Abe Simon Movies

Cinematographer turned director Ernest Dickerson returns to the horror genre with this African-American, urban twist on haunted house stories. Rap star Snoop Doggy Dogg makes his debut as a leading man in the title role of Jimmy Bones, stylish protector of a thriving inner-city neighborhood in 1979. When he refuses to knuckle under to powerful interests bent on introducing crack cocaine into his turf, Bones is betrayed by some of his own people, murdered, and buried in the basement of his gothic home. More than two decades later, the neighborhood is a drug and crime-infested nightmare, and Bones' decrepit, allegedly haunted domicile is about to become a hip-hop dance club. Although Bones' one-time girlfriend, Pearl (Pam Grier), and his right-hand man, Shotgun (Ronald Selmour), have remained loyal to his memory, the children of his traitor, Jeremiah (Clifton Powell), are the principal owners of the new club. They become the primary targets when Bones' vengeful spirit rises up to exact bloody retribution for past misdeeds. Bones (2001) co-stars Michael T. Weiss, Bianca Lawson, and Khalil Kain. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Never Love a Stranger--especially if it's young hoodlum Frank Kane (John Drew Barrymore). When it is discovered that his natural parents were Jewish, Kane is removed from the Catholic orphanage that has been his only home. Seething with resentment, he vows to succeed at gangsterdom. He rises spectacularly to the top before his inevitable downfall-and has a high old time doing so. The basis for Never Love a Stranger was a Harold Robbins novel, which obviously drew upon actual people and events; it's quite entertaining to guess who the fictionalized characters are supposed to be. Of the stellar supporting cast, Robert Armstrong is a standout as a soft-spoken gunman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This classic story of Mob informers was based on a number of true stories and filmed on location in and around the docks of New York and New Jersey. Mob-connected union boss Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb) rules the waterfront with an iron fist. The police know that he's been responsible for a number of murders, but witnesses play deaf and dumb ("plead D & D"). Washed-up boxer Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) has had an errand-boy job because of the influence of his brother Charley, a crooked union lawyer (Rod Steiger). Witnessing one of Friendly's rub-outs, Terry is willing to keep his mouth shut until he meets the dead dockworker's sister, Edie (Eva Marie Saint). "Waterfront priest" Father Barry (Karl Malden) tells Terry that Edie's brother was killed because he was going to testify against boss Friendly before the crime commission. Because he could have intervened, but didn't, Terry feels somewhat responsible for the death. When Father Barry receives a beating from Friendly's goons, Terry is persuaded to cooperate with the commission. Featuring Brando's famous "I coulda been a contendah" speech, On the Waterfront has often been seen as an allegory of "naming names" against suspected Communists during the anti-Communist investigations of the 1950s. Director Elia Kazan famously informed on suspected Communists before a government committee -- unlike many of his colleagues, some of whom went to prison for refusing to "name names" and many more of whom were blacklisted from working in the film industry for many years to come -- and Budd Schulberg's screenplay has often been read as an elaborate defense of the informer's position. On the Waterfront won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor for Brando, and Best Supporting Actress for Saint. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide