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American Playhouse is an anthology television series periodically broadcast by Public Broadcasting Service in the United States.
1983
The Antrobus family and their housekeeper Lilly Sabina face various global disasters, including a new ice age, a great flood, and a devastating war.
A young Depression-era reporter is assigned to write his newspaper's advice column on the insistence of his mocking editor. Unhappy in the demeaning assignment, he begins to take an interest in one of the readers sending letters.
Isaiah Stern is a wealthy, but dying, toy manufacturer. Once more, Stern has gathered his grown sons to revise his will. Three of the four are used to these idiosyncratic changes, and have come to accept them: however, the fourth, a married psychologist, is heavily in debt and doesn't like his thin share, which sparks a confrontation. The remaining sons are a bachelor who runs the family store, an indecisive sort who still lives at home, and Daddy's favorite, a closet homosexual.
A low-key drama exploring the struggles of an impoverished sharecropping family in the rural South with themes of Southern identity, morality, and family.
A decade-spanning look at marriage of a Black American soldier and a white British woman.
A decade-spanning look at marriage of a Black American soldier and a white British woman.
A decade-spanning look at marriage of a Black American soldier and a white British woman.
During the Civil Rights movement in Mississippi, Medgar Evers rose from insurance agent to one of the most integral activists of the era. From boycotting white merchants in the mid-'50s to being a key figure in desegregating the University of Mississippi in 1962, Evers met success, and with it, many enemies. When racists swarm his house, his life and the lives of his wife and children are threatened.
Actor Richard Kiley takes on the personae of thirteen different characters as he reads his favorite poems written in the first-person.
The story of a young woman imprisoned for declining to testify before a grand jury; comprised from real courtroom transcripts and based on the experiences of individuals jailed for their refusal to testify.
Former aviatrix Emily Stilson suffers a stroke and is plunged into a world of disorientation and grief. Memories flood in between painful attempts to re-learn the basic functions of everyday life.
A dramatization of the fight over the estate of artist Mark Rothko, who killed himself in 1970.
1984
Aspiring writer Nathan Zuckerman visits the secluded home of his literary idol, E.I. Lonoff. While there, Zuckerman becomes entangled in the author's complex domestic life and becomes captivated by a mysterious young woman.
A slave switches her light-skinned baby with her master's baby. The child grows up raised by whites.
Estranged brothers, screenwriter Austin and drifter Lee, clash while staying at their mother's house in suburban Southern California, leading to a chaotic role reversal that explores themes of identity, family, and the American Dream.
Railroad laborer Duff Anderson struggles to maintain his dignity and marriage to a preacher's daughter in the racially segregated South.
Two young urban professionals, Lynne and Murray, meet by happenstance and begin an on-again, off-again relationship in which they struggle to transcend modern-day neuroses concerning courtship.
Esther Mirkin, a traumatized Holocaust survivor, frequents a Manhattan cafeteria where she meets Aaron, a Jewish writer, who tries to uncover the ghosts of her past.
On a remote island off the coast of Maine, four people attempt to relax but the isolated refuge fails to protect them from their own insecurities and jealousies.
Weller Martin and Fonsia Dorsey reside at a nursing home, and they strike up an acquaintance. Neither seems to have any other friends, and they start to enjoy each other's company. Weller offers to teach Fonsia how to play gin rummy, and engage in lengthy conversations about their families and their lives in the outside world.
A recently divorced woman returns to her dysfunctional Rhode Island family home and gets involved in drama with her neighbors.
During World War I, a poor black Southerner travels north to Chicago to get work in the city's slaughterhouses, where he becomes embroiled in the organized labor movement.
Miraculous occurrences happen to people throughout the world every day. God's Miracles presents personal experiences as well as unvarnished scientific and factual evidence, allowing the viewer to draw their own conclusions as to whether it is possible for God to grant miracles.
The struggles of Tom Domino, publisher and editor of a seemingly doomed, underground newspaper in New York City's East Village are chronicled in this dark comedy.
In the lobby of a small hotel in midtown New York, small-time hustler Erie Smith talks to the hotel's new night clerk Charlie Hughes, lamenting how Smith's luck has worsened since the death of Hughie, Hughes' predecessor.
A dramatized account of the actual events that led to the 1950 conviction of former U. S. State Department official Alger Hiss of perjury before a federal grand jury and his resulting imprisonment.
A dramatized account of the actual events that led to the 1950 conviction of former U. S. State Department official Alger Hiss of perjury before a federal grand jury and his resulting imprisonment.
A dramatized account of the actual events that led to the 1950 conviction of former U. S. State Department official Alger Hiss of perjury before a federal grand jury and his resulting imprisonment.
A dramatized account of the actual events that led to the 1950 conviction of former U. S. State Department official Alger Hiss of perjury before a federal grand jury and his resulting imprisonment.
1986
A young boy is ridiculed by his schoolmates for his eccentric behavior and assertions that he can fly. Little do they know...
In 1952, two polar opposites at Northwestern University are assigned to the same dorm room.
A convict serving five years writes stories under the name 'O. Henry'. He encounters a convicted safecracker and is inspired to write the story of Jimmy Valentine, a man invincible in the art of cracking safes.
Huckleberry Finn, a rambunctious boy adventurer chafing under the bonds of civilization, escapes his humdrum world and his selfish, plotting father by sailing a raft down the Mississippi River.
Huckleberry Finn, a rambunctious boy adventurer chafing under the bonds of civilization, escapes his humdrum world and his selfish, plotting father by sailing a raft down the Mississippi River.
Huckleberry Finn, a rambunctious boy adventurer chafing under the bonds of civilization, escapes his humdrum world and his selfish, plotting father by sailing a raft down the Mississippi River.
Huckleberry Finn, a rambunctious boy adventurer chafing under the bonds of civilization, escapes his humdrum world and his selfish, plotting father by sailing a raft down the Mississippi River.
Aging couple David and Eva have lost the spark that once infused their marriage. After nearly four decades together, the elderly duo is feel disconnected and lost. When they discover that Eva is sick, they decide to travel across the country to stay with their granddaughter in San Francisco. On the trip, with Eva's possible death looming, the couple rediscovers the passion and love that had been missing from their lives.
A Boston probation officer tries to help a troubled teenager from a rich Boston family.
Ramón Iglesias plans to retire from his janitorial job, sell his house in a Long Island suburb and return to Puerto Rico with his wife and three sons. Unfortunately, he doesn't hold the deed to his house which was purchased through a verbal agreement, harping back to a different cultural tradition involving codes of honor and community.
Jimmy Wing is a Florida journalist and long-time friend of Elmo Bliss, a local businessman and politician involved in real-estate development. Bliss reveals his ruthless side, threatening Wing when the reporter becomes close to beautiful wildlife conservationist Kat Hubble, one of a group of ecologists that stands in the way of a new landfill. While Wing clashes with Bliss, his life complicates further as his romance with Hubble progresses.
Father Damien de Vuester, a 19th-century Roman Catholic priest who worked with lepers confined to the island of Molokai, discusses his experiences.
In 1938 New York, a dentist finds his business failing and his marriage on the rocks. Turning 40, he's a henpecked husband with little drive left for success. That is, until he starts getting involved with his lively assistant, a free spirit with a penchant for tall tales and a hidden loneliness. Receiving encouragement from his own father-in-law, the two find comfort in each other's attention.
A former World War II reporter gets a lawyer and takes a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist to court.
Gardner and Fanny Church prepare to move out of their Beacon Hill home to their summer cottage on Cape Cod. Once a famous poet, the now-retired Gardner slips in and out of senility as his wife valiantly tries to keep them both afloat. They've asked their daughter, Mags, to come home and help them move. Mags agrees, for she hopes as well to finally paint their portrait. She is now on the verge of artistic celebrity herself and hopes, by painting her parents, to reconcile.
In 1584, a small band of Englishmen reached Roanoak Island off the coast of North Carolina, set up camp, and make contact with the residing Native Americans, calling on them for help in an attempt to live peacefully as they trade for the profit of both sides.
In 1584, a small band of Englishmen reached Roanoak Island off the coast of North Carolina, set up camp, and make contact with the residing Native Americans, calling on them for help in an attempt to live peacefully as they trade for the profit of both sides.
In 1584, a small band of Englishmen reached Roanoak Island off the coast of North Carolina, set up camp, and make contact with the residing Native Americans, calling on them for help in an attempt to live peacefully as they trade for the profit of both sides.
The days leading up to the completion of his most famous painting, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, Georges Seurat is struggling to make meaningful art and maintaining a relationship with his lover, Dot. Amid the scorn of the artistic community, Seurat's artistic ability thrives while his love diminishes. A century later, Seurat's descendant – named George and also an artist – finds himself burnt out and in search of what artistic path to follow, but he finds the answer to his future in the past.
1987
Two families, related by friendship and love, face up to the consequences of greed and avarice in the post-war years. Love and death play equal roles in determining the outcome of events.
In 1905, at the prestigious Lawrenceville School, chief prankster William 'Hickey' Hicks comes up with a scheme to make his shy, unpopular roommate a legend.
William Wallace searches for his pregnant wife, Hazel, who has withdrawn from him, using a net in the Pearl River during the vernal equinox, a ritualistic search that delves into the mysteries of relationships and the feminine.
Bored with family life, 15-year-old Connie spends her summer at the mall and with friends, but her carefree attitude is shattered by a dangerous encounter with a menacing stranger who shows up at her home.
Two elderly, impoverished women are forced from the family farm by well-meaning neighbors. Ensconced and miserable at a Home for Elderly Ladies, the duo begin their journey back home.
A widowed mother, convinced by a fortune teller she will die soon, pressures her youngest daughter to marry, while the daughter feels guilty about leaving her alone, creating a subtle conflict and bonding experience.
A one-woman show featuring Lee Remick as former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who gives forth with her views — many controversial at the time and which infuriated the right wing of both parties, as they still do today — on integration, women's rights, communism, and other important subjects of the day.
Reporter Mark Twain tours Europe and the Holy Land for a San Francisco newspaper in 1867.
In the early 1900s, a young couple in love struggle with their deeply divided families. Elizabeth Vaughn hails from a wealthy, strict Methodist household. Horace Robedaux is viewed by her family as having poor prospects, as he has been largely on his own since age 12, works humble jobs, and is an Episcopalian who enjoys dancing.
When Elizabeth and Horace elope, the resulting familial estrangement establish independent life, build a marriage, and navigate early parenthood.
During the height of World War I, Horace faces immense pressure to enlist, all while the deadly Spanish Influenza outbreak descends on the small Texas community.
Charley Wyckham and Jack Chesney pressure fellow student Fancourt Babberly to pose as Charley's Brazilian Aunt Donna Lucia. Their purpose is to have a chaperone for their amorous visits with Amy and Kitty, niece and ward of crusty Stephen Spettigue. Complications begin when Fancourt, in drag, becomes the desire of old Spettigue and Sir Francis Chesney.
In 1930s rural Florida, a middle-aged widow marries a younger, charming bootlegger who uses her for her money and property, leading to a story of exploitation and resilience as she confronts him and his young mistress.
Zoo attendant Artie Shaughnessy dreams of being a successful songwriter. What his mistress, Bunny Flingus, who lives downstairs from his Queens apartment won't tell him — and what his insane wife, Bananas, tries to get through to him — is that Artie's songs stink.
In an affluent area of downtown New York City, a Sunday evening dinner party is hosted by Libby, an insecure thirty-something widow who lost her husband in an unfortunate accident. Her guest of honor is downstairs neighbor Alice, a successful novelist, and Alice's lesbian lover, Boo, a family therapist. The other guests are Griever, Libby's best friend from group therapy; Norbert, Libby's gentle skydiving instructor; Tom, an old high-school boyfriend of Libby's now working as a jazz musician and composer, and Emily, Tom's current live-in girlfriend.
Middle-aged recluse Dottie McCann, suffering from agoraphobia, is forced to confront her illness when she must make the difficult journey to travel to see her estranged sister, who is dying of leukemia.
A fictionalized portrait of one of history's great literary couples, Gertrude Stein & Alice B. Toklas. During a 1930s summer in France, Alice tends to ailing Gertrude; they visit Fernande Olivier, Guillaume Apollinaire, and others; and Hemingway pops in.
1988
Spanning decades, Nina Leeds, deeply traumatized by the death of her fiancé during World War I, is unable to move past the unconsummated relationship, she embarks on a turbulent journey across different roles in her life (daughter, wife, mistress, and mother).
Spanning decades, Nina Leeds, deeply traumatized by the death of her fiancé during World War I, is unable to move past the unconsummated relationship, she embarks on a turbulent journey across different roles in her life (daughter, wife, mistress, and mother).
Spanning decades, Nina Leeds, deeply traumatized by the death of her fiancé during World War I, is unable to move past the unconsummated relationship, she embarks on a turbulent journey across different roles in her life (daughter, wife, mistress, and mother).
The mischievous Hickey returns to school to find himself against a worthy rival. Scheming to outdo each other for the loyalty of their peers, their comedic battle of wits turns the school into the headmaster's worst nightmare.
17-year-old Alan strives to build a relationship with his preoccupied father, only to confront his father's emotional dishonesty, cruelty, and lies, leading to a bitter realization that the father he wants doesn't exist.
In 1890s New Englans, Father is going to build a new barn. However, Mother wants the new house she's been promised.
A young boy suffers a crisis of faith when he begins to question whether or not the soul exists and if there is life after death.
Boston ironworker Jack Galvin wants his son to become an architect, but Billy wants to be a steelworker like his dad, leading to conflict over their differing dreams.
A historical recreation of actual events in the life of playwright Eugene O'Neill, drawing on his troubled youth as he attempts to deal with his conflicting feelings of jealousy, competition and love with his father.
A sheltered heiress falls for a charming playboy and elopes with him, but soon discovers his gambling vice and mounting debts. As his lies deepen and those around them meet mysterious ends, she begins to suspect that her husband’s affection may conceal a deadly motive—and that she could be his next victim.
A presentation of uncensored portions of the highly emotional December 1984 videotape confession of Bernhard Goetz, known as the 'Subway Vigilante', who opened fire on four teens he feared were about to rob him on a New York subway train.
Early feminist and nature writer Mary Austin struggles to write and publish in the male-dominated California of the early 20th-century.
A man who wants to move on with his life by moving to California and marry his girlfriend, finds it difficult as he still lives in the towering shadow of his aging father.
In 1940s Chicago, a young Black man takes a job as a chauffeur to a white family, which takes a turn for the worse when he accidentally kills the couple's teenage daughter and then tries to cover it up.
Charles Castle is a successful Hollywood actor who has opted for screen success over art. He must make critical decisions regarding his career, his marriage, his art and morality. Castle is pressured by his superiors and manipulated into a potentially murderous cover-up to protect his career.
1989
Walter Lee Younger is a young man struggling with his station in life. Sharing a tiny apartment with his wife, son, sister and mother, he seems like an imprisoned man. Until, that is, the family gets an unexpected financial windfall.
Rebellious young literary editor Elizabeth Leopold clashes with her wealthy, snobbish mother over her life choices, including her job and a leftist boyfriend, as her mother tries to arrange a more 'suitable' marriage for her.
After her father is injured, a teenager and an alcoholic employee struggle to save their financially troubled farm in 1954 Montana.
Sandy Wilcox is a pre-teen girl in rural 1950s British Columbia whose longing to be treated as an adult is roused even further when her older American cousin, Butch Walker, comes for a visit.
In St. Louis, circa 1950, Ben Griffin lives with his widowed mother and beautiful older sister, Dodie. The restoration of the family's affluence seems to hinge on Dodie's romances and hoped-for-marriage to a wealthy husband. But Dodie's ambivalence toward the rich and eligible Sonny confuses and upsets Ben. He wants to trust and believe in love, but worries that he may never find a girl to understand his romantic ideals.
Jaime Escalante is a mathematics teacher in a school in a poor Hispanic neighborhood. Convinced that his students have potential, he adopts unconventional methods to try and turn gang members and no-hopers into some of the country's top algebra and calculus students.
A young man, seeking meaning and focus in his life, returns to the Mennonite farm community where he was born.
Hickey and Tennessee Shad combine their mischievous talents to make life miserable for an insufferable freshman while staying one step ahead of the headmaster.
Feeling alienated from the world and his mother, Kip enters a complicated relationship with two girls he meets on the beach.
When computer programmer Leo Fang is passed up for promotion, he feels it is because he is Chinese, and quits. He takes his Chinese-American family to Mainland China to visit his relatives, the Chao's, for a vacation. The clash of cultures, between the men, wives, and teenagers, leads to some confusion, and misunderstanding.
Explores the humorous conflicts and eventual partnership between the sexes, with Adam portrayed as a reclusive creature of habit and Eve as a curious, enthusiastic innovator who names the animals and discovers fire.
In 1965, at a hotel in Harlem, during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X engage in a conversation.
A true story about one US and one USSR delegate who, during 1982 talks in Geneva between USA and USSR on limiting medium-range nukes in Europe, met by accident in a nearby forest while on a stroll and informally started a key discussion.
In the fast-paced materialistic world of the late 1980s, three morally ambiguous players navigate an unfulfilling corporate world, emphasizing themes of greed, ambition, and emotional detachment.
An unorthodox investigation into the wrongful conviction of Randall Dale Adams for the 1976 murder of Dallas police officer Robert Wood. Using stylized reenactments and interviews with key figures, conflicting testimonies and evidence are presented to argue that Adams was framed by a corrupt justice system, ultimately leading to his exoneration.
Follows Ralphie's first summer job, his family's chaotic road trip to the 'Haven of Bliss', and the misadventures that ensue, including losing their dog, Fuzzhead.
An anthology consisting of four shorts with the central theme of life in the United States, including a surreal narrative about a man's search for his past in Los Angeles (This Ain't Bebop); an impressionistic look at American myths and rituals, featuring a large dance sequence (Tribe); a stylized portrait of the South Bronx (Reflections of a Native Son); and a delve into the history of Route 66 (Get Your Kicks on Route 66).
Belizaire Breaux, a charismatic herb doctor, becomes entangled in a struggle for his people's survival against prejudiced vigilantes, while also dealing with a romantic rivalry.
A divorced radio personality in a small Minnesota town returns to her roots and investigates the life of a reclusive, recently deceased woman.
In 1880s China, Lalu is sold into marriage by her impoverished father. Rather than becoming a bride, Lalu ends up in an Idaho gold-mining town, the property of a saloon owner renames her China Polly, with plans to sell her as entertainment for the locals. Refusing to become a whore, Lalu ultimately finds her own way in this strange country filled with white demons.
1990
Three friends, once bonded over their radical beliefs in the 1930s, reunite after becoming estranged over a book one of them wrote.
After his mother's suicide, Wallace Kirkman struggles in his relationships with the women in his life.
After his mother dies and father goes to fight in World War II, young Wendall Oler moves in with his aunt and uncle in the countryside. Lonely, he starts believing he has superpowers. Then a 'dead' man shows up.
A celebration of the life of Zora Neale Hurston, who was born at the turn of the 20th-century and grew to be an important voice with her written portrayals of Black American life in the rural south of the 1930s and 40s, and the stories, songs and folklore that were her heritage and inspiration.
Disfigured WWII veteran Garnet Montrose returns from Guadacanal and enlists a drifter to court his former sweetheart through letters, leading to a complex love triangle with unexpected romantic developments.
Katherine Gerard has lost her son Andre to AIDS. At his memorial service, we follow Katherine confronting the death of her son, the anguish of his lover Cal Porter, and, in flashbacks, the key moments of denial and miscommunication with those closest to her.
Nobu Matsumoto is a neglectful husband. Not the most loving man. His wife Masi gradually encounters a widower, a kind, gentle figure. She eventually makes the transition to leave her husband and go to this fellow.
A trio of short films by Chanticleer Films and Columbia Pictures: Ray's Male Heterosexual Dance Hall (an older widower accidentally stumbles into a lively, eccentric male dance class in a desolate mall, finding a new lease on life); Teach 109 (futuristic surgeons practice their skill on androids designed to imitate patients, but Dr. Garrett sees this as pointless since she cares little about fake robotic patients; however, her latest patient changes her mind); and Homesick (a young boy named Sam navigates family changes during the 1920s).
In 1930s Los Angeles, Mexican immigrant Pedro J. González becomes a pioneering Spanish-language radio star before being wrongly convicted and imprisoned at San Quentin.
Indecisive newlyweds get into a series of misadventures while on a day trip from Manhattan to Hoboken, New Jersey.
An American-Chinese man brings over his wife from China to America, but the challenges of making a living and adjusting to a new life, plus the attentions of a gambler threaten their marriage.
Ned Shaw recounts his life as an illiterate Black tenant farmer born into a society of former slaves and slaveholders. The story ends in December 1932 when he courageously stood his ground against white deputy sheriffs who were attempting to seize a neighbor's livestock.
A New York City street artist rescues a baby girl after her father is murdered. He then sets off to find the mother, but has to first learn how to care for the child. Ultimately, he ends up in a horse-drawn chase for the murderers.
On New Year's Eve 1928, in the New York underworld, a gambler sells his body to science, a gangster needs a transfusion, and a gambler is on the run
In 1937, a young First Nations girl named Ashtecome is kidnapped along with several other children from a village as part of a deliberate Canadian policy to force First Nations children to abandon their culture in order to be assimilated into white Canadian/British society. Taken to a boarding school where she's forced to adopt Western Euro-centric ways and learn English, often under brutal treatment, she has the support of one sympathetic white teacher.
When a scientist learns that his town's lucrative springs present a serious health threat, the community refuses to listen to him.
When neurologically ill American actress Sarah calls emotionally crippled English playwright Joe, they begin a very special relationship conducted through trans-Antlantic phone calls. In order to face reality, both must overcome their conditions.
In 1939, closeted director/actor Julian Hyde finds himself targeted by vicious and unscrupulous attacks by a gossip column by the name of Hollywood Confidential.
1984
It's just another day in the small town of Hamlin until something disastrous happens. Suddenly, news breaks that a series of nuclear warheads has been dropped along the Eastern Seaboard and, more locally, in California. As people begin coping with the devastating aftermath of the attacks — many suffer radiation poisoning — the Wetherly family tries to survive.
Flag Purdy, a 'man of many principles', must learn the hard lesson of compromisation in order to keep his wife and children. The 'final straw' comes when the family bring a Christmas tree into his house.
A free Black man from New York is tricked, kidnapped, and sold into slavery in the South, where he endures twelve years of brutal servitude before finding a way to contact his family and secure his freedom.
A lonely farmer takes in a pregnant woman and looks after her. After she gives birth, tragedy strikes.
Over a single, pivotal Saturday in 1930s Harlem, 14-year-old John Grimes wrestles with his religious calling and his fraught relationship with his abusive, hypocritical stepfather, Gabriel. Extended flashbacks explore the oppressive Southern past and personal histories of John's mother, his aunt, and Gabriel, ultimately illuminating the generational trauma and complex family secrets that shape his life.
On a hot day in 1890s Texas, a stranger arrives at the small dairy farm of Royal and Ellie Thompson, seeking work. A taciturn, English-speaking Swede from North Dakota, Olaf Helton is competent, strong, and good at farm work. As years pass, the farm flourishes. Then one day, a second stranger also from North Dakota, Homer Hatch, changes lives in ways no one could have imagined.
Louise dreams of traveling the world, but her weak heart and husband Brently's overbearing concern prevent her from doing so. However, news of a train accident changes everything.
Computer programmer Aram Fingal's virtual vacation in the classic film Casablanca is removed by a totalitarian government and accidentally trapped in the virtual reality simulation. He must find a way out before he expires.
Ralph Parker navigates his first serious romance with his new Polish neighbor, Josephine Cosnowski, during a Thanksgiving setting.
An oddball Good Samaritan parable as ex Mafioso tries to save his drunk neighbor from himself.
Charlotte Forten is a young Black woman who became an integral part of President Lincoln's 'Great Experiment'. During the Civil War, Southern troops were forced off the Sea Islands off the coast of Georgia, which left 8,000 slaves as free. Miss Forten's mission was to journey south to Sea Island and lead those slaves in the transition from slavery to freedom, where she sought to give newly freed black children a decent education and chance for a better life.
An eccentric couple broadcast their morning radio talk show from their New York apartment in the 1960s.
A Chinese refugee from Vietnam emigrates to America, where she prepares to meet several relatives for the first time.
In 1915 Chicago, 21-year-old Myra Harper sets her sights on the wealthy and reserved Knowleton Whitney. All goes well, but later when Myra meets his wacky parents, it turns out to be much harder for Myra than simply landing the man of her dreams.
A young Black boy comes of age in an all-white German orphanage run by white nuns. Townspeople tease him that his father is an American GI named Joe Louis. Told of a 'sighting' of the alleged father, the boy sets out to find the soldier.
The Countess Eugenia and her brother Robert, expatriate Americans who have grown up in Europe, return to prosperous relatives in New England. Eugenia hopes to make an advantageous marriage with a wealthy cousin. As Eugenia encounters obstacles, Robert finds his suit bearing fruit.
Indigenous Guatemalan siblings Rosa and Enrique flee their village after a government massacre and undertake a perilous journey to the United States ('El Norte') seeking a new life, only to face new hardships as undocumented immigrants in Los Angeles.
In 1703 Salem, accused witch Sarah Cloyce, seeking justice for her sisters, recounts the events leading up to the trials, focusing on feuding neighbors and the girls' accusations, including those by Abigail Williams.
In 1703 Salem, accused witch Sarah Cloyce, seeking justice for her sisters, recounts the events leading up to the trials, focusing on feuding neighbors and the girls' accusations, including those by Abigail Williams.
In 1703 Salem, accused witch Sarah Cloyce, seeking justice for her sisters, recounts the events leading up to the trials, focusing on feuding neighbors and the girls' accusations, including those by Abigail Williams.
Chinese immigrants are detained on Angel Island in 1915 during the Chinese Exclusion era. The new arrivals express their hopes and anxieties as they try to reconcile their Chinese heritage with their new lives in California.
An alcoholic ex-football player drinks his days away, having failed to come to terms with his sexuality and his real feelings for his football buddy who died after an ambiguous accident. His wife is crucified by her desperation to make him desire her: but he resists the affections of his wife. His reunion with his father—who is dying of cancer—jogs a host of memories and revelations for both father and son.
1982
John Cheever's comedy of a supposedly kidnapped five-year-old boy. At first, the police aren't interested until a ransom note is discovered. Then the town goes into action to support the finding of Toby.
Hot-tempered Greek immigrant Andreas arrives in 1915 America, and finds work on a railroad. However, after giving his corrupt foreman Mekakis a savage beating, Andreas flees and makes his way west.
In 19th-century Texas, soldier Juan Nepomuceno Seguin fought at the Alamo and became a highly respected politician to insure better living conditions for his people. Frustration arose when American ranchers move into the flatlands bringing prejudice and bigotry against the Mexican populations.
Shy hardware store employee Harry Nash decides to step out of his comfort zone, and takes part in a local amateur theatre troupe, where he becomes the character he plays—literally. Helene Shaw is new in town, a lonely itinerant telephonist. On a whim, she auditions for and gets the part of Stella in the troupe's production of A Streetcar Named Desire, opposite Harry's Stanley. Before anyone realizes the growing affection between the two, Helene falls in love with the charming brute, unaware of the man Harry really is.
The arrival in a small town of a stranger who calls himself 'Charles Dickens' makes a magical and lasting change in the lives of an imaginative 12-year-old boy and a loving young woman.
Recently widowed Mabel Lederer sells all her belongings and leaves home to start a new life. Mabel believes she has powers to see into the future and to conduct seances. She changes her name to 'Angela Motorman' and moves into a boarding house where she interacts with the strange residents.
Nameless women identified by color (e.g., Lady in Red, Lady in Blue) share their experiences with racism, sexism, abuse, and abandonment, ultimately finding strength and sisterhood.
In search of Carl Sandburg, actor John Cullum travels to the poet's native home, Galesburg, IL, speaking with close friends and family. Through a remarkable recently discovered trove of period photographs of Galesburg, the small-town America of Sandburg's childhood – the horse carriages, the ice-man delivering ice, a Fourth of July celebration – is revived in vivid detail.
Ken Talley is 32, strong, goodlooking and a Vietnam vet with both legs shot off seven years earlier. His lover Jed is bigger and stronger, a gardner, a good listener. On Independence Day 1977, Ken's home in Lebanon Missouri is visted by his army buddies. Much of their past relationships, pre- and post-Vietnam, must be pulled up and examined before any of them can decide their future.
Teenage Ralph recounts the Fourth of July and similar chaoses with his family and friends. Based on the writings of Jean Shepherd.
A woman suffering from terminal cancer determines to resolve several relationships in her life, especially with her daughter.
On a North Dakota wheat farm at the turn of the 20th century, Ray Sorenson builds his world around childhood sweetheart Inga. Then Ray sees his plans come apart when the bank forecloses on his family's farm.
A Medal of Honor-winning Vietnam vet has difficulty readjusting to civilian life, and turns to a psychiatrist for help when he finds himself descending to robbery.
A musical following American workers from diverse backgrounds, from gravediggers to studio heads, exploring their feelings, frustrations, and search for meaning in their jobs.
A drifting, affluent couple spend a weekend at their country home, where the husband cheats on his complacent wife as they host guests for their son's first birthday.
A young soldier attends his mother's funeral just before he's shipped out to serve in World War II.
A middle-aged Greek immigrant visits his native village, with his American-born son in tow. The elder finds that the place he remembered as paradise on Earth now seems like a desolate wasteland, while the son, who has mede this journey reluctantly, falls in love with his ancestral homeland.
Robert Oppenheimer meets and decides to marry the hard-drinking, much-divorced Kitty, although his friends and relatives dislike her.
Oppenheimer is now in charge of the top-secret Manhattan Project, but his left-wing politics mean that he is constantly watched by the FBI and others.
Oppenheimer's extramarital relationship with the neurotic Jean Tatlock comes to a tragic end.
With the death of President Roosevelt, the future of the Manhattan Project seems doubtful. Oppenheimer finds himself more and more at loggerheads with Teller.
The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki bring the war to an end, but Oppenheimer's new status as a national hero is short-lived.
A few years after the war, Oppenheimer finds himself regarded as a security risk, and must face a committee.
Oppenheimer's examination by the committee proves disastrous and his career with the AEC is finished, whilst that of his rival Teller flourishes.
In 1901, Mexican American farmer Gregorio Cortez is forced on the run from Texas Rangers, evading a massive manhunt on horseback for days following a heated misunderstanding leads to the death of a lawman.
1991
In a woods filled with magic and fairy tale characters, a baker and his wife set out to end the curse put on them by their neighbor, a spiteful witch.
Tom Joad returns to his home after a jail sentence to find his family kicked out of their farm due to foreclosure. He catches up with them on his Uncle’s farm, and joins them the next day as they head for California and a new life... Hopefully.
An American couple, Kenneth and Barbara Hoyle, reflect on their lives as players in international business, set in hotel rooms in Morocco, the Virgin Islands, and Oaxaca, Mexico.
Three stories about the Jewish elderly in Florida: in 'Yiddish', a man and a woman, both married to others, form a bond through their native language; in 'The Detective', a married couple who have grown apart come together again as they pursue a thief in the neighborhood; and in 'The Home', a woman struggles against her grown children, who want to place her in a nursing facility.
The closing of a small shipbuilder in New England places stresses on the people involved.
Sentenced to community service in a prison, an English professor teaches creative writing to an inmate.
A young woman inherits her father's farm after he dies. Over the years, she overcomes challenges and turns it into a success, all the while yearning for her childhood love to return.
Three more short films: in 'Peacemaker', a 1950s father helps his 11-year-old son overcome his fear of the A-bomb; in 'The Price of Life', the hours of your life are a currency you can buy or sell, trade or squander...; and in 'Astronomy', a mother and her young daughter search for an escape from the poverty in which they live.
A look at the domestic tension between an illiterate Japanese immigrant farmer and his educated wife in 1930s California.
Deadpan, small-time Kosher Nostra mobster Harry Plotnick goes meshugga when he gets into the catering biz with his ex-brother-in-law.
American lawyer Clarence Darrow evolves from a corporate attorney to a champion of the underdog, defending labor leaders like Eugene V. Debs and later taking on high-profile cases like the Leopold & Loeb trial.
A lonely German boy, whose bigoted parents want him to constantly work in their bakery, finds solace in a close-knit, musically-gifted Jewish family in the apartment across the hall.
The story of strong-minded Polish mother Halina Nowak, who desperately wants her talented son Jacek to have a life in the free world.
Explores the complex, passionate, and often tumultuous relationship between the iconic artist and her mentor/husband, a pivotal figure in American modernism.
During the summer of 1981, a group of friends in New York are completely unprepared for the onslaught of AIDS. What starts as a rumor about a mysterious 'gay cancer' soon turns into a major crisis as, one by one, some of the friends begin to fall ill, leaving the others to panic about who will be next. As death takes its toll, the lives of these friends are forever redefined by an unconditional display of love, hope and courage.
A radical student is adopted by a group of young New Yorkers, serves as a catalyst to alter his and their lives. Gathering in a Manhattan apartment, the group of friends meet to discuss social mobility, Fourier's socialism and play bridge in their cocoon of upper-class society — until they're joined by a man with a critical view of their way of life.
1992
A literature professor falls for a student, leading to a relationship that is both intellectually stimulating and emotionally fraught, paralleling the Dostoevsky-inspired themes he lectures on.
In 1950s upstate New York, what begins as a trivial hardware store argument over a lit cigar and a non-smoking policy spirals into a bizarre, full-scale feud between neighboring communities. Despite growing tensions—and an eventual suspicious fire—the situation is heavily laced with dark comedy, as well as a Shakesperean-esque romance between the children of the warring sides.
A crippled dwarf is forced to become jester under a tyrannical king, but when the king abuses a beautiful dwarf with whom the jester is in love, the jester plots a terrible revenge.
Feeling insignificant, a housewife witnesses a murder in a parking lot, shoots the killer, and then turns herself in, leading to an interrogation that reveals her inner turmoil.
In 1902, a Gullah family on the Sea Islands off South Carolina decide whether to migrate to the mainland, risking their unique cultural heritage.
Young playwright Ödön von Horváth joins a colony of German artists who fled the Nazis in Los Angeles, observing their struggles and compromises.
A busload of women become stranded in an isolated part of the Canadian countryside. As they await rescue, they reflect on their lives through a mostly ad-libbed script.
An Army cameraman is embedded with a reconnaissance patrol and charts their mission across territory controlled by the North Vietnamese.
Isolated in his apartment, Truman Capote deals with the crisis of his friends turning on him following the publication of an excerpt from Answered Prayers.
Blending humor and tragedy, filmmaker Jan Oxenberg goes on a personal journey to process the aging and death of her grandmother.
Larry, a troubled teen living in the rough Red Hook section of Brooklyn, decides he wants out and turns to crime to fund his escape. But his plan involves scamming the neighborhood's biggest drug kingpin, a heist that's dangerous at best.
Actress/playwright Anna Deavere Smith performs a series of 29 different roles related to the Crown Heights riot in 1991. Anonymous and famous figures are portrayed by Smith, expressing pain and anger on the many sides of a conflict involving the Black and Jewish communities over an accident, a crime, and the riots.
Includes production meetings, rehearsals and performances, as well as interviews with New York cast members prior to the May 1993 Broadway opening of 'Millennium Approaches', the first half of the play.
Along the US–Mexico border, a young, shy laborer, after witnessing the tragic slaying of his best friend, is transformed by the spirit of a traveling Mexican carpa (tent theatre troupe).
In the early 1900s, the fictional Catfish Row section of Charleston, South Carolina serves as home to a Black fishing community. Crippled beggar Porgy, who travels via a goat-drawn cart, loves drug-addicted Bess, who lives with stevedore Crown, the local bully.
In 1948 Montreal, on Rosh Hashanah, writer Chaim Kovler is forced to reflect on his religion when asked to be the tenth in a minyan. At the park, he suddenly sees an old friend whom he hasn't seen since they quarrelled when they were at Yeshiva together. Hersh Rasseyner, a rabbi, survived Auschwitz and his faith was strengthened by the ordeal, while Chaim escaped the Nazis, but had lost his faith long before. The two walk, reminisce, and argue passionately about themselves, their actions, their lives, their religion, their old quarrel, and their friendship.
As Christmas at the Messiah Church in Washington D.C. approaches, a young preacher and, later in the day, a mysterious pregnant girl arrive at the church doors looking to begin new lives. Reverend Oliver Crawford is not the judgmental committee's first choice; an unwed father of a teenage son, he is given only two days to prove his worth. Meanwhile, pregnant 16-year-old Katherine has arrived in the area fleeing an abusive home and seeking a grandfather she doesn't know. With the help of local homeless advocate 'Big' Willie Thorton, Crawford attempts to revive the spirit of the church and provide solace to the displaced girl.
1994
Mary Ann Singleton, a naïve young secretary from the mid-west, tumbles head first into the colorful world of San Francisco, where carefree chaos revolves around the funky old apartment house at 28 Barbary Lane.
Diametrically opposite brothers Bill and Dennis McCabe set off on a journey to reunite with their estranged father but when their motorcycle breaks down while passing through a small town, they become entangled in local life.
A look at the life of Delbert Ward, a member of a family of four elderly brothers, working as semi-literate farmers and living together in isolation from the rest of society until his brother William's death.
Explores the life of Haru Matsukata Reischauer, the Japanese-born author who married U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Edwin O. Reischauer.
Married couple Ethan and Zeena Frome are in need an extra hand around the house due to Zeena's debilitated body and constant illness. The young woman who joins them is beautiful and spirited but she and Ethan fall in love, much to the dismay of Zeena.
Brash young FBI agent Kevin David Walker trumps up charges of Communist-spying against a Chinese laundryman. Ten years later, he seeks to make amends to the man and his teenage daughter.
1995
In Victorian England, wealthy patriarch Sir Harald Alabaster invites an impoverished biologist, William Adamson, into his home. There, William tries to continue his work, but is distracted by Alabaster's seductive daughter, Eugenia. William and Eugenia begin a torrid romance, but as the couple become closer, the young scientist begins to realize that dark, disturbing things are happening behind the closed doors of the Alabaster manor.
Claudia Shear's off-Broadway, one-woman show weaves her true misadventures through 64 different jobs and searches for an identity beyond mere job description.
Paul Fierlinger concentrates his considerable talents as an animator to recount through fragmented memories, vivid recollections, and the occasional evocative photograph his life as the rebellious son of Jan Fierlinger, Czechoslovakian career politician.
The Beans are poor, proud, hated by all, but alive in the sense that they struggle against their lot and support each other in time of trouble. Earlene lives across the street from the Bean's trailer, and the view from her window is better than any daytime television soap opera; especially Beal Bean, and especially Beal Bean shirtless. When Reuben Bean is sent to prison for resisting arrest for out-of-season deer hunting, Beal takes up with Reuben's woman Roberta. He also has a child by Earlene, with a triangle of sex complicated by poverty.
In 19th-century Italy, Giorgio, a young soldier, is in love with Clara. But they're separated when Giorgio is posted far away, where he meets the unhappy, unhealthy, and unattractive Fosca, who develops a passionate love for Giorgio and tries to make him love her.
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