Bernie Hamilton Movies
One of the postwar "new breed" of African-American actors, Bernie Hamilton wasn't about to settle for subservient roles when he entered films. He started off well in the role of Ernie, one of several black ballplayers in The Jackie Robinson Story (1950), and managed to maintain his integrity thereafter in a motion-picture world that was not politely inclined to nonwhites. In 1964 Hamilton had his best film role, as the black husband of white Barbara Barrie in the groundbreaking One Potato, Two Potato (1964). As more opportunities availed themselves to African-American performers, Hamilton was able to take parts that didn't call attention to the race issue, though he still made his share of appearances in such black-oriented pictures as The Organization (1971) and Bucktown (1975). Fans of the '70s cop series Starsky and Hutch will remember Bernie Hamilton in the role of Captain Dobey, S. and H.'s superior officer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A man moves to the small and racially divided town where his bar-owning brother was murdered after he refused to pay crooked white cops for "protection." When he is threatened himself, he calls in some hefty men to help him, but they instead decide to take over the town. In order to oust the baddies, the hero becomes a one-man army with a mission. This blaxploitationer features the action hero, Fred Williamson. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Williamson, Pam Grier, (more)
- 1973
Archie balks at the notion of accompanying Edith to her 30th class reunion at Millard Fillmore High. But he quickly changes his mind upon discovering that one of Edith's former boyfriends will also be in attendance. Watching Archie Bunker sweat through the pangs of jealousy is one of the many pleasures of this multilayered episode, which was scripted by Don Nicholl from a story by Nicholl and Stanley Ralph Ross. "Class Reunion" first aired on February 10, 1973. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, (more)
- 1973
In the market for a color television, Lamont (Demond Wilson) wants to purchase a new TV on credit, but Fred (Redd Foxx) intends to spend no more than 50 dollars on a used set. Luck of luck, Fred finds just such a bargain at Guy's Groovy Grab Bag. Alas, Fred has unwittingly purchased a stolen TV -- and it was stolen from his pal Grady (Whitman Mayo, in his first series appearance). This Sanford and Son episode was loosely based on "The Colour Problem," a 1970 episode of the series' prototype Steptoe and Son. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Redd Foxx, Demond Wilson, (more)
In this horror sequel from the director of Count Yorga, Vampire, a member of an American voodoo cult revives the fanged Prince Manuwalde (William Marshall), only to become his slave. Manuwalde then puts the bite on various victims, but finds himself fixating on pretty Lisa (Pam Grier), a voodoo princess whom he believes can finally put his soul to rest. Lynne Moody, Nicholas Worth, and Bernie Hamilton are among the familiar cast, but the various occult trappings seem somewhat out of place in the modern Los Angeles setting and the production values are pretty shabby. Blaxploitation and camp fans should still find it mildly amusing, however, and Shakespearean actor Marshall is a lot of fun as the obsessive vampire. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Marshall, Pam Grier, (more)
A man who fights his way to success learns the people who helped him may be his biggest enemies in this action drama. B.J. Hammer (Fred Williamson) is a dock worker who used to box in the Golden Gloves and still knows how to handle himself in a fight; when he gets into a brawl at work, he's seen in action by an associate of Davis (Bernie Hamilton), a flashy businessman who manages boxers. Davis thinks Hammer has potential, and offers him a contract. Soon Hammer is training with Professor (Mel Stewart, an experienced boxing coach, and begins romancing Lois (Vonetta McGee), one of Davis's secretaries. After easily winning several fights, Hammer's career is on the rise and he seems poised to become a championship contender. But Davis isn't just interested in boxing; he's an underworld kingpin who also traffics in drugs and prostitutes, and often uses washed-up fighters as pawns in his criminal games. Hammer soon learns just how Davis operates when his manager orders him to take a dive in an upcoming fight, and when Hammer refuses, both he and Lois could face deadly retribution. Also starring William Smith and D'Urville Martin, Hammer was a major box-office success that established Fred Williamson as one of the major stars of the 1970s blaxploitation boom; the film also included an original score from soul music legend Solomon Burke. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Police detective Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) returns to finds himself in hot water with the police over his acceptance of help from a neighborhood anti-drug group. The group has done some things which are far from textbook legal, such as stealing and destroying a large shipment of drugs. Though they pulled off their robbery without loss of life, a corpse is found at the scene of the heist. Tibbs, now suspended from the force, uses their help to string together clues which enable him to break up a large drug ring. This is the third movie made starring Poitier and based on John Bail's novels In The Heat of the Night and They Call Me Mister Tibbs. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney Poitier, Barbara McNair, (more)
Motorcycle maniacs are recruited by the U.S. government to rescue a captured CIA operative in Cambodia. The action-packed cycle drama finds the army slaughtering innocent villagers while the bikers rescue the agent. The CIA agents are painfully clueless as to the toll on human lives that follows their missions. Whenever the plot thins out, more action and violence is added. The result is a movie that even hardcore motorcycle fans will find to be as implausible as the plot. William Smith, Bernie Hamilton, and Adam Roarke appear in this uneven cinematic effort. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Smith, Bernie Hamilton, (more)
- 1970
- R
The horrors of heroin addiction provide the motivation for this anti-drug exploitation film. The tale begins as an African American man's addiction worsens and causes him to drop out of school and enter the hopeless world of the hooked. In time, he manages to kick his habit, but then he is seriously injured and put on painkillers that throw him right back into addiction. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1970
The Bold Ones was the umbrella title given a group of rotating hour-long TV series, which ran from 1969 to 1973. Joining established Bold Ones components The Doctors and The Lawyers in 1970 was The Senator, starring Hal Holbrook as RFK-like Senator Hays Stowe. The pilot for The Senator was A Clear and Present Danger, which first aired March 21, 1970. In this 2-hour "problem drama", Senator Stowe tackles the issue of air pollution after a close friend dies of emphysema. The Emmy-nominated Hal Holbrook, Sharon Acker (as Erin Stowe) and Cindy Eilbacher (as Norma Stowe) carried their roles over to the "Senator" series proper, while Michael Tolan was cast as Stowe's aide Jordan Boyle, the role played in A Clear and Present Danger by Joseph Campanella. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1969
- PG
Jason Higgs (Sidney Poitier) is an angry black man who plans to rob a factory payroll. With the help of his accomplices Dennis (Al Freeman Jr.) and his white girlfriend Cathy (Joanna Shimkus), a racially motivated demonstration diverts attention from the crooks while they rob the safe. Jason is somewhat of a modern-day Robin Hood who wishes to use the money to help the children of incarcerated soul brothers. He only places his hope in the youth who have not been sullied or scalded by the hatred of racial prejudice. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
John Cheever's "misery in suburbia" short stories, brief and to the point, have always proven excellent TV fodder. Director Frank Perry's The Swimmer, adapted for the screen by Perry's wife Eleanor, is a rare, and for the most part successful, attempt at offering a Cheever story in feature-length form. Dressed only in swimming trunks throughout the film, Burt Lancaster plays a wealthy, middle-aged advertising man, embarked on a long and revelatory journey through suburban Connecticut. Lancaster slowly makes his way to his split-level home by travelling from house to house, and from swimming pool to swimming pool. At each stop, Lancaster comes face to face with an incident in his past. Informing Kim Hunter that he once harbored a secret love for her, Lancaster is mildly upset by Hunter's indifference. Elderly Cornelia Otis Skinner is incensed at Lancaster's intrusion in her backyard and orders him to leave. At the next home, Lancaster tries to seduce the nubile Janet Landgard, who'd once baby-sat for his daughters, but she runs away in horror. And so it goes: as each subsequent suburbanite peels off his self-protective veneer, Lancaster grows more and more disillusioned with what he thought was his ideal lifestyle. The more intensely painful episode is the confrontation between Lancaster and ex-mistress Janice Rule (this scene was directed, without credit, by Sydney Pollack). Thoroughly defeated, the all-but-naked Lancaster laboriously makes his way through the Connecticut woods in a blinding rainstorm, desperately seeking out his own home where he fully expects his "loving" wife and daughters to greet him. Not this time. Dismissed as too self-consciously "arty" at the time of its release, The Swimmer's reputation increased over the decades following its release thanks to constant late-night TV exposure. The film represents the first movie work of 22-year-old composer Marvin Hamlisch. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Lancaster, Janet Landgard, (more)
- 1967
When it becomes apparent that newly appointed police lieutenant William Adams (Bernie Hamilton) is unable to handle a crime wave wherein dozens of cars are stolen but few are recovered, Ironside (Raymond Burr) must face the grim likelihood that there is a corrupt cop on the force. Convinced that Lt. Adams is blameless, Mark (Don Mitchell) goes undercover at a scrapyard. Following the trail of clues, Mark figures out that the real culprits are a gang of unusually wealthy hippies! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1967
When wealthy landowner John Sullivan, Sr. Arch Johnson and his airplane pilot are reported missing in Brazil, Sullivan's three sons (Martin Milner, Linden Chiles, and Don Quine) begin to search for the missing men in the wilds of the Amazon jungle. They battle headhunters, jungle animals, and sinister revolutionary forces trying to topple the government. The film is a Universal pilot for a proposed television series that never materialized, and it is apparent why the series never took off after watching the forgettable feature. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martin Milner, Linden Chiles, (more)
- 1967
A prime early example of how to make a truly worthwhile TV movie, Stranger on the Run is a tough, minimalist western in the tradition of the theatrical oaters of director Anthony Mann (one of whose favorite actors, Dan Duryea, has a supporting part in Stranger). Michael Parks is painfully convincing as a sadistic 1880s railroad detective who has a curious notion of fun and games. Upon catching drifters who hitch rides on the trains in his Southwestern jurisdiction, Parks allows the "criminals" one hour head start in the desert, with horse and supplies; then he and his deputies track the men down and kill them. Parks' latest victim is hard-bitten ex-convict Henry Fonda, who has come to town to deliver a message to his cellmate's sister. Fonda proves to be more of challenge than Parks is accustomed to, a fact that gives this brutal little tale its teeth. Anne Baxter costars in this superior TV-movie outing. Stranger on the Run's multilayered teleplay is by Reginald Rose. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1965
The difficulties faced by drug addicts attempting to kick their habits provide the basis of this gritty, realistic drama that was filmed at a real rehab house in Santa Monica, California. The story centers on Zankie (Alex Cord), an ex-con who is having trouble following the strict rules of the house. Soon he finds himself involved in an affair with another inmate, an ex-hooker (Stella Stevens). She is only supposed to monitor and assist with his recovery, not get emotionally involved. When Zankie gets into a fight with another patient (Chuck Connors) both he and the girl leave the center. Soon after leaving, he begins looking for more drugs and dies of an overdose in a cheap hotel. The ex-hooker then returns to the rehab house to resume her own treatment. Synanon, the model for the rehab-house of this 1965 feature, was a large ex-addict-run (and ex-con-run) enterprise which expanded its operations steadily over the next decade. It was famous for its harsh "tough-love" policies and its high success rate and would have continued its high-profile role in the rehab industry except that it became embroiled in several scandals in the late 1970s, effectively closing its doors well before the Reagan era. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmond O'Brien, Chuck Connors, (more)
- 1964
Filmed in Ohio, One Potato, Two Potato was a "critic's darling" film of 1964 dealing with the then-daring topic of miscegenation. White Barbara Barrie divorces her husband Richard Mulligan, then falls in love with and marries African-American Bernie Hamilton. When the ex-husband sues for custody of Barbara's child, arguing that a mixed household is an improper place to raise the girl, Hamilton fights for his parental rights in court. But the judge is driven by the prejudices of the era, and the child goes back to its natural father. At the time of its release, One Potato, Two Potato was praised beyond all proportion for its realistic and progressive dissection of race relations. Only a few renegade critics like Judith Crist dared to note that sociologically, the film was still mired in the patronizing Pinky era. Instead of concentrating on the injustices heaped upon black Bernie Hamilton, the film's sympathies are almost totally directed towards poor, put-upon, snow-white Barbara Barrie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Barrie, Bernie Hamilton, (more)
- 1964
Career criminal Paul Perry (Edd Byrnes) has earned a measure of fame for his daring escapes from various jails and prisons. But it looks like Perry's luck has run out when he sentenced to serve a 15-year sentence in a maximum-security prison farm, where head guard Captain Tollman (Stephen McNally) is determined to keep Perry behind bars for keeps. Undaunted, Perry hatches a "foolproof" escape plan with an unlikely accomplice: an old "lifer" named Doc (Robert Keith), who works in the prison infirmary...and also prepares the coffin whenever an inmate dies. This literally claustrophobic episode was written by John Resko, a former death-row inmate who managed to parlay his last-minute reprieve into a lengthy literary career upon his release from Sing Sing in 1949. "Final Escape" was remade as an episode for the 1985 revival of Alfred Hitchcock Presents -- with actress Season Hubley in the Edd Byrnes role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward Byrnes, Stephen McNally, (more)
- 1963
As the sole witness to a robbery, Rob (Dick Van Dyke) eagerly heads to the local police station to offer evidence. Unfortunately, the experience so overwhelms him that he leaves out several important details -- details which he recalls only when he returns home. Wondering if his memory lapses were due to fear of reprisal from the criminals, Rob has a tough time explaining the situation to his family (and, incidentally, to himself). The name of this episode is a spoof of the pretentious, long-winded episode titles then in vogue on such dramatic series as Ben Casey and The Naked City. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bernie Hamilton, Kenny Lynch, (more)
- 1963
Captain Sindbad was based on an Arabian Nights story, was filmed in Germany, and starred an American leading man (Guy Williams), a German leading lady (Heidi Bruhl) and a Mexican villain (Pedro Armendariz). How's that for cultural diversity? Anyway, the story involves Sindbad's (Williams) efforts to enter the impenetrable castle where the evil El Kerim's (Armendariz) heart is being kept. So long as his heart is outside his body, El Kerim is invulnerable, enabling him to be as wicked and despotic as he chooses. Sindbad comes to the rescue just seconds before the heroine (Bruhl) is about to be crushed to death by an elephant. Despite the mortality rate on both sides, Captain Sindbad is pure kiddie-matinee stuff, adroitly put together by director/cinematographer Byron (War of the Worlds) Haskin and boasting top-notch special effects. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Guy Williams, Heidi Bruhl, (more)
- 1962
Leaning heavily on violence to ostensibly deliver a pacifist message, this standard drama by Philip Leacock looks at the problem of teen gangs from a slightly different angle -- these teens are all wealthy. Everything starts off when aerospace engineer Walt Sherill (Alan Ladd) is accosted and severely beaten by a group of young punks. The victimized man decides to hunt down the thugs on his own, at first just for curiosity and then increasingly for vengeance. His actions spark retaliatory measures, and before the credits roll, the body count is elevated by a few more victims in what amounts to nothing more than a blood feud. In the end, justice of the legal and politically correct sort makes a token appearance. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Ladd, Rod Steiger, (more)
- 1961
One of the best of the "existential" Twilight Zone episodes, Charles Beaumont's "Shadow Play" begins in a courtroom, where Adam Grant (Dennis Weaver) is convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to the electric chair. Shouting "It's happening all over again!", Grant insists that his trial, conviction, and execution are all part of a recurring nightmare -- and that when he dies, the world around him and all its occupants will likewise cease to exist. Originally telecast May 5, 1961, "Shadow Play" was one of the few "vintage" episodes that would be remade for the revived Twilight Zone TV series of the late 1980s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Weaver, Harry Townes, (more)
Spencer Tracy plays an American priest tending to the natives of a South Sea island. A plane carrying three convicts -- Harry (Frank Sinatra), Marcel Gregoire Aslan and Charlie Bernie Hamilton) -- lands on the island; Father Doonan (Tracy) manages to enlist their (reluctant) aid in working at a children's hospital. When the island falls victim to a series of earthquakes, Father Doonan and the convicts work together to evacuate the hospital staff and the children. Harry, the least cooperative of the prisoners, becomes a hero during a volcanic eruption by going back to rescue the priest, who with convict Charlie has been holding a bridge in order to allow the others to escape. Father Doonan and the two convicts are killed, but all the children are rescued. Blighted by bad special effects and ponderous direction, Devil at Four O'Clock is less interesting than the behind-the-scenes rumors concerning the friction between Spencer Tracy and Frank Sinatra. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Spencer Tracy, Frank Sinatra, (more)
- 1961
Cliff Robertson plays Tolly Devlin, an embittered ex-convict who has spent a lifetime tracking down the men who murdered his father. Desirous of handling matters on his own, Devlin pretends to be loyal to both the Mob and the Government, playing one against the other in hopes of flushing out the killers. He learns that the three surviving assassins are employed by a supposedly charitable "cover" operation known as National Projects. To get what he wants, Devlin ingratiates himself with mob boss (and outwardly solid citizen) Conners (Robert Emhardt). What Robertson didn't count on was falling in love with "Cuddles" (Dolores Dorn), which leads to his own downfall -- but not before justice is served. Producer/director/writer Fuller based Underworld USA on a series of "exposé" articles in The Saturday Evening Post; the film's release fortuitously occurred shortly after that infamous mob convention in Appalachin, New York. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cliff Robertson, Dolores Dorn, (more)
- 1960
Good actors help raise the level of this downbeat drama of drugs and survival by Philip Leacock. The story is set in Chicago's notorious South side and is based on Willard Motley's novel of a mother struggling to raise her son "right" in spite of the odds against her. Nellie (Shelley Winters) herself is battling her dependency on drugs, battling poverty after her husband was executed for crimes he committed, and also fighting to keep her son Nick (James Darren) from following in his father's footsteps. Nick also wants to rise above his environment but even with the help of some friends, the boy and his mother are up against very tough odds. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burl Ives, Shelley Winters, (more)
