Roger E. Mosley Movies

Writer-director Martin Lawrence billed this comic drama as his own version of the film Fatal Attraction (1987). Lawrence stars as Darnell, a hopeless male chauvinist. Darnell is a crude-but-smooth talker and lady's man who doesn't take no for an answer. He works for a nightclub called Chocolate City and aspires to be its owner. He trades VIP privileges at the club for favors from women. Though he is an expert at conning women, he sometimes worries about what his childhood sweetheart Mia (Regina King), who is engaged to marry him, thinks of his adventures. When the classy, elegant Brandi (Lynn Whitfield) steps out of a limousine to enter the club, Darnell feels that he's met his ultimate prize. She rejects his come-ons, which only fuels his appetite. He pursues her, showing up with flowers at her real estate office. He finally wins over Brandi, but she becomes obsessed with him, even taking all four wheels off his sports car to ground him from his rounds. Cutting off his engagement to Mia is not enough to satisfy Brandi, who finally administers Darnell's punishment for his misogyny. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

After their Los Angeles suburban house is burglarized, Karen and Michael Carr (Madeleine Stowe and Kurt Russell), are assisted by policeman Pete Davis (Ray Liotta). At first, Davis seems helpful and polite, even helping the Carrs when he is off duty. Soon, it becomes apparent that the policeman has developed an obsession for Karen, and he begins terrorizing the couple, with the intent of killing Michael and running away with Karen. Though the plot is fairly predictable, Unlawful Entry is highlighted by fine performances by all three lead actors. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

A PBS "American Playhouse" production, this is an amusing TV outing revealing the life of Zora Neale Hurston, a black writer known for her folklore and stories from the rural South of the 1930s and 1940s. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

It had been assumed by the producers of Magnum, P.I. that the series would be canceled at the end of its seventh season, thus a two-part finale was written in which the hero, Hawaii-based private eye Thomas Magnum (Tom Selleck), was shot and killed, his soul ascending to heaven. However, the series was renewed for an eighth and final season -- which is why it is explained in that season's opener that Magnum was merely wounded, and that his journey to paradise was but a feverish nightmare! That said, the adventures of Magnum, his boss-by-proxy Higgins (John Hillerman), and his Navy buddies T.C. (Roger E. Mosley) and Rick (Larry Manetti), roll along in their customary thrilling and sometimes tongue-in-cheek fashion, until the end of the season -- which in this case is the climax of the series. On this occasion, the viewer finally learns the identity of Robin Masters, the elusive author for whom Magnum has been working the past eight years. And, among other things, Magnum is reunited with his long-estranged daughter, and decides to forsake civilian life for good and all to re-up with the Navy. (At least, that appears to be what happens. On this series, who can be certain?) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Angela Lansbury guest stars as crime novelist and amateur sleuth Jessica Fletcher in this crossover episode with Lansbury's own series Murder, She Wrote. When one of Robin Master's guests (Dorothy Loudon) is marked for murder, Magnum finds himself working with--and against--the redoubtable Ms. Fletcher to root out the killer. A man who likes to deal in facts and logical deductions, Magnum is continually flustered by Jessica's intuitive approach to crime-solving, much to the (presumed!) delight of the viewer. Ending on a cliffhanger, this episode was originally Part One of a two-part story which concluded with the Murder She Wrote episode "Magnum on Ice"; however, a new ending which neatly wraps up the storyline was filmed for the Magnum, P.I. syndication package. (Curiously, the story remains open-ended in the DVD version of "Novel Connection".) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Having moved from Thursdays to Saturdays to Tuesdays in previous seasons, Magnum, P.I. settles upon a Wednesday-night CBS slot for its seventh season on the air. While the show itself has been shifting about quite a bit of late, several things remain constant. Private eye Thomas Magnum (Tom Selleck) continues to work as security chief of the Oahu estate owned by celebrated (and never-seen) author Robin Masters, with Masters' stuffy manservant Higgins (John Hillerman) persisting in his efforts to get Magnum to behave himself and play by the rules. And as before, Magnum is frequently aided in his investigations by his Vietnam buddies T.C. (Roger E. Mosley) and Rick (Larry Manetti). Of the many season-seven episodes, several are standouts, notably "A.A.P.I.," in which Magnum and fellow gumshoe Luther Gillis (Eugene Roche) attend the 14th Annual Convention of Private Investigators, where they meet TV producer Stephen J. Cannell as security guard Ray Lemon, and Magnum semi-regular Elisha Cook Jr., normally cast as wizened underworld character Ice Pick, reprising his "Wilmer" role from the 1941 classic The Maltese Falcon! "Novel Connection" finds Magnum briefly teaming up with mystery writer Jessica Fletcher of Murder, She Wrote fame, with Angela Lansbury (who else?) guesting as Jessica. "Murder by Night" is the season's obligatory "homage" episode, set in the 1940s and filmed in the style of a black-and-white Bogart epic; "Solo Flight" is a reworking of season four's "Home From the Sea," with Magnum trapped in a perilous situation (his legs are caught under the wreckage of a plane), forcing him to relive past events in his mind, courtesy of excerpts from previous episodes. And in "Little Girl Who," Magnum discovers that he may have had a daughter with his first wife, Michele, a five-year-old girl named Lily Hue. Inasmuch as the producers were certain that Magnum, P.I. would be canceled at the end of its seventh season, a surrealistic two-part finale titled "Limbo" was conceived in which Magnum is shot dead, whereupon his soul ascends to heaven. Imagine their surprise when the series was renewed for an eighth year, requiring an extremely hasty "explanation" as to why the protagonist has suddenly returned to life! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Normally based in Hawaii, Magnum, P.I. launches its sixth season with a jaunt to Merrie Old England, where private detective Thomas Magnum (Tom Selleck) and his boss-by-proxy Higgins (John Hillerman) have been assigned to oversee the London estate owned by their mutual employer, the celebrated (and never-seen) author Robin Masters. Upon his return to Oahu, Magnum resumes his usual duties, acting as security at Masters' Hawaiian estate and accepting whatever "outside" P.I. jobs come his way. Season six has many highlights, among them the near-surrealistic episode "The Kona Winds," in which everybody in the cast behaves in a thoroughly unexpected manner -- including Magnum, who enters into an affair with a married woman. Another semi-fantasy installment, "Rapture," involves what appears to be a scuba-diving ghost. In "The Hotel Dick," Magnum leaves Masters' employ for a less glamorous job as house detective at the Hawaiian Gardens Hotel -- and in the course of events rather uncharacteristically admits to needing glasses to read. Gwen Verdon guest stars in "Going Home," in which Magnum returns to his hometown only to get enmeshed in a bitter feud. And in "Mad Dogs and Englishmen," Higgins is accused of theft and fired from the Masters estate -- but what appears to be happening, isn't. The season ends with "Photo Play," guest-starring Cassie Yates in the recurring role of photographer Sally Faraday, whose arrival in Hawaii proves disastrous for everyone within Magnum's circle of friends. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Magnum (Tom Selleck) is reunited with his very first client, champion surfer Karen Teal (Cindy Pickett) who way back in 1979 had hired him to protect her from whomever was sending her threatening letters. Now Karen is being harrassed again, and so is her daughter Leah (Rosetta Tarantino). When the girl is kidnapped just before a major surfing meet, Magnum's first impulse is to hold Karen's vindicative ex-husband responsible. . .but there may be a lot more to the story than that. In keeping with the "déjà vu" ambience of the story, the action continuously switches back and forth between the "now" of 1984 and the "then" of five years earlier. This is the only Magnum, P.I episode directed by series regular Roger E. Mosley (T.C.) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Owing his life to washed-up pugilist Leon Platt (Denny Miller), T.C. (Roger E. Mosley) enters a bare-knuckle boxing match, intending to use the prize money to save Leon and his daughter Ima (a pre-Beverly Hills 90210 Shannen Doherty) from being tossed into the street. Figuring that T.C. hasn't got a chance, Higgins summons aid from Magnum--who happens to be several thousand miles away on assignment in his home town of Detroit. Even so, Magnum is able to save the day with the eleventh-hour assistance of two celebrity benefactors. And wait until you see what sweet little Ima Platt does to Higgins' prize dobermans Zeus and Apollo! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season three of Magnum, P.I. finds former Navy Intelligence officer Thomas Magnum (Tom Selleck) continuing to live the good life on the Hawaiian estate of reclusive mystery writer Robin Masters, who has hired Magnum to handle security. Likewise still in attendance are Magnum's "friendly enemy," Masters' haughty manservant Higgins (John Hillerman), and Magnum's Vietnam buddies, chopper pilot T.C. (Roger E. Mosley) and country club manager Rick (Larry Manetti). Making the first of their several appearances this season are a trio of recurring characters: police lieutenant Maggie Poole (Jean Bruce Scott), Assistant DA Carol Baldwin (played here by Patricia McCormack and in later seasons by Kathleen Lloyd), and middle-aged Agatha Chumley (Gillian Dobb), who has clearly set her cap for Higgins. Alas, season two marks the exit of Magnum's lifelong friend and chief informant Mac Reynolds (Jeff MacKay), who is killed in the two-part season opener, "Did You See the Sunrise?" Another episode, "Ki'is Don't Lie," represents a rare crossover between Magnum and another private-eye series, in this case Simon & Simon. In subsequent adventures, future Deadwood star Ian McShane shows up as Higgins' former comrade-in-arms Edward Clutterbuck, who has taken it upon himself to save his old chum from renegade Mau Mau warriors; Magnum attends the reading of the will of a prankish millionaire, thereby plunging himself into a near-surrealistic spoof of every "greedy relative" melodrama ever made; Sylvia Sidney guests as Elizabeth Barrett, mentor of the elusive Robin Masters -- or maybe she isn't Elizabeth Barrett after all; and in the second of the series' "retro" black-and-white episodes, a flashback sends Magnum 45 years in the past to solve a Chandleresque murder case, while the other regulars pop up in different guises. The season ends with "Faith and Begorrah," representing another opportunity for co-star John Hillerman to cut loose in a dual role, as the snobbish Higgins and as another of Higgins' estranged half-brothers, boisterous Irishman Father Paddy McGuinness. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This easy-going television movie is about Chris McBride (Michael York), a real-life naturalist who brings his wife and daughter to an African wildlife preserve to join him in a research project. The area has a special meaning to him because he was born there. His wife is not as enthusiastic as he is about leaving their familiar and comfortable world behind but changes her mind when she starts getting involved in the photography part of the project. A chance discovery of a pair of white-hued lion cubs (not albinos) raises disagreements on whether the family should do everything to help them survive, or just leave them alone. Eventually a compromise is reached that bodes well for the family and the fledgling lions and strengthens the family's resolve to fight off a poacher who wants to use the unusual cubs for his own profit. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this Christmas episode, Magnum is hired by five wide-eyed schoolgirls to locate their teacher, Linda Booton (Katherine Cannon). Conventional wisdom is that Linda has run off with her boyfriend, but the girls insists that the lady was kidnapped. As Magnum chases down a variety of false leads, it becomes obvious (to the viewer, if not the hero) that he has been duped, and that the real crime at hand involves stealing a valuable Gauguin original from the Robin Masters estate! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this socially conscious, satirical made-for-television drama, a con-artist becomes one of the nation's top televangelists. The film is also known as K-GOD. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide