Themes: Haunted By the Past, Starting Over, Going Straight
Main Cast: Laurence Fishburne, Bill Cobbs, Natalie Cole, Bill Duke, Laurie Metcalf
Release Year: 1998
Country: US
Run Time: 120 minutes
Plot
Michael Apted (Gorillas in the Mist) directed this Walter Mosley script adaptation of Mosley's short story collection, Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned. Ex-con Socrates Fortlow (Laurence Fishburne) returns to L.A., looks for work, becomes friends with Right Burke (Bill Cobbs), is told he's too old for a construction job, helps youngster Darryl (Daniel Williams), and romances cafe-owner Iula Brown (Natalie Cole). Socrates provides a moral uplift to the neighborhood, while Burke's voiceover narration has a Sunset Boulevard twist. The TV movie premiered March 21, 1998 on HBO. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
Cicely Tyson - Luvia; Daniel Williams - Darryl; Alan Wilder - Anton Crier; Bill Nunn - Howard M'Shalla; Bridgid Coulter - Corina M'Shalla; Isaiah Washington; Kevin Carroll; Art Evans; Jamaal Carter; Brooke Marie Bridges; John Gavigan; Perry Moore; Sammi Rotibi; Danny Goldring; Dan Martin; Paula Jai Parker; Vonte Sweet; Kelvin Garvanne; Crystal LaPrie; Mykel Taylor; Mary-Michelle Trinity; Erika LaVonn; John Wesley; John Cothran, Jr.; Sonya Haynes; Greg Bird; Norm Wilson; Regan Forman; Zaid Farid; Darren O'Bannon; Maurice Blake; Lawrence Hales; David Gramling; Jason Young; John Toles-Bey - Stoney Wiley
Credit
John Brace - Casting, Linda Lowy - Casting, Jeffrey Downer - Co-producer, Michael Apted - Director, Rick Shaine - Editor, Laurence Fishburne - Executive Producer, Walter Mosley - Executive Producer, Michael Franti - Composer (Music Score), Keith Brian Burns - Production Designer, John Bailey - Cinematographer, Jonathon Ker - Producer, Anne-Marie Mackay - Producer, Rob Janiger - Sound/Sound Designer, Walter Mosley - Screenwriter, Walter Mosley - Short Story Author
