James Earl Jones Movies
Possessing one of the most instantly recognizable voices in entertainment history, James Earl Jones is one of America's most distinguished and versatile actors. Although best-known to many people as the voice of Darth Vader in Star Wars or as the booming "Voice of CNN," Jones has led a decades-old career encompassing film, television, and the stage.Born Todd Jones on January 17, 1931, in Arkabutla, Mississippi, Jones was the son of prize-fighter-turned-actor Robert Earl Jones, whom he would not know for many years. At a young age, he moved to Dublin, Michigan, where he was raised on the farm of his mother's parents. Ironically enough, given that his voice would one day make him famous, Jones suffered from a severe stutter as a child, and he seldom spoke as a result. It was with the help of a high school teacher that he began to use his voice to its full potential. After entering the University of Michigan, where he went to study medicine, Jones continued to develop his voice with acting lessons. The lessons gave Jones an appetite for further theatrical experience, and he quit medicine to devote his attentions to drama study. He made his stage debut in a community theatre production in Manistee, Michigan, his last appearance for a while, as he subsequently served time in the military.
After his discharge, Jones moved to New York, where he attended the American Theatre Wing to further his training and worked as a janitor to earn a living. In 1957, he made his Broadway debut, and during the subsequent decade, he became one of the stage's most in-demand African-American actors. His best-known stage role was as a boxing champion in The Great White Hope, which in 1969 won him the first of two Tony Awards (the second was for August Wilson's Fences in 1987). During this time, Jones began working on television, appearing as a doctor on the daytime dramas Guiding Light and As the World Turns. In doing so, he became one of the first black actors to perform regularly on soaps. Jones also crossed over to the big screen, making his film debut as one of Slim Pickens' flight crew in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). In 1970, he reprised his role in The Great White Hope for the screen, earning Best Actor Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for his portrayal of the proud yet conflicted boxer.
Jones continued to work on the stage, screen, and television throughout the '70s, appearing in everything from documentaries about Martin Luther King, Jr. to the 1974 comedy Claudine to King Lear (1977). In 1977, a few days of uncredited voiceover work for the character of Darth Vader led to a measure of screen immortality, as part of the enormous success of Star Wars was the iconic menace of the screen villain's voice. Jones also gave life to Vader's vocal chords for the next two films in the Star Wars trilogy.
During the '80s and '90s, Jones continued to work steadily on the stage, screen, and television. For the latter, he found particular acclaim in 1991, winning both a Best Actor Emmy for his work in Gabriel's Fire and a Best Supporting Actor Emmy for his role in Heat Wave. The acclaim he earned on TV was ably complemented by that he found in film, as he appeared in an impressive scope of work by diverse directors in disparate genres. In the late '80s, he could be seen doing some of the best work in his film career, first as an oppressed coal miner in John Sayles' Matewan (1987), then as an embittered, Salinger-like author in Field of Dreams (1989). Jones spent the next decade branching out into the blockbuster action genre with his work in The Hunt for Red October (1990) and its two sequels, Patriot Games (1992) and Clear and Present Danger (1994). He also did strong dramatic work in such films as Cry, the Beloved Country (1995) and A Family Thing (1996), the latter of which cast him as Robert Duvall's estranged half-brother. Somewhat ironically, it was the actor's voice that endeared him to a new generation when he voiced the character of lion patriarch Mufasa in Disney's The Lion King (1994).
In addition to the entertainment industry awards he has received over the course of his career, Jones has been the recipient of a number of other honors, including The National Medal of Arts (awarded to him by President George Bush in 1992) and honorary doctorates from Yale, Princeton, and Columbia Universities. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- 1990
It's Halloween in Springfield, and Bart Simpson (voice of Nancy Cartwright) and his sister Lisa (voice of Yeardley Smith) are swapping scary stories in their backyard treehouse. In Bad Dream House, the Simpsons move into a big old house, but soon learn why the place was a bargain -- it's haunted. Before long the entire family is chasing each other with sharp objects. Marge (voice of Julie Kavner) tries as usual to be the voice of reason with the spirits, who quickly give up rather than co-exist with Springfield's most dysfunctional family. Hungry Are the Damned finds the Simpsons kidnapped en masse by a trio of one-eyed, tentacled space aliens -- Kang (voice of Harry Shearer), Kodos (voice of Dan Castellaneta), and Serak (voice of James Earl Jones). Eager-eater Homer (voice of Castellaneta) is pleased when the aliens provide a groaning dinner table for their earthling captives, but Lisa is shocked when she discovers a cookbook on board entitled How to Cook Humans. Finally, Lisa turns to Edgar Allan Poe's classic poem The Raven, with James Earl Jones reading the eerie verse, and the menacing bird bearing a strange resemblance to Bart. Treehouse of Horror, the first of a series of annual Halloween episodes on The Simpsons, first aired on October 24, 1990. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1990
- R
This anthology of three horror tales is accompanied by the voice of James Earl Jones--offscreen--as the "Voice of Retribution." Included is "Heroine Overdose," "Pandora" and "Veteran's Day," all of which begin with a postal allusion. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
This tension-filled made-for-television drama is set a few hours before the Viet Cong took over Saigon in 1975 and chronicles the struggle of Americans and Vietnamese to be on board the last commercial flight out of the city. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
The first of several films based on Tom Clancy's "Jack Ryan" technothrillers, Hunt for Red October stars Alec Baldwin as eccentric CIA analyst Ryan and Sean Connery as Soviet submarine commander Marko Ramius. Ramius sets the plot in motion when he murders his political adviser, burns his orders, and steers his sub Red October towards American waters, hoping to defect. The CIA, aware that the Red October was about to embark on an evasive mission to demonstrate its ability to avoid detection and fire its nuclear missiles upon U.S. installations, believes that Ramius is insane, and that he plans to start World War III. To cover their own behinds, the Russians back up the CIA's suspicion. Only Jack Ryan believes that Ramius' mission is not as apocalyptic as it seems -- and it is Ryan who is assigned to infiltrate the Red October to prove his theory. The sort of film that in an earlier era would have been called a "thinking man's thriller," The Hunt for Red October ushered in a new series of Hollywood-produced post-Cold War adventure films, including 1995's Crimson Tide. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, (more)
"If you build it, he will come." That's the ethereal message that inspires Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) to construct a baseball diamond in the middle of his cornfield. At first, "he" seems to be the ghost of disgraced ballplayer Shoeless Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta), who materializes on the ballfield and plays a few games with the awestruck Ray. But as the weeks go by, Ray receives several other messages from a disembodied voice, one of which is "Ease his pain." He realizes that his ballfield has been divinely ordained to give a second chance to people who have sacrificed certain valuable aspects of their lives. One of these folks is Salingeresque writer Terence Mann (James Earl Jones), whom Ray kidnaps and takes to a ball game and then to his farm. Another is Doc Graham (Burt Lancaster), a beloved general practitioner who gave up a burgeoning baseball career in favor of medicine. The final "second-chancer" turns out to be much closer to Ray. That "magical" field in Dyersville, Iowa still draws thousands of baseball-happy tourists each year. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, (more)
Learning the value of teamwork, the racially diverse U.S. karate team must work through their personal troubles to successfully participate in the upcoming international competition. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eric Roberts, James Earl Jones, (more)
Soviet radicals upset with the thawing of the Cold War explode a nuclear weapon in Russia, setting off a series of events that may very well trigger World War III. The president (Martin Landau) has been isolated after a helicopter accident and must outwit government and military officials who are attempting to go forward with the war. The film centers on the relationship between a pair of American pilots who have been ordered to bomb the U.S.S.R. and the attempts by some factions to bring them home before global Armageddon. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
JFK: The Day the Nation Cried -- November 22, 1963 chronicles the life and death of one of America's most influential presidents, John F. Kennedy. James Earl Jones hosts this profile of JFK's triumphs, tragedies, and contributions. His dynamic and dramatic story is recounted using never-before-seen footage and recollections from those who knew him best including dignitaries, journalists, politicians, and everyday citizens. Individuals featured in this moving documentary include members of the Kennedy family, Ralph Abernathy, Gerald Ford, Coretta Scott King, John Lewis, Thomas "Tip" O'Neill, and many others. ~ Sally Barber, All Movie Guide
- 1989
- R
An entertaining hybrid of Amicus-style horror anthology and gritty low-budget western, this first-time effort from writer-director Wayne Coe succeeds where many such genre-bending attempts have failed. The quartet of uneven but well-mounted stories are spun around a desert campfire by grizzled, menacing bounty hunter Morrison (a rousingly hammy James Earl Jones) and wet-behind-the-ears city slicker Farley (Brad Dourif). Morrison starts off with the tale of an Indian tribe's ritual revenge against the drunken cracker who desecrates their sacred burial ground; When Farley seems interested but unfazed, Morrison follows up with the more visceral story of a Good Samaritan who succumbs to temptation while rendering aid to a pregnant woman, leading to a particularly disgusting (though definitely original) demise. Appalled by the storyteller's lack of taste, Farley counters with a down-to-earth morality tale involving a prairie settler's young daughter who witnesses her father's horrifying act of hate, realizing that the man she trusted with her life is a very human breed of monster. Morrison acknowledges his companion's skill but offers another violent story according to his own idiom -- that of a slick gunfighter who gets his comeuppance by his own hand after winning a deadly competition. The stories feature fine acting and direction but are ultimately overshadowed by the engaging framing story and lack much of the dramatic payoff of their earlier British counterparts. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Earl Jones, Brad Dourif, (more)
Another of Disney's Touchstone Pictures rehashes of a lightweight French farce, Three Fugitives goes the trend one better by importing French director Frances Veber to supervise a shot-for-shot remake of his French original Les Fugitifs. Nick Nolte stars as a bank robber named Lucas, recently released from prison, who ambles into a bank to open up a checking account. Into the bank enters the inept Ned (Martin Short), who tries to rob the place and takes Lucas hostage. The police, knowing Lucas's criminal history, assume Lucas and Ned are pulling the heist together. With no choice in the matter, Lucas is compelled to engineer their getaway. Complicating the situation further is Ned's six-year-old daughter Meg (Sarah Rowland Doroff), who has been mute since the death of her mother. With his bank account depleted, Ned has robbed the bank to get money to send Meg to a special school. Meg loves her father, but finds herself drawn to the gruff Lucas. As the three go on the lam from the cops, the trio of misfits bond as a makeshift family. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nick Nolte, Martin Short, (more)
Coming to America casts comedian Eddie Murphy as pampered African prince Akeem, who rebels against an arranged marriage and heads to America to find a new bride. Murphy's regal father (James Earl Jones) agrees to allow the prince 40 days to roam the U.S., sending the prince's faithful retainer Semmi (Arsenio Hall) along to make sure nothing untoward happens. To avoid fortune hunters, Prince Akeem conceals his true identity and gets a "Joe job" at a fast-food restaurant. Murphy and Hall play multiple roles, and there are innumerable celebrity cameos peppered throughout the proceedings -- including the Duke Brothers (Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy) from Trading Places. Coming to America made further headlines when humorist Art Buchwald sued the film's producers for plagiarizing one of his works. Buchwald carried the case to trial, where he won a sizeable judgement against the film's producers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, (more)
- 1988
Addressing bioethical issues as they relate to the individual and society, this video takes a hard hitting look at the question of whether a patient has the right to make decisions about death. At New York's Roosevelt Hospital, Dr. David Finley, director of Critical Care, states his belief that the patient's wishes should be honored. However, he also acknowledges the fact that doctors are trained to save lives and will therefore be reluctant to terminate a patient. Roger Weisberg's documentary, with Dr. Finley's assistance, questions the justification for spending huge amounts of money on prolonging life when many peolpe are still denied basic care. ~ Cara Saposnik, All Movie Guide
- 1987
In this animated version of the classic children's tale, the marionette who wanted to become a real boy gets into trouble when he loses his father Gepetto's favorite jewelry box. At first, Pinnochio tries to conceal his wrongdoing but eventually, thanks to the promptings of his insect pal "Gee Whilikers," comes to do the right thing. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ed Asner, Tom Bosley, (more)
- 1987
The struggle of the black athlete in America is chronicled in this video featuring boxer Joe Louis, tennis champ Althea Gibson, track star Jesse Owens, skater Debbie Thomas and many more. ~ All Movie Guide
Independent filmmaker John Sayles creates one of his more artistic works with this period feature about a volatile 1920s labor dispute in the town of Matewan, West Virginia. Matewan is a coal town where the local miners' lives are controlled by the powerful Stone Mountain Coal Company. The company practically owns the town, reducing workers' wages while raising prices at the company-owned supply and grocery. The citizens' land and homes are not their own, and the future seems dim. When the coal company brings immigrants and minorities to Matewan as cheaper labor, union organizer Joe Kenehan (Chris Cooper) scours the town to unite all miners in a strike. As the crisis grows, strikers and their families are removed from their homes by two coal company mercenaries (Kevin Tighe and Gordon Clapp, both also featured in Sayles' Eight Men Out (1988)), and the situation heads toward a final shootout on Matewan's main street . Sayles' simple but telling screenplay brings to light the treatment of immigrants and minorities in the early 20th century South, and it draws sharp parallels between the Matewan labor battle and the Civil War some 50 years earlier. The visual feel of the film is real West Virginia backwoods, with much of the credit going to legendary cinematographer Haskell Wexler, whose warm, rustic lighting belies the anxiety and terror felt by the oppressed townspeople. ~ Norm Schrager, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chris Cooper, Will Oldham, (more)
Set in Washington D.C. during the Vietnam War era, Gardens of Stone concentrates on the trials and tribulations of the Arlington National Cemetery home guard. James Caan plays career soldier Sgt. Clell Hazard, who has come to the sad conclusion that Vietnam is unwinnable and that America should withdraw as soon as possible. His attitude is contrasted to that held by Private Jackie Willow (D.B. Sweeney), who wants nothing more in life than to go into battle for his country. Though Hazard cannot officially dissuade Willow from this yearning, he pulls a few surreptitious strings to change the lad's mind, including encouraging a renewed romance between Jackie and his former girlfriend Rachel (Mary Stuart Masterton). After so many big-budgeters, Coppola determined that Gardens would be a deliberately "small" picture, concentrating on personalities rather than opulence; the director's father, Carmine Coppola, supplied the music, while Peter Masterton and Carlyn Glynn, the real-life parents of Mary Stuart Masterton, play Mary's on-screen dad and mom. Gardens of Stone was adapted by Ronald Bass from the novel by Nicholas Proffitt. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Caan, Anjelica Huston, (more)
- 1986
- R
This drama concerns a young teen's transformation as she works at a half-way house for troubled kids. Franny (Mary Stuart Masterson) leaves behind a pampered, rich kid's life of yachting parties and affluent pastimes to take up a summer job working under Mrs. Chopper (Anne Meara) at a temporary shelter for homeless teens. Even though the experienced Mrs. Chopper warns Franny about not getting too involved with her charges, Franny decides that if she can organize a talent show, the youngsters will see that they are really worth something. Needless to say, Mrs. Chopper was partly right, and partly wrong. Jennifer Lopez of 1997's Selena and 1998's Out of Sight makes a precocious film debut here as one of the young teens. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Stuart Masterson, James Earl Jones, (more)
An ambitious-but -spoiled rich white kid wins a scholarship to Harvard Law School by pretending to be African-American in this broadly-played comedy. After his father cuts him off financially, Mark Watson (C. Thomas Howell) wins a full tuition scholarship to Harvard by claiming to be African-American on the application form. With the help of his best friend Gordon (Arye Gross), Mark acquires some bronzing pills, a new hairdo, and a lowered voice. Disguised as a black student, Mark thinks that he's going to breeze through the program. The reality of being a minority at a mostly white institution quickly catches up to him, however, when he encounters some tacit racism and falls for Sarah Walker (Rae Dawn Chong), a fellow student whose affection makes him feel guilty about his ruse. Then there's the imperious Professor Banks (James Earl Jones), an African-American instructor who expects him to perform at a higher level than the other students. Soul Man was written by Carol Black and directed by Steve Miner, who would collaborate again for the popular television series The Wonder Years (1988-93). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- C. Thomas Howell, Arye Gross, (more)
- 1986
- Add Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold to QueueAdd Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold to top of Queue
After receiving a mysterious gold piece, Quatermain travels to Africa to find his brother, who is searching for a lost white tribe. In his search, Quatermain discovers a lost civilization. This film is a follow-up to King Solomon's Mines. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Chamberlain, Sharon Stone, (more)
- 1986
In this animated children's feature, the Biblical stories of "Moses" and "Samuel and Saul" are retold. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
This bleak post-apocalyptic science fiction actioner substitutes a plague instead of a bomb as the reason for civilization's demise but the result is the same -- grizzly motorcycle gangs with a ton of gasoline to burn. In City Limits the older generation has been wiped out by the plague, and the younger generation lives in a state of anarchy in a world controlled by biker gangs. The gangs live by rules discovered in pre-apocalyptic comic books. Two rival biker gangs, the Clippers and the DAs, have taken to dividing up a city amongst themselves and live under a fragile truce. Utilizing a comic-strip version of medieval times, a code has been established for violations of the pact between the gangs -- competitive jousting or acts of reciprocal retaliation. When a person dies, like a post-Holocaust Viking funeral, he is cremated along with his motorcycle. But this shaky peace between the bike gangs is threatened when the fascistic Sunya Corporation attempts to take over the city with the cooperation of the DA bike gang. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Darrell Larson, John Stockwell, (more)
- 1985
The Atlanta Child Murders is a five-hour, two-part dramatization of one of the most tragic and controversial homicide cases of the past twenty years. From 1979 through 1982, some 28 African-American children and young adults disappeared from Atlanta--some without a trace, but others to later turn up as murder victims. Part One (which debuted February 10, 1985) details the beginning of the manhunt conducted by the Atlanta Chief of Police (James Earl Jones). Screenwriter Abby Mann uses the actual events as a springboard for his thesis that the case and its outcome revealed many uncomfortable truths about the still-fragile state of race relations in the New South. Both parts of The Atlanta Child Murders were later combined into one 245-minute "feature film."
The second part of the five-hour TV docudrama The Atlanta Child Murders originally aired February 12, 1985. After 28 African-American children and young adults have either disappeared or been murdered, the Atlanta police finally have a suspect in custody: Small-time show business entrepreneur Wayne Williams (Calvin Levels). Scriptwriter Abby Mann utilizes actual court transcripts of Williams' trial, which results in a conviction on one count of murder. This decision in essence leaves the cases of the other 27 victims unresolved--and in so doing, Mann opens the door to speculations that Williams, a black man, was a "convenient" suspect, who might possibly have been railroaded in the authorities' haste to find a solution to the sordid case. Whatever Mr. Mann may have felt concerning Williams' guilt or innocence, the fact remains that the murders and disappearances stopped cold once Williams was in custody (as of this writing, Williams persists in his efforts to reopen the case, claiming that he was framed by the white power structure). Morgan Freeman served as narrator for both installments of The Atlanta Child Murders. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The second part of the five-hour TV docudrama The Atlanta Child Murders originally aired February 12, 1985. After 28 African-American children and young adults have either disappeared or been murdered, the Atlanta police finally have a suspect in custody: Small-time show business entrepreneur Wayne Williams (Calvin Levels). Scriptwriter Abby Mann utilizes actual court transcripts of Williams' trial, which results in a conviction on one count of murder. This decision in essence leaves the cases of the other 27 victims unresolved--and in so doing, Mann opens the door to speculations that Williams, a black man, was a "convenient" suspect, who might possibly have been railroaded in the authorities' haste to find a solution to the sordid case. Whatever Mr. Mann may have felt concerning Williams' guilt or innocence, the fact remains that the murders and disappearances stopped cold once Williams was in custody (as of this writing, Williams persists in his efforts to reopen the case, claiming that he was framed by the white power structure). Morgan Freeman served as narrator for both installments of The Atlanta Child Murders. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this drama, a casino owner (Rock Hudson) fights against his double-crossing ex-partners by remodeling the ramshackle joint across from theirs. Soon he has made it the grandest place in Las Vegas. This was Hudson's final film. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rock Hudson, Sharon Stone, (more)
