Debbie Allen Movies

Far more popular in syndication than it had ever been on the NBC network, the weekly musical drama series Fame returns with a fourth season of 25 hour-long episodes. New to the student body of New York's High School of the Performing Arts this season are a young, pre-superstardom (and pre-"wardrobe malfunction"!) Janet Jackson as multitalented Cleo Hewitt; Nia Peeples as singer-dancer Nicole Chapman; and Jesse Borego as Jesse Velasquez, ex-street gang member, gifted dancer, and soon to be the protégé of senior student Leroy Johnson (Gene Anthony Ray). This season also introduces a new after-school hangout for the kids: Lou's Lanes, owned and operated by genial Lou Mackie, played by B-picture cult figure Dick Miller. In the season opener, the school's two zaniest students, aspiring playwright Doris (Valerie Landsburg) and would-be comic Danny (Carlo Imperato), begin dating. Later on, stalwart recurring player Ann Nelson is elevated to costar status in the role of ditsy school secretary Mrs. Berg. Also, officious vice principal Morloch (Ken Swofford) continues to mold the school's gifted pupils into his antiquated idea of "perfect" students, most memorably by introduced ROTC classes to the curriculum in the episode "Tomorrow's Children", inasmuch as Joan Baez is guest star on this occasion, and the musical numbers include highlights from "Hair", guess how long ROTC remains on campus! In other episodes, Anthony Newley guests as Doris' childhood idol, TV actor Trevor Kane; the teachers strut their stuff in the obligatory faculty variety show; Jesse is revealed to be an illegal alien, requiring an "instant" marriage to the pliable Doris; chubby tuba student Dwight (David Greenlee) falls hard to Holly; Danny goes the "Cyrano de Bergerac" route with Nicole on behalf of Jesse; Holly has a bout with anorexia due to problems at home; and former series regular Erica Gimpel returns to the role of Coco Hernandez--just long enough to qualify for her diploma in an episode that also features Milton Berle (NOT as one of the students!) As in seasons past, two of the Season Four episodes are comprised of footage from recent live "Kids from 'Fame'" concerts: "Heart of Rock and Roll" and "Heart of Rock and Roll". And with "School is Out", the series' only "clip show" comprise of highlights from past episodes, the fourth season of Fame comes to a close. Oh, and did we mention that the series managed to pick up yet another Emmy award, this one for Jim McElroy's videotape editing? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cancelled by NBC after two seasons in the spring of 1983, the musical drama series Fame was nonetheless extremely popular amongst American teenagers and with fans all over the rest of the world. Accordingly, its producers decided to keep the property alive with a third season 24 new episodes, filmed for off-network syndication. Virtually the entire cast of the NBC Fame was retained for the syndicated version, except for Lori Singer as cello student Julie Miller; it was explained that Julie had decided to leave school to get married. And while the popular Erica Gimpel was seen in the first handful of syndicated episodes as ambitious singer-dancer Coco Hernandez, she too had exited the show by the middle of its third season, her character having dropped out to pursue her professional career (oddly enough, Gimpel continues to receive billing throughout the season). Also, this is Lee Curreri's last year as Bruno Martelli. New to the cast are Cynthia Gibb as energetic drama major Holly Laird, and Billy Hufsey as cocksure dance student Christopher Donlon; also, chubby tuba player Dwight (David Greenlee), previously a recurring character, is now one of the regulars. And, since it was decided that the series needed a strong adult menace, Ken Swofford was hired to play Quentin Morloch, new vice principal at New York's High School of the Performing Arts. A self-important, anal-retentive "rules are rules" type, Morloch will spend much of his screen time cooking up methods to instill his own brand of discipline on the kids, often denying them the opportunity to show off their talents (which is rather like not allowing students in an industrial arts class to make cabinets!). Episodes like "Hail to the Chief" and "Rules" are prime examples of Morloch's blinkered approach to education; indeed, he would not come to fully understand that his students were uniquely gifted and not just a bunch of noisy kids until he was on the brink of leaving the series two years later. The first of the "syndie" episodes is the two-part "I'm Gonna Learn How to Fly", in which arrogant keyboard student Bruno faces the possibility of leaving school when his dad dies. Later episodes this season include "Consequences" wherein the students are put in charge of the school to teach them a lesson about responsibility; "Break Dance", a contemporary West Side Story in which Christopher mediates a turf battle between two street gangs; "Lisa's Song", a semi-fantasy in which Holly makes contact with the ghost of a disgruntled former student; and "Sheer Will", which finds ebullient would-be comic Danny (Carlo Imperato) coming to grips with the fact that he has been diagnosed with leukemia. Of the series' many guest stars this season, Chorus Line principal Donna McKechnie is cast as Holly's mother in "Stages", impressionist George Kirby is featured as a former nightclub headliner turned wino in "Catch a Falling Star", blind actor-composer Tom Sullivan plays a substitute teacher who falls for dance instructor Lydia (Debbie Allen) in "A Friend in Need"; Melissa Manchester shows up as a once-famous torch singer who is afraid to return to performing in "Home Again", and veteran gangster-movie heavy Lawrence Tierney shows up in "The Deal", which turns out to be nothing more nor less than an old Mickey Rooney "Let's raise money by putting on show!" musical. And as in the previous season, highlights from the real-life musical tours undertaken by the cast members are featured in a brace of special episodes: "The Kids from 'Fame' in Israel" and "'Fame' Looks at Music 83" (with Irene Cara). In addition to accumulating even more local stations and a bigger audience than it had ever enjoyed as a network series, Fame earned yet another Emmy award, this one going to film editor Howard Brock. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a crack corps of female prison guards are assigned to watch over the men in the most dangerous cell-block. Mayhem ensues as the physical and emotional pressures the women face begin to take their toll. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The first season of the musical drama series Fame could boast of several carryovers from the 1980 film favorite of the same name, beginning with Debbie Allen as Lydia Grant, tough-taskmaster dance teacher at New York's High School of the Performing Arts. Not only did Allen introduce each episode, but she also choreographed most of the big dance numbers--and won one of the series' four Season One Emmy awards in the process (other winners included director Harry Harris, cinematographer William W. Spencer, costume supervisor Marilyn Matthews, art directors Ira Diamond and Joseph J. Stone). Also repeating their film roles as Albert Hague as the school's music professor Benjamin Shorofsky, still so dedicated to his craft that he doesn't know who Johnny Carson is, nor any other "ethereal" contemporary entertainer; Lee Curreri as arrogant keyboard student Bruno Martelli (Curreiri also contributes most of the original songs heard this season); and Gene Anthony Ray as Leroy Johnson, who hopes that his dancing gifts will enable him to escape his ghetto neighborhood. Among the newcomers to the property are Erica Gimpel as singer-dancer Coco Hernandez, impatient to break free from school and make her professional debut. Carol Mayo Jenkins as martinet English teacher Elizabeth Sherwood, who regards talent as secondary academic achievement; P.R. Paul as drama student Montgomery MacNeil, struggling to emerge from under the shadow of his mother, a famous actress; Valerie Landsburg as Doris Schwartz, who intends to be an actress, a writer, a director or a combination of the above; Carlo Imperato as wannabe standup comic Danny Amatulo; Michael Thoma as drama teacher Mr. Crandall; and last but far from least, Lori Singer as the loner of the bunch, Julie Miller, a cellist from the Midwest. In fact, most of the series' first episode is seen through the eyes of Julie as she begins her first day at the school. While Julie struggles with a sense of displacement, Coco must come to grips with the realities of showbiz in the second episode, when she finds herself competing with her teacher Lydia Grant for a plum professional stage role. In later episodes, Leroy tries to steer his brother away from a street gang and also gets in trouble with the faculty when he attempts to ad-lib his way through a Shakespearian play; Bruno is seized with a sudden attack of stage fright; Doris poses as a hooker to research a writing project; Danny runs into resistance from his dad as he attempts to pursue his comedy career; the icy Miss Sherwood melts a bit as she comes to the rescue of a pair of talented derelicts (played by Ray Walston and Art Carney; and the human side of the imperious Shorofsky is revealed when he is hospitalized with a serious illness. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

E. L. Doctorow's novel Ragtime was a sprawling fictional account of American manners and mores in the years between 1900 and 1913. Among the mosaic of colorful factual and fictional characters in the novel were escape artist Harry Houdini and radical Emma Goldman. Both characters are all but eliminated in the film version, which only concentrates on three of Doctorow's many plot threads: The story of an immigrant artist (Mandy Patinkin) who becomes a movie director; the saga of "Gibson Girl" Evelyn Nesbit Shaw (Elizabeth McGovern), for whose sake playboy Harry K. Thaw (Robert Joy); kills architect Stanford White (Norman Mailer) and a lone black man's (Howard Rollins Jr.) quest for justice when his car is destroyed by a racist fire chief (Kenneth McMillan). This last subplot consumes most of the film's running time, to the overall detriment of the pacing. There are also several scenes involving an unnamed upper-middle-class family (headed by James Olson and Mary Steenburgen) who are evidently meant to be the audience's eyes and ears, but are frankly not terribly interesting. Back in 1981, Ragtime was given plenty of press coverage as the "comeback" picture for James Cagney, after twenty years in retirement. The problem is that Cagney's character (a police commissioner) isn't in the book, and his inclusion not only throws the story off balance, but necessitates the removal of several potentially interesting characters and events. Another detriment is the gratuitous (and illogical) nudity in the Evelyn Nesbit scenes, which earned the film its "R" rating. An ornate misfire, Ragtime is of interest today only for its remarkable cast of veterans and stars-to-be, including Pat O'Brien and Eloise O'Brien, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Allen, Moses Gunn, Jeff Daniels and Fran Drescher. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The "fish" in the title of this picture refers to the astrological sign Pisces. Not all of Pittsburgh is due to be saved, but the members of a third-rate NBA basketball team could sure use some salvation. When all the team members except for Moses Guthrie (Julius Erving) quit, astrologer Mona Mondieu (Stockard Channing) and streetwise Tyrone Millman (James Bond III) come to the rescue. The supporting cast includes Jonathan Winters in a dual role, as well as real-life basketball champs Meadowlark Lemon and Kareem Abdul Jabbar. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A scientist hunted by terrorists receives assistance from an unexpected source: two Las Vegas showgirls and their promoter who pretend to be detectives. ~ All Movie Guide

In the first episode of a two-part story, J.J. (Jimmie Walker) announces his intention of marrying his new girlfriend, Diana (Debbie Allen). Both sets of parents express strong and noisy objections to this impending union. What no one realizes during this turmoil is that Diana is harboring a disturbing secret: She is addicted to drugs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide