Richie Havens Movies

This provocative documentary, filmed in black and white, and color, examines the allegations surrounding the black leader's demise in 1965. It focuses on Malcolm's political situation prior to the killing with a special emphasis upon the coalition he and Martin Luther King were trying to form. This new coalition, which had King helming the southern efforts and Malcolm organizing the north, was apparently infiltrated with by numerous undercover policeman and FBI agents with orders to keep it from coming together. Though the film leaves viewers with many unanswered questions, it is thought provoking. Included is archival footage. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This engaging. cinema verité-style documentary is about Kojo Odo, a remarkable man living in Harlem who adopted a total of 18 handicapped children over a 10-year period of time. When Odo was only 32 years old, he met a small boy, missing one arm, who was being shunted from one foster home to the next -- and he was affected enough to go through adoption proceedings and ultimately bring the boy home. As a social worker and civil rights activist, Odo was familiar with the problems he saw in the boy -- unwarranted fears, violent behavior, and emotional maelstroms -- and set himself to slowly calming his new son through affection and parental concern. Heartened by the difference he was able to bring to just one boy, Odo continued with his mission to individually help others through the same adoption process. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

A music performance video from Greenwich Village's Folk City club. See performances by many modern folk singers, including The Roches, Roger McGuinn, Odetta, Tom Paxton, Melanie, Richie Havens, Suzanne Vega, Violent Femmes, Arlo Guthrie, Eric Anderson and Joan Baez. ~ Rovi

In 1970, a music aficionado and entrepreneur named Michael Eavis staged a "pop, folk, and blues" festival on a dairy farm in the English community of Glastonbury, not far from Stonehenge. 1,500 attended the "Glastonbury Fayre," and a second festival followed in 1971. By 2005, The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts had grown into the biggest pop music festival in the world, playing host to the biggest names in rock, reggae, electronic, blues, and world music for a crowd of up to 150,000 people over the course of a three-day weekend in June. Filmmaker Julien Temple offers a backstage look at the history of this event, as well as a cross section of the memorable performances which have taken place on the festival's stage in the documentary Glastonbury. Performers featured in archival footage include R.E.M., David Bowie, New Order, Radiohead, Coldplay, the Velvet Underground, Nick Cave, Oasis, Blur, Björk, and many more. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This uninspiring drama was unfortunately the last feature film directed by Richard Marquard and was released posthumously. Bob Dylan plays the retired and reclusive rock star (there's a stretch) Billy Parker who falls for aspiring rocker Molly McGuire (Fiona) and takes her under his wing on his tour of England to benefit from his experience. When Molly is "discovered" by lecherous music promoter James Colt (Rupert Everett), Billy flies the coop back to his stateside chicken farm while Molly makes music magic. Billy and Molly are eventually reunited when she returns for a triumphant tour of the United States. Songs from Dylan, Neil Young, Shel Silverstein, Andy Goldmark, Tony Swan, Wang Chung, John Dexter, Cyril Neville, John Hiatt, and Steve Jolley help the thin script and uninspired thesping. The film opens up with the 1982 hit Tainted Love from Soft Cell. Musicians Ian Dury and Richie Havens are included in the acting cast. One can only wonder if the feature was just wrapped up too quickly after the untimely death of Marquand from a stroke at age 49 on September 4th, 1987. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Also known as "Married. . .With Children: The Musical", this episode gets under way when a financially strapped Al Bundy (Ed O'Neill) wins a first-class plane ticket to Hawaii in a shoe-selling contest. Quick to cash in on this windfall, the Bundys convert the ticket into four standbys and spend most of their "vacation" disguised as rock stars (it's "Axel" Bundy, dammit!) and lollygagging around in the airport's VIP lodge with several veteran musicians. Appearing as themselves are John Sebastian of The Lovin' Spoonful, Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits, Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere and the Raiders, Robbie Krieger of The Doors, and Richie Havens and Spencer Davis. Song: "Old Aid". ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Music bridges a gap between two cultures in this made-for-TV drama. In 1957, Derek Sanders (Peter Scolari) is hired to teach music and direct the choir at Blanton Academy, a private school in South Carolina. Integration has not yet come to Blanton, and a number of students display an open hostility towards African-American in the community, most notably Taylor Bradshaw (Justin Whalin), one of the school bullies who makes no secret of his dislike of people of color. As Sanders tries to impress a more open-minded attitude upon the boys in his choir, he introduces a new vocalist to the group -- Landy Allen (Eugene Byrd), the teenaged son of Zeke (Moses Gunn), the school's black caretaker. Despite his initial enmity, Bradshaw strikes up a friendship with Allen based on their shared love for music, and as Allen teaches Bradshaw about the blues, he also finds himself learning about a people and a community he previously know almost nothing about. Noted folk-blues Richie Havens also appears in the film's supporting cast. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Steve James stars in this martial-arts adventure. This time he plays former maverick NYC cop and Vietnam vet Logan Blade who currently works as a bounty hunter in pursuit of the potentially dangerous Angel, who is trying to get all of the Big Apple's gangs to unite and become a vicious death squad. To do so, he surreptitiously uses his connections with the NYPD to investigate Angel and find out the identity of the person who is really behind the scheme. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This made-for-TV follow-up to 1980's The Girl, the Gold Watch and Everything stars Lee Purcell and Philip MacHale as Bonnie Lee Beaumont and Kirby Winter, roles created in the earlier film by Pam Dawber and Robert Hays. Once more, the hapless Kirby is the possessor of a magic watch that can stop time all around him--and once more, the watch causes him and his fiancee Bonnie Lee nothing but trouble. This time, hero and heroine are pitted against evil land baron Hoover Hess III (Burton Gilliam), who isn't above committing foul play to get what he wants. What Hoover wants, by the way, is a patch of valuable land owned by Bonnie Lee's mother (Carol Lawrence). Among the singular pleasures in this whimsical adventure yarn is the appearance of Jerry Mathers, Beaver Cleaver himself, as one of the bad guys! Based on characters created by John D. MacDonald, The Girl, the Gold Watch and Dynamite was first syndicated to local TV stations May 21, 1984, as part of the "Operation Prime Time" series. It was offered as both a 2-hour movie, and as a series of five half-hour programs. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Subtitled "The Greatest Gathering of Folk Musicians in 25 Years," this video documents the Troubadours of Folk Festival held at UCLA's Drake Stadium & Intramural Fields in Westwood, CA, June 5 and 6, 1993. The lineup includes Jefferson Starship (unplugged) doing "Volunteers," Beausoleil performing "Dance de la Vie," and Janis Ian singing her hit "At Seventeen." Other artists featured include Arlo Guthrie, Richie Havens, Joni Mitchell, and John Prine. ~ Steve Blackburn, Rovi