Kiss Shot (1989)

Starring:

• Whoopi Goldberg
• Dorian Harewood 
• Tasha Scott
• Dennis Franz

Storyline
Fresh from her Oscar winning role in Ghost, the delightful Whoopi Goldberg is right on cue for comedy. Whoopi is unmissable as a single mother with double trouble. Threatened with the repossession of her home by the bank she needs to make some serious money ... quick! Dubbed the 'Queen of Eight-Ball' in her teens she decides to try and make a killing as a pool room hustler. Fleecing a string of macho male opponents with her accuracy and prowess. But a handsome playboy opponent offers to help bail her out of her troubles but as they fall in love fail into trouble and debt himself leaving Whoopie faced with a double debt and needing to hustle pool again and make the ultimate kill shot! 

Kiss Shot (1989)

Starring:

• Whoopi Goldberg
• Dennis Franz
• Tasha Scott

IMDB.com
A detached black mother looses her job and though the ability to pay back her credit. She recalls her billiard skills and begins to play for money. Will she be cool enough to be a pro in such a game? Things get worse when she falls in love with an opponent.

This movie is a good example of what a divorced woman in America would do to keep her head above water to provide for her child. It also was an example of how hard it is to deal with parents (her father) who think their child made a big mistake getting pregnant and married as a teenager. The biblical references (Sarah being named after Sarah from the Bible) was endearing. I think her father was a minister, or parishioner in their church. I even learned how to play Nine-Ball after watching this movie. Although it was a low-budget movie, it was a good one!!

Sidewalk Stories (1989)

Starring:

• Charles Lane
• Nicole Alysia
• Tom Alpern

IMDB.com
Our protagonist is resourceful, tenderhearted, homeless. He finds himself with a baby, someone else's, and suddenly his life shifts focus. The child, thankfully, does not redeem the main character whose actions are a natural extension of who he is-a nameless person. Without home and name doesn't mean without personality, and a life, and the instinct for survival. The main character suddenly has to be concerned for someone other than himself, and this is the charm of the film, charm without sentimentality.

This is an intriguing contrast of the humorous set against the plight of the homeless in NYC; it works, partly because it is so outrageous and comic in its implementation-e.g. the conflict with the other street artist, the use of the bathtub. A gentle, good film whose final moments still resonate in the mind, not because of their greatness, but because of the unexpected but successful shift in focus and technique. It achieves.