Louis Gossett, Jr. Movies

Based on a novel by William Boyd (who also wrote the film's screenplay), this darkly witty drama explores the political, social, and sexual gamesmanship of a group of British and African politicians. Morgan Leafy (Colin Friels) is a British diplomat who, for the past three years, has been assigned to the British High Commission of Ninjana, an African nation slowly divesting itself of colonial rule. Leafy is an arrogant and frequently confused alcoholic romantically involved with an African woman named Hazel (Jackie Mofokeng). Arthur Fanshawe (John Lithgow), a new High Commission appointee who wants nothing more than to be promoted and moved out of Africa, brings some interesting news to Leafy: massive reserves of oil have been discovered in Ninjana, and if the British want to reap the full profits of this windfall, they will want to stay on the good side of Sam Adekunle (Louis Gossett Jr.), who in all likelihood will be the next president of Ninjana. However, something of a diplomatic crisis has come up; a native woman was struck by lightning in the courtyard of the High Commission's compound, and the locals insist that she cannot be moved until certain time-honored rituals have been performed. At a loss for advice, Leafy turns to Dr. Alex Murray (Sean Connery), a Scottish doctor who has been in Africa for 23 years and is one of the few people equally at ease with both the British colonials and the natives. However, Leafy doesn't seem so eager to seek out assistance in his romantic problems; while he's involved with Hazel, Leafy also finds himself dallying with Adekunle's wife Celia (Joanne Whalley-Kilmer) and Fanshawe's wife Chloe (Diana Rigg). By the way, don't bother looking for Ninjana on a map -- it doesn't really exist. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

While this original movie version of Lorraine Hansberry's award-winning play may have dated somewhat, it was groundbreaking when first released in 1961, and a wealth of future plays, films, and TV productions have taken their lead from this socially conscious drama about a struggling African-American family. Lena Younger (Claudia McNeil) is a strong, proud woman who has raised a family in a crowded apartment on the South Side of Chicago. Her son Walter Lee (Sidney Poitier) works as a chauffeur; intelligent and ambitious but impulsive and often angry, he desperately wants to get ahead in a world that offers him few opportunities. His wife Ruth (Ruby Dee) takes in laundry to help make ends meet and watches over their son. Younger daughter Beneatha (Diana Sands) is a college student who wants to become a doctor and often speaks of searching for her cultural identity. On the death of her husband, Lena becomes the beneficiary of a $10,000 life insurance payment, and suddenly the family is in conflict over how the money should be spent. Lena wants to use the money for a down payment on a house. Beneatha is hoping that Lena will help her pay for medical school. And Walter Lee wants to go into business with friends who plan to open a liquor store, which he's convinced will be a sure money maker. The cast, nearly all reprising their roles from the original Broadway production, offers a collection of superb performances; also keep an eye peeled for a young Louis Gossett Jr. as George Murchison. While Daniel Petrie's direction never takes A Raisin in the Sun very far from its roots as a stage play, it captures the power and tension of a strong ensemble cast working with an intelligent and moving script. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A medical student with mounting debts draws on her formidable poker skills in order to stay afloat in this gambling drama starring Dominique Swain and Michael Madsen. As a young girl, Alicia "Ace" Anderson (Swain) frequently accompanied her card shark father (Madsen) to clandestine gambling rooms for tense rounds of Texas Hold 'Em. As a result of her childhood spent watching her father fleece his opponents, Alicia became a fairly exceptional card player herself. These days Alicia has left behind the world of gambling in order to focus on medical school, but education doesn't come cheap and the tuition fees are fast piling up. Of course the one way that Alicia knows how to make a quick buck is to fall back on her old skills, and now with a bottomed out bank account and few options on the table the savvy student gambler enlists the aid of some fellow students in hitting it big at the local casino. Though her cohorts may be well schooled in the art of the bluff, this team will need much more than a good poker face if they truly intend to win out over some of the world's best card players. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Based on the best-selling memoirs of Lillian Rogers Parks, the NBC miniseries Backstairs at the White House traces over five decades of American political history as witnessed from the vantage point of the servants' quarters. Played by Tania Johnson as a teenager and by Leslie Uggams as an adult, Lillian Rogers Parks served for 52 years as a maidservant at the White House. Though crippled early on with polio, Lillian diligently and loyally stuck to her duties -- and her own rock-solid set of principles and ideals -- through eight highly different Presidential administrations, often (and occasionally reluctantly) acting as friend and confidante to the First Lady of the moment. The large and stellar cast included a number of top-rank film and TV actors, obviously having the time of their lives impersonating such presidents as William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and Dwight D. Eisenhower, and their respective wives. Also in the cast were several African-American veterans from the landmark TV miniseries Roots. Earning 11 Emmy Award nominations, the nine-hour Backstairs at the White House was seen in five installments from January 29 to February 19, 1979. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Blue Chips examines greed, cheating, and "winning at all costs" in the world of college basketball. Nick Nolte plays the stressed-out coach on the verge of his first losing season, who hits the road in search of new players not already signed by a bigger school. He finds three prospects: a precision Chicago shooter (Anfernee Hardaway), a giant farmboy (Matt Nover), and a talented troublemaker (Shaquille O'Neal). All three, wise to the ways of college basketball recruitment, make excessive financial and lifestyle demands before they can be persuaded to come to the school; the coach, already haunted by accusations of underhanded dealings, doesn't want to dig himself a deeper hole but has no choice. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

Devoted parents search for their daughter in this strange, fact-based made-for-television movie. Set in the 1850s, Louis Gossett Jr. stars as James Mink, a wealthy Canadian businessman who is married to a white woman (Kate Nelligan). When their daughter is duped into marrying a slave trader, the Minks set out for the American South to track down their missing daughter and bring her back home. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide

Melvyn Douglas made his TV-movie debut in Companions in Nightmare. Douglas plays a famous psychiatrist who conducts a group-therapy session with several high-priced professionals. One of the patients turns out to be a murderer; the truth will come out, and it will be a shocker. Gig Young, Anne Baxter, Patrick O'Neal, Dana Wynter and Leslie Nielsen are among the special guest suspects (aren't they always?) Filmed late in 1967, Companions in Nightmare was first telecast on November 23, 1968. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In Cover-Up, an espionage thriller, someone attacks a U.S. military installation in Israel and steals a secret "package" destined for the CIA. Mike Anderson (Dolph Lundgren) is in the country to report on the incident, and he runs into old acquaintances: the military attache, and his old romantic interest Susan (Lisa Berkely). Meanwhile, Susan has become engaged to the attache. Lou (Louis Gossett Jr.), a military official, is trying to cover up some of the facts regarding the raid, and when Mike begins to get too close to the truth he becomes a target. Cover-up has all the ingredients of a top-flight action adventure, but it is ruined by the wooden performance of Lundgren in the central role and a convoluted, overly complicated plot. However, the film moves with great pace and energy and should please action fans. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

Originally made for television, this prison drama centers on a hard-core convict who for the past decade has been the king of the other prisoners. Just before he is to be paroled, a young inmate challenges him. This creates considerable tension until he learns that he and the youth are related by more than mere circumstance. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

San Francisco's Delancey Street is the locale of a halfway house for ex-convicts, former drug users, and other society castaways. The founder of this operation is himself a paroled convict (Walter McGinn), who hopes to help others get back on their feet as he has. His touchiest assignment is the regeneration of a 56-year-old man who has just spent 36 years in the slammer for murder. This TV movie was the pilot for an unsold series based on the real-life activities of ex-con Joseph Maher, who in his heyday was a favorite subject of several TV newsmagazines. Sadly, the semi-happy ending of Delancey Street was not borne out in real life: Joseph Maher lapsed into alcoholism in the early 1980s, was forced out of his own rehab program, and died in poverty in 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Two weapons dealers are ambushed in Africa, but their luck changes when a wealthy widow hires them. She blames the natives for her husband's death, so she uses her power to control the water in the arid region to ration the natives' water. ~ All Movie Guide

This TV-movie biography of legendary black ballplayer Leroy "Satchel" Paige unfortunately whitewashes and hokes up his fascinating story. Louis Gossett Jr. stars as Paige, who spends virtually his entire professional career in the Negro leagues because of the "gentlemen's agreement" barring African-Americans from the Majors. Paige's prowess as a pitcher is so famous that he becomes the highest-paid player in the Negro leagues -- but as for joining the mainstream teams, the answer is always the same: "If only you were white." When Jackie Robinson is signed by the Dodgers in 1946, the doors open for other black ballplayers; thus it is that in 1948, Satchel Paige becomes the first black pitcher in the American leagues...at the tender age of 42. Don't Look Back down-pedals Satchel Paige's tempestuous private life (his two marriages are combined into one, for example), and tends to shortchange the viewer in the crucial ball-playing scenes. Its saving grace is the towering performance by star Louis Gossett Jr., who struggles manfully to overcome the script's shortcomings. When the film was first telecast on May 31, 1981, the real Satchel Paige appeared in the prologue; one year later, Paige was dead at the (reported) age of 76. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide