Madge Sinclair Movies

Throughout the 20th century, women have met the challenges and struggles of balancing work and family. Narrated by Jane Fonda, A Century of Women: Work & Family weaves fictional and factual stories to illustrate the history of women in the workforce, as well as their roles as wives and mothers. Performances and testimonies from a stellar group of women including Meryl Streep, Gloria Steinem, Twyla Tharp, and Maya Angelou facilitate the film's innovative method of storytelling. Archival film, photographs, and interviews retrace historical events -- from the founding of the PTA to early unions -- that changed our social landscape. Diaries, letters, and personal memories honor women of the past and make it clear that the balancing of labor and family was a matter of life and death. ~ Brooke Hodess, Rovi

Beau Bridges stars in this fact-based TV movie as Dr. Norman Grayson (Beau Bridges, a man who may destroy his life because he loves not wisely but too well--and too often. Hopelessly smitten by three different women over the course of several years, Grayson ends up marrying all three, then spends the rest of the movie trying to be a good and faithful husband to each wife without the others discovering his tangled web of deceit. Only when one of the women, Robyn (Pam Dawber), starts putting the pieces together, do the other wives Lillian (Kathleen Lloyd) and Katy (Joanna Kerns) even begin to suspect that Grayson's frequent out-of-town trips are not professional nature. Ironically, audience sympathy is with the bigamous Grayson throughout the film--especially at the end, in which the three woman turn upon each other over base financial matters! Originally telecast on CBS, The Man With Three Wives first aired March 28, 1993. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In 1977, Alex Haley's groundbreaking mini-series Roots became one of the most watched programs in television history, telling the story of seven generations of the author's mother's family, from their capture in Africa and enslavement in the United States to their eventual emancipation more than a century later. With 1992's Queen, Haley, who passed away before completing the source material, presents the story of his father's family, focusing on his paternal grandmother, a mulato. Halle Berry stars as the title character, the daughter of a slave and a plantation owner. Amidst the Civil War and up through the turn of the century, Queen finds herself struggling to find acceptance from blacks as well as whites. With an all-star cast that also features Martin Sheen, Danny Glover, Dennis Haysbert, Ossie Davis, and Ann-Margret, Queen was directed by John Erman and originally aired in February of 1993. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

Still looking for a job after she quit the plastics factory in season one, Roseanne manages to get both hired and fired from a new job because she lacks computer skills. She then breaks up her own surprise party by getting into a fight with Dan. This episode was the first to be written by Roseanne's future husband, Tom Arnold. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) concludes the story arc begun with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) and continued in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), but on a wholly new, different, and upbeat note. As the movie opens, months have elapsed since the events in Star Trek III; Admiral Kirk (William Shatner), McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Scott (James Doohan), Sulu (George Takei), Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), and Chekhov (Walter Koenig) are marooned in self-imposed exile on Vulcan, along with the resurrected and regenerated Spock (Leonard Nimoy, who also directed). While Spock tries to sort out the Vulcan and human halves of his resurrected psyche, the others prepare to return to Earth to face a brace of charges by the Klingon Empire and Star Fleet over events on Genesis. Taking off in their commandeered, jerry-rigged Klingon ship, they head to Earth, not knowing that a new crisis could destroy their home world -- a huge, immensely powerful alien probe has entered the galaxy and established a position near Earth, disabling every vehicle and installation in its path with its energy and communication output, and has ionized the entire atmosphere and started vaporizing the oceans, leaving the planet only hours to survive.

Spock determines that the probe is sending out signals to another intelligent terrestrial life form, humpbacked whales, which no longer exist. Using the gravity slingshot time-warp effect (established early in the original series) to travel back into Earth's 20th century, Kirk and company land in 1980s San Francisco to try and bring humpbacked whales to the 23rd century, to respond to the probe. Thus starts a surprisingly breezy, light-hearted, yet serious odyssey through the past (comparable to the best work of the original series), as the crew learns to deal with exact-change buses, angry drivers, punk-rock enthusiasts and other elements of '80s life, and Kirk tries to persuade a scientist (Catherine Hicks) of his good intentions for two whales in captivity. The screenplay, co-authored by Steve Meerson, Peter Krikes, Nicholas Meyer, and Harve Bennett (from a story by Nimoy and Bennett), is the cleverest and most sophisticated of all the Star Trek movie screenplays, recalling some of the elements of Meyer's earlier time-travel movie Time After Time and also anticipating the feel and tone of the series Star Trek: The Next Generation (which would be on the air not quite a year later). Nimoy's direction offers a combination of brisk pacing and a deep love of the characters and the actors, as well as a serious appreciation of the humorous aspects of the script, and Shatner gives his best performance of any of the movies. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

In this suspenseful horror movie, four rape victims team up to bring their brutal attacker to justice. He had been tried before on similar charges and acquitted on a technicality. Now the women, led by a determined young doctor are determined to make him pay for destroying their lives. Unfortunately, the man is a prominent and powerful citizen. Fortunately, this doesn't stop them and justice is served. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

High Ice is a made-for-television adventure thriller about an Army helicopter rescue team who has to race against time and the elements to save three mountain climbers who are stranded on a small, icy mountain ledge in Washington. Along the way, a lieutenant colonel and a forest ranger engage in a battle of wills, which only makes the rescue more difficult. High Ice has also been shown with the title Challenge of the High Ice. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, 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

The CB (citizen's band) radio fad had nearly run its course when this feel-good action film was made by director Sam Peckinpah. In the story, based on C.W. McCall's song "Convoy", a group of struggling truckers (who stay in touch by CB) run into a situation which ignites their indignation. They arrange to form a truck convoy under the leadership of the man whose CB nickname is "Rubber Duck" (Kris Kristofferson). He is the most aggrieved of the bunch, having been harassed beyond the point of endurance by Lyle Wallace (Ernest Borgnine) a blackmailing traffic cop who pursues him ever more frantically through several states after he fails to submit to the phony speed trap he had set up. As news of the truck convoy spreads, unexpected allies join the line, and the now-gigantic illegal protest becomes the subject of national news reports. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Fourteen-year-old Jake Wrather (Larry B. Scott) is third baseman for his sandlot ball team -- and in the absence of an adult supervisor, he also runs the team. The parentless Jake lives with his uncle Lenny (Glynn Turman), an easygoing musician who works nights. In fact, Lenny works too many nights to please the local Social Services people, who may very well revoke his custody of Jake. Meanwhile, Jake's team must come up with an adult manager or lose its standing. That's right, folks: Uncle Jake finds himself in charge of the team -- and never mind that he doesn't quite subscribe to Jake's philosophy that "winning is the only thing there is." ~ Rovi

This biographical picture explores the troubled life of blues singer and master guitarist Leadbelly, who developed his style and wrote many of his songs during his frequent stints in prison. Featured performances are "&Rock Island Line" and "&Goodnight Irene". ~ Rovi

Cornbread (Keith Wilkes) is an African-American youth who strives to escape his ghetto surroundings. He does so by becoming a high school basketball star--and the idol of the other youngsters in his community. On the verge of starting college on a scholarship, Cornbread is mistakenly killed by a police officer. Keith Wilkes, who plays the title role, was in real life an all-American at UCLA. Cornbread, Earl and Me, which was based upon Ronald Fair's novel Hog Butcher, marked the big screen debut of Laurence Fishburne. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi