When Hell Freezes Over, I'll Skate (1979, TV Movie)

Starring:

• Cleavant Derricks
• Lynne Thigpen
• Clinton Derricks-Carroll
• Brenda Braxton
• Lynne Clifton-Allen
• Marilyn Winbush
• Reginald VelJohnson
• Jeffrey Anderson-Gunter

Storyline
This lively, spirit-lifting musical celebrates the sheer joy and survival of black music, song, and poetry since the days of America's Civil War. With utter grace and ease, the gifted eight-member singing ensemble glides from gospel to disco and from slave quarter sermons to contemporary black poetry.

Against the Wall (1994, TV Movie)

Starring:

• Samuel L. Jackson
• Kyle MacLachlan
• Clarence Williams III
• Steve Harris
• Frederic Forrest
• Harry Dean Stanton
• Philip Bosco
• Tom Bower
• Anne Heche
• Carmen Argenziano
• Peter Murnik
• David Ackroyd
• Mark Cabus

Storyline
In this film based on a true story, an idealistic young recruit, Michael Smith (Kyle MacLachlan), begins working in Attica Penitentiary and quickly learns how awfully the inmates are being treated. Soon a prison riot breaks out, and Smith and the other guards are taken, hostage. The prisoners, led by Jamaal (Samuel L. Jackson), take control of the jail and demand better living conditions. Despite the tense environment, Smith finds sympathy for Jamaal, who is a political prisoner.