Richard Brooks Movies

America's favorite teenage canine-led crime fighters earn a second shot at the big screen in this sequel to the hit comedy Scooby-Doo. The reunited Mystery Inc. team -- Fred (Freddie Prinze Jr.), Daphne (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Velma (Linda Cardellini), Shaggy (Matthew Lillard), and Scooby-Doo (voice of Neil Fanning) -- return to their hometown of Coolsville as heroes when a local criminology museum offers an exhibition of the many ghostly disguises used by villains they've subdued over the years. However, their warm welcome is not long-lived; mean-spirited television reporter Heather Jasper-Howe (Alicia Silverstone) has aired a series of stories calling the team's intelligence and bravery into question, and even worse, a number of the weird creature costumes on display in the museum are coming to life and wrecking havoc on the people of Coolsville. Some of the clues seem to point to Old Man Wickles (Peter Boyle), whose attempts to pose as the Black Knight Ghost were foiled by the Mystery Machinists in the past, but is he looking for revenge or just a red herring? And what is Velma supposed to do about Patrick Wisely (Seth Green), a curator at the museum who's warm for her helmet-haired form? Scooby-Doo 2 also co-stars Tim Blake Nelson and features a cameo appearance from American Idol star Ruben Studdard. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Fresh out of prostate surgery, Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) returns to active duty -- only to be sidelined by an accident. The investigation of a murder arising from a love triangle is interrupted when Bobby Simone (Jimmy Smits) is pulled away to investigate a murder that has taken place in the Brooklyn apartment building that he owns. This brings him back into contact with the troublesome Henry Coffield (Willie Garson) -- who, once again, is a prime suspect. Elsewhere, an immunity agreement may impede justice in a child slaying, and former PAA Naomi (Gabrielle Fitzpatrick) visits the precinct with some good news (for a change). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this thriller, Harry Gordini (Antonio Sabato Jr.) is an American travelling through Europe with his wife and his young son. While at an airport in Italy, Gordini mistakenly claims the wrong suitcase, a seemingly simple mistake which becomes much more complicated when it's discovered the bag he picked up is loaded with illegal drugs. Gordini is in Sardinia when he discovers his mistake, and tries to turn the contraband in to the United States embassy there, but Adolpho Jones (Danny Quinn), the powerful drug dealer who was supposed to receive the bag, is a few steps ahead of him, and abducts Gordini's wife and child, with the drugs as ransom for their return. But what Jones doesn't know is that Gordini is no ordinary traveler -- he's a former Navy SEAL who is not about to let any harm come to his family or any threat against them go unpunished. Code Name: Wolverine was adapted from a story by noted suspense author Frederick Forsyth. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

It is said that when a man dies wrongfully, a crow may bring him back to life to seek vengeance upon his killer. Like the first Crow, this revenge saga is set in a fantastical urban nightmare and is based upon the dark comic book stories of artist James O. Barr. The first film was set in a horrifying Detroit. The second is set in a similar version of Los Angeles. This time, the crow flies on behalf of Ashe, a motorcycle mechanic who was murdered along with his young son after they have witnessed a murder. After rising from the dead, Ashe dons the traditional black garb and funereal white pancake make-up that marks the crow's chosen one. While getting his violent revenge, Ashe is befriended by Sarah, a tattoo expert with great knowledge of the crow legend. Together, they defeat the vile criminals Curve and Kali. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A malfunctioning air conditioner and an overload of patients bedevils the ER during a stifling heat wave. In other developments, Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) is thrown off balance by a visit from her young, irresponsible sister, Chloe (Kathleen Wilhoite). Carol (Julianna Margulies) is upset by Doug's (George Clooney) girl friend du jour. And when Greene (Anthony Edwards) brings his daughter, Rachel (Yvonne Zima), to work, she realizes with startling suddenness that her dad is far from omnipotent. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on Shelby Foote's novel September, September, this made-for-cable effort focuses on the exploits of a trio of white drifters who hatch a scheme to kidnap the young grandson of the wealthiest black industrialist in Memphis, Tennessee in 1957. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

The extraordinary life of Quincy Jones -- one of the 20th century's most influential and talented composers, musicians and music producers -- provides the basis of this offbeat, free-form documentary tribute. With little regard for formal timelines and traditional documentary biography methods, the film is an amazing patchwork of personal insights featuring a constellation of music stars including his long-time friend Ray Charles, Miles Davis, Frank Sinatra, Herbie Hancock, Ella Fitzgerald, Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Dizzy Gillespie and rappers Big Daddy Kane and Flavor Flav, as well as politicians, filmmakers and other important people. Some of the most moving scenes involve Jones returning to his childhood home in Chicago and recounting honest and painful memories from his childhood. Jones does not shy from discussing everything -- from his mother's mental illness, to his marital problems, to his serious health conditions. He also looks frankly at his career. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

"In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important, groups: the police, who investigate crime, and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories." With this pithy but all-inclusive prologue, thus began each hour-long episode of Law & Order, American network television's longest-running police drama.

This was not the first such program to equally divide its time between the arrest and the trial; indeed, there had been a series precisely titled Arrest and Trial back in 1963. But Law & Order was easily the most popular and successful of the batch, and as the series eased gracefully past its 11th, 12th, and 13th season, it was very likely that its creator and executive producer Dick Wolf would fulfill his dream of matching and even surpassing the longevity of Gunsmoke, which lasted 20 years, setting a record as American network television's most durable dramatic series. Although Law & Order boasted a large and fluid ensemble cast, there were no real "stars" per se, save for the city of New York (a point made by scores of TV historians, notably Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh). Virtually every episode starts out with the discovery of a dead body or evidence of a violent crime. A pair of NYPD detectives arrive on the scene, begin gathering evidence and eyewitnesses at the behest of their superiors, and -- generally after a handful of frustrating dead ends and false leads -- manage to collar the principal suspect. The story then shifts to the offices of the DA, where a team of brilliant prosecuting attorneys do their best to build a case against the accused, dodging the obstructive tactics of defense lawyers all along the way. Even when the case gets to court, the story is far from over, with several twists and turns -- and usually a shocking and unexpected denouement -- awaiting both the prosecutors and the viewer.

The series made its NBC network debut Thursday, September 13, 1990, moving to its originally scheduled Tuesday-night slot October 23. The original cast included, on the side of "Law," chubby, hard-boiled veteran detective Sgt. Max Greevey (George Dzundza) and his younger, more athletic partner, Mike Logan (Chris Noth). Their supervisor was Captain Donald Cragen, played by Dann Florek. Once the detectives had completed their share of the work, the scene changed to the "Order" team of District Attorney Adam Schiff (played by Steven Hill), who appeared in all but the pilot episode, and a brace of intense, dedicated assistant DAs, the Caucasian Ben Stone (Michael Moriarty) and African-American Paul Robinette (Richard Brooks). The program's first season had several distinctions: In keeping with network's promise of delivering TV's top "action series," the scenes in which Greevey and Logan track down the perp are top-heavy with noise and violence (generally implied, but not always so), vertigo-inducing handheld camerawork and punchy background music. Also, individual scenes run a bit longer than the later short-and-sweet vignettes that would become the series' stylistic trademark. And unlike the relatively dispassionate detectives seen in later seasons, Greevey and Logan tend to become emotionally involved in their work; similarly, lawyers Stone and Robinette seem to take every legal setback personally, much more so than their successors in the series' subsequent years, although DA Schiff exhibits as much calm, stoic integrity in his first appearance as he would in his last, a decade later. Even in its earliest episodes, however, the emphasis is on the story rather than personalities: All we learn of the regulars' private lives is revealed in fragmentary fashion, and only when it bears some relevance.

Fans of the latter-day Law & Order will notice that the first season lacks the gender balance of the series' later years -- or, put more bluntly, the series was pretty much an "all boys' club." Although dozens of prominent actresses appeared in supporting roles, there were no regular female characters, a fact that tended to weaken the series' ratings in its formative seasons. Still, it would not be until the fourth season began in 1993 that any distaff characters would be added to the weekly lineup. One element of the series was established early on and would remain in place forever afterward: Most of the stories on Law & Order were "ripped from today's headlines," often with only the names changed to protect the innocent (?). In season one alone, the series offers fictionalizations of the Bernard Goetz subway shootings, the Menendez killings, the Central Park "Preppie Murder," the "Mayflower Madam," the Tawana Brawley imbroglio, and the Steinberg child-murder case. So close did the last-named episode come to the actual facts that the series' producers were compelled to include a disclaimer at the beginning of several episodes, assuring viewers that, although the story was inspired by real happenings, the script itself was otherwise purely a work of fiction. The fact that Law & Order was frequently pre-empted by network specials indicated that NBC wasn't all that sure of the series' success. By the end of the first season, however, the ratings, if not spectacular, were good enough to warrant a renewal -- while backstage intrigues assured that the series would undergo the first of its many abrupt cast changes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

84 Charlie Mopic offers the Vietnam experience as seen through the eyes of a combat photographer (Mopic is slang for the Army Motion Picture Unit). Byron Thames plays a combat cameraman who has already been on two tours of duty; he goes on a third because he is intrigued by a reel of film found on the body of a dead photographer. Thames must answer to green lieutenant Jonathan Emerson and experienced sergeant Richard Brooks. In straight-on, non-judgemental fashion, we are shown the day-to-day struggle to stay alive, meeting the main characters in the natural course of action. As the mission winds down, Thames is compelled to abandon his camera to rescue a fellow soldier; as a result, yet another roll of film returns to headquarters without the photographer. 84 Charlie Mopic isn't about politics or collective guilt; it's about survival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by Gilbert Tanugi, who co-wrote the screenplay, this noirish French drama is set within the Paris music scene and centers on the attempts of a dangerously indebted record producer to scrounge up a fortune to pay back the vengeful loan shark who is trying to destroy him. Producer Sam Friedman thinks his salvation is finally at hand when he hears Joe and Puppet Bennet, two African American jazz musicians, singing and playing the blues in local night club. Desperate to have them, he pays their manager with money borrowed from his American jazz-addicted stepfather. Unfortunately, the deeply religious Puppet only wants God as her producer and refuses to sign. Friedman finally persuades her to sign, but only after he swears to watch over the flighty sax playing Joe. Unfortunately for poor Friedman, Joe turns out to be a psychopathic killer and has killed a prostitute. Knowing that he will be dead if he does not produce the couple's record and make some quick money, Friedman decides to shoulder the blame for the death himself. Though he is sent to jail, Friedman is at peace because he plans on telling the truth as soon as the Bennets cut their record. Things take a darker turn when the Bennets suddenly vanish, leaving poor Friedman stranded in prison. Desperate once again, Friedman escapes from jail and violent tragedy follows as he tries to save himself and clear his name. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Buck McGriff (Willem Dafoe) and Albaby Perkins (Gregory Hines) are military police from the army's Criminal Investigation Department assigned to find a serial killer in 1968 war-torn Saigon. Hookers have been ritualistically murdered, and the two cops spend their final days of active duty in the sleazy back alleys of Saigon tracking down the killer in this military mystery. One by one, possible witnesses who can shed light on the case are systematically murdered. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide