johnnyb-10 Reviews

Knights of the South Bronx (2005 TV Movie)

Chess was their salvation

[7/10 · 6 December 2005]

Knights of the South Bronx is based on the story of David MacEnulty, one of the first coaches in New York City's Chess-in-the-Schools program. Ted Danson plays the MacEnulty character, named Richard Mason in the movie.

Danson's character, a fired corporate whistle-blower, takes a job as a substitute teacher in an elementary school in an economically depressed neighborhood. A chess expert, he finds that is the one way he can bond with his class and get them to learn.

A motivated teacher can change the world, and it seems some of the best have come from corporate backgrounds and have made teaching a second career. Jaime Escalante of Stand and Deliver fame was a Silicon Valley executive before finding his true calling teaching math to inner-city youths. Danson is believable and as always, likable as Mason/MacEnulty. The four children with the biggest roles are charmers. Keke Palmer, a 12-year-old beauty who made a big impression playing opposite William H. Macy in The Wool Cap is every bit as impressive as Kenya Russell, a girl who refuses to let her crack head mother destroy her future. Malcolm David Kelley is Jimmy Washington, a kid who refuses to be daunted or cowed by beatings administered by the local gang toughs. Yucini Diaz is Renee Soto, who has the job of looking after her kindergärtner brother, Dawson, who turns out to be the true chess prodigy. The exuberant Dawson is played to perfection by Antonio Ortiz.

Many of MacEnulty's original students are now in college because chess broadened their horizons beyond the South Bronx. MacEnulty himself has become a successful author of chess books for kids.

While the movie is predictable and formulaic, the story is real. You could do a lot worse things with two hours than watch Knights of the South Bronx. 7/10

Brother Future (1991 TV Movie)

an excellent history lesson masquerading as fantasy

[7/10 · 12 December 2000]

Petty street hustler T.J. finds himself transported from present-day Detroit to 1822 Charleston, South Carolina. He is captured and sold at a slave auction to a plantation owner "Master Cooper."

T.J. is at first arrogant and blissfully ignorant of the struggle for freedom that African-Americans valiantly faced and overcame, and the legacy the brave souls who put their lives on the line (and who sometimes lost those lives) left to those who still fight the ongoing battle for civil rights and equal opportunity.

That all changes after T.J. unintentionally gets a young slave he has befriended beaten brutally for one of his own backfired stunts. He helps the young slave learn to read and write and then helps the young man and his wife-to-be escape the Cooper Plantation. Although it is never stated, I got the distinct impression these young runaways were T.J.'s direct ancestors.

In his humbling experience/history lesson, T.J. also meets real-life hero Denmark Vesey, a freed former slave who leads a slave revolt, and is hanged with his co-conspirators, becoming a martyr to the cause of freedom.

Gifted comic actor Phill Lewis ("City Slickers") is both funny and touching as T.J. Carl Lumbly ("How Stella Got Her Groove Back," "Men of Honor") was properly dignified as the unforgettable Vesey. Lumbley's real-life wife, Vonetta McGee, sparkles as the house slave and psychic Motilla, who turns out to be T.J.'s spiritual guide through his surreal and harrowing experience. Frank Converse, who has made a career playing corrupt cops, crime bosses and other unsympathetic types, was properly cast as Master Cooper, who despite his brutality, was probably a more compassionate slave owner than most.

This is an excellent history lesson masquerading as fantasy, and should be a staple in junior high and high schools for Black History Month.

The Temptations (1998)

As forceful and honest as a network TV miniseries gets

[27 September 1999]

They didn't write their own music. They didn't play their own instruments. They didn't produce their own records. But did they ever sing and dance. While the British invasion defined the new paradigm of rock and roll, the Temptations used the old paradigm of 1950s doo-wop and took it to a level no one outside the confines of Motown enterprises had envisioned. In so doing, they became THE American supergroup of the 1960s.

Otis Williams' autobiography and group bio was the basis for the miniseries.

It was as honest as self-analysis gets, chronicling the rise of a group of ambitious, talented, naive teenagers in the burgeoning Detroit R&B scene, and the inevitable decline. Paul Williams' self-dissolution from alcohol, David Ruffin's slide into megalomania and drug addiction, Melvin Franklin's death from the steroids he used to fight rheumatoid arthritis and Otis Williams' own demons of power and control are honestly confronted in the book, and translate nicely to the small screen. It is a shame that this story wasn't made into a feature film, but "The Temptations" is as forceful and honest as a network TV miniseries gets.

The cast is charming and astonishingly good physical matches, especially Leon as the monumentally gifted and commensurately tormented Ruffin. Gina Ravera manages both innocence and sizzle as Otis Williams' wife, Josephine. Jenifer Lewis, who specializes in strong women, is right on the money as Franklin's mother, "Mama Rose." An especially effective touching moment comes at the end where Smokey Robinson (himself) sings at Franklin's funeral.

The Tempts music is as vital today as it was 30 years ago and insures that this miniseries, nicely packaged as a two-and-a-half hour movie for video, is never slow or boring. Both on the up side and the down, "The Temptations" is a ride-and-a-half, big time!

The Jackie Robinson Story (1950)

P.R. film doesn't get to the heart of the matter

[5/10 · 12 September 1999]

Yes, Jackie Robinson portrayed himself in this 1950 B-movie "docudrama." Perhaps that was a mistake. Robinson was a great baseball player, a pioneer, and a true hero of the civil rights movement. What he was not was an actor. And while this is an important film because of Robinson's presence, it is not a good film.

His historically important stint in the U.S. Army was glossed over. There was no mention of his court martial for refusing to sit at the back of the bus on an Army transport in Texas (he won--see movie "The Court Martial of Jackie Robinson"). There was nothing about the Kansas City Monarchs and his playing on the same team as legendary hurler/baseball showman Satchel Paige (see movie "Soul of the Game.")

While there was an attempt made to show the racial injustices Robinson faced, first as a member of the Triple-A Montreal Royals of the International League, then with the Dodgers, this movie was more of a feel-good, 1950s, African-American Horatio Alger piece of public relations. For all the bite the screenplay had, it could have been written by the Dodgers P.R. office. It also made a running joke of brother Mack's "steady job." Mack Robinson was a janitor/street sweeper who could not find a better job despite a college diploma and a silver medal as a sprinter in the 1936 Olympics. The only reason he wasn't hired somewhere as a coach was racism. The movie tried unsuccessfully to make that point, but racism was not a popular subject in 1950 America, especially when the filmmaker's agenda was selling movie tickets, so the reason for Mack's lowly employment status was hinted at, not confronted.

There are two redeeming qualities in the movie: Ruby Dee as Robinson's wife, Rachel, and the appearance of Robinson himself, actor or not. Dee, who was one of Hollywood's most beautiful women at that time, was an excellent physical match for the lovely and intelligent Rachel Robinson. Her acting performance transcended an otherwise bad film. Ironically, forty years later, she would play Robinson's mother in "The Court Martial of Jackie Robinson." As for Robinson himself, those who only know him from Black History month can see firsthand that he was an intelligent, articulate human being, despite being ill at ease on the movie set. What also comes through about Robinson is his broad shouldered physical prowess. He was not as tall as Andre Braugher, who played him in "Court Martial...," nor did he have Braugher's vocal presence. While handsome, he was not drop dead movie star gorgeous as Blair Underwood, who played him in "Soul of the Game." But he was a real athlete, who had been a four-letter man at UCLA (baseball, football, basketball and track), and who had also been the best black amateur golfer in California. The real Robinson, unlike the fine actors who played him later, comes across as the real athlete he was.

Soul of the Game (1996 TV Movie)

a thoroughly entertaining sleeper

[9/10 · 31 August 1999]

Kevin Rodney Sullivan uses this masterpiece of a cable movie to build his resume for his entre into feature film directing ("How Stella Got Her Groove Back"). HBO Pictures' faith in the young actor/director, who to date has very few credits as either, is justified.

The year is 1945. Everyone knows that soon, the Major Leagues will be integrated. Most think the player who breaks the "color line" will be an established Negro Leagues star, such as legendary hurler Leroy "Satchel" Paige of the Kansas City Monarchs or Homestead Grays' catcher Josh Gibson, who was called "the black Babe Ruth." But Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey confounds the experts and chooses the confrontational but cerebral Jackie Robinson first.

Delroy Lindo, an unheralded but talented character actor ("Broken Arrow," "Get Shorty," "Malcolm X," "Crooklyn") shows true leading man potential as Satchel Paige in this engaging story about the struggle for Negro League stars to make it to the "big leagues" in the mid 1940s. Mykelti Williamson ("Forrest Gump," "The New WKRP in Cincinnati," "Midnight Caller") is excellent as Josh Gibson. Blair Underwood ("L.A. Law"), a fine actor, seems physically miscast as Jackie Robinson, but turns in a credible performance as the future Brooklyn Dodger second baseman and Hall of Famer. Edward Herrmann ("Richie Rich" and Dodge automobile pitchman) is properly pontifical as Rickey, and an excellent facial match, although he is much taller and more nattily attired than "The Mahatma" was in real life. Venerable character actor R. Lee Ermey ("Full Metal Jacket") steals a couple of scenes in his role as J. L. "Wilkie" Wilkinson, the visionary Kansas City Monarchs owner who, among other innovations, invented night baseball.

The story is mostly entertainment, a docudrama. It is a sumptuously photographed period piece with clothes, cars, ballparks, and hotel lobbies perfectly festooned in the style of the day. As a character study, it is flawed. Paige, while portrayed as the consummate showman he was, is also shown as a devoted husband whose wife Lahoma (Salli Richardson) travels everywhere with him. The real life Paige was a notorious womanizer. And although there are many scenes with Gibson and Robinson together, including a near-fight that probably never happened, in reality, there is no evidence to suggest that Gibson and Robinson ever met each other. The screenplay also glosses over Gibson's well-documented alcoholism and heroin addiction, suggesting that the brain tumor which eventually killed him at the tender age of 36 was the sole cause of the bizarre behavior that kept him from being the first African-American selected to play in the majors.

The movie also has fictional scenes at the beginning and end where a newspaper reporter talks to Willie Mays during the 1954 World Series before the young Giants outfielder goes out and makes "the catch" of Vic Wertz's blast in Cleveland's Municipal Stadium. It is also convenient how many times the juvenile Mays seems to pop up in opportune moments as a spectator or autograph seeker during the film. One such scene was used to make the point that his father, Cat Mays, had been a standout in the Negro Leagues long before baseball integration was a remote possibility, and also to get Robinson--and the audience--to question how old Paige really was at that point.

On the other hand, the film does a creditable job of showing how tough times were for Negro League ballplayers and how eager most were to be accepted into so-called "organized baseball," despite the Jim Crow laws and attitudes of the day. There is a shocking and touching scene where a clueless young fruit vendor repays the kindness of Mr. and Mrs. Paige by calling them the ugliest racial epithet used against African-Americans.

As entertainment, "Soul of the Game" deserves an "A." As a historical document, it is about a "C." That's "C" as in "see it."

The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson (1990 TV Movie)

Part of the Robinson saga few know about

[7/10 · 29 August 1999]

Before Jack Roosevelt Robinson made his historical impact as the first African-American to break the color line in Major League Baseball, he made an impact on the United States Army. This made-for-television movie (TNT), while not historically accurate in every minute detail, is an important document and an excellent history lesson.

While a four-sport star at UCLA (baseball, football, basketball and track), Robinson was drafted into the U.S. Army to serve during WWII. He found and fought racial discrimination at every turn. With the help of an influential fellow soldier, Joe Louis, Robinson became an officer over the objections of the white power structure at Camp Riley (now Ft. Riley), Kansas. He then fought to get equal PX privileges for black soldiers. Branded a troublemaker and sent to Camp Hood (now Ft. Hood), Texas, he was court-martialed on trumped-up charges of insubordination after refusing the order of a civilian bus driver to sit at the back of an Army bus. He won his case, resigned his commission, and joined the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League (see movie "Soul of the Game" for details), where he played with legendary hurler/baseball showman Satchel Paige.

Andre Braugher was stellar as Robinson. Kasi Lemmons was an excellent physical match as Robinson's future wife, Rachel. Bruce Dern turned in a stunning performance as "Scout Ed Higgins" (in actuality Dodgers scout Clyde Sukeforth) a bigot who nonetheless appreciated Robinson's skills, and Stan Shaw was quite believable as legendary heavyweight champion Joe Louis. J.A. Preston, a marvelous character actor with an unforgettable voice and presence, is the narrator and Robinson's champion as real-life sportswriter Wendell Smith of the Pittsburgh Courier. Noble Willingham had a notable cameo as a two-faced colonel. But the most brilliant bit of casting was the venerable Ruby Dee as Robinson's mother. Forty years earlier in "The Jackie Robinson Story" (1950), a forgettable piece of pablum in which Robinson portrayed himself, Dee transcended an awful film with a bravura performance as wife Rachel Robinson.

There were a couple of unbelievable scenes. One centered on how Robinson and Louis allegedly met--according to the film, an embittered Robinson was about to blindly throw a punch at Louis, who stopped him short by saying, "I don't think I'm the man you want to hit." Also, it strains the credibility to portray Higgins/Sukeforth and Joe Louis as waiting outside the military courtroom for the outcome of the court martial, although it is plausible that Smith was there on assignment for the Courier. The film did make the point that Robinson had a fiery temper and bristled at the notion of racial injustice, something that he was forced to downplay during his first few years in the big leagues.

All in all, it was a good film, bordering on excellent, and more historically accurate than most docudramas, showing that there was precedent for Rosa Parks' more celebrated transit troubles, and that Jackie Robinson was a civil rights pioneer before stepping foot on a professional baseball diamond.