Vernée Watson Movies
A woman who sacrificed her shot at fame to focus on her family gets a second chance to live her dreams in this heartwarming comedy. Known to her friends as Miss E, Elestra Henton (Vanessa Bell Calloway) was a promising stand-up comedienne when she turned her back on the spotlight to save her marriage and raise her daughter. Years later, Miss E's marriage has failed, and she's estranged from her family. With nothing to fill the empty void at the center of her life, Miss E decides that the best cure for misery is laughter. She's determined to reclaim the career from the ruins, but in order to do so she'll first have to contend with her shady manager and ex-lover Bobby Felton (Roger Guenveur Smith), whose appearance back into Miss E's life sheds light on some long-suppressed family secrets. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vanessa Bell Calloway, Roger Guenveur Smith, (more)
- 1983
- PG13
The hopes of an aspiring singer/songwriter musician (Philip Michael Thomas) are starting to look up, that is until an episode with PCP (angel dust) leads him down a dark road of addiction. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 1981
- R
Gene Hackman plays a disgruntled suburbanite who manages the Ultra-Sav, an all-night drugstore. He hates his job, hates his debts and responsibilities, and isn't overly fond of his wife (Diane Ladd) and son (Dennis Quaid). Partly as a form of protest, Hackman enters into an affair with Barbra Streisand, one of his wife's distant relatives (don't ask how she's related - it takes Hackman about thirty seconds to explain it to another character). Streisand doesn't belong in this picture at all, but she can be forgiven her acting excesses because she wasn't the first choice for the role anyway (Lisa Eichhorn dropped out just before shooting began). The best moments in All Night Long involve the steady stream of oddballs and losers who trickle into Hackman's establishment. There is also a cute Apocalypse Now parody involving a battery-operated toy helicopter. The principal attraction of All Night Long is Gene Hackman playing an endearingly recognizable modern type. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Hackman, Barbra Streisand, (more)
- 1981
Violation of Sarah McDavid is a surprisingly explicit TV movie concerning the undercurrent of violence in a purportedly "good" high school. Patty Duke Astin is a new teacher at Benjamin Harrison High, where the GPA is high but where sadism and brutality amongst the students is the order of the day. Ms. Astin is able to maintain an even keel until, at the end of one school day, she is raped. Assuming she will be backed up in her accusations by the school administration, the teacher discovers that the principal (Ned Beatty), more concerned with image than with justice, wants to sweep the rape incident under the rug. As Astin struggles to make her complaint public, the film touches upon such hot-potato subjects as executive incompetence and the culpability of a "don't ask don't tell" public. The rape scene in Violation of Sarah McDavid is graphic enough to make the viewer feel nearly as degraded as the victim. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
A made-for-TV drama clearly inspired by Gone With the Wind, Love's Savage Fury is an account of a Southern belle and two Union prison escapees who vie for a hidden treasure. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1976
- PG
After wife Beatrice (Pearl Bailey) runs off to Mexico, a despondent Ben Chambers (Redd Foxx) travels to California to visit his son, Norman (Michael Warren). To Ben's dismay, Norman admits that he's gay -- and that his lover is a white man. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Redd Foxx, Pearl Bailey, (more)
Welcome Back Kotter star John Travolta headlines the made-for-TV Boy in the Plastic Bubble. Douglas Day Stewart's fact-based teleplay casts Travolta as Tod Lubitsch, a teenager who was born without disease immunities. Tod is forced to live out his life in incubator conditions; whenever he vetnures into the outdoors, he must be encased in a huge plastic bubble. When he falls in love with Gina Biggs (Glynnis O'Connor), Tod must decide between staying safe and following his heart, which would mean facing near-certain death. Diana Hyland won an Emmy for her portrayal of Travolta's mother. Incidentally, Hyland and Travolta became real-life lovers, a relationship that was tragically terminated when the actress died of cancer. Boy in the Plastic Bubble was first telecast November 12, 1976. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Travolta, Diana Hyland, (more)
The Double Con is an alternate title for the blaxploitationer Trick Baby. Jan Leighton and Byron Sander star as a pair of African American con artists. One of the slicksters can pass for white, enabling the two to pull off any number of clever race-related scams. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kiel Martin, Mel Stewart, (more)
