Carmen McRae Movies

Jazz singer Carmen McRae sings 20 great tunes in this concert video, recorded during a 1986 engagement in Tokyo. Pianist Pat Coil, bassist Bob Bowman, and drummer Mark Pulice accompany Carmen as she sings such standards as "That Old Black Magic," "What a Little Moonlight Can Do," "No More Blues," "If I Were a Bell," and "I'm an Errand Girl for Rhythm." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A collection of music, interviews and live footage is featured in this coverage of Monk's career. ~ 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

The posh St. Gregory Hotel in New Orleans is the setting for this drama based on a popular novel by Arthur Hailey. Trent (Melvyn Douglas) is the long-time owner who realizes that the hotel is in dire financial straits. Trent calls on faithful manager Peter McDermott (Rod Taylor) to try and bring about the necessary reversal of fortune so that they can stay in business. After the Duke (Michael Rennie) and Duchess (Merle Oberon) of Lanbourne check in, the Duke is involved in a vehicular homicide after he has too much to drink. His car is traced back to the St. Gregory by hotel detective Dupere (Richard Conte), who blackmails the Duke. Although not on the same level of Grand Hotel, the film contains first-rate performances from a fine cast portraying a variety of eccentric guests. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Based rather loosely on a novel by Jack Kerouac, The Subterraneans concerns a writer (played by George Peppard) who moves to San Francisco and falls in with a crowd of beatniks after falling in love with a French girl (Leslie Caron). The woman was black, not French, in Kerouac's novel, only the most obvious of the many areas in which this strays from the source material. Jazz great Gerry Mulligan has a small role as a saxophone-playing priest; jazz fans will also want to watch for cameos by Art Pepper, Shelly Manne, and Art Farmer. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide