Esther Rolle Movies

Tamara Dobson stars as Cleopatra Jones in Jack Starrett's blaxploitation programmer that, in its own way, deals effectively with the ravages of drugs in inner-city black communities. Cleopatra Jones is a jive female James Bond, a special drug agent for the United States government who wears sleek and hip clothes, drives a fancy car with a submachine-gun compartment in the front door, and travels all over the world to stomp out drugs at their source. Cleopatra has a loving relationship with Ruben (Bernie Casey), the well-meaning head of a drug rehabilitation clinic in Los Angeles. When Cleopatra travels to Turkey to oversee the destruction of poppy fields owned by Mommy (Shelley Winters) -- a lesbian drug dealer -- Mommy becomes upset. She exacts her revenge on Cleopatra by having the police close down Ruben's drug clinic. Nevertheless, Cleopatra continues to wreak havoc upon Mommy's drug business, and Mommy continues to try to do Cleopatra in, until finally there is a major confrontation between Cleopatra and Mommy and her minions. ~ Paul Brenner, 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

Poet Maya Angelou made her feature directorial debut with this African-American family drama, shown theatrically but originally produced for the Showtime cable network. Unemployed single mother Loretta (Alfre Woodward) lives with her mother, Rosa Lynn (Mary Alice), in a Chicago apartment. Drugs and alcohol lead Loretta to neglect her autistic daughter, Tracy (Kulani Hassen). Her teen son Thomas (Mpho Koaho) brings in money by photographing tourists. Rosa Lynn pawns a family heirloom in order to send Loretta and the kids off to their Mississippi Delta hometown where Loretta's Uncle Earl (Al Freeman Jr.) runs his diner. Earl lives in a dry county, so Loretta is reluctant. However, she has no choice after Rosa Lynn threatens to contact child-welfare authorities if she doesn't go. Earl takes in the trio even though he already has enough problems with Annie (Esther Rolle), an Alzheimer's victim under the supervision of caregiver Zenia (Loretta Devine). Toronto locations substitute for Mississippi. Shown at the 1998 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Like so many other Norman Lear-produced efforts, Good Times made its network bow as a mid-season replacement, taking over the Friday-night time slot previously occupied by the failed wartime sitcom Roll Out. Although only Florida Evans (Esther Rolle) was familiar to audiences by virtue of her appearances on Maude, the rest of the Good Times characters were so fully rounded that the laborious first-episode practice of introducing them one by one was unnecessary. True to the intentions of its creator, Eric Monte, the series' first season stressed the solidarity and indomitability of the modern African-American family, even when surrounded by poverty and deprivation. The plot lines were evenly divided among the five main characters -- Florida (Esther Rolle), her husband, James (John Amos), oldest son J.J. (Jimmie Walker), daughter Thelma (BernNadette Stanis), and youngest son Michael (Ralph Carter) -- with next-door neighbor Willona (Ja'net DuBois) providing comic punctuation. While Jimmie Walker had been a successful standup comedian, and as such, arguably had more laugh-making "equipment" than his co-stars, the series had not yet evolved (or devolved) into "The J.J. Show." Still, laughs were served up in full measure, even though the first 13 episodes were more issue-oriented than later entries, touching upon such contemporary topics as age discrimination, fraudulent evangelists, "social" promotion in the public schools, the paucity of African-American representation in school history courses, and poor housing conditions. None of this, however, was done with a heavy hand. Good Times ended its first season with a 21.4 rating, tying with CBS's Barnaby Jones as the 17th most-watched TV series in America. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

By the time Good Times had begun its third season on CBS, the program had pretty much given up being a realistic (albeit basically humorous) depiction of life in the urban ghetto, and had evolved -- or, as some would claim, devolved -- into a vehicle for brash African-American standup comedian Jimmie Walker. As the cocksure J.J. Evans, Walker had transformed the exclamation "Dy-no-mite!" into not only a national but an international catch phrase. And even Good Times' occasional forays into serious social comment -- notably those episodes which touched upon such hot-button issues as gun control, drug addiction, and venereal disease -- did not detract from the perception of certain audience members that J.J. was a "typical" inner-city projects dweller, rather than a sitcom exaggeration. The series' nominal stars, Esther Rolle and John Amos, respectively, cast as J.J.'s parents, Florida and James Evans, had both registered protests against what they regarded as a negative image of a black teenager, but to no avail; J.J. was clearly the most popular character on the series, and the producers had no intention of shifting the focus away from his antics. Indeed, the addition of the recurring character "Sweet Daddy" Williams (Theodore Wilson), a neighborhood numbers runner with whom J.J. was destined to have several nervously funny run-ins, only led to the inevitable conclusion that Jimmie Walker's screen time would continue to increase at the detriment of the other actors. It finally reached the point that John Amos could stand no more; at the end of season three, the actor left the series cold, forcing the writers to rethink their strategies for season four (and, incidentally, prompting Esther Rolle to entertain the notion of leaving the program herself, citing the fact that she had originally signed on because of Good Times' positive depiction of a poor but proud ghetto family led by a strong and faithful father figure). The imminent departure of John Amos at the end of Good Times' third season was but one of the headaches plaguing the series' producers. Now that it was going head-to-head with ABC's surprise hit Happy Days on Tuesday evenings, the CBS series had dropped precipitously in the ratings, plummeting from seventh to 24th place. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Assured that the character played by her co-star Jimmie Walker, brash, budding inner-city artist J.J. Evans, had become more mature and responsible during her year-long absence, actress Esther Rolle agreed to return to the role of J.J.'s mom, Florida Evans, as Good Times launched its sixth season. Conspicuous by his absence was Moses Gunn as Florida's second husband, Carl Dixon, whom she ostensibly married at the end of season four -- and with whom she'd been living in Arizona while "missing in action" throughout season five. When Florida made her comeback to the Evanses' tiny Chicago apartment, it was minus Carl, with no explanation given as to what had happened to him; indeed, it was if Carl had never existed. The series' scripters contrived to bring Florida back into the Evans fold by having her invited to the wedding of her daughter, Thelma (BernNadette Stanis), and up-and-coming, award-winning football flash Keith Anderson, played by new Good Times regular Ben Powers. It was hoped that Keith's impending contract with the Chicago Bears would enable the Evanses to at last leave the Projects and move into more attractive surroundings. Alas, no sooner had Thelma and Keith said "I do," than Keith tripped and broke his knee, thereby effectively squashing any hopes he had for a pro football career. Thus did Keith move into the increasingly crowded Evans apartment, contributing to the family's meager finances by working as a cab driver. Since Keith could only work a few hours a day, and J.J. had just been fired by the ad agency where he worked, former maid Florida had to go job-hunting, landing a part-time position as a school bus driver. J.J.'s efforts to make ends meet caused him to cross paths more than once with brutish neighborhood loan shark "Sweet Daddy" Williams, played by Theodore Wilson, a formerly recurring character who graduated that season to semi-regular status.

As for the other cast members, younger brother Michael Evans (Ralph Carter) continued to seek out his niche in the world; neighbor Willona (Ja'net Dubois) was relatively content in her new role as single adoptive mother to the precocious Penny (Janet Jackson); and usurious landlord Bookman (Johnny Brown) continued to pinch as many pennies as possible in maintaining the Evans apartment. Beginning the season in a "death" time slot opposite NBC's Saturday-night league leader, CHiPs, Good Times continued to lose viewers at an alarming rate. Having already gone on a brief hiatus in November 1978, the series left the air entirely in December, resurfacing in May 1979, only so that the remaining episode could be played off, thereby avoiding a total loss of CBS' investment. In a Wednesday-night time slot that was no more beneficial than its previous Saturday berth, the series died a quiet death on August 1, 1979, with one of the most outrageously unrealistic "happy" endings in TV series history: To make a long story short, everything turned out all right. Only 21 of the 24 episodes filmed for the 1978-1979 season were telecast by CBS; the three "orphaned" episodes would not be seen until Good Times entered local syndication in the fall of 1979. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In Michael Lessac's lugubrious House of Cards, women's intuition beats out psychology in the battle against autism. The story begins in Mexico, where a little girl named Sally Matthews (Asha Menina) lives with her parents, scientists studying ancient ruins. When her father falls to his death, Sally is comforted by a Mayan mystic that tells Sally her father has gone to the moon. When Sally, her mother Ruth (Kathleen Turner), and her brother Michael (Shiloh Strong) return home to North Carolina, Sally begins to retreat into autism. She first stares silently at the night sky. Then she shrieks when Ruth wears a baseball cap the wrong way. Finally she develops the habit of scaling the roof of the house and other tall structures. This makes Ruth realize that there is something seriously wrong, and she takes her to see Dr. Jacob Beerlander, a psychiatrist who is an expert in autism. As Sally retreats more and more into herself, Beerlander and Ruth clash over the scientific approach versus the intuition of a mother. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is based on the writings of African-American poet/playwright Maya Angelou. Though she eventually became America's poet laureate, Angelou was once just another little black girl growing up in Depression-era Arkansas. Her efforts to better herself run up against the stone wall of bigotry; in addition, the girl is traumatized into sullen silence by a brutal rape. Slowly, and with the loving support of her dedicated mother, Angelou overcomes her many deprivations, and by the time she is a high school senior, she has been elected class valedictorian. Constance Good plays young Angelou in this made-for-TV film, which also stars Esther Rolle, Roger E. Mosley, Diahann Carroll, Ruby Dee and Madge Sinclair. Filmed on location in Vicksburg, Mississippi, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was adapted for television by Ms. Angelou and Leonora Thuna; it was first telecast April 28, 1979. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This program examines the history and traditions of the African-American family and takes a look at contemporary family life, considering stressful situations such as economic pressure, rising health care costs, divorce, and the complications of raising children in a culture where the effects of crime can be an everyday concern. Hosted by actor Danny Glover (star of the Lethal Weapon movies) and Academy Award-winning actress Esther Rolle of Driving Miss Daisy, the program features interviews with Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Vanessa Williams. This is one volume in the four-part series, Images & Realities, which examines contemporary concerns and issues faced by African-American people, and discusses how solutions can be found through nurturing, shared values, and a sense of community. ~ Alice Duncan, 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

A landmark independent film, Nothing but a Man is the first dramatic story featuring a largely black cast created for an integrated audience (the work of black filmmakers such as Oscar Micheaux was intended for audiences who patronized black-only theaters). White filmmakers Michael Roemer and Robert M. Young traveled through the South in 1962 in search of ideas for a fiction feature set during the growing turbulence of the civil rights era. Their story, based in Alabama but shot in southern New Jersey, is only tangentially related to the movement toward equality. Duff, an itinerant black railroad laborer (Ivan Dixon), romances and marries Josie, a small-town preacher's daughter (Abbey Lincoln). Duff insists on being treated with respect, but his stance is personal rather than political. After he settles down in the town with Josie, he comes up against white bosses who want to make sure he knows his place and black men such as Josie's father who don't want to rock the boat for fear of losing what little advantage they have. Duff's relationship with his own father (Julius Harris), a broken-down drunk living in Birmingham, teaches him valuable lessons about dignity and self-worth. The film was lauded at both the New York and Venice festivals but received limited release in theaters specializing in foreign and independent film. However, word of mouth in the black community (where Nothing but a Man was for years a staple on the 16 mm rental market, in the days before VCRs) and continued attention by film historians have ensured the status of Nothing but a Man as a pioneering and enduring work. ~ Tom Wiener, Rovi

Directed by William Woodman, this retelling of the classic Shakespearean tragedy not only features traditional period costumes and sets, but is known for giving the bard's words a style one can understand without being particularly experienced with Elizabethan texts. This popular adaptation features Alex Hyde-White, Blanche Baker, Esther Rolle, and Dan Hamilton. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi