Malcolm Atterbury

A bittersweet and idyllic story about a year in the life of a 14-year-old boy, born into a poor black family in Kansas during the 1920s, who learns about hate and love, immorality and honor. Based on the true life story of its director, the great Gordon Parks, Emmy-winning director of "Shaft," "Superfly" and TV's "Martin," who earlier gained prominence as a Life Magazine photojournalist and as founder of Essence Magazine. This "brilliantly photographed" (Leonard Maltin) tale was honored in 1989 as an American classic by the Library of Congress National Film Registry.

Newt, a black teenager living in 1920s Kansas, meets the many racial prejudices blacks face with great composure. When he witnesses a murder, he must decide whether to come forward and risk inflaming tensions between blacks and whites in his town.

The escape of Bubber Reeves from prison affects the inhabitants of a small Southern town.

They came to bring God, but instead brought disease and destruction. The Rev. Abner Hale (Von Sydow) and his gentle wife Jerusha (Andrews) attempt to convert early 19th-century Hawaiian natives to Christianity but find themselves ill-equipped to endure the unexpected tribulations of paradise. Surging with the excitement of windstorms, firestorms, shark attacks and magnificent island scenery, Hawaii shines as passionately as the island paradise itself.