Norman D. Golden II
- 1998
Director Franc Roddam and co-scripter Anton Diether adapted Herman Melville's 1851 classic for this four-hour TV miniseries sea adventure. Ishmael (Henry Thomas) ignores the warnings of dockside prophet Elijah (Bruce Spence) and joins the crew of the whaling ship Pequod. Ismael befriends Polynesian harpooner Queequeg (Maori actor Piripi Waretini), hears a sermon by Father Mapple (Gregory Peck, star of the 1956 Moby Dick), and meets the obsessed Captain Ahab (Patrick Stewart), who lost his leg to the great white whale Moby Dick and now seeks vengeance on the looming leviathan. For effects, Roddam used a three-sectioned Moby Dick, added computer graphics, and shot Pequod footage in a tank at an Australian military base. TV Guide described Stewart's performance as "mesmerizing and passionate." The $20 million production aired March 15-16, 1998 on the USA Network. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Stewart, Henry Thomas, (more)
Made especially for the HBO cable network, this well-wrought feature is comprised of three short stories by three noted black American authors, each of which is directed by a respected black director. The first tale, Long Black Song, was written by Richard Wright and is set in Alabama, 1938. It centers on a bored farmer's wife (Tina Lifford) who dallies with a handsome white peddler (Tate Donovan) while her husband (Danny Glover) takes the crops to market. The second story, The Boy Who Painted Christ Black, was written by John Henrik Clarke and takes place in Georgia ten years after the first vignette. It centers on a community-wide conflict created when a student attending a segregated high school paints a portrait of a black Jesus and submits it to a state-wide art contest designed to foster ethnic pride. At first, principal George Du Vaul (Wesley Snipes) is taken aback by the picture, but after much contemplation, he decides to put his career on the line and enter it. Maya Angelou penned the third story, The Reunion. It takes place in Chicago, 1958, and centers on a jazz singer (Lorraine Toussaint) who finds herself reliving painful childhood memories of growing up a servant's daughter in a wealthy white home. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1994
Set in the South during the 1950s, this touching youth-oriented drama recounts the tragic events that lead a rich, white widow to befriend a young black child. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Plowright, Carl Lumbly, (more)
When an eight-year-old black youth (Norman D. Golden II) witnesses a mob hit, he orders the police to make him a cop for a day before he will help identify the killer. Detective Nick McKenna (Burt Reynolds) is the unfortunate assigned to the case. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Reynolds, Norman D. Golden II, (more)
