Movies by Alfre Woodard
As part of the cast:
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Memphis Beat: Season 1 (2010)
Cast: Jason Lee, Sam Hennings, DJ Qualls …
Jason Lee returns to television with this engaging series about Dwight Hendricks, an eccentric police detective who loves solving crime in his hometown of Memphis, listening to the blues and…
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Reach for Me (2009)
Cast: Seymour Cassel, Alfre Woodard, Johnny Whitworth …
Directed by: LeVar Burton
When his new hospice roommate -- 25-year-old Kevin -- moves in, the quiet life of senior citizen Alvin turns upside down. Forced to escape Kevin and his girlfriend, Alvin meets free spirit…
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Three Rivers: Season 1 (2009)
Cast: Alex O'Loughlin, Alfre Woodard, Katherine Moennig …
A new twist on the television medical drama, this one-season series set in a Pittsburg hospital explores the race-against-time world of organ transplants from the perspective of the medical…
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Marvel Knights: Black Panther (2009)
Cast: Djimon Hounsou, Jill Scott, Carl Lumbly …
Directed by: Mark Brooks
This animated adventure remakes the origins of T'Challa (voiced by Djimon Hounsou), the Black Panther, who was introduced in 1966 and was the first black superhero in the Marvel…
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Three Rivers (2009)
Cast: Alex O'Loughlin, Katherine Moennig, Daniel Henney …
A world-class organ-transplant hospital in the heart of Pittsburgh, Penn. is the setting for this TV drama, which follows the tumultuous personal and professional lives of renowned surgeon…
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Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys (2008)
Cast: Kathy Bates, Alfre Woodard, Sanaa Lathan …
Directed by: Tyler Perry
Tyler Perry writes, directs and co-stars in this poignant dramedy centered on a pair of friends -- wealthy socialite Charlotte (Kathy Bates) and working-class Alice (Alfre Woodard) -- whose…
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Medal of Honor (2008)
Cast: Alfre Woodard
Directed by: Roger Sherman
Fueled by moving stories of self-sacrifice and patriotism, this PBS documentary shares the experiences of 13 former soldiers who risked their lives to advance their country's ideals and…
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American Violet (2008)
Cast: Nicole Beharie, Michael O'Keefe, Will Patton …
Directed by: Tim Disney
Inspired by true events, this penetrating drama centers on Dee Roberts (Nicole Beharie), a 24-year-old mother of four who's forced to take on a corrupt district attorney (Michael…
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Black Hollywood: Blaxploitation and Advancing an Independent Black Cinema (2008)
Cast: Sidney Poitier, Diahnne Abbott, Rosalind Cash …
Directed by: Howard Johnson
Filmed on location in Hollywood in 1984, this probing documentary examines the ever-changing state of African-American cinema via the increasing visibility of black actors and directors, and…
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National Geographic: Nefertiti and the Lost Dynasty (2007)
Cast: Alfre Woodard, Zahi Hawass
Emmy Award-winning actress Alfre Woodard narrates this revealing documentary from National Geographic that examines the 3,000-year-old mystery surrounding the disappearance of one of…
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Something New (2006)
Cast: Sanaa Lathan, Simon Baker, Russell Hornsby …
Directed by: Sanaa Hamri
Having carefully calculated her professional life, African-American accounting exec Kenya McQueen (Sanaa Lathan) is concerned that her personal life doesn't measure up, so she agrees to…
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Take the Lead (2006)
Cast: Antonio Banderas, Rob Brown, Alfre Woodard …
Directed by: Liz Friedlander
When a former professional dancer (Antonio Banderas) offers his skills to the New York public school system, his traditional methods clash with his students' hip-hop sensibilities. But…
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16 Blocks (2006)
Cast: Bruce Willis, Mos Def, David Morse …
Directed by: Richard Donner
Tasked with escorting chatty prosecution witness Eddie Bunker (rapper and seasoned actor Mos Def) from police custody to a nearby courthouse, aging New York City cop Jack Mosley (Bruce…
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The Water Is Wide (2006)
Cast: Alfre Woodard, Jeff Hephner, James Murtaugh …
Directed by: John Kent Harrison
Based on Pat Conroy's autobiographical novel, this Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation traces the best-selling author's early career as an elementary schoolteacher on an island off…
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Beauty Shop (2005)
Cast: Queen Latifah, Alicia Silverstone, Andie MacDowell …
Directed by: Bille Woodruff
Fed up with her dishonest boss, hairstylist Gina Norris decides to give him a run for his money by taking over a rundown Atlanta salon and setting up her own beauty shop complete with sassy…
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Martin's Big Words ... and More Stories from the African-American Tradition (2005)
Cast: Michael Clarke Duncan, Samuel L. Jackson, Alfre Woodard …
This trio of tales celebrates the history of African-American traditions. Michael Clarke Duncan narrates "Martin's Big Words," which brings Dr. Martin Luther King to life via his…
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The Forgotten (2004)
Cast: Julianne Moore, Dominic West, Gary Sinise …
Directed by: Joseph Ruben
A desperate mother tries to prove the existence of her missing child in this chilling psychological thriller. Reeling from the loss of her 8-year-old son, she seeks counsel from a therapist…
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The Dot ... and More Stories to Make You Feel Good (2004)
Cast: Thora Birch, Alfre Woodard, Lindsay Crouse …
Directed by: Gary Goldberger, John Lechner
From Scholastic Video comes this inspirational collection of stories. In "The Dot" (narrated by Thora Birch), though a young girl can't draw, her dot makes a big splash at the school art…
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The Core (2003)
Cast: Aaron Eckhart, Hilary Swank, Bruce Greenwood …
Directed by: Jon Amiel
The Earth's inner core has stopped spinning, and scientist Josh Keyes (Aaron Eckhart) must discover why -- before the world literally falls apart -- by burrowing into the planet's…
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The Singing Detective (2003)
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Robin Wright, Mel Gibson …
Directed by: Keith Gordon
Out of boredom, a bedridden novelist reworks (in his mind) the story of his first book, putting himself in the role of the title character, the Singing Detective. He concocts a fantasy world…
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Radio (2003)
Cast: Ed Harris, Cuba Gooding Jr., Riley Smith …
Directed by: Michael Tollin
A small-town high school football coach (Ed Harris) befriends a developmentally disabled man (Cuba Gooding Jr.) nicknamed "Radio," who has always been the target of jokes and teasing, in this…
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A Wrinkle in Time (2003)
Cast: Katie Stuart, David Dorfman, Gregory Smith …
Directed by: John Kent Harrison
With help from a neighbor, Meg Murry (Katie Stuart) and her brother, Charles (David Dorfman), search for their missing father, who disappeared while doing confidential government research.…
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The Wild Thornberrys Movie (2002)
Cast: Lacey Chabert, Brenda Blethyn, Tim Curry …
Directed by: Cathy Malkasian, Jeff McGrath
The Thornberry clan is on safari, and things are shaping up the way they usually do: Debbi (voiced by Danielle Harris) is annoyed; Nigel (Tim Curry) and Marianne (Jodi Carlisle) are wrapped…
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Unchained Memories: Slave Narratives (2002)
Cast: Roscoe Lee Browne, Ruby Dee, LaTanya Richardson …
Directed by: Ed Bell, Thomas Lennon
Throughout the 1930s, journalists and writers accumulated stories and photographs from former African-American slaves and compiled more than 2300 first-person accounts of this horrifying…
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Searching for Debra Winger (2002)
Cast: Patricia Arquette, Emmanuelle Béart, Katrin Cartlidge …
Directed by: Rosanna Arquette
Originally airing on Showtime, this documentary directed by actress Rosanna Arquette focuses on the life of somewhat hermetic star Debra Winger, as well as the struggles that actresses over…
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For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide (2002)
Cast: Alfre Woodard, Lynn Whitfield
The powerful tales of seven diverse African-American women are woven together in this 1982 performance of Ntozake Shange's Obie Award-winning landmark play. A breakthrough portrayal of…
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Trial of the Moke (2002)
Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Alfre Woodard, Franklyn Seales …
In 1881, Lt. Henry Ossian Flipper (Franklyn Seales), the first African-American man to graduate from West Point, went on trial for embezzlement, a crime he didn't commit. Desperate to…
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K-Pax (2001)
Cast: Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges, Mary McCormack …
Directed by: Iain Softley
Kevin Spacey stars as Prot, an extraterrestrial from the planet K-PAX (or so he'd have us believe), in this science-fiction drama that casts Jeff Bridges as a psychiatrist who doubts…
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American Legends (2001)
Cast: James Earl Jones, Alfre Woodard
Rounding up four Disney-animated short films (all introduced by actor James Earl Jones), this timeless collection spotlighting American folk heroes begins with John Henry, the story of a…
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Directors: Spike Lee (2000)
Cast: Spike Lee, Wesley Snipes, Alfre Woodard …
Directed by: Robert J. Emery
One of the nation's leading cinematic voices, Spike Lee made a name for himself as an iconoclastic, controversial filmmaker. From Do the Right Thing to Summer of Sam, Lee has…
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Dinosaur (2000)
Cast: Julianna Margulies, D. B. Sweeney, Joan Plowright …
Directed by: Ralph Zondag, Eric Leighton
In Disney's animated film, an orphaned Iguanadon named Aladar grows up in the care of a group of lemurs. But when a meteor shower appears, Aladar and his lemur "family" flee their…
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Love & Basketball (2000)
Cast: Sanaa Lathan, Alfre Woodard, Omar Epps …
Directed by: Gina Prince
It's about winning, losing and playing the game. Monica (Sanaa Lathan) and Quincy (Omar Epps) grow up next door to each other playing basketball, fighting and falling in love. When…
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What's Cooking? (2000)
Cast: Joan Chen, Alfre Woodard, Kyra Sedgwick …
Directed by: Gurinder Chadha
This multicultural comedy-drama set in Los Angeles's middle-class environs paints an intriguing portrait of family tensions as four ethnic clans -- Latino, black, Jewish and Asian -- get…
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Holiday Heart (2000)
Cast: Ving Rhames, Alfre Woodard, Jesika Reynolds …
Directed by: Robert Townsend
Ving Rhames stars as Holly Heart, a kindhearted choirmaster who moonlights as a female impersonator in this television drama directed by Robert Townsend and based on the stage play by Cheryl…
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Half Past Autumn (2000)
Cast: Gordon Parks, Alfre Woodard, Avery Brooks …
Directed by: Craig Rice
Known for his cinematic opus Shaft, Gordon Parks was also an accomplished photojournalist who documented the struggles of the Civil Rights movement for Life magazine, as shown in this…
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Mumford (1999)
Cast: Ted Danson, Loren Dean, Hope Davis …
Directed by: Lawrence Kasdan
A shrink who makes you think, Mumford (Loren Dean) is a small-town psychologist with an unconventional therapeutic technique that works like a tonic on townspeople such as Hope Davis, Mary…
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The Wishing Tree (1999)
Cast: Alfre Woodard, Helen Shaver, Mary Alice …
Directed by: Ivan Passer
When her storyteller mother (Mary Alice) dies, attorney Clara Collier (Alfre Woodard) returns to her Georgia hometown and is soon captivated by a local legend of the "Magic Man" (Blair…
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Underground Railroad (1999)
Cast: Alfre Woodard
Actress Alfre Woodard hosts this program produced by the History Channel that looks at the pivotal events and historical figures that were instrumental in propelling the 200-year struggle to…
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Eleanor Roosevelt: American Experience (1999)
Cast: Eleanor Roosevelt, Alfre Woodard, David McCullough …
Directed by: Sue Williams
Admired for expanding the first lady's role in the White House, Eleanor Roosevelt was an early feminist turned contemporary heroine who overcame her share of obstacles -- as evidenced in…
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Down in the Delta (1998)
Cast: Alfre Woodard, Al Freeman Jr., Esther Rolle …
Directed by: Maya Angelou
Unemployed single mother Loretta Sinclair (Alfre Woodard) lives with her mother, Rosa Lynn (Mary Alice), in a Chicago apartment until drug abuse causes Loretta to neglect her children in this…
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The Voyage of La Amistad: A Quest for Freedom (1998)
Cast: Brock Peters, Alfre Woodard, Charles Durning …
Directed by: H.D. Motyl
Alfre Woodard narrates this moving documentary about the 1839 revolt aboard the slave ship La Amistad. News items, letters, drawings and dramatic readings by Charles Durning and Brock Peters…
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Miss Evers' Boys (1997)
Cast: Alfre Woodard, Laurence Fishburne, Craig Sheffer …
Directed by: Joseph Sargent
Laurence Fishburne stars in this Emmy-winning HBO drama about the Tuskegee Experiment, a government program that withheld penicillin from some African American men infected with syphilis so…
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Primal Fear (1996)
Cast: Richard Gere, Laura Linney, John Mahoney …
Directed by: Gregory Hoblit
When a blood-spattered altar boy (Ed Norton) is found running from a murder scene, his conviction seems certain. But when arrogant defense attorney Martin Vail (Richard Gere) steps in, the…
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Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
Cast: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner …
Directed by: Jonathan Frakes
The Borg are back! Capt. Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) confronts the archenemies who kidnapped and assimilated him in a "Next Generation" TV episode. Now, the Borg have time-traveled to…
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How to Make an American Quilt (1995)
Cast: Winona Ryder, Anne Bancroft, Ellen Burstyn …
Directed by: Jocelyn Moorhouse
Based on a novel by Whitney Otto, Jocelyn Moorhouse's directorial debut looks at relationships of all kinds -- romantic, platonic and familial. Finn Dodd (Winona Ryder), a graduate…
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The Piano Lesson (1995)
Cast: Charles S. Dutton, Alfre Woodard, Courtney B. Vance …
Directed by: Lloyd Richards
Mississippi sharecropper Boy Willie (Charles S. Dutton) would love to own the farm where his family once worked as slaves. But to buy the property, he needs to sell the family's piano,…
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Crooklyn (1994)
Cast: Alfre Woodard, Delroy Lindo, David Patrick Kelly …
Directed by: Spike Lee
Spike Lee directs this semi-autobiographical tale of a large family sharing a Brooklyn apartment in the early 1970s. The story focuses on Troy, whose musican father and schoolteacher mother…
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Race to Freedom: The Story of the Underground Railroad (1994)
Cast: Falconer Abraham, Dwight Bacquie, Janet Bailey …
Directed by: Don McBrearty
In this fictionalized account based on hundreds of true stories about runaway slaves, Thomas (Courtney B. Vance) and Sarah (Janet Bailey) attempt to escape from a North Carolina plantation in…
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Blue Chips (1994)
Cast: Nick Nolte, Mary McDonnell, J.T. Walsh …
Directed by: William Friedkin
College basketball coach Pete Bell (Nick Nolte) knows his squad of underdogs can't win without an infusion of fresh talent. After starting a nationwide search for players, Bell promises…
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Heart and Souls (1993)
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Charles Grodin, Alfre Woodard …
Directed by: Ron Underwood
A coldhearted yuppie connects with the ghosts of four people who died as he was being born. Their time in limbo is drawing to a close, and to avoid being dumped by his girlfriend, he must…
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Bopha! (1993)
Cast: Danny Glover, Malcolm McDowell, Alfre Woodard …
Directed by: Morgan Freeman
A black South African family struggles to stay together as the father (Danny Glover), a senior police official, and the son, a student activist, clash amidst the upheaval of apartheid. But…
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Passion Fish (1992)
Cast: Mary McDonnell, Alfre Woodard, Lenore Banks …
Directed by: John Sayles
May-Alice Culhane (Mary McDonnell) is a soap opera star who's left paralyzed after a car accident and, left with few other options, returns to her Louisiana home. Her heavy drinking and…
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The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag (1992)
Cast: Penelope Ann Miller, Eric Thal, Alfre Woodard …
Directed by: Allan Moyle
Betty Lou Perkins (Penelope Ann Miller) is a mousy, small-town librarian who confesses to a murder she didn't commit just to get attention (her own detective husband has been ignoring…
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Rich in Love (1992)
Cast: Albert Finney, Jill Clayburgh, Kathryn Erbe …
Directed by: Bruce Beresford
When Helen (Jill Clayburgh) leaves her retired husband (Albert Finney), their teenage daughter, Lucille (Kathryn Erbe), drops out of high school to take care of her depressed father and their…
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Grand Canyon (1991)
Cast: Danny Glover, Kevin Kline, Steve Martin …
Directed by: Lawrence Kasdan
A sequence of random but life-altering incidents conspire to link a group of Los Angeles denizens from disparate economic and social classes, leading to epiphanies about responsibilities and…
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Miss Firecracker (1989)
Cast: Holly Hunter, Mary Steenburgen, Tim Robbins …
Directed by: Thomas Schlamme
Carnelle (Holly Hunter), an oversexed hellion who was orphaned as a child, has always played second fiddle to her beautiful Southern belle cousin -- a past Miss Firecracker contest winner.…
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Scrooged (1988)
Cast: Bill Murray, Karen Allen, John Forsythe …
Directed by: Richard Donner
Cold-hearted TV exec Bill Murray is about to discover the true meaning of Christmas -- the hard way. Director Richard Donner's wild, woolly spin on Dickens's &NFi;A Christmas Carol…
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Extremities (1986)
Cast: Farrah Fawcett, James Russo, Alfre Woodard …
Directed by: Robert M. Young
Farrah Fawcett stars as a sexual assault victim who graduates from helplessness to empowerment -- through sheer force of will -- when she takes revenge on her attacker in this riveting film…
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Unnatural Causes (1986)
Cast: John Ritter, Alfre Woodard, John Sayles …
Directed by: Lamont Johnson
A struggling Vietnam veteran afflicted with an Agent Orange-related cancer links up with a Veterans' Administration counselor who campaigns for V.A. benefits for vets with illnesses…
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Go Tell It on the Mountain (1985)
Cast: Paul Winfield, Rosalind Cash, James Bond III …
Directed by: Stan Lathan
James Baldwin's literary gem is adapted for the screen in this spellbinding film about three generations of an African-American family struggling to find footing in America, a place…
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The Killing Floor (1985)
Cast: Dennis Farina, Clarence Felder, Moses Gunn …
Directed by: Bill Duke
During World War I, a poor black Southerner (Clarence Felder) travels to Chicago to find work in that city's slaughterhouses. There, he gets caught up in the organized labor movement and…
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Sweet Revenge (1984)
Cast: Kevin Dobson, Kelly McGillis, Alec Baldwin …
Directed by: David Greene
Army captain Paul Dennison's (Merritt Butrick) life came to a screeching halt when a double-dealing fellow officer, Joseph Cheever (Kevin Dobson), snuffed him. Now, 14 years later,…
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Cross Creek (1983)
Cast: Mary Steenburgen, Peter Coyote, Alfre Woodard …
Directed by: Martin Ritt
Based on the protagonist's real-life memoirs, frustrated newspaper reporter Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (Mary Steenburgen) abandons her career and moves to a Florida bayou to concentrate on…
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Ambush Murders (1982)
Cast: James Brolin, Dorian Harewood, Alfre Woodard …
Directed by: Steven Hilliard Stern
Based on a real criminal case, this legal thriller portrays the struggle of Ray Ellsworth (Dorian Harewood), a black man who must prove his innocence after being wrongfully accused of killing…
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Freedom Road (1979)
Cast: Muhammad Ali, Kris Kristofferson, Ron O'Neal …
Directed by: Ján Kadár
In the wake of the Civil War, as freed slaves and white sharecroppers fight to keep their land, former slave Gideon Jackson (Muhammad Ali) rises to the heights of power when he is elected to…