Roots Movie Review 1977

The complete version of Alex Haley's saga following a black man's search for his heritage, revealing an epic panorama of America's past. Dramatizing the shared heritage of millions of African Americans in an ennobling fashion, this milestone miniseries brought together dozens of black actors to create an accurate, if simplified, picture of several generations in one black family. The story begins with Kunta Kinte (Burton) going through his manhood trials in his Gambian village in Africa, only to be captured by slavers and shipped away to America.

Distribution

PBS Home Video, Catalog Fulfillment Center, PO Box 751089, Charlotte, NC 28275-1089, Phone: (800)531-4727, Toll-free: 800-645-4PBS, Email: info@pbs.org, URL: http://www.pbs.org

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 573 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Historical Drama, Slavery, Books to Film: Alex Haley, American South, African America, 4 Bones

Screenplay

William Blinn, Ernest Kinoy, M. Charles Cohen, James H. Lee

Cast

John Amos, Maya Angelou, Ed Asner, Lloyd Bridges, LeVar Burton, Chuck Connors, Cicely Tyson, Ben Vereen, Sandy Duncan, Tanya Boyd, Lynda Day George, Lorne Greene, Burl Ives, O.J. Simpson, Todd Bridges, Georg Stanford Brown, MacDonald Carey, Olivia Cole, Leslie Uggams, Ossie Davis

Cinematography

Stevan Larner, Joseph M. Wilcots

Director

David Greene, Marvin J. Chomsky, John Erman, Gilbert Moses

Music

Quincy Jones, Gerald Fried

Producer

Stan Margulies, David L. Wolper