Mary Alice Movies

The documentary What I Want My Words to Do to You offers a look at some actual rehabilitation at a women's maximum security prison. Directors Judith Katz, Madeleine Gavin, and Gary Sunshine used high-definition video cameras to capture an emotional reformation process for several incarcerated women. Activist and playwright Eve Ensler (The Vagina Monologues) conducted a writing workshop at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in New York. Some of the inmates were serving long sentences, including some members of the Vietnam war-era radical political group the Weather Underground. The convicts were asked to contemplate their crime and assess possibilities for their future, even if that means life imprisonment. After the workshop, the stories were then performed by actors with the entire prison population as the audience. The personal stories of the inmates shared a common theme of painful truths and acceptance. What I Want My Words to Do to You won the Freedom of Expression Award at the the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Several stalwarts of the New York independent film scene make appearances in this tale of a creatively frustrated photographer and his search through the streets of Manhattan for ten mysterious snapshots which may hold the key to continued success. The film opens as Max (Reg Rogers), a former wunderkind in the city's art scene, awaits his eagerly-anticipated follow-up show. Although it's been a year since his big splash, Max has nothing to show for himself -- the pressure of his success has left him creatively stunted. His luck changes, however, when an enigmatic barfly shares a beer and some conversation with Max at a bowery-area watering hole. On the bar, the man leaves behind an envelope with ten stunning photographs. Hoping to pass them off as his own, Max leaves, elated -- only to have his artistic gift nabbed by muggers. Our hero spends the rest of the evening on a goose chase through the armpits of the city, encountering lovable misfits at every turn. Writer-director Jeremy Stein populates his debut feature with a wide array of notable N.Y.C. character actors, including John Heard, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Tom Noonan. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

When an African-American honors student is found murdered, detectives Logan (Chris Noth) and Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) dig up evidence that the dead girl was stealing from her family to support a drug habit. The number-one suspect is the girl's sleazy crack-dealing boyfriend, but for reasons that defy explanation, he will not plea-bargain with the D.A.'s office. Meanwhile, the search goes on for the missing murder weapon -- or has it been deliberately hidden by a hitherto unsuspected party? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season two of A Different World finds the overall quality of the series improving immensely, which many insiders attributed to the fact that the multi-talented Debbie Allen had taken over as producer-director. Originally intended as a vehicle for former Cosby Show co-star Lisa Bonet in her familiar role as college student Denise Huxtable, the series would be forced to undergo a major format change when Bonet dropped out of the series due to her real-life pregnancy. Also gone from the cast is Marisa Tomei, who had played Denise's naïve white college roommate Maggie Lawton. With Bonet and Tomei gone, the emphasis shifts to Denise's former dorm-mates at Hillman College's Gilbert Hall: streetwise 27-year-old divorcée Jaleesa (Dawnn Lewis) and spoiled, haughty Whitley (Jasmine Guy). Likewise carried over from the first season are Gilbert Hall's worldly dorm director Lettie (Mary Alice), self-styled campus Romeo Dwayne Wayne (Kadeem Hardison), Dwayne's irresponsible roomie Ron (Darryl M. Bell), and local community-center leader Walter Oakes (Sinbad). New to the series are Whitley's new roommate, the iron-willed, slightly promiscuous pre-med student Kim Reese (Charnele Brown); fashion-challenged but cute and artistically gifted student Freddie Brooks (Cree Summer); and tough-as-nails calculus professor Col. Clayton "Dr. War" Taylor (played by Glynn Turnan, the husband of Aretha Franklin, who this year takes over from Phoebe Snow as the singer of the series' catchy theme tune). Major season two plot developments include the growing attraction between Whitley and Dwayne, although both continue dating others; the budding romance between Walter and Jaleesa; and the many benighted business schemes cooked up by Ron and Dwayne. Also, the characters begin spending more and more of their spare time at a local eatery called The Pit, presided over by philosophical chef Vernon Gaynes (Lou Myers). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This ABC Afterschool Special tackles the issue of racial harmony, which was still a "hot potato" on children's teleivision even as late as 1981. Chris Barnes is cast as David Bellinger, a white teenager who, like most of his schoolmates, is none too thrilled when a black student, Joel Garth (James Bond III), is admitted to his class. It takes some doing, but David finally extends a hand of friendship to Joel -- and as things turn out, it is the turning point of his life. Katharine Houghton, best known for her performance in the 1967 theatrical feature Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (which starred her aunt, Katharine Hepburn), is here cast as the boys' teacher. ~ All Movie Guide

The civil rights movement in the South saw the election of the first black county sheriff as portrayed in this drama. ~ All Movie Guide

Originally telecast September 14, 1976, as a CBS "General Electric Theater" special, Just an Old Sweet Song was the first of three pilots for Down Home, a proposed TV series created by filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles. Robert Hooks and Cicely Tyson star as Nate and Priscilla Simmons, the patriarch and matriarch of a middle-class Detroit family. Upon learning that their grandmother (Beah Richards) is not long for this world, Nate and Priscilla pack up their kids and head down South. Eventually, the family rediscovers its African-American roots and elects to stay in their new rural surroundings. Robert Hooks' real-life sons (Kevin and Eric Hooks) appear as his screen sons, Junior and Highpockets. Just an Old Sweet Song was followed by two 60-minute sequels in 1978: Kinfolks (in which Madge Sinclair replaced Cicely Tyson as Priscilla Simmons) and Down Home. Alas, none of the three films yielded a weekly series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Forced to play host to his unemployed white brother-in-law Rodney Victor (Allan Drake), Fred Sanford (Redd Foxx) is fed up with Rodney's obnoxious practical jokes. Finally deciding that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, Fred suggests that he and Rodney work up a nightclub routine. The ultimate strategy is to get Rodney to work and out of the house, but things don't quite turn out that way. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An uprooted African-American family is forced to confront their traditional values and ponder the effect that the emerging civil rights movement will have on their lives after relocating from the deep-south to Chicago in the filmed version of Phillip Hayes Dean's insightful and acclaimed stage play. Mary Alice and Maidie Norman star, and Ivan Dixon directs for television. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Charming comedy about a 16-year-old boy coming of age on Martha's Vineyard in the summer of 1976. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide

Brian De Palma's Hollywood sanitization of Tom Wolfe's scabrous satire stars Tom Hanks as Sherman McCoy, the "master of the universe," a shallow Wall Street investor who makes millions while enjoying the good life and the sexual favors of Maria Ruskin (Melanie Griffith), a Southern belle golddigger. Sherman and Maria are driving back to Maria's apartment from the airport when Maria takes a wrong turn on the expressway and the two find themselves in the South Bronx. She sees a black youth approaching Sherman's car and Maria, frightened, guns the engine, running over the teenager and killing him. The two drive away and decide not to report the accident to the police. Meanwhile, indigent alcoholic journalist Peter Fallow (Bruce Willis), anxious for a story to make good with his editor, comes upon the hit-and-run tale through local black community activist, Reverend Bacon (John Hancock). Bacon plans to use the hit-and-run case as a rallying point for the black community, while Fallow recognizes the press coverage inherent in prosecuting the callow Sherman. As Sherman is brought to his knees, the New York community fragments into different factions who use the case to suit their own cynical political purposes. Finally, Sherman is left without any allies to support him except for the sympathetic Judge White (Morgan Freeman) and the remorseful Fallow. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

A surprisingly long and worthwhile film, The Education of Sonny Carson is based on a true story. Rony Clanton stars as Carson, a product of the Brooklyn ghetto. After several years of gang and drug activities, Sonny is sobered by his horrendous experiences in prison. He puts his priorities in order and finds a "born again" purpose in life under his new name, Iwina Lmiri Abubadika. The film ends in the 1970s, long before Abubadika's controversial involvement in New York politics. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide