Dick Anthony Williams Movies

Three women struggle with the joys and sorrows of love in this three-part drama from writer and director Kyle Schickner. Teenaged Elizabeth (Kate Siegel) has been raised in a conservative, deeply religious household, and when she goes away to college she revels in her first taste of freedom. Elizabeth falls into a relationship with Niala (Reshma Shetty), an attractive and free-spirited bisexual, and is introduced to the heady pleasures of sex. However, while Elizabeth is deeply in love with Niala, she soon discovers that Niala puts little stock in exclusive relationships. Laurie (Ally Sheedy) is in her mid-forties and has lost nearly everything in a messy divorce, including full custody of her son, who now spends half his time with his father and his new (and younger) wife. Laurie is so filled with resentment and anger that she can scarcely get through the days until she meets her son's soccer coach, who wastes no time letting Laurie know he's smitten with her. And Doris (Ruby Dee) is an elderly woman who is deep in mourning after the death of her husband. While friends and volunteers from her church try to help Doris break out of her funk, she seems inconsolable until she meets a man her own age who lost his wife. The two bond over their shared loss and fall in love, but while they're eager to marry, the man's son is convinced Doris' motives are not pure. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Left in the lurch after the prop master unexpectedly quits the show, Artie (Rip Torn) is pressured by Hank (Jeffrey Tambor) to hire the sidekick's new squeeze. When Beverly (Penny Johnson) catches wind of the newly open position, she is prompted by her cousin Clyde (Paul Mooney) to demand that the job go to an African-American -- specifically Clyde himself. Disheartened by Larry's refusal to consider her proposal and feeling like a token minority among the staff, Beverly threatens to take a position as Laurence Fishburne's assistant. Troubled over the fact that he's losing a valuable employee, Larry attempts to keep Beverly with the show by hiring Clyde. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

This episode was clearly inspired by the 1993 arrest of Vietnam-era activist Katherine Anne Power. While pursuing a routine robbery investigation, detectives Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Logan (Chris Noth) follow the trail of clues to 1960s war protester Susan Forrest (Mary-Joan Negro), who has been in hiding ever since participating in a 1971 burglary in which a policeman was killed. As the dead man's widow (Marilyn Chris) presses for full retribution, Forrest enlists the services of none other than "Chicago Seven" defense lawyer William M. Kunstler -- played by Kunstler himself. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Returning from a Catholic retreat, public school teacher Jill Eikenberry picks up a hitchhiker--who repays her hospitality by brutally raping her. Plunged into shame and self-hatred by the incident, she does not report the attack to the police. Only when she becomes pregnant does she tell the authorities, and her employers, what happened. The school board, assuming that Eikenberry's silence was borne of guilt, refuses to believe that she was raped and fires her. This leads to the moment that Eikenberry has always feared--reliving her violation in the courtroom. Inspired by a true story, Cast the First Stone was originally networkcast on November 13, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Challenge of a Lifetime is Hawaii's Ironman Triathalon. Unless you're an ironman, the outcome of this competition may not be of paramount importance to you. But it is crucial to Penny Marshall, a divorced mother seeking to prove that she's more than just an adjunct to her family. Marshall enters the 140-mile triathalon, which requires her to run, swim, and navigate a bicycle. Most of those who caught this TV movie's premiere on February 14, 1985, had tumbled to its outcome before the second commercial. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Howard E. Rollins stars as martyred civil-rights spokesman Medgar Evers, while Irene Cara co-stars as his wife (and future NAACP leader) Myrlie. The film concentrates on the last years of Evers, an ex-insurance agent turned activist. His home in Jackson, Mississippi is besieged by bigots and he and his family are threatened with dire consequences, but Evers continues to work towards the goal of integrating his racially-polarized state. In June of 1963, the 37-year-old Evers is shot to death in front of his home. This 90 minute drama was adapted from a book co-authored by Mrs. Evers, Ossie Davis and J. Kenneth Rotcop. For Us, the Living was first telecast March 22, 1983 on PBS' American Playhouse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Something So Right was a November 1982 entry in CBS' series of GE Theatre movie specials. Ricky Schroder plays the trouble-prone son of divorcee Patty Duke Astin. Upset that his idolized football-jock father is gone, Schroder has developed into a petty thief. Unable to handle the boy herself, Duke enrolls Schroder in a Big Brother program--where, much to his dismay, he is paired up with inept, unathletic James Farentino (decked out in a convincing "paunchy" bodysuit and a bald wig). Gradually, Schroder grows close to his new "Big Brother"--only to feel deserted again when Farentino, also divorced, falls in love with Schroder's mom. Something So Right is one of those few and far between TV movies that assumes an audience is intelligent enough to digest a story based on genuine human emotions rather than car chases, serial killings or diseases of the week. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When Stockard Channing agreed to co-produce the made-for-TV Gun in the House, she fully intended to play the leading role of Emily Cates herself. But schedule conflicts intervened, and Channing was forced to relinquish the role to Sally Struthers, who was quite good. Attacked in her home by two male assailants, Emily Cates grabs a handgun and shoots and kills one of the intruders. Alas, the police find no evidence that Emily was in fact attacked--nor do they discern any need for excessive force. As a result, Emily is arrested like a common criminal and charged with murder--targeted as an "example" to other would-be gun owners by politically ambitious DA Lance Kessler (Jeffrey Tambor). The Stephen Zito-James M. Miller teleplay takes an inordinately melodramatic approach to the film's provocative subject matter, offering cut-and-dried hero and villain types and occasionally illogical plot twists. Still, Gun in the House has remained food for thought ever since its February 11, 1981 debut. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

There is probably no whiter white man on the face of the earth than the Jeffersons' neighbor Tom Willis (Franklin Cover). When his African-American wife, Helen (Roxie Roker), entertains two of her oldest friends, Tom suddenly feels like an outsider. Thus it is that Tom shows up at the doorstep of George Jefferson (Sherman Hemsley), imploring George to teach him how to "be black." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This 3-hour TV adaptation of the 1932 Aldous Huxley novel is set 600 years in the future. In this "well- ordered" society, the citizens are required to take mind-controlling drugs, sex without love is compulsory, and test-tube babies are commonplace because of a ban on pregnancy. Keir Dullea heads the cast as Thomas Grahmbell, "director of hatcheries". Not everybody is satisfied with society's lack of humanity and feeling; the loudest dissidents are free-thinking poet Heimholtz Watson (Dick Anthony Williams) and brilliant oddball Bernard Marx (Bud Cort). An injection of new "old" ideas are brought in by "primitive" John Savage (Kristoffer Tabori), who lives on an Indian reservation which still honors 20th century values. Meanwhile, Linda Lysenko (Julie Cobb) becomes a natural mother--and in so doing becomes a criminal. In keeping with the style of the original book, the script's newly-minted characters are given names of pop-culture icons (Disney, Maoina, Stalina, and so on). Brave New World was first telecast March 7, 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Inside jokes about the film industry dominate this slight tale of ambition and romance at the Cannes Film Festival. Keith Carradine plays a first-time director who has sunk two years and all his money into a movie about the execution of murderer Gary Gilmore. With his last bit of cash, he flies himself and his picture to Cannes, but the film is seized by French customs. The wife of an Italian producer (Monica Vitti) helps him retrieve his work, and the two become embroiled in a passionate, yet ultimately ill-fated, affair. Carradine gets the first-time, self-important director mostly right, but the movie is so specific to the film industry that viewers may lose interest. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

The made-for-TV A Woman Called Moses stars Cicely Tyson as real-life escaped slave Harriet Tubman. A the risk of recapture, Tubman helped organize the underground railroad, which enabled hundreds of enslaved African Americans to make their way to the freedom of the Northern states. Adding to the tension are Harriet's frequent epileptic fainting spells. Orson Welles narrates this adaptation of Marcy Heidish's novel. Originally telecast in two parts, A Woman Called Moses first aired December 11 and 12, 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide