Lynn Hamilton Movies

Actress Lisa Gay Hamilton makes her directorial debut with the documentary Beah: A Black Woman Speaks, a biography of actress and writer Beah Richards, whom Hamilton had worked with on The Practice and Beloved. The production of this project spanned many years; Hamilton realized, early on, that Richards was dying, and thus secured her participation during the actress's final year - though the picture wasn't realized until after three her death. Born in Mississippi, Richards moved to New York City in 1950 to begin acting in off-Broadway productions. In addition to her distinguished acting career, she was also an accomplished poet, playwright, teacher, and social activist. In 1967, she was nominated for an Academy Award for her supporting role in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Shortly before her death in 2000, she won an Emmy for her guest starring role on The Practice. The original musical score is provided by Bernice Johnson Reagon from Sweet Honey in the Rock. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

A high schooler with a huge collection of video games is murdered and a three-year-old girl is shot and killed in her crib. Investigating the high-school case, the detectives are stymied by contradictory evidence, and by the presence of a weird suspect named Swirly (Josh Zuckerman), who lives with his even weirder mother. And while tackling the case of the dead three-year-old, Connie (Charlotte Ross) and Rita (Jacqueline Obradors) trace the gunfire to an engagement party on a lower floor. In off-the-job developments, John Jr. (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) tries to reach out to his taciturn dad (Joe Spano); Andy (Dennis Franz) and Connie may get together; and gay cop John (Bill Brochtrup) prepares to visit Africa with his new significant other. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Corky (Faith Ford) finally gets the chance to conduct her first truly hard-hitting interview when she goes one-on-one with ruthless retail mogul Ross Bowen (William Windom). Though she acquits herself quite well, Corky suffers the usual professional consequences when she is deluged with hate mail. Murphy (Candice Bergen) and the gang are all for sheltering Corky from this assault, but the plucky girl reporter insists upon meeting her attackers head-on--by inviting all of the mail writers to the "FYI" studios. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Investigating the murder of a famous movie queen, Hunter (Fred Dryer) and McCall (Stepfanie Kramer) discover to their surprise that the dead woman had quite a checkered past. Key players in the intrigue that follows are a jealous and covetous sister, a homeless man, and several minions of the CIA. This first episode of a two-part story was adapted from a novel by former police detective Dallas L. Barnes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ivan Reitman directed this film, starring Robert Redford, Debra Winger, and Daryl Hannah, that is an amalgam of a thriller, courtroom drama, mystery and Tracy-Hepburn romantic comedy, with a little Mark Rothko-type scandal thrown in. The film revolves around troubled Chelsea Deardon (Daryl Hannah) who as an eight-year-old girl witnessed her father, a famous artist, perishing in a blaze along with his valuable art works. Twenty years later, Chelsea is arrested for stealing one of her father's paintings from an unscrupulous New York art dealer. She claims many more of her father's paintings survived the fire long ago. Defending Chelsea is lawyer Laura Kelly (Debra Winger). Pitted against her is suave district attorney Tom Logan (Robert Redford). Laura thinks if Tom knew the facts behind the case, he would reconsider and exonerate Chelsea. He doesn't, but one night when Chelsea appears at his doorstep, he does permit her to seduce him. The next morning, one of the art dealers involved in the case is found dead, and Chelsea is found in Tom's apartment. Chelsea becomes the prime suspect in the murder and Tom's career is ruined. Inexplicably, Laura hires Tom to help her defend Chelsea. The two lawyers, in researching their defense, not only uncover a scandal involving art dealership, but also fall in love. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Much against her better judgment, unlicensed midwife Olivia Allen (Lynn Hamilton) assists in the emergency delivery of an illegal immigrant's baby. When the child dies, the authorities charge Olivia with second degree murder. Her curiosity aroused by the subsequent similar deaths of several other infants, Olivia's friend Dr. Katherine Reed (Elizabeth Huddle) prevails upon Quincy (Jack Klugman) to help solve the mystery and clear Ms. Allen's name. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Freshly returned from the War, Jim-Bob (David W. Harper) and Josh Foster (Jason Moses) have no intention of settling down and looking for employment, but instead plan to take it easy and have as much fun as possible. This "fun" soon devolves into foolish recklessness--which nearly proves fatal for at least one of the two returnees. Elsewhere, the Baldwin sisters stumble upon the room where their grandfather first created their intoxicating "recipe". . .just as a Federal agent shows up at their house! With this episode, Charles R. Penland becomes the third actor to appear in the recurring role of Jody Foster, succeeding both Erin Blunt and T.K. Carter). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the conclusion of The Waltons' two-part Season Nine opener, John Walton (Ralph Waite) faces a long jail term for helping to conceal murder suspect Harley Foster (Hal Williams) from the authorities. Despite his own dilemma, John is determined to prove that Harley is an innocent victim of racial prejudice. Meanwhile, the budding romance between John's daughter Elizabeth (Kami Cotler) and Drew Cutler (Tony Becker) hits a snag when she begins neglecting him to spend more time her horse Molly. And in faraway Paris, the girlfriend of Jason Walton (Jon Walmsley) helps him locate his war-correspondent brother John-Boy (Robert Wightman). The episode closes with a stunning national tragedy which has a profound impact on the people of Walton's Mountain. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The phenomenal success of the 1977 ABC miniseries Roots all but demanded a sequel to writer Alex Haley's epic story of his African and African-American forebears. Debuting February 18, 1979, Roots: The Next Generations picked up where its predecessor left off, with Haley's slave ancestors winning their freedom in the aftermath of the Civil War. Even so, life for black Americans was wrought with hardship and oppression thanks to the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, the staunch refusal of the white power structure to pass anti-lynching laws, and the formation of the dreaded Jim Crow laws which legalized racial segregation in the South (and much of the North). Covering the period from 1882 to the mid-1970s, the miniseries first focuses on blacksmith Tom Harvey (Georg Stanford Brown), great-grandson of Kunta Kinte (the protagonist of the original Roots), and his family. Meanwhile, reacting to the marriage of his son to a black woman, anal-retentive Southern colonel Warner (Henry Fonda) begins setting the legal wheels in motion to deny blacks like Tom the right to vote and to hold "white" jobs. A few decades later, Tom's son-in-law encourages his fellow blacks to stand firm against the KKK's reign of terror. His labors on behalf of his race are rewarded when his daughter Bertha (Irene Cara) becomes the first descendant of Kunta Kinte to receive a college education. It is Bertha Palmer who weds the equally ambitious Simon Haley (Dorian Harewood), who goes on to serve in WWI and to organize farmers and sharecroppers during the Depression. Simon's son Alex (played at various ages by Kristoff St. John, Damon Evans, and finally James Earl Jones) is just as determined to succeed in a white man's world as his father, and to that end becomes a professional writer after his own service stint in the Coast Guard during WWII. At the height of his professional success (largely due to his having ghost-written the autobiography of Muslim activist Malcolm X), Alex Haley pays a visit to his boyhood hometown -- where, almost by accident, he receives the first clue to his heritage, a clue that will lead him on an odyssey of self-discovery, arriving full circle at Kunta Kinte's birthplace in Africa. Although the miniseries' "money scene" was Haley's nervous interview with American Nazi Party leader George Lincoln Rockwell (Marlon Brando in a superb cameo turn), the climactic episode, in which Haley tearfully embraces the living African descendants of Kunta Kinte, is one of the most unforgettable moments in the history of network television. Running 12 episodes and 14 hours, Roots: The Next Generations concluded on February 25, 1979, playing to huge ratings all along the way and ultimately garnering several Emmy nominations (and one win). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

December 7, 1941: The Waltons are among the first people on the Mountain to hear the news that the Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor. Especially affected by this catastrophic event is Mary Ellen (Judy Norton-Taylor), whose husband Curt (Tom Bower) is serving with the Medical Corps in Hawaii. Likewise nervously awaiting further news is neighbor Verdie Foster (Lynn Hamilton), whose son Josh is also stationed at Pearl Harbor. In the midst of this unfolding crisis, Ben helps matters not at all by introducing his new girlfriend Cindy, who dresses a tad too provocatively for everyone's taste. Though Robin Eisenmann appears as Cindy, the role would soon be taken over on a regular weekly basis by Leslie Winston. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Impressed by the trumpet-playing skills of his black friend Josh Foster (now played by James Bond III, replacing Todd Bridges), Jason (Jon Walmsley) suggests that Josh perform at the annual Spring Festival. Unfortunately, racial prejudice rears its ugly head, and it looks as if Josh will never be permitted to show off his talents in public. Elsewhere, Elizabeth (Kami Cotler) and Aimee Godsey (Rachel Longaker) vie for the attentions of Georgie (Steve Shaw), the new boy in class. T.K. Carter appears in this episode as Jody Foster, a role previously played by Erin Blunt. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Richard Thomas briefly returns to the role of John-Boy Walton in this first episode of a two-part story (originally telecast as a single two-hour installment). Upon hearing of the dire financial conditions in Jefferson County, John-Boy comes home with plans of reopening the old Guthrie coal mine. Elsewhere, John Walton (Ralph Waite) weighs the possibility of giving up the family business and going to work at a defense plant; and Erin ($Mary Elizabeth McDonough) hesitates to inform her family that she has taken a second job under "questionable" circumstances. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Can it be that Fred Sanford (Redd Foxx) has fallen in love with a white woman named Doris? That's what Lamont (Demond Wilson) and Donna (Lynn Hamilton) are led to believe when Fred begins mysteriously disappearing each and every night. It turns out, however, that Doris is a high-school teacher -- and Fred merely wants to earn his diploma after these many years. This was the 135th and final episode of Sanford and Son. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide