O.J. Simpson Movies

The setting is Atoka County, Alabama -- the time is somewhere after the peak of the civil rights movement, after cities such as Birmingham, Alabama were out of the headlines. The movement is coming to the sticks, including Atoka County, and a lot of the white residents don't like it and are prepared to commit felonious assault, rape, or murder to get their point across. In the middle of this powder keg are two men on either side of a very dangerous line -- County Sheriff "Big Track" Bascomb (Lee Marvin) and Mayor Hardy (David Huddleston). Each man is playing both ends against the middle in the impending race war -- Bascomb wants to keep the peace as best he can, blocking the local klavern of the Ku Klux Klan from their worst excesses and making sure that the Klan's business and the county's business remain separate; Hardy, who also owns the lumber company that employs most of the county and the bank on which most of the residents depend, wants a good environment for business, which includes keeping enough poor blacks around to do the most menial work for the miserable pay he's willing to fork over; this, in turn, requires that they be too scared to ask for too much, including better treatment, but not so scared that they leave the county altogether, which would wipe out his business. Between them is Breck Stancill (Richard Burton), an eighth-generation resident with lots of land but little money and even fewer friends; a wounded war veteran and loner, he still resents the lynching of his grandfather and no longer respects what the white south purports to stand for -- he's even allowed dispossessed blacks to live for free on his property, angering the poor whites around him even more. Bascomb would like Stancill to be a little less high profile, while Hardy would like him to sell out and disappear, and wouldn't mind it if the local Klan helped that process along by trying to kill him. Bascomb's balancing act fails because of two events -- Nancy Poteet (Linda Evans) is raped one night, apparently by a black man, which precipitates the murder of a black teenager and her being violently ostracized by the white community; and a civil rights rally is planned for the town, bringing in lots of "outside agitators" and getting the local klavern eager to act against them. The prime mover in all of this is Big Track's deputy, Butt Cut Bates (Cameron Mitchell), a hardcore klansman who won't be reined in by Hardy and who is not above raping a black woman prisoner (Lola Falana) that he's arrested illegally, or trying to kill Stancill; directly opposed to him is Garth (O.J. Simpson), a young black man who witnessed a Klan murder and, in response, gets a rifle and starts meting out justice on his own. Before it's over, a major part of the county is at war and the bodies are falling everywhere. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

This bizarre entry into the disaster film genre concerns a group of hapless passengers aboard a transcontinental luxury train who are infected with a viral plague by a group of terrorists. Burt Lancaster plays military man Mackenzie, who wants to send the train across a rickety bridge so all the passengers will die, with Mackenzie reasoning the tragedy will give the terrorist movement a bad name. Among the passengers on the train trying to build up antibodies are Jennifer Rispoli Chamberlain (Sophia Loren); Nicole (Ava Gardner), who is embroiled in an affair with a younger man named Robby Navarro (Martin Sheen); and Dr. Jonathan Chamberlain (Richard Harris), a physician who wants to save the passengers but ends up duking it out with the terrorists. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

This 1978 episode of Saturday Night Live is hosted by O.J. Simpson and features musical guest Ashford and Simpson. ~ Skyler Miller, All Movie Guide

All but forgotten in recent years, the made-for-TV Goldie and the Boxer enjoyed a new lease on life when it was resyndicated to TV in the mid-1990s to capitalize on the notoriety of its star, O. J. Simpson. An old-fashioned tearjerker from the Champ school, the film stars Simpson as unknown boxer Joe Gallegher. Spurred by his friendship with Goldie Kellog (Melissa Michaelsen), the 10-year-old daughter of deceased boxing champ Paul Kellog (John Roselius), Joe goes the distance to the Title. Phil Silvers does an "Ed Wynn" as Joe's heart-of-gold trainer. First telecast December 20, 1979, Goldie and the Boxer performed well enough to encourage a 1981 sequel, Goldie and the Boxer Go to Hollywood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This 1981 sequel to the 1979 made-for-TVer Goldie and the Boxer once again stars O.J. Simpson and Melissa Michaelsen as, respectively, boxer Joe Gallegher and Joe's 10-year-old manager Goldie Kellog. When Joe incurs the wrath of an evil promoter, he and Goldie high-tail it to Hollywood. They take refuge in the home of Babe (Stubby Kaye) and Cuddles (Sheila MacRae) a pair of Tinseltown "fringies" distantly related to Joe's trainer Wally (Jack Gilford, taking over for the first film's Phil Silvers). Produced by Orenthal Productions (guess who ran that company?), Goldie and the Boxer Go to Hollywood first aired February 19, 1981. It has been rerun incessantly since June of 1994, thanks to the latter-day notoriety of star O. J. Simpson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cocaine and Blue Eyes was the pilot film for a TV detective series starring former footballer O.J. Simpson (who also produced the film). Playing a private eye in San Francisco, Simpson is hired by a man who ends up seriously dead. The deceased client had wanted Simpson to locate a former girl friend, and in carrying out his assignment Simpson unearths a deadly (and very well connected) cartel of drug dealers. Cocaine and Blue Eyes gathered dust until O.J. Simpson's murder trial in 1994. After that, this tiresome old TV movie became a staple of "Late Late Shows" everywhere. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

What happens to the gridiron heroes that football fans cheer each week when they become injured or too old to play the game? That question is addressed in this documentary. Drawing on the personal experiences of several former professional football players, the program investigates the down side of the brutal hand-to-hand combat of the game. The filmmakers discover that the picture is often not very pretty. Permanent injuries, disabilities, financial difficulties, and the emotional pain of being forgotten often mark the retirement years of players. Interviews with players, coaches, sports writers, and fans, along with archival clips and photographs, tell this story of football's dark side. ~ Rose of Sharon Winter, All Movie Guide

Explore a quarter century of football featuring heroes like Jack Kemp, O.J. Simpson and Frank Lewis. ~ All Movie Guide

In this comedy, two high school seniors pretend to be foreign exchange students and suddenly find themselves among the popular kids. They soon find that such popularity is a double-edged sword. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

After two "short" seasons of six and four episodes each, the raunchy HBO football sitcom 1st and Ten offers a full complement of 13 half-hour installments as the series enters season four. This year, the series' subtitle is "Going for Broke," indicating not only the game plan of the California Bulls, but also their perilous financial status. As ever, the three main characters are Delta Burke as voluptuous team owner Diane Barrow, Reid Sheltonas profanity-spewing coach Ernie Denardo, and O.J. Simpson (still a celebrity by accomplishment rather than notoriety during this period) as former quarterback T.D. Parker, now the team's general manager. Episode titles this season include "Ernie's Last Quarter," "A Second Chance Once Removed," "A Loaded Gun," "The Comeback Trail," "Illegal Use of Love," "The Bulls Change Hands," "A Mutiny on the Bull Team," "The Brink of Death," "Call for the Hall," "Blood on the Moon," "Land of the Free (Agent)," "Of Scalpers and Superstars," and "Championship Game Jinx." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Great Ones profiles football legends Sammy Baugh, Jim Brown, O.J. Simpson, and Roger Staubach. In 1937, his rookie year, and in 1942, Sammy Baugh led Washington to NFL titles. Jim Brown made All-American at Syracuse in 1956 and was named NFL Rookie of the Year in 1957. O.J. Simpson received the Heisman trophy in 1968, while he was a student at the University of Southern California. As a Navy junior in 1973, Roger Staubach also won the Heisman. He helped Dallas win two Super Bowls in 1972 and 1978. This video examines the lives and work of these great sportsmen. ~ Betsy Boyd, All Movie Guide