Patrick Malone Movies

This made-for-television docudrama that aired on March 28, 1999 on NBC, relates the story of an actual event that occurred during World War II, but is centered around the lives of fictional characters. On July 17, 1944 at a U.S. naval base near San Francisco, a ship exploded causing the deaths of 323 men and injuring another 390. Just over 200 of the dead and another 200 of the injured were African-American Navy personnel. The story begins with the events that led up to the tragedy, with the second half of the film describing the actions of the men who refused to report back to work the next day after the explosion. Initially, 250 of the men refused to return, fearing another catastrophe. When base officers threatened to charge them with mutiny, 200 returned to work. The 50 who refused to return were given dishonorable discharges, in addition to 15 years of hard labor from the mutiny convictions. Eventually, the sentences were reduced to 4 years, but no official governmental acknowledgment of wrongdoing has ever been made. ~ All Movie Guide

To cut down on costs, Lena (Jada Pinkett, Gina (Ajai Sanders), Charmaine (Karen Malina White), Dorian (Bumper Robinson) and Terrell (Patrick Y. Malone) all move into the same apartment. Almost immediately, they clash with their landlord Langston Paige (Billy Dee Williams), who turns out to be a former big-league baseball star. Gradually the kids grow to like Paige, and even encourage him to enroll in college--where he is reunited with his ex-girlfriend, Professor Redding (Leslie Uggams). Elsewhere, Gina's abusive former boyfriend Dion (Edafe Blackmon) breaks the rules of his probations in a desperate effort to win her back. Originally scheduled to air July 1, 1993 as the pilot for a spinoff series starring Billy Dee Williams, this final episode of A Different World was not shown on NBC, though it was included in the syndication package. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dean Davenport (Jenifer Lewis) assigns her students to write a hypothetical conversation between Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. Unfortunately, Terrell (Patrick Y. Malone) lowers the level of the assignment several degrees when, as a result of a previous run-in with a gang of punks, he brings a gun to class--and is nearly expelled on the spot. Elsewhere, Kim (Charnele Brown) hesitates at accepting Spencer's (Michael Ralph) marriage proposal (even though we've already seen her accept in an earlier episode). This final network telecast of A Different World was originally scheduled to air in February of 1993, then reshuffled to June and finally July. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lena Horne (playing herself, of course) arrives at Hillman to dedicate a scholarship in her grandmother's name. In honor of Ms Hornes' visit, Whitley organizes a musical testimonial to the singer--haughtily refusing to let Mr. Gaines (Lou Myers) cater the affair because he isn't "classy" enough. But it is Whitley who ends up with egg on her face when Lena chooses the "modest" home-cooked dinner provided by Gaines, who turns out to be an old friend of the legendary vocalist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Taking on a temporary teaching assignment at a very tough junior-high remedial class, Whitley (Jasmine Guy) discovers that her students have been deliberately failing because of peer pressure. Never one to back down from a challenge, Whitley is determined to help the youngsters succeed, even if it means relying on her own inner resources rather than the school's antiquated textbooks. Elsewhere, Dorian (Bumper Robinson) finally asks Lena (Jada Pinkett) out--with a surprise revelation attached. Featured as two of Whitley's hardcase students are Marques Houston and Jerome Jones, late of the R&B group Immature. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

To afford a second honeymoon at a remote mountain cabin, Dwayne (Kadeem Hardison) and Whitley (Jasmine Guy) agree to share the place with Mr. and Mrs. Gaines (Lou Myers, Bebe Drake-Massey). This romantic getaway proves to be anything but thanks to a rampaging skunk and the less-than-stellar managerial skills of the Gaines' son Darnell (T.K. Carter) who has been left behind to run The Pit. This is one of several "leftover" episodes telecast after the official series finale of A Different World. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the sequel to the hit comedy Sister Act, Whoopie Goldberg reprises her role of Deloris Van Cartier, a Las Vegas entertainer who hid out with in a convent of nuns to avoid a nasty bunch of gangsters. In Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, Deloris is persuaded to return to the convent by the Mother Superior (Maggie Smith), because her help is needed in teaching their choral students at St. Francis High in San Francisco. However, St. Francis is in a crisis, since the administrator running the school (James Coburn) is threatening to shut the place down. If the gospel choir wins first place in a singing contest in Los Angeles, St. Francis will be saved from the priest's plans. Though the plot is rather thin and derivative, Sister Act 2 is lighthearted fun, thanks to good musical numbers and winning performances from the cast. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

In Rage and Honor, Cynthia Rothrock is featured as a full-time high-school teacher/part-time karate instructor who's out to protect one of her students who innocently witnesses and films a mob drug transaction. He's caught and beaten but keeps the film from the bad guys. Finding and helping him is an Australian foreign-exchange cop who also gets involved in the fracas when he's set up for a murder by some cop cohorts who've gone bad. ~ All Movie Guide

As the sixth and final season of A Different World gets under way, newlyweds Whitley (Jasmine Guy) and Dwayne (Kadeem Hardison) are returning from their honeymoon in Los Angeles -- which unfortunately coincided with the Rodney King riots! Nor is life a bed of roses for the couple upon settling into their new home. Whitley loses her position at the art gallery, forcing Dwayne to hold down three different jobs to make ends meet. Things look temporarily brighter when Dwayne is offered a lucrative job in Japan, but alas, this opportunity also comes a-cropper. And on top of everything, Whitley learns she is pregnant! Meanwhile, Dwayne's formerly footloose roommate Ron (Darryl M. Bell) has matured sufficiently to assume the management of a trendy nightclub. As for Ron's erstwhile girlfriend Freddie (Cree Summer), she has apparently forsaken her tacky Annie Hall wardrobe and her artistic inclinations for a stylish business suit and a career in law, leading the increasingly militant Lena (Jada Pinkett) to label Freddie a sellout -- at least until she realizes that Freddie intends to improve the system from within, rather than as the perennial outsider. As for Whitley's no-nonsense former roommate Kim (Charnele Brown), she has finally settled upon a boyfriend who is truly marriage material (it's taken her long enough). Newcomers to the cast includes Gary Dourdan as Shazza Zulu, whom Freddie briefly dates before returning to Ron; Karen Malina White as the garrulous and somewhat pushy college freshman Charmaine Brown, a character carried over from A Different World's "parent" series The Cosby Show; Patrick Malone as Terrell, a student who may look and act like a thug but isn't...and may be a potential boyfriend for Charmaine. When near the end of the series' run Lena, Charmaine, Terrell, and Gina Devereaux (Ajai Sanders) decide to rent a house together, the casual viewer might assume that the producers had a spin-off series in mind, but this never came to fruition. Before leaving A Different World, let us give an affectionate nod to actor Lou Myers, who has woven in an out of the proceedings as Vernon Gaines, chef at the campus hangout The Pit. The series' resident philosopher, Vernon is known far and wide for occasionally bending the truth to serve his needs -- but in the season six episode "A Rock, A River, A Lena," we are offered proof incarnate that Vernon did indeed make the acquaintance of guest star Lena Horne during WWII. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After buying a very expensive suit for a job interview, Whitley (Jasmine Guy) doesn't get the job--and worse still, she stains the suit. Freddie (Cree Summer) suggests that Whitley raise the money to cover the cost of the outfit by filing for unemployment, leading to a frustrating session with a government bureaucrat (Alaina Reed Hall). Elsewhere, Dorian (Bumper Robinson) wins the heart of Lena (Jada Pinkett) by crashing her women's literature group; Charmaine (Karen Malina White) talks a good game where romance is concerned, but it may be just talk; and there's a new development in the strained relationship between Ron (Darryl M. Bell) and Freddie (Cree Summer). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After making a few stupidly sexist remarks at a Halloween party, Dwayne (Kadeem Hardison) has a dream in which all the candidates in the 1992 Presidential race are female: Georgia Mush, Rose Godot, et. al. In the episode's most memorable (and, as it turns out, most forward-looking) sequence, candidate "Jill Blinton", aka Whitley (Jasmine Guy), must deal with the sexual peccadilloes of her husband "Hilliard", aka Dwayne. This is one of the few episodes in which star Jasmine Guy is heard using her own, very lovely singing voice, instead of the tone-deaf caterwauling of her "Whitley" character. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the conclusion of a two-part story, Thanksgiving dinner at the home of Dwayne (Kadeem Hardison) and Whitley (Jasmine Guy) degenerates into a slapstick food fight, thanks to the couple's respective mothers Adele (Patti LaBelle) and Marion (Diahann Carroll). Later on, the two warring moms land in jail after getting involved in a rally-turned-riot for starving Haitians, organized by the well-meaning Freddie (Cree Summer) and attended by Marion's new "boy toy" Malik (Nestor Carbonell). Fortunately, Adele and Marion finally settle their differences when they discover that Dwayne and Whitley are flat broke; unfortunately, the bungled rally causes a rift between Freddie and her activist boyfriend Shazza (Gary Dourdan). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide