Mykelti Williamson Movies

Whenever there's a TV movie about a "lone holdout" juror, you can bet that reality will be left behind at the front door. Killer Among Us is no exception. A Different World's Jasmine Guy plays a doubting jury member on a homicide case. She not only believes the defendant innocent, but suspects that the foreman of the jury, played by Dwight Schultz, is the guilty party. To make a long story short, which the scriptwriter didn't, Guy ends up being stalked by the real murderer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this caper movie from director Brett Ratner, two brilliant criminals are lured out of retirement...or are they? Max Burdett (Pierce Brosnan) is a master jewel thief who, with the help of his accomplice and lover Lola Cirillo (Salma Hayek), has stolen two of the three Napoleon diamonds, among the most valuable gems on Earth. Stanley Lloyd (Woody Harrelson) is an FBI agent who has been on Burdett's trail for years and is especially eager to bring him to justice after a humiliating incident in which Max swiped one of the Napoleons out from under Stanley's nose. But word has it that Max and Lola have abandoned their lives of crime, and they've taken up residence on an idyllic island in the Bahamas, where they're living the good life on their ill-gotten fortune. Lloyd is not convinced they're out of the game for good, and when he learns that the third Napoleon diamond will be on display aboard a cruise ship headed in Max's direction, Lloyd joins forces with Sophie (Naomie Harris), a Paradise Island police detective, to catch Max and Lola red handed. Henry Moore (Don Cheadle), an expatriate American gangster who also lives on the island, doesn't believe Max has gone straight either and tries to rope him into stealing the jewel for him. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Alice returned from a two-month hiatus (and back to its original Sunday-night timeslot) with this episode, originally scheduled for November 10, 1982. Mel's mom Carrie (Martha Raye) is back, and she's wallowing in the depths of a depression. Having divested herself of her new hubby in a quickie divorce, Carrie is in dire need of male companionship--and the pickings are mighty lean in Phoenix. Look for a very young Mykelti Williamson in a minor role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The city streets explode into violence when "The Man" kills Black Dynamite's (Michael Jai White) brother in this seamless recreation of the blaxploitation classics of the 1970s. He was the best agent that the CIA ever had, but these days Black Dynamite only answers to one boss -- himself. When "The Man" ices Black Dynamite's brother, starts pumping heroin into the local orphanage, and floods the ghetto with a secret weapon disguised as common malt liquor, the car chases, gunfights, and shirtless brawls that follow prove wild enough to make even Dolemite green with envy. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Frank Military and Susan Rhinehart scripted this western, a look back at the post-Civil War Black cavalry troops known as the Buffalo Soldiers, the fierce fighting unit previously covered in a PBS four-parter (1970) and an NBC pilot (1979). In the New Mexico Territory, ex-slave Sgt. Wyatt (Danny Glover) and the Buffalo soldiers arrest Captain Draper (Robert Knott) and other Texas Rangers, but politics mean the Rangers are quietly freed later. Back at Fort Craig, Wyatt reports to anti-black General Pike (Tom Bower) and Col. Grierson (Bob Gunton), a white responsible for assembling and supporting the black regiment. A search is underway for Indian chief Victorio (Harrison Lowe). Indian prophet Nana (Chesley Wilson) is tortured in an effort to get him to reveal Victorio's whereabouts. Determining that Victorio is at Rattlesnake Springs, the Buffalo Soldiers head in that direction for a confrontation. Filmed in the desert of Arizona's Cochise County, Buffalo Soldiers premiered December 7, 1997 on TNT. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

In this made-for-TV film, a high-school counselor (Joyce Brothers) faces ineffectual help from administration in combating drugs, so she recruits several students to help in the battle. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

A hard-line junior senator with a tough anti-terrorism policy finds her outspoken politics have made her the target for a determined sleeper cell of murderous terrorists in a tense political thriller starring Lauren Holly, Lacey Chabert, and Angus MacFadyen. Maggie Davidson is a politician on a mission to make the American public feel safe on their own soil. When Davidson's plan to stomp out terrorism raises the ire of a dangerous group of terrorists just waiting for the right moment to strike, their plan to quiet her with a "dirty bomb" planted in the Mall of America leaves the entire city of Bloomington, MN, on high alert. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The touching story of a boy and his killer whale made this family drama a surprise box office hit. Jesse (Jason James Richter) is a kid without parents who has bounced from one foster home to another and is living on the streets. One night, he's caught spraying graffiti with his friend Perry (Michael Bacall) in a theme park. Jesse and Perry are caught red handed by Dwight (Mykel T. Williamson), a policeman who thinks that Jesse needs a more stable and disciplined environment. Dwight arranges for Jesse to stay with a new foster family, Glen and Annie Greenwood (Michael Madsen and Jayne Atkinson), with whom Jesse has an initially stormy relationship. Part of Jesse's punishment involves cleaning up the damage he caused at the park, where the new attraction is Willy, a killer whale who is being trained to do tricks. However, Willy was traumatized when he was stolen from his family by mercenary fisherman and does not respond well to the genuine concern of his trainers, Rae (Lori Petty) and Randolph (August Schellenberg). Jesse and Willy, both stranded without families in a place where they don't fit in, develop a close emotional bond, and with Jesse's help, Willy begins to display aptitude as a performer. Thanks to his friendship with Willy, Jesse develops a new sense of responsibility and a healthier relationship with the Greenwoods. However, Dial (Michael Ironside), the owner of the park, doesn't much care for animals and isn't happy with the slower-than-expected progress of Willy's training; having insured the whale for $1 million dollars, he figures that Willy is worth more dead than alive, and Jesse, Rae, and Randolph have to rescue their aquatic friend and return him to the ocean when Dial seems ready to live up to his threats. Free Willy, which featured a star performance by a killer whale named Keiko (who is doubled in some scenes by animatronic models) included the theme song "Will You Be There," a top-ten hit for Michael Jackson, and spawned two sequels. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Based on the best-selling book by Sarah L. Delany and A. Elizabeth Delany with Amy Hill Hearth, which was later adapted into a Broadway play, Having Our Say tells the true story of the Delany Sisters, two African-American women who were fathered by a former slave, went on to attend college, and witnessed the slow but steady advance of civil rights in America before a reporter for The New York Times sat down with them to record their story. In the film version, 103-year-old Sadie (Diahann Carroll) is a polite and soft-spoken woman who deals cheerfully with the questions of journalist Amy Hill Hearth (Amy Madigan). Sadie's considerably more feisty 101-year-old sister (and housemate) Bessie (Ruby Dee) grumbles about "white people who ask you to explain the obvious to them," but soon adds her own stories as the Delanys discuss their quietly remarkable lives as career women and racial pioneers who not only survived Jim Crow laws, they outlived Jim Crow, as well. Produced for CBS Television, Having Our Say was first aired April 18, 1999. Incidentally, Bessie Delany died in 1995 at age 104, while Sadie, at 110, passed on in 1999, only a few months before this was first aired. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this drama with comic touches directed by Robert Townsend, a middle-aged drag queen (Ving Rhames) still dealing with the loss of his longtime lover meets a 12-year-old girl (Jessika Reynolds) who has no home. Touched by her plight, the drag queen takes in the girl and her mother (Alfre Woodard), a talented writer who has fallen into a cycle of drug abuse. With his help, the woman and her daughter try to rebuild their lives, but they have trouble breaking their ties with the drug dealer (Mykelti Williamson) who been the mother's supplier and confidante. Holiday Heart is based on the play of the same name by Cheryl West. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Another of the many serialized TV dramas of the mid-2000s in which important clues and motivations were slowly and methodically revealed on a "need to know" basis, Kidnapped got under way when Leopold Cain (Will Denton), the son of self-made millionaire Conrad Cain (Timothy Hutton) and his wife Ellie (Dana Delaney), was abducted during a quasi-paramilitary attack on his private school. "Don't call the police" was perhaps the least cryptic message received by Mr. and Mrs. Cain in the days that followed; other messages and clues always seemed to be weighted with double meanings and vague allusions to unsavory incidents in the past lives of the victim's parents. Assigned to rescue Leopold (if possible) was chief FBI investigator Latimer King (Delroy Lindo), who much against his will was teamed with rogue ex-agent Knapp (Jeremy Sisto), who in turn worked hand in glove with his mysterious sidekick Turner (Carmen Ejogo). The search for the kidnapped boy whisked virtually everyone in the cast around the world, with Mr. and Mrs. Cain frequently bollixing up the "good guys'" efforts by refusing to follow instructions or going off on their own whimsical tangents. Early on, the Cains' bodyguard Virgil (Mykelti Williamson) abruptly vanished from the scene; was he, like several others involved in the case, a murder victim, or was he pursuing his own agenda. Unfolding in a "Rashomon" fashion with contradictory information and points of view, this was one of those maddening series in which "truth" was an intangible commodity at best, and in which everyone had a skeleton or two in the closet. Kidnapped made its NBC bow on September 20, 2006. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When NBC head honcho Brandon Tartikoff demanded a flashy weekly series with "MTV Cops," executive producer Michael Mann responded with Miami Vice. The stars were Don Johnson as Sonny Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo Tubbs, members of Miami's Organized Crime Bureau. In the Miami Vice two-hour pilot, telecast September 16, 1984, Florida native Crockett and New York transplant Tubbs team for the first time; their mutual target is a nasty drug lord who has killed two people who were near and dear to the detectives. Gregory Sierra (replaced in the series by Edward James Olmos) costars as Crockett and Tubbs' superior. A triumph of style over substance, Miami Vice was for many years the most popular action series on network TV; it ran until July of 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide