, in 1944, designed the surgical procedure to correct what was then known as "blue baby syndrome." But racial barriers being what they were at the time, his contributions went ignored, and Blalock reluctantly accepted all the credit. It was not until 1976 that the medical profession formally recognized Thomas with an honorary doctorate. Partners of the Heart combines straight newsreel footage and still pictures with dramatized recreations of the events. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Beau James, Chris Haley, (more)
Inspired by a true story, this made-for-cable drama is set in 1965, not long after passage of the Civil Rights Act. To the African-American citizens of Bogalusa, LA, however, it is "business as usual"; they are still treated like third-class citizens, their fundamental rights as human beings persistently trampled by the white power structure, in general, and the local branch of the KKK, in particular. Like many of the local black men, war veteran Marcus (Forest Whitaker) works in the town's mill for meager wages, and must endure the ongoing humiliation meted out by his white supervisors. But when he is beaten up by the police for the "outrage" of trying to defend his own daughter, Marcus is pushed too far. Encouraged by an idealistic white Northerner (Jonathan Silverman), Marcus organizes the Deacons, an all-black defense group dedicated to patrolling the black section of town and protecting its residents from the more violent aspects of "white backlash." Telecast during Black History Month, Deacons for Defense first aired over the Showtime cable network on February 16, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Forest Whitaker, Jonathan Silverman, (more)
A film crew sets out on a journey across the country to discover how money is made in the world of hip-hop. Director Maxie Collier takes us inside the process as he selects his Paperchasers crew and travels across the United States, interviewing people making a living off hip-hop, from street rappers selling tapes out of their trunks, to clothing designers, a hairdresser, DJs, record producers, and recording artists. They're all out to make money, and Collier wants to learn how it is done. In Atlanta, the crew catch rap superstar Ludacris and his crew just months before they sign a record deal and blow up. Collier documents his crew's struggles to land interviews with media bigwigs like Rap-A-Lot's J. Prince and Def Jam founder Russell Simmons. Collier also captures the fluctuations in his personal relationships with producer Yvette Plummer, also the mother of his son, and soundman Marquez Edmond (aka "Marquez the Greatest"), as the pressures of making the film wear on the bare-bones crew. Paperchasers, featuring appearances by Fat Joe, Damon Dash, Flava Flav, and James Brown, had its world premiere at the 2003 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- 2003
The ABC cop series Karen Sisco was based on characters created by novelist Elmore Leonard, as visualized in Steven Soderbergh's 1998 theatrical feature Out of Sight. In the role originated on film by Jennifer Lopez, Carla Gugino starred as Karen Sisco, one of the toughest (and certainly the sexiest) U.S. Marshals working the Miami gold coast. Patrolling a beat from Palm Beach to South Beach, Karen used brains, brawn, and sheer chutzpah to bring criminals to heel. All of this was most disconcerting for Karen's father, veteran private detective Marshall Sisco (Robert Forster), who had hoped that his darling daughter would have picked a less risky profession -- and, on a more personal level, wished that Karen would exercise better discretion in her choice of boyfriends. Karen Sisco premiered October 1, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carla Gugino, Robert Forster, (more)
Subtitled "The Definitive Reason Why Men Are Dogs", Book of Love is a mockumentary following the lives of three L.A. bachelors (Eric K. George, Anthony "Treach" Criss, and (Richard T. Jones) as they recover from a series of unhealthy relationships. The team of average Joes are no match for their manipulative girlfriends (Robin Givens, Mari Morrow, and Salli Richardson) , however, and the over eager men are taken for all they're worth. It's this manipulative, self-serving treatment that drives the young bachelors into behaving like "dogs" themselves. Directed by Jeff Byrd, Book of Love was produced by both BET Studios and 5th Gear Entertainment, and eventually released by Strange Fruit Films. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eric K. George, Salli Richardson, (more)
Between 1979 and 1981, 29 African-American children were murdered in Atlanta, GA, leading to a statewide manhunt to find the killer and a considerable outcry from a frightened public. Authorities eventually pinned the child killings on one Wayne Williams, who had been charged with two related murders of adult males. However, several years after Williams had been convicted of the killings of the two men and the case on the child murders had been closed, a pair of investigative reporters began looking into the matter, and discovered clear evidence that the investigation of the Atlanta child killings had been grossly mismanaged, and that in all likelihood Williams had nothing to do with the crimes. Who Killed Atlanta's Children? is a made-for-cable dramatization of the investigation by Pat Laughlin (James Belushi) and Ron Larson (Gregory Hines) as they attempt to find out how Williams (Cle Bennett) came to be railroaded for the child slayings and who the real killer might be. Produced for the Showtime premium cable network, Who Killed Atlanta's Children? also stars Bill Duke, Lynda Gravatt, and Sean McCann. Rudy Langlais, who as editor of Spin Magazine helped to publish Laughlin and Larson's findings, served as producer on this project. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Belushi, Gregory Hines, (more)
- 2000
Nero Wolfe (Maury Chaykin) is the world's greatest detective, and like any genius, he has his share of idiosyncrasies -- he loves orchids with an unnatural passion, he weighs a seventh of a ton, and--oh yeah--he never leaves his New York brownstone. Instead, he is aided by an army of foot soldiers headed by Archie Goodwin (Timothy Hutton). The film opens when Pete, a young windshield washer, is begged by a woman to call the police. She is then ushered into a car and whisked away. Thinking that she has been kidnapped, Pete gives Nero the scoop in exchange for half the reward money. When Pete later turns up dead, Nero kicks his investigation into high gear. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Timothy Hutton, Maury Chaykin, (more)
Michael Apted (Gorillas in the Mist) directed this Walter Mosley script adaptation of Mosley's short story collection, Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned. Ex-con Socrates Fortlow (Laurence Fishburne) returns to L.A., looks for work, becomes friends with Right Burke (Bill Cobbs), is told he's too old for a construction job, helps youngster Darryl (Daniel Williams), and romances cafe-owner Iula Brown (Natalie Cole). Socrates provides a moral uplift to the neighborhood, while Burke's voiceover narration has a Sunset Boulevard twist. The TV movie premiered March 21, 1998 on HBO. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laurence Fishburne, Bill Cobbs, (more)
- 1997
Part of the Biography television series from A&E, this documentary reviews the career and personal life of singer Nat King Cole. Nat took to the piano and could play anything from Bach to Rachmaninoff by the time he was a teenager. In 1937, he debuted his soon-to-be-famous breathy singing style. His first national hit, was {"&Straighten Up and Fly Right." In the 1940s, the King Cole Trio was in high demand, ruling the airwaves with hits like "Get Your Kicks on Route 66," "The Christmas Song," and "Nature Boy." Cole's 1949 recording of "Mona Lisa" crossed over into the pop charts and sold over three million copies, making him the most successful African-American recording artist of his time. Although Cole's commercial success as a pop artist was phenomenal, it unfortunately came with the sacrifice of his exemplary and extremely influential talents as a jazz pianist. Before he turned full-time to singing, he had already influenced the likes of Oscar Peterson, Ahmad Jamal, and Ray Charles with his intricate and innovative piano style and piano/guitar/bass lineup. Includes interviews with Cole's widow, collegues, and his daughter, singer Natalie Cole.
~ John Patrick Sheehan, All Movie Guide
~ John Patrick Sheehan, All Movie Guide
- 1989
Raisin in the Sun is a 1989 TV adaptation of Lorraine Hansberry's 1959 Broadway play (previously filmed in 1962). An African-American family hopes to use a $10,000 legacy left them by the family's late father to move out of the Chicago projects and into a white neighborhood. Spearheading the move is matriarch Esther Rolle, who wants to open more opportunity doors for herself and her family. Rolle's son Danny Glover is bitter about the move; he'd hoped to use the inheritance to open his own business. Most of the play involves the heated battles between the idealistic Rolle and the hostile Glover, who feels that moving into an all-white suburb will hinder rather than help his future. For the purposes of this version, a scene from the play that was removed during its original Broadway run is reinstated. Originally broadcast February 1, 1989, Raisin in the Sun was the eighth-season opener for PBS' American Playhouse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Esther Rolle, Danny Glover, (more)
- 1986
Bill Duke directed this fact-based tale of a poor Southern black woman who rose from poverty to become an FBI agent. Retitled Johnnie Gibson F.B.I. for home video. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1986
Inspired by guess what television series, this made-for-TV movie traces the follies and fortunes of the Ewings and the Barneses all the way back to the 1930s. The familiar Dallas characters are played by unfamiliar (albeit very able) younger players: Miss Ellie, for example, isn't Barbara Bel Geddes (nor even Donna Reed) but the unknown Molly Hagan, while Jock Ewing is the slightly more recognizable Dale Midkiff. Larry Hagman, aka J.R. Ewing, appears long enough to introduce the film. As for J.R. himself, he shows up as an ominously nasty teenager, played by Kevin Wixted. Playing to fabulous ratings, Dallas: The Early Years debuted March 23, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1986
The 90-minute TV movie Flag was meant to be a joint spoof of the nighttime serials Dallas and Knots Landing. In this instance, it was "bite the hand that feeds you time": Flag was produced by David Jacobs, creator of both Dallas and Knots, and distributed by Lorimar-Telepictures, which also distributed both above-mentioned programs. Tom Isbell plays Rudy Flag, an idealistic social worker. Rudy's world is set on its ear when he inherits his family's huge international business concerns, bringing him in close contact with the more evil and mercenary branches of the Flag clan (including reliable old patriarchal type Darren McGavin). Moses Gunn costars as Rudy Flag's social worker associate, who hangs around throughout this TV pilot film to keep the hero honest. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
Don't pass up The Killing Floor on the mistaken notion that the film is a western shoot-em-up or cop drama. The title refers to that special area in the Chicago stockyards where the cattle are slaughtered (yes, we know: yeccch. But it happens). The story relates the true-life attempts to set up an interracial union at the stockyards during World War II. Nothing happens in the film that is not logical or understandable, so don't expect a last minute mano-y-mano duel fought with meat cleavers or some such. Well (and sometimes graphically) produced for PBS' American Playhouse, The Killing Floor stars Damien Leake as a southern black sharecropper seeking a better life in Chicago. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
Police Commissioner Larry Crenshaw (William Windom) is the primary suspect when his wife Connie (Rosemary Thomas) is murdered. This places Hunter (Fred Dryer) and McCall (Stepfanie Kramer) in a ticklish situation: they are ordered to investigate the one man who most desires to see them thrown off the force--and they must save his hide if he turns out to be innocent. Before the inevitable slam-bang finale, the viewer is treated to an abundance of unexpected plot twists, most of them involving a disreputable private eye (Ray Girardin) and a deceptively charming tennis player (Sam Jones). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1980
A strong, but at times tempestuous interracial friendship between two Southern boys during the '30s is chronicled in this drama. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1979
The Evans family is showered with expensive gifts when their cousin Raymond (Calvin Lockhart) pays a visit. The most lavish present is offered to Florida (Esther Rolle): a new, luxurious apartment. But when Florida learns that Raymond's wealth has come from gambling, she wants no part of his generosity. Originally slated to air during Good Times' sixth season, this is one of three episodes that were never telecast by CBS, though all have been included in the series' syndication package. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A slick Los Angeles callboy finds love and redemption in Paul Schrader's ultra-stylish drama. High-living prostitute Julian Kay (Richard Gere, stepping in for John Travolta) has it all: the Mercedes, the clothes, access to Beverly Hills' swankiest establishments, and a stable of rich, older female clients. But it all falls apart after he does a favor for his former pimp (Bill Duke) and the trick turns up dead a short while later; Julian's actual client won't give him an alibi, and police detective Sunday (Hector Elizondo) doesn't believe the gigolo's denials. The one person who can help him is frustrated politician's wife (and sole non-paying bedmate) Michelle (Lauren Hutton), if only Julian could let down his defenses and accept her gesture of love. Mixing his admiration for European art cinema with a voyeuristic view of the seamier side of sex and affluence, Schrader renders Julian an inscrutable, emotionally disengaged purveyor of pleasure, decked out in Giorgio Armani clothes coordinated with Ferdinando Scarfiotti's meticulous production design. Amid critical doubts about its artiness and distanced eroticism, American Gigolo surprised everyone by not dying on the box office vine. With some audiences reportedly showing up for repeat viewings of Gere's seductive charms, it became a moderate hit, turning Gere into a star and Armani into the new fashion sensation. Whatever reservations one may have about the movie, it provided two indelible images of 1980s decadence to come: Gere's perusing his "artist's palette" of shirts, ties, and jackets, and Gere's cruising down the Pacific Coast Highway in his convertible to the New Wave strains of Blondie's "Call Me". ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Gere, Lauren Hutton, (more)
- 1978
Made for television, Love is Not Enough stars Bernie Casey as Mike Harris, the widowed father of five children, ages ranging from 5 to 18. Deducing that a large African-American family has a slim chance of financial survival in Detroit, where he has just been laid of his assembly-line job, Harris moves his brood to Los Angeles in search of The Good Life. As the title suggest, "love" is not enough to sustain the Harris family: The operative word is "Responsibility," and everyone is given his or her own family responsibilities by way of a majority-rule vote. Enough loose plot threads are left untied to allow Love is Not Enough to sequel into a weekly series titled Harris and Company. Unfortunately, the series came and went so quickly in early 1979 that it isn't even listed in some reference works. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
This Kojak episode is the first of two pilots for a projected spinoff series starring Rosey Grier) as hard-nosed California bounty hunter Salathiel Harris. Arriving in New York, Harris begins his search for a bail-jumping racketeer, while home-grown police lieutenant Kojak (Telly Savalas) embarks upon the same quest. To flush out his quarry, Harris sets himself up as the target for a hired assassin--and goes to great lengths to prevent Kojak from "rescuing" him. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
Filmed on location in New York City, this ABC Afterschool Special presentation is the story of Santiago (Ruben Figueroa), a young Puerto Rican boy with a vivid imagination and a boundless supply of perseverance. Santiago is determined to build a sailing ship on the roof of his tenement building -- and to sail that ship in Central Park. Our hero's mission unfolds before our eyes to a lively musical beat, and we're never quite sure where reality ends and fantasy begins. Santiago's Ark was followed two years later by a sequel, Santiago's America. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ruben Figueroa, Marcus Ticotin, (more)
