George D. Green Movies

A man struggles back from madness to avenge the death of someone he knew in an intelligent thriller based on the acclaimed novel by George Dawes Green. Romulus Ledbetter (Samuel L. Jackson) once had a career as an acclaimed concert pianist, a position at the Juilliard School of Music, and a loving wife and children. But Ledbetter's life has been devastated by paranoid schizophrenia; now homeless, Ledbetter wanders the streets of New York City as he rails against Cornelius Gould Stuyvesant, a man whom he believes controls all the evil in the world while following his movements from a perch atop the Chrysler Building. Most nights, Ledbetter takes shelter in a cave in Central Park, earning him the nickname "the Caveman." One morning, Ledbetter discovers a frozen corpse caught in the branches of a tree near his cave; the body is that of Scotty (Sean MacMahaon), a homeless drug addict who was close friends with his pal Matthew (Rodney Eastman). Ledbetter is determined to get justice for Scotty, and he's also eager to prove himself to his daughter Lulu (Aunjanue Ellis), now a New York City police officer. While Ledbetter is at first convinced that his nemesis Stuyvesant is responsible for Scotty's death, in time he focuses on another suspect: David Leppenraub (Colm Feore), a famous photographer known for his controversial erotic images of young men, who occasionally hired Scotty as a model. As Ledbetter attempts to investigate Leppenraub's possible role in the murder, he soon gains an unexpected ally -- Moira (Ann Magnuson), a noted sculptor and Leppenraub's sister. The Caveman's Valentine marked the major-studio debut for director Kasi Lemmons, who made an impressive debut in 1997 with the independent drama Eve's Bayou. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

African-American playwright Richard Wright's 1940 novel Native Son was too explosive for any Hollywood studio in 1951. However, an enterprising Argentine filmmaking firm was able to attain American backing (and a few location shots filmed in Chicago) for a cheap but satisfying cinemazation of the novel. Author Wright himself is cast as Bigger Thomas, a young Chicago black man who chafes at the thought of never being considered an equal in a white-dominated society. Bigger gets a job as chauffeur for a wealthy white family, who hope in their own naïve fashion to help Thomas graduate from the ghetto. The family's daughter (Jean Wallace) talks Bigger into driving her to a labor rally so that she can rendezvous with her "radical" boy friend (in the novel, the boy was an avowed Marxist, but this aspect was toned down for the politically volatile early 1950s). On the way home, Bigger misinterprets the girl's kindnesses towards him as being sexually motivated. Later on, Bigger drives the girl home after she's been on a drunken binge. She awakens and screams at him; the confused Bigger, certain that he'll be accused of attempted rape, accidentally kills the girl. He hides the body, fearing that discovery of his crime will prompt a lynching. The girl's boyfriend is accused of kidnapping her, a suspicion that Bigger has a hand in fomenting. Once he is found out, Bigger takes it on the lam with his ghetto girlfriend (Gloria Madison). Partly out of rage over his station in life, and partly out of confusion over the series of events that have led to his current plight, Bigger kills again just before the cops close in. Richard Wright's thesis was that, while Bigger Thomas was certainly responsible for his crimes, his mixed-up behavior was a by-product of white society's ongoing suppression of blacks. This isn't quite as clear-cut in the film version of Native Son as it was in the novel (or the stage play, which was presented by Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre in 1941). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Omoo-Omoo (The Shark God) is based on a novel by Herman Melville. Within its attenuated budget, the film does a nice job visualizing Melville's concept. A sea captain (Trevor Bardette) courts disaster when he removes a pair of black pearls from a native shrine. According to native legend, bad luck will befall the captain and everyone else who comes in contact with those pearls. By the time the film's 57 minutes have run their course, practically everyone has come to grief except top-billed Ron Randell. Cast as Trevor Bardette's luckless daughter is Devera Burton, of whom little was heard after Omoo-Omoo ended its theatrical run. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Two vagabonds find romance in this love story. It all begins when they get jobs as railroad brakemen by proving to the foreman that they are strong. Both of them simultaneously think about giving up their wandering ways when they meet two eligible women: the railroad's paymaster and commissary chief, and a dumbbell waitress. Things are looking up until one of the hoboes loses his savings in a crap shoot and later finds himself framed for theft. Fortunately, the two are able to finger the real thieves before it is too late. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide