Antonio Fargas Movies

A handsome single father joins an urban prayer group comprised exclusively of females in an attempt to test the strength of his congregation. Meanwhile, fast-talking Bishop Titus Kingston (Antonia Fargas) senses a golden opportunity to expand his own flock, an offer's his rival's defectors a place to pray in peace. Unfortunately, Bishop Kingston's motivations are less than pure. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

New Orleans music promoter Adam Goodnight (newcomer Cameron Smith) has his checkered past revived when a failed musician, Shoop Summers (old timer Antonio Fargas), takes Adam's new protégé, Kenny Carter (Mister Jones), under his drug-addled wing. Goodnight begins having flashbacks to a time when Shoop was on top of the jazz charts, and he also remembers what happened to end Shoop's productive career -- and end their friendship. Goodnight sees it all happening again with Kenny. Goodnight's beautiful and intelligent girlfriend, Heather (Nia Peeples), is helpless to stop the drama. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide

In this independent drama, Sarah Paulson stars as Acey Rawlin, a troubled teenager who discovers that she's pregnant after spending a night with a man she had just met. Acey has few friends to confide in, and her most trusted companion, a fisherman named Bob (Jeremy London), may be a spirit guide or just an imaginary friend. So with nowhere else to turn, Acey talks with her mother Anna (Ann Magnuson) about her dilemma. Anna, however, chooses this moment to tell Acey that she's actually adopted, and Acey sets out through a world distorted by her own hallucinations to find her biological mother, Sara Fulton. Guiding Acey along her journey is the music of all-night jazz deejay Downbeat (Ernie Hudson), who spins classic blues sides for Acey and occasionally offers advice and comes to her aid. In an interesting casting twist, Ann Magnuson plays both Acey's adpoted mother Anna and her birth mother Sarah. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

An ex-championship boxer (James Earl Jones) sees a chance at recapturing a taste of his former glory after discovering that Thunder (Courtney B. Vance), one of the amateurs he trains, has real potential. Unfortunately, Thunder has entangled himself with crooked, gang-connected manager Ralph Tate (Billy Dee Williams), and he is not to let the young fighter go without a fight. This drama was made for cable and was aired as part of Steven Spielberg's "Screenworks" project. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Though set in Cuba, the made-for-cable Florida Straits was lensed in South Carolina. The film is set twenty years after the Bay of Pigs invasion. Raul Julia, Fred Ward and Daniel Jenkins sneak back into Castroland to search for a fortune in gold that had been buried during the abortive 1961 military action. Their mission is complicated by a woman from Julia's past. Scripted by Roderick Taylor, Florida Straits was first telecast on October 26, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

With minimal sex and covered-up nudity, this routine romance about love in New York's high fashion world has enough glamor and beautiful people to satisfy glossy standards, but the storyline is thinner than the models under consideration. Dino (Bruce Lyons) and Richie (Richard Bekins) pose as young men in the film industry in order to get behind the scenes in the world of modelling -- where they meet Becky (Anne Howard) who falls for Richie, and Serina (Cindy Harrel) who is more interested in her career than in Dino. Between rounds of parties and the high life of the fashion world, Richie and Dino are not exactly suffering when their love interests give them a hard time. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The pilot film for the ABC series of the same name, Paper Dolls concentrates upon two pretty teenagers: Taryn Blake (Daryl Hannah) and Laurie Caswell (Alexandra Paul). Prodded on by their ambitious mothers (played by Joan Hackett and Jennifer Warren) and further exploited by a ruthless agent (Joan Collins), the two otherwise normal girls are transformed into 2,000-dollar-per-day fashion models. Although the glamour and excitement of the modeling world is thrilling at first, both Taryn and Laurie suffer mightily at the hands of those older than themselves. To make matters worse, both girls are thoroughly ostracized by their fellow teens. First telecast May 24, 1982, Paper Dolls became a weekly series over two years later, by which time the original stars had been replaced by Nicollette Sheridan (as Taryn), Terry Farrell (as Laurie), Brenda Vaccaro (as Taryn's mother), and Morgan Fairchild (as Racine, the agent); only Jennifer Warren was carried over from the original film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The made-for-TV Escape was inspired by the true story of Dwight Worker, an American imprisoned in Mexico for smuggling hashish. Given the country's stringent anti-drug laws, Worker's chances of release are slim to none (a situation similar to the protagonist's plight in Midnight Express). Against all odds, Worker plans a daring getaway from the notoriously impenetrable Lecumberri Prison (for obvious reasons, the film was not shot on location). Timothy Bottoms stars as Worker, with Kay Lenz as Barbara Chilcoate, the woman who became his wife; Colleen Dewhurst co-stars as the sympathetic "Mother Jones" type who helped engineer the escape. Adapted from Dwight and Barbara Worker's autobiography, Escape debuted February 20, 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It's still the same old story...but what a story. This umpteenth filmization of the classic Mark Twain novel stars Ron Howard as Huck and Donny Most as Tom Sawyer. After faking his own murder to escape his brutish Pap (played by Howard's real-life father Rance), Huck and fugitive slave Jim (Antonio Fargas) fashion a raft and head off down the Mississippi. The darker elements and sociological commentary of the Twain original are carefully excised from this version, the better to allow more time for the antics of those "royal" rapscallions, the King (Jack Elam) and the Duke (Merle Haggard). Mark Twain himself makes a guest appearance, in the person of Royal Dano. Filmed along the Sacramento River in California (a frequent movie "stand-in" for the Mississippi), Huckleberry Finn was first broadcast March 25, 1975. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Sonny Cochran (Antonio Fargas), a tailor moonlighting as a lawyer, gives Lamont (Demond Wilson) advice on fighting a traffic ticket in court. Lamont takes a pass on Sonny's counsel, preferring to acts as his own defense. But that's not good enough for Lamont's dad Fred (Redd Foxx), who storms into court with his cronies in tow, claiming to be Lamont's lawyer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the conclusion of a two-part story, Ironside (Raymond Burr) has degenerated from a respected law enforcement officer to a seedy skid-row bum, apparently because 10-year-old murder witness Jerry Abbott (Lee H. Montgomery) was killed while in the Chief's protective custody. What even Ironside's loyal assistants are unaware of is that little Jerry is still alive, and that the Chief is only posing as a derelict to flush out the murderer. The situation reaches the crisis stage when two attempts are made on Ironside's alive--and the Chief can't summon the aid of his associates without blowing his cover. This episode features two original songs by David and Marty Paich: "Street Song", peformed by Carol Carmichael; and "Way Up Here", sung by Marty Paich. ~ 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

This allegorical film by Robert Downey finds humans all playing the role of animals in cages as they wait to be gassed. Flashbacks are used to tell the character's fantasies outside the cage. It is hard to tell if the characters are supposed to be animals, although a depressed prized fighter plays a boxer and a bald man is supposedly a Mexican hairless. Robert Downey Jr. makes an early film appearance as a puppy. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide