Harry J. Lennix Movies
- 1998
Ally considers embarking on more cerebral activities with male-model Glenn (Michael Easton), but the sexual nature of the relationship has already turned Billy off on Ally. ~ TV Guide, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Calista Flockhart, Courtney Thorne-Smith, (more)
- 1997
29-year-old defense lawyer Nick Donahue (Rick Schroder) is still tied to the apron strings of his possessive mother Diana (Judith Light)--so much so that, when he tries to move out of the family home, Diana is able to bind him even tighter by attempting suicide. While visiting Diana in the hospital, Nick meets and falls in love with Abby (Sarah Trigger), his mother's nurse. Ultimately, Nick and Abby marry, much to Diana's dismay. When Abby announces she is pregnant, it is too much for the unbalanced Diana to bear--and thus she promptly begins plotting her daughter-in-law's murder. This fact-based melodrama culminates in an intense courtroom scene, in which accused killer Diana is defended by--guess who? Made for the CBS TV network, Too Close to Home originally aired April 29, 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1997
Carol (Julianna Margulies) weighs her options as she decides to either pursue medical school or remain a nurse. Carter (Noah Wyle) wonders if he should turn in a fellow intern and former romantic rival for falsifying a patient's record. A couple who delights in concocting potentially dangerous "scenarios" plagues the ER staff. Ross (George Clooney) is determined to save the life of a two-year-old boy. And a genetically altered mouse is running loose in the hospital. This episode contains one of the most shocking and startling moments of ER's third season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1997
The ER staff is galvanized by the brutal beating of Greene (Anthony Edwards) in the men's room. Jeanie (Gloria Reuben) is forced to make several difficult decisions involving the three men in her life. Carol (Julianna Margulies) accuses Ross (George Clooney) of giving preferential treatment to the child of a wealthy and influential family. Carter (Noah Wyle) and Benton (Eriq La Salle) forget their differences long enough to work together during a kidney transplant. And everyone is entranced by a sexy novel that has popped up mysteriously at the admittance desk. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1997
Fearing that something may be wrong with Carla's (Lisa Nicole Carson) unborn baby, Benton (Eriq La Salle) illegally obtains a copy of her ultrasound. Jeanie (Gloria Reuben) finds that she has much in common with would-be suicide patient Suzane Alner (Gia Carides). Anspaugh (John Aylward) refuses to operate on a dying patient, but Carter (Noah Wyle) has other ideas. And Ross (George Clooney) contends with a determined young lady who refuses to miss her senior prom -- even if it kills her. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1997
Pomerantz (Jami Gertz) refuses to put a woman with Down's syndrome on a heart-transplant list; Greene (Anthony Edwards) and Doyle (Jorja Fox) try to persuade her to change her mind. Now that he is of legal age, Jad Houston (Chad Lindberg), suffering from terminal cystic fibrosis, insists upon being taken off life support -- but Jad's mother (Veronica Cartwright) won't hear of it, forcing Ross (George Clooney) to act as "mediator" between life and death. And the relationship between Jeanie (Gloria Reuben) and Fischer (Harry J. Lennix) becomes more serious. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1997
The death of Gant causes a major blowup between Carter (Noah Wyle) and Benton (Eriq La Salle). Ross (George Clooney) uncovers some facts about battered homeless teen Charlie (Kirsten Dunst). HIV-positive Jeanie (Gloria Reuben) dates Greg Fischer (Harry J. Lennix), a specialist in infectious disease. And woefully understaffed during the nurses' "sick-out," Carol (Julianna Marguiles) makes a fatal error in judgment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1997
Some critics pigeonholed the made-for-TV melodrama Friends 'Til the End as a junior version of such theatrical features as All About Eve and Single White Female. A plain-looking, delusional college girl who calls herself Zanne Armstrong (Jennifer Blanc) goes to great lengths to befriend beautiful, popular coed Heather Romley (Shannen Doherty). Heather graciously allows the girl to enter her circle of friends, little suspecting that Zanne obsessed with "becoming" Heather, literally taking over her life and personality. The scheme is set in motion when Zanne joins Heather's campus band Dead Pink, and reaches a peak of sorts when the deranged girl manages to bed Heather's boyfriend--but the worst is still to come. Friends 'Til the End premiered January 20, 1997 on NBC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Released one year to the day after the 1995 Million Man March, in which a million African-American men marched peacefully in Washington, D.C. in a bid for greater unity and understanding, Spike Lee's Get On the Bus follows a group of black men who take a charter bus from Los Angeles to the rally in the nation's capital and watches as they interact and air their personal issues and concerns. George (Charles S. Dutton) is the organizer of the trip and de facto leader of the group. Evan Thomas (Thomas Jefferson Byrd) is a truck driver who travels to the march with his son (De'Aundre Bonds) chained to his belt by court order after the boy was arrested for petty theft. Kyle (Isaiah Washington) and Randall (Harry Lennix) are gay lovers who take no small amount of abuse from their fellow passengers. Gary (Roger Guenveur Smith) is the product of a mixed-race marriage who could pass for white but sees himself as black; he's also a cop, which does little to endear him to his peers. Flip (Andre Braugher) is an actor who seems more concerned with getting his next film role than the larger issues of the march. Jamal (Gabriel Casseus) is a good-natured young Muslim trying to lead a righteous life to make up for his violent past as a gang member. A film student (Hill Harper) is capturing the trip on videotape, and Jeremiah (Ossie Davis) sits in the back, reflecting on the struggles of African-Americans in the past and present. Financed by a private group of 15 black American men (among them Will Smith and Wesley Snipes), Get On the Bus speaks less of a single political goal than of the need for black men to set aside their differences to work for their common good. While the film falls short of openly criticizing Million Man March organizer Louis Farrakhan, it does present debate about Farrakhan's ideals and statements, ultimately coming to the conclusion that whoever brought this group together is less important than the fact that they came together in peace and brotherhood. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Belzer, Ossie Davis, (more)
- 1995
- NC17
William Best, a well-heeled Connecticut lawyer, leaves the family firm to work with the Manhattan DA's office. His first friend there is Hamlin Day, whose rise to the top from the ghetto has been as much a struggle as Best's has been a piece of cake. The disparate partners go out on a double date and that is where Best meets the sophisticated, sexy Meadow Adare. He is immediately attracted to her and this attraction doesn't wane when he learns she is a call girl. He likes her so much that he takes her home to meet his parents. Though Meadow is well-educated and classy, she has a drug problem and it is she who introduces Best to snorting heroin. The rest of this drama chronicles his subsequent slide to ruination. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Based on Richard Price's grim best-seller, and directed by Spike Lee from a screenplay co-written with Price, Clockers takes the structure of a police procedural to build a chilling portrait of despair, hope, and the unanswered problem of black-on-black crime in an urban housing project. The film's haunting themes are vividly visualized during the opening credits, which run over police photos of dead young black men, shot and sprawled on sidewalks, in streets, and hanging over fences. Strike (Mekhi Phifer) is a 19-year-old African-American "clocker" -- the lowest link on the drug dealing chain -- who hangs around park benches and street corners selling small amounts of druges at all hours of the day. Strike drinks chocolate milk to soothe an ulcer and plays with model trains in his apartment, dreaming of a way out of his dead-end life. Drug kingpin Rodney (Delroy Lindo) asks Strike to kill another clocker, Darryl, for skimming money, saying that this will be Strike's ticket to a higher post in Rodney's organization. Darryl is indeed shot, and suspicion immediately falls on Strike, but a weary cop named Rocco Klein (Harvey Keitel) thinks there's more to the case. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harvey Keitel, John Turturro, (more)
A man trained for a life of excitement and danger is given a new and unexpected challenge -- minding a grouchy old woman -- in this comedy. Doug Chesnic (Nicolas Cage) is a Secret Service agent who takes great pride in his job, performing his duties with the utmost professionalism and always minding the details. However, his assignment for the last three years has been a severe test of his patience; Tess Carlisle (Shirley MacLaine) is the widow of a former U.S. president who is well-known for her diplomatic and philanthropic work, and Doug has been in charge of her security force. But Tess tends to regard Doug less as a security officer and more as a domestic servant, like her chauffeur Earl (Austin Pendleton) or her nurse Frederick (Richard Griffiths). While Doug regards it as beneath his professional dignity to perform little chores around the house or bring Tess her breakfast in bed, she orders him to do so, and he's in no position to say, "no." Sometimes, Tess even refuses to obey Doug's security instructions, and should he argue his point too strongly, Tess will contact her close friend, the President of the United States, and ask him to give Doug a severe dressing down. So when Doug's three year hitch with Tess comes to an end, he asks to be given a more exciting and challenging assignment. However, Tess has other ideas; she's decided that she likes working with Doug, and she demands that his assignment be made permanent. Director Hugh Wilson also provides the voice of the President. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shirley MacLaine, Nicolas Cage, (more)
In the tradition of This Is Spinal Tap, producer/ director/ star Tim Robbins' Bob Roberts is a satire disguised as a documentary. Robbins plays the titular Roberts, a wealthy, well-connected young man running for a senatorial seat in Pennsylvania. On the surface, Roberts is an ingratiating glad-hander, a sincere believer in the restoration of such intangibles as national pride, family values, etc. But the longer Roberts is followed about by documentary filmmaker Brian Murray, the more we become aware that the candidate is a textbook case of cynicism and contempt. Only Giancarlo Esposito, a reporter for an underground newspaper, is willing to dig beneath Roberts' veneer--a habit that leads to the film's ironic conclusion. Several well-known actors make cameo appearances as TV commentators, notably Tim Robbins' longtime partner Susan Sarandon. Bob Roberts started out as a Tim Robbins-directed short subject for the TV series Saturday Night Live, then was expanded into a $4 million feature. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Robbins, Giancarlo Esposito, (more)
- 1992
After being released from an institution, a manic-depressive attempts to get custody of her 5 children and struggles with the opposition of her oldest daughter and the foster parents. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sarah Jessica Parker, Sally Struthers, (more)
Small-time crook Johnny Stewart (Damon Wayans) decides to go straight to win a beautiful girl (Stacey Dash), and to prove it, he joins the mailroom of the credit-card firm for which she works. Needing money to impress her, Johnny steals a credit card, goes on a shopping spree and wins the girl. The story isn't over though, because a security guard who caught his theft on videotape is blackmailing Stewart to join his own credit-card ring. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Damon Wayans, Marlon Wayans, (more)
Loosely based on the life and times of several R&B artists (The Dells, The Temptations, Frankie Lymon, Sam Cooke and others) The Five Heartbeats traces the rise and fall of a popular African-American 1950s singing aggregation. The story is told from the point of view of one of the "Heartbeats," played by Robert Townsend (who also co-produced, directed and co-wrote the script with Keenan Ivory Waynans). The film is an amalgam of anecdotes drawn from real-life experiences: the long struggle upward, the first rush of success, the dishonest record-company executives, the hard-nosed but nurturing managers, the sex, the drugs, the isolation and the precipitous downward slide. The film begins and ends in the 1990s, as the middle-aged "Duck" (Townsend) ruminates on the past and makes the best of the present. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Townsend, Michael Wright, (more)
- 1990
In this entry in the long-running mystery series, Perry Mason listens to the pleas of a 13-year-old girl and helps her father who was falsely accused of murdering a gambler. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
The Package, a thriller involving political assassination and intrigue, is an excellent action feature using a familiar theme and providing good performances by the cast. Boyette (Tommy Lee Jones) is a prisoner entrusted to Gallagher (Gene Hackman) for transportation back to the United States. Boyette escapes and Gallagher must find him. In doing so, Gallagher finds himself getting into far more than he had bargained for as he becomes involved in a political assignation plot that he must stop. Both Hackman and Jones are excellent in reprising familiar roles. Hackman is never better than when portraying the decent man in a precarious position, and Jones plays Boyette with the same cunning and intelligence that he brought to The Executioner's Song. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Hackman, Joanna Cassidy, (more)
