Hill Harper Movies
One of the more compelling actors of his generation, Hill Harper has earned a reputation for turning in complex performances defined by equal parts intensity and charisma. Acting since the age of 7, Harper, a native of Iowa City, continued to nurture his interest while an undergraduate student at Brown and then as a graduate student at Harvard, where he earned degrees in law and government. During his years at Harvard, the actor was a full-time member of Boston's Black Folks Theater Company, one of the oldest and most acclaimed African-American theater troupes in the country.Harper broke into both film and television in 1993, doing recurring work on the Fox series Married...with Children and making his film debut in the short Confessions of a Dog. He had his first substantial role in a feature in Spike Lee's Get on the Bus (1996), which cast him as a UCLA film student riding a bus to the Million Man March in Washington, D.C. He went on to further demonstrate his versatility in such films as Lee's He Got Game (1998) and Christopher Scott Cherot's Hav Plenty (1997), the latter of which featured him as an egotistical pop-soul singer.
The actor's profile subsequently rose on both the mainstream and independent film circuits, thanks to roles in films ranging from Beloved (1998) to the independent romantic comedy Loving Jezebel (1999) to The Skulls (2000), an entry into the teen thriller/horror genre. Harper also did some of his most acclaimed work in Jordan Walker Pearlman's The Visit (2000), an independent drama in which he starred as a prisoner dying of AIDS who tries to put his life back together. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- 1998
Pierce Brosnan produced and co-stars in this Irish family drama, directed by Eugene Brady and set on the island of Inis Dara. Since farmer Tony Egan (Donal McCann) has had no contact with his sister over two decades, he's startled to find she married a black New Yorker and managed a Hell's Kitchen grocery, facts he learns when her son, artist Chad Egan-Washington (Hill Harper of Spike Lee films) arrives on the island to scatter her ashes. A romance between Chad and Aislin (Aislin McGuckin) disturbs her father, bartender Joe Brady (Brosnan), not for racial reasons, but because Joe once had an ill-fated love affair with Chad's mother. Chad's questions dig up other long-buried family secrets and tensions. Shown in the market section at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hill Harper, Aislin McGuckin, (more)
Denzel Washington and writer-director Spike Lee team for the third time with this contemporary basketball drama focusing on a promising athlete, the son of a convict-father. Jake Shuttlesworth (Denzel Washington) has been in prison for six years when tough prison-warden Wyatt (Ned Beatty) tells him that he's getting a temporary parole with the promise of a commuted sentence. However, there's a trade-off -- Jake must talk his son, Jesus Shuttlesworth (NBA star Ray Allen of the Milwaukee Bucks), the top-ranked high-school basketball player in the country, into signing with the governor's alma mater, Big State. A flashback makes it clear that Jesus' mother (Lonette McKee was accidentally killed by Jake during a violent family fight. After Jake went to prison, the resentful Jesus was left alone to raise his sister Mary (Zelda Harris). Now several colleges are offering Jesus scholarships, and montages satirize the manner in which young athletes are wooed by educators and coaches across the country. However, Jake will soon be back behind bars if he can't get Jesus to sign with Big State within the week. Meanwhile, the greed of other family members begins to surface. John Turturro is seen in a cameo as Coach Billy Sunday, and several real-life coaches can also be spotted in this movie. Music by Aaron Copland (1900-1990) with songs by Public Enemy. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Denzel Washington, Ray Allen, (more)
- 1997
- PG13
Low-rent, poorly-lit superhero action is the order of the day in this film from television director Kenneth Johnson -- who makes several references to his series Alien Nation throughout the course of the movie. NBA basketball superstar Shaquille O'Neal stars as John Henry Irons, a weapons designer and metallurgical genius who is developing a new sonic weapon for the military with the help of Sparks (Annabeth Gish), a computer whiz. When an accident caused by unscrupulous superior Nathaniel Burke (Judd Nelson) leaves Sparks paralyzed, Irons quits his job in disgust. It turns out later that Burke has begun mass-producing the weapon and selling it to terrorists and L.A. street gangs, so Irons and Sparks team up with Uncle Joe (Richard Roundtree), a junkyard artist, to create a suit of armor and a gadget-packed sledgehammer. Irons dons the suit and becomes known as the superhero Steel, who kicks criminal posterior all over the city with his impenetrable get-up and high-tech gizmos. Before long, Burke's comeuppance is in the offing. Although specific references to it were excised between the source material and script, the original DC Comics version of Steel was a spin-off of the Superman comics series. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shaquille O'Neal, Annabeth Gish, (more)
- 1997
Carter (Noah Wyle) is arrested after refusing to hand over confidential information in a domestic-abuse case. After seeking legal aid, Jeanie (Gloria Reuben) is allowed to return to work, precipitating another run-in with Weaver (Laura Innes) and an unexpected parting of the ways with Al (Michael Beach). In exchange for helping Greene (Anthony Edwards), zany lawyer Spivak (Dan Hedaya) wants to "play doctor" for a day. And Weaver (Laura Innes) is wooed by Syngergix executive Ellis West (Clancy Brown). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This bittersweet romantic comedy tosses a few screwball comedics into the path to true love. Impoverished, would-be novelist Lee Plenty (Christopher Scott Cherot) lives off his pals while hoping to score big some day soon. Then wealthy, beautiful Havilland Savage (Chenoa Maxwell) invites him to Washington, D.C., for a quiet New Year's Eve party at her affluent family's home -- where Lee becomes the focus of attention from every woman on the premises. Hav's grandmother (Betty Vaughn), however, foresees that Hav and Lee were destined for each other. Shown at the 1997 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chenoa Maxwell, Christopher Scott Cherot, (more)
Released one year to the day after the 1995 Million Man March, in which a million African-American men marched peacefully in Washington, D.C. in a bid for greater unity and understanding, Spike Lee's Get On the Bus follows a group of black men who take a charter bus from Los Angeles to the rally in the nation's capital and watches as they interact and air their personal issues and concerns. George (Charles S. Dutton) is the organizer of the trip and de facto leader of the group. Evan Thomas (Thomas Jefferson Byrd) is a truck driver who travels to the march with his son (De'Aundre Bonds) chained to his belt by court order after the boy was arrested for petty theft. Kyle (Isaiah Washington) and Randall (Harry Lennix) are gay lovers who take no small amount of abuse from their fellow passengers. Gary (Roger Guenveur Smith) is the product of a mixed-race marriage who could pass for white but sees himself as black; he's also a cop, which does little to endear him to his peers. Flip (Andre Braugher) is an actor who seems more concerned with getting his next film role than the larger issues of the march. Jamal (Gabriel Casseus) is a good-natured young Muslim trying to lead a righteous life to make up for his violent past as a gang member. A film student (Hill Harper) is capturing the trip on videotape, and Jeremiah (Ossie Davis) sits in the back, reflecting on the struggles of African-Americans in the past and present. Financed by a private group of 15 black American men (among them Will Smith and Wesley Snipes), Get On the Bus speaks less of a single political goal than of the need for black men to set aside their differences to work for their common good. While the film falls short of openly criticizing Million Man March organizer Louis Farrakhan, it does present debate about Farrakhan's ideals and statements, ultimately coming to the conclusion that whoever brought this group together is less important than the fact that they came together in peace and brotherhood. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Belzer, Ossie Davis, (more)
- 1996
An inner-city basketball game, held in memory of a slain teenager, ends in a gang-related bloodbath. As members of the media look on, the organizer of the event, activist Brother Kwasi (Tom Wright), exchanges heated words with Detective Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz). A bad situation is made worse when Andy lets slip a racial slur -- placing 15th Precinct commander Lt. Fancy (James McDaniel) in an embarrassingly controversial position. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1995
In this tough but literate urban drama (based on a play by Charles Fuller), Zooman (Khalil Kain) is a petty criminal and gangbanger who in the midst of a shootout with other gangsters accidentally kills a nine-year-old girl. The girl's father, Rueben Tate (Louis Gossett Jr.), is distraught over his daughter's death, but becomes even more upset when no one in the neighborhood will step forward to identify the murderer, even though there were many witnesses to the crime. Rueben enlists the aid of the media and posts signs in the community, hoping to shame someone into naming the killer or forcing him into a confrontation. Charles Fuller adapted Zooman's script from his own stage play; he did the same for the film A Soldier's Story. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis Gossett, Jr., Cynthia Martells, (more)
- 1994
Will (Will Smith) finally realizes that he is truly, madly, deeply in love with Lisa (Nia Long). Unfortunately, the truth does not dawn on him until he is out on a date with another girl! A secondary storyline involves fitness guru Susan Powter ("Stop the Insanity"), who endeavors to show Will how it feels to walk in his Uncle Philip's shoes by forcing our hero to wear a fatsuit. (Curiously, this episode has been removed from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air package distributed to British television). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1994
Peg (Katey Sagal) presents Al (Ed O'Neill) with what she regards as the perfect birthday present--a photograph of herself, barely clad and reclining sexily on a sofa. Somehow or other, the photo is enlarged to gargantuan proportions and ends up hanging across the street from Al's shoe store. Swallowing his masculine pride, Al prevails upon Marcy (Amanda Bearse) to organize a demonstration against the lurid photo, harnessing the stridency of Marcy's group Feminists Against Neanderthal Guys--or FANG for short. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1994
When he insults one fat female customer too many, Al (Ed O'Neill) is ordered to go for three weeks without "blowing up" on the job--or else! Angry over being persecuted by the minions of Political Correctness, Al and his fellow NO MA'AM members embark upon a long and (needlessly) difficult journey to commiserate with legendary machismo guru Ironhead Haynes (guest star Waylon Jennings), who lays down his "Nine Commandments" of male chauvinism. This episode marks the final appearance of Hill Harper as Aaron. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1994
A new auto plant is slated to be built on the site of the Polk High School Football Field. Rather than stand by and watch as the site of his gridiron triumphs is bulldozed into oblivion, Al (Ed O'Neill) stages a protest. Meanwhile, Al's daughter Kelly (Christina Applegate), in her professional guise as The Verminator, tests out the new "Springtime in Baghdad" pesticide on Bud (David Faustino) and Buck--with some fascinating side effects (among them an emormous pair of male breasts). Appearing as Sascha is future Buffy the Vampire Slayer regular Julie Benz. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1993
Hill Harper makes his first series appearance as Aaron, a recent Polk High graduate who goes to work for his idol, Al Bundy (Ed O'Neill). Rising to the occasion, Al imparts some words of wisdom to his admiring disciple--among them "Don't get married." Meanwhile, Kelly (Christina Applegate), still working for a bug-spray concern as "The Verminator", is sprayed with a new pesticide called "RU Dead 42"--with astonishing results. Rose Jackson, who appears as Angie, was the wife of series cocreator Michael G. Moye. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1993
Suffering from a back injury, Al (Ed O'Neill) enters the hospital for a "circular incision." Unfortunately, the doctors don't read so well, and Al ends up with a circumcision. Ordered to remain--er--sedate for a week, Al had trouble keeping himself under control...especially with all those nudie magazines in the household. Highlights in this episode include Marcy's (Amanda Bearse) mean-spirited "Circumcision Card." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
