Esther Rolle Movies

Four college students are forced to pay for their actions after a startling act of violence in this urban drama. Katrina (MC Lyte) is a college freshman who, after attending a big party on campus, is invited to a smaller private get-together being thrown by Will (Wood Harris), a charismatic senior. After plenty of drinking, Will and his buddies slip a dose of a "date rape" drug into Katrina's wine, and four men violate her after she's passed out. Will and his cohorts think the whole sordid matter is over the next morning, but it quickly becomes evident that Katrina is not about to forgive or forget the incident. Train Ride also features appearances by Russell Hornsby, Joe Clair, rapper Guru, and Esther Rolle in her final screen appearance (the film was released well over a year after her death in November 1998). ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Rosewood is the true story of an almost unknown incident in a small Florida town, (fictionalized, but faithful to the known facts, as documented in a 1994 report by the Florida Legislature). The town was inhabited almost entirely by quiet, "middle-class" African- Americans (most of them home and land owners and better off than average at the time.) On New Year's day, 1923, the town was wiped off the face of the earth by angry whites from a neighboring community. Based on palpably false testimony by a single white woman against one "Black" stranger, many of the men of Rosewood were hunted down and lynched, or shot, or burned. The rest of the town's residents fled into the swamps and never returned. At the time, official reports stated that two to six people from the black community were slain. Neither the perpetrators nor the victims spoke of the incident again, which was promptly forgotten until 1983 when a reporter stumbled across the old story and began investigating. Interviews with surviving victims indicated that the previous reports were wrong; in reality, between 70 and 250 people were killed in Rosewood during the four-day attack.

The film is a human story, about human envy, greed and lust, about the totally insane psychology of a mob, but also about the courage and decency of common folks facing an unbelievable onslaught of evil. The courage of the black residents is self evident, and the decency on the part of a few white neighbors is reluctant, until they realize that they can't live with themselves if they don't help the woman and children to escape. The most notable black heroes are Sylvester (Don Cheadle) -- a music teacher and the best-educated man in town -- and Mann (Ving Rhames) -- a stranger on horseback with Samson-like strength who becomes the focus of white hatred and black resistance. The penny-pinching, adulterous town grocer John Wright (John Voight), one of the few white residents, also plays a key role in saving lives, but before he does, he must resolve painful racial issues and make a difficult personal choice. Eventually, though, he sees enough of the mob's evil to know what he must do, and with the help of the reluctant owner-operators of the Gainesville railway, he does it. John Singleton's powerful epic film does not present a "comfortable" view of the circumstances of this grim, little-known page from American history. ~ Michael P. Rogers, Rovi

In this first episode of a two-part story, Tess (Della Reese) pays a visit to the Greene family, the protagonists of the Touched by an Angel spinoff series Promised Land. She informs Joshua Greene (Austin O'Brien) that God has reserved a special purpose for him, specifically act as the "eyes" for the temporarily blinded Monica during her next assignment. Hitching a ride with one Michael Burns (George Newbern), Joshua and Monica end up in a rundown Denver neighborhood, where Michael's grandfather runs an inner-city mall. Here the travellers befriend lunch-counter owner Mary Harding (Esther Rolle) and her grandchildren Calvin (Sean Nelson) and Chanice (Myriah Darden), and also beauty salon proprietor Queenie (Jenifer Lewis). Unfortunately, the neighborhood is rife with tension over a dangerous band of "taggers" who have covered the walls with gang graffiti--and just before the episode ends, tragedy strikes one of the principal characters. Though the concluding half of this story originally aired as an episode of Promised Land, it is currently included in the Touched by an Angel syndication package. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this comedy, Russell P. Kramer (Jack Lemmon) and Matt Douglas (James Garner) are two former U.S. Presidents who sit on opposite sides of the political fence. Kramer is a stuffy Republican reluctant to part with a dollar, while Douglas is a left-leaning Democrat with an eye for the ladies. Douglas succeeded Kramer in office after a single term, while Douglas, after four years as chief executive, lost to his former running mate William Haney (Dan Aykroyd). When the facts about a bribery scheme in Haney's administration threaten to surface and destroy his reputation, the ruthless president tries to pin the responsibility on Kramer and Douglas -- and when the ex-presidents learn the truth about Haney's dealings, Haney tries to have them killed before they can talk. Kramer and Douglas soon find themselves on the run, disguising themselves as celebrity impersonators, hiding out in the woods with a homeless family, and marching in a Gay Pride parade in an effort to stay clear of Haney's goons while they bring the truth to the people. My Fellow Americans also features Lauren Bacall as Kramer's long-suffering wife and John Heard as Haney's intellectually-challenged vice president. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A young woman at a crossroads in her life finds herself receiving plenty of advice from her older and wiser counterparts in this drama. Finn Dodd (Winona Ryder) is a graduate student trying to finish up her doctoral thesis on women's folk art while deciding if she should marry her fiancé Sam (Dermot Mulroney); she's not sure if she's ready to settle down, and suspects that Sam is unfaithful to her. Needing time to sort things out, Finn chooses to spend the summer with her grandmother Hy (Ellen Burstyn) and great aunt Gladys Jo (Anne Bancroft). Hy and Gladys Jo are avid quilters, and with a group of their friends, they work on a special quilt for Finn's wedding; as the women work together, they share stories of their lives, and Finn finds herself learning as much from hearing them talk as she does from her schoolwork. Finn also receives a visit from her free-spirited mom Sally (Kate Capshaw) and finds herself infatuated with a good looking young man who lives nearby. Maya Angelou plays one of the quilters, as do Kate Nelligan, Jean Simmons, and Alfre Woodard. How to Make an American Quilt was the directorial debut of Jocelyn Moorhouse, and was based on a novel by Whitney Otto that itself began as a doctoral thesis. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Another of several made-for-TV movies based on the best-selling novels of Danielle Steel, this one stars Jenny Robertson as Paxton Andrews, a sheltered Southern belle who falls for law student Peter Wilson (Steven Eckholdt) on the campus of Berkeley in the late '60s. After Peter is drafted and dies in Vietnam, the grief-stricken Paxton becomes the Saigon-based correspondent for a San Francisco newspaper, determined to use her column "Message from 'Nam" to bring comfort and solace to others whose loved ones are mired in the Southeast Asian quagmire. Before the inevitable slam-bang climax during the fall of Saigon, Paxton has not only grown emotionally and spiritually, but she has also enjoyed tender romantic interludes with a hard-bitten Army captain (Nick Mancuso) and a likeable sergeant (Ted Marcoux). Also featuring such formidable personalities as Rue McClanahan, Billy Dee Williams, and Esther Rolle, Danielle Steel's 'Message From Nam' originally aired October 17, 1993, on NBC. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Xavier Quinn (Denzel Washington) is police chief of a tiny Caribbean island. Quinn's efforts to straddle the fence between the local blacks and the moneyed whites have lost him the respect of both groups. When a murder is committed, Quinn suspects that the killer is Maubee (Robert Townsend), a notoriously elusive criminal who has become a folk hero to the locals. Despite various political pressures -- and the fact that he and Maubee were childhood friends-Quinn vows to solve the murder, and, if necessary, bring Maubee to justice. A mess of merry plot twists distinguish this diverting fox-and-hound caper. Filmed entirely on location, The Mighty Quinn was based on Finding Maubee, a novel by A.H.Z. Carr. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Raisin in the Sun is a 1989 TV adaptation of Lorraine Hansberry's 1959 Broadway play (previously filmed in 1962). An African-American family hopes to use a $10,000 legacy left them by the family's late father to move out of the Chicago projects and into a white neighborhood. Spearheading the move is matriarch Esther Rolle, who wants to open more opportunity doors for herself and her family. Rolle's son Danny Glover is bitter about the move; he'd hoped to use the inheritance to open his own business. Most of the play involves the heated battles between the idealistic Rolle and the hostile Glover, who feels that moving into an all-white suburb will hinder rather than help his future. For the purposes of this version, a scene from the play that was removed during its original Broadway run is reinstated. Originally broadcast February 1, 1989, Raisin in the Sun was the eighth-season opener for PBS' American Playhouse. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Ann Blyth guest stars as Franchesca Lodge, an old friend of mystery writer Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury). Recently married to a much-younger man named Scott (Stacey Nelkin), Franchesca has been terrorized of late by what seems to be the ghost of her first husband. Since Franchesca has had a history of mental problems and profound lapses of memory, the authorities doubt her "haunting" story--and when her second husband is murdered, those same authorities jump to the conclusion that Franchesca has gone completely insane and committed murder. Jessica of course refuses to believe this, and thus does the sleuthing commence! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this detective movie, a maid finally gets her greatest wish and gets to play detective after one of her bosses is murdered. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Despite its far-fetched plotline, the made-for-TV Summer of My German Soldier was popular with audiences and critics alike. The film is set in Georgia during World War II. Bruce Davison plays Anton Reiker, a German POW assigned to work at a local farm. Reiker escapes, taking refuge in a barn owned by the Bergens, a Jewish family. At first terrified by her "guest," teen-aged Patty Bergen (Kristy McNichol) falls in love with Anton, zealously hiding him from the rest of her family and the authorities. First telecast October 30, 1978 The Summer of My German Soldier was based on a novel by Bette Grene. Esther Rolle, playing the Bergen's maid, won an Emmy for her performance; an additional nomination went to the script by Jane-Howard Hammerstein. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi