Johnny Sekka Movies

The four-hour TV movie Passion and Paradise traces the rise and fall of real-life British playboy Alfred de Marigny (Armand Assante). Little better than a gigolo, de Marigny finds himself in the Bahamas during World War II, where he romances the daughter (Catherine Mary Stewart) of fabulously wealthy Sir Harry Oakes (Rod Steiger). None of the "right people" can stomach de Marigny, but they're stuck with him once he marries Oakes' daughter. During the next few years, de Marigny manages to antagonize the Duke of Windsor (Andrew Ray), who is governor of the Bahamas; he also alienates local businessmen and infuriates a group of mobsters who want to set up a gambling casino in Nassau. As Part One of Passion and Paradise draws to a close, Sir Harry Oakes is murdered--and Alfred de Marigny is the most convenient (though not most likely) suspect. Part Two opens with the murder of Oakes in 1943. The higher-ups of the Bahama Islands sincerely hope that de Marigny is the killer, if only to get rid of the dreadful man. So anxious are certain parties to hang de Marigny that an official conspiracy to cover up vital evidence takes shape. De Marigny's only hope for salvation is an American private eye (Wayne Rogers). Filmed in Jamaica, Passion and Paradise painted so damning a portrait of Bahaman high society that several scenes (including most of those featuring the Duke of Windsor) had to be rewritten and reshot before the film's British television release. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Another of the many Sidney Sheldon novels given the TV-miniseries treatment in the 1970s and '80s, Master of the Game yielded a three-part, nine-hour extravaganza, with enough corporate and romantic intrigue to fill an entire television season. Covering nearly 100 years, the story (which remained astonishingly faithful to the book) begins in the late 19th century, when ruthless young Scottish entrepreneur Jamie McGregor (Ian Charleson) emigrates to South Africa, in hopes of accumulating enough wealth and power to get even with his longtime enemy, Dutch merchant Van der Merwe (Donald Pleasence). Thanks to an extremely prolific diamond mine, the money comes quickly -- as does vengeance, when McGregor deflowers Van der Merwe's convent-educated daughter, Margaret (Cherie Lunghi). The result of this indiscretion is a daughter named Kate (Dyan Cannon), who turns out to be the "Master" of the title. Upon attaining adulthood, Kate assumes control of her father's vast financial empire, ruling her inherited international conglomerate, and her husband, David Blackwell (David Birney), with an iron fist. The story continues into the next several generations, with Kate's lily-livered son, Tony (Harry Hamlin), giving birth to twin daughters, Eve and Alexandra (both played by Liane Langland). One is good, the other evil; the evil twin threatens threaten to destroy everything that Kate has so painstakingly built up. Eventually, they both become the victims of a sneering, malevolent gigolo (Fernando Allende) with a penchant for beating young women senseless. Told in flashback, the narrative comes to a head during Kate's 90th birthday celebration, an event tainted by the efforts of a mysterious killer to wipe the domineering matriarch and her family from the face of the earth. Largely filmed on location, Master of the Game was telecast by CBS from February 19 to 22, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Peter Ustinov plays the talented detective in San Francisco who attempts, with help/hindrance from his clumsy grandson (Richard Hatch), to solve a murder case in this mystery/comedy. ~ Kristie Hassen, 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

Having met Nigerian exchange student Ibe Wubila (Johnny Sekka) at a college protest rally, Thelma (BernNadette Stanis) has fallen in love with the man. Much to the dismay of her mother, Florida (Esther Rolle), Thelma decides to move in with Ibe. But when the handsome African proposes marriage and invites Thelma to come to Nigeria with him, our heroine balks. Originally the conclusion of a two-part story, this episode was bracketed together with part one of "Thelma's African Romance" as a single, 60-minute telecast on January 19, 1977 (since that time, however, the two parts have been re-edited as a brace of separate episodes for syndication). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this adventure, an anthropologist takes his son to Africa to chronicle the rituals performed by the Masai during a solar eclipse. When they first arrive, both father and son are terribly self-absorbed and aloof, but after spending time with the friendly tribe and making friends with the chief and his son, the two begin to mellow out and become caring human beings. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this western two misfits, a black man AWOL from the union army, and a crippled Indian hide in a Mexican church following the murder of two people. A bounty hunter is hot on their trail. Violence ensues when he catches up to them. The one that killed the people is stoned to death. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This badly-dated but interesting variant on the vampire subgenre is loosely based on the Simon Raven novel Doctors Wear Scarlet. The story details the seduction of an Oxford resident (Patrick Mower) into a satanic vampire society while studying in Greece. The chief twist here is that vampirism is treated not as a supernatural affliction, but as a bizarre form of sexual gratification -- an alternative lifestyle in which Mower is soon immersed, thanks to the manipulations of an exotic Greek siren. After some silly scenes featuring a lot of groovin' hippie orgies and silly psychedelic lighting effects, Mower returns to England to continue his sanguinary obsession in earnest, focusing his bloodthirsty desires on his prudish fiancee -- who is not so willing to embrace this new lifestyle. Despite the aforementioned painful attempts at hipness, this film shapes up to be an effective thriller -- perhaps the first to put a psychological spin on the vampire pantheon. Peter Cushing and Patrick Macnee are on hand in very small but effective supporting roles. Released also under the more "trendy" title Incense for the Damned. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Much of this Avengers episode was comprised of footage from the never-seen installment "Invitation to a Killing," which was to have introduced the character of Tara King. The plot is set in motion by one Colonel Nsonga (Johnny Sekka), who has stolen 3,000 high-tech rifles in hopes of staging a coup in his native country. Posing as an arms dealer, Steed finds himself at a live demonstration of the stolen weaponry -- with Tara as the helpless target. Written by Donald James, "Have Guns -- Will Haggle" was first shown in America on May 1, 1968, and in England on December 11 of that year. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After declaring a holy war to rid the Sudan of Anglo-Egyptian rule in the 1880s, the fanatical Sudanese leader Muhammad Ahmad (Laurence Olivier) massacres a British-led force of 8,000 and marches on the strategic city of Khartoum at the confluence of the Blue Nile and the White Nile. The British government of Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone (Ralph Richardson) then sends one of its greatest generals, Charles George Gordon (Charlton Heston), to Khartoum to make peace and save the city. Gordon had previously served with distinction in the Crimea, China, India and South Africa. Most important, he had also served as governor of the Sudan in the late 1870s at the request of the khedive of Egypt, instituting administrative reforms, reducing the slave trade and bolstering the economy. However, before Gordon reaches Khartoum with his aide, many of his former Sudanese friends defect to the Mahdi. Nevertheless, Gordon receives a rousing reception when he arrives in the city in February 1884. Heartened, he meets in the desert with the Mahdi to try to forge a peace agreement, but the Arab leader tells Gordon he is bent on taking Khartoum. What's more, he means to conquer other cities -- Cairo, Mecca, Baghdad and Constantinople -- to establish a vast empire under his leadership. Convinced that more war is inevitable, Gordon and the loyal Egyptian troops under his command prepare for battle. Meanwhile, in London, the Gladstone government is reluctant to dispatch troops to support the outnumbered Khartoum forces because colonial meddling has become bad politics. To forestall disaster, Gordon diverts the Nile to create a moat around Khartoum and leads a foray in which he steals cattle from the Mahdi's herd to supply the besieged city with food. But when the Nile recedes, the stage is set for the final battle that will decide the fate of Khartoum. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide

In this British melodrama based on a French novel by Catherine Arley, Sean Connery plays Anthony Richmond, a money-hungry young man enraged that his rich, dying uncle doesn't plan to include him in his will. Instead, Charles Richmond (Ralph Richardson) plans to give his fortune to charity. Anthony recruits a young nurse, Maria (Gina Lollobrigida), for a nefarious scheme. Her job is to care for the old man and get him to marry her and change the will so she gets his fortune. Then she will give Anthony a three-million-dollar share. Maria does her job well, but she comes to actually love Charles. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

Versatile director Roy Baker tackles the question of racial bias in this dated but effective drama, a working-class version of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Jacko Palmer (John Mills) is a dedicated, talented union leader who manages to mediate an upheaval over a black foreman at work and prevent a strike. Meanwhile, Palmer's daughter Kathie (Sylvia Syms) has fallen in love with a schoolteacher colleague of hers, Peter Lincoln (Johnny Sekka), who happens to be black. The couple plan on marrying, and that creates havoc in the Palmer home where Kathie's mother throws a fit. The full gamut of racial prejudices unfolds, while the father tries to reconcile his own feelings and root out any biases that lurk there. Johnny Sekka might be better known to U.S. audiences as Dr. Benjamin Kyle in the TV series, Babylon 5. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide