James Broderick Movies

Most filmgoers will associate humorist Jean Shepherd exclusively with his autobiographical big-screen nostalgia piece A Christmas Story (1983), which has drawn millions of loyal viewers over the years with its charm. Its devotees may be surprised to discover that several PBS-produced Shepherd teleplays preceded it, nearly identical in tone and brand of humor. Made for PBS in 1982, the hour-long The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters sends up middle-American Independence Day festivities with manic glee -- thus doing for the Fourth exactly what A Christmas Story does for the Yuletide season. The Great American Fourth carries us to small-town Americana, where several subplots unfold concurrently. In one, Ralph -- here a teenager, played by Matt Dillon -- prepares to go on a date with his buddy's resplendent cousin, and makes a fool of himself by spilling licorice candy all over the aisles; in a second, Mom (Barbara Bolton) makes good to an absurd degree on a "chain letter" by suddenly inheriting more washrags (that's right, washrags) than she ever knew existed; in a third, a local baton twirler tosses his bar a little too high and blacks out the entire town. In yet another substory, the town drunk, Ludlow Kissel (Babe Sargent) sets off a rather destructive firework with a mind of its own, which manically chases a pack of children down the street and refuses to be outwitted. And, in the gut-busting showstopper that concludes the film, the Old Man (James Broderick, of Family) hosts a public fireworks display by shooting off Roman candles from his pants. This marked Broderick's final screen appearance; he died several months after it was produced. To date, neither The Great American Fourth of July nor any of Jean Shepherd's other early PBS specials have received home-video distribution. A witty prologue was added for Disney Channel screenings in the mid-'80s, wherein the late Shepherd himself is seen driving to a fireworks store in the Carolinas. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Keeping On was the only "fiction" film directed by documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple. Like her earlier Harlan County USA and The American Dream, the film examines a labor-management struggle in a hardscrabble Southern mill town. Dick Anthony Williams plays a minister who encourages the activities of labor unionist James Broderick. Williams' stand polarizes the community, and the cleric is ostracized by the so-called "right" people. Completed in 1981, Keeping On premiered February 8, 1983 on PBS' American Playhouse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The phenomenal success of the 1977 ABC miniseries Roots all but demanded a sequel to writer Alex Haley's epic story of his African and African-American forebears. Debuting February 18, 1979, Roots: The Next Generations picked up where its predecessor left off, with Haley's slave ancestors winning their freedom in the aftermath of the Civil War. Even so, life for black Americans was wrought with hardship and oppression thanks to the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, the staunch refusal of the white power structure to pass anti-lynching laws, and the formation of the dreaded Jim Crow laws which legalized racial segregation in the South (and much of the North). Covering the period from 1882 to the mid-1970s, the miniseries first focuses on blacksmith Tom Harvey (Georg Stanford Brown), great-grandson of Kunta Kinte (the protagonist of the original Roots), and his family. Meanwhile, reacting to the marriage of his son to a black woman, anal-retentive Southern colonel Warner (Henry Fonda) begins setting the legal wheels in motion to deny blacks like Tom the right to vote and to hold "white" jobs. A few decades later, Tom's son-in-law encourages his fellow blacks to stand firm against the KKK's reign of terror. His labors on behalf of his race are rewarded when his daughter Bertha (Irene Cara) becomes the first descendant of Kunta Kinte to receive a college education. It is Bertha Palmer who weds the equally ambitious Simon Haley (Dorian Harewood), who goes on to serve in WWI and to organize farmers and sharecroppers during the Depression. Simon's son Alex (played at various ages by Kristoff St. John, Damon Evans, and finally James Earl Jones) is just as determined to succeed in a white man's world as his father, and to that end becomes a professional writer after his own service stint in the Coast Guard during WWII. At the height of his professional success (largely due to his having ghost-written the autobiography of Muslim activist Malcolm X), Alex Haley pays a visit to his boyhood hometown -- where, almost by accident, he receives the first clue to his heritage, a clue that will lead him on an odyssey of self-discovery, arriving full circle at Kunta Kinte's birthplace in Africa. Although the miniseries' "money scene" was Haley's nervous interview with American Nazi Party leader George Lincoln Rockwell (Marlon Brando in a superb cameo turn), the climactic episode, in which Haley tearfully embraces the living African descendants of Kunta Kinte, is one of the most unforgettable moments in the history of network television. Running 12 episodes and 14 hours, Roots: The Next Generations concluded on February 25, 1979, playing to huge ratings all along the way and ultimately garnering several Emmy nominations (and one win). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama a family of Greek immigrants must deal with the aftermath of an arsonist's destruction of their bakery. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

An fugitive who has gone straight is harassed by a blackmailer. ~ All Movie Guide

Also known as A Dangerous Friend, this real-life-based drama tells of a young man with a penchant for sex and violence. In addition, he seems to possess a kind of mental control over a group of peers who protect the charismatic murderer from authorities. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

Bucky (Jordan Christopher) is the local psychotic who kidnaps his niece and hides out for days with the dead body of his father's mistress Sally (Eileen Heckart). Bucky hates his mother, seemingly a prerequisite for all mental abnormality of the psycho-sexual variety. He rapes his sister after killing her husband. Suffering from temporary sanity, he feels a fleeting moment of remorse and contemplates suicide in this exploitation drama. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Working on a tip, Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) goes undercover at a Colorado federal prison, where becomes the cellmate of hard-bitten "lifer" Fritz Moline (Joe Campanella). Having spent five years formulating an escape plan, Moline has no qualms about killing anyone who might get in his way--including his new "buddy" Erskine. William Reynolds, who would join the series during Season Three as Special Agent Tom Colley, is here cast as another FBI operative named Kendall Lisbon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This slick hospital soap opera features Ben Gazzara as Dr. David Coleman, a young physician hired into the pathology department at a big hospital. The aging head of the department, Dr. Joseph Pearson (Fredric March), is insulted and treats the new hire as a rival. They battle over many medical issues. Coleman falls in love with a nurse, Cathy Hunt (Ina Balin), but she develops a tumor on her knee. Pearson says that it is malignant and orders her leg amputated. Coleman disagrees but must go along with the decision. Coleman then orders three blood tests on an expectant mother, Mrs. Alexander (Phyllis Love), because she has a rare blood condition. Pearson thinks that the tests are excessive and cancels the third test. When the baby is born seriously ill, Pearson is berated by Dr. Charles Dornberger (Eddie Albert), Alexander's personal physician, who then conducts a blood transfusion to save the baby's life. Pearson's future at the hospital becomes uncertain, at best. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide