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"To Sir, With Love", is a gem in that the story, the characters, and the message of the novel are transferred almost flawlessly to the screen. Sidney Poitier is masterful as the titular character, Mark Thackeray, assigned to teach a classroom full of delinquent London teens.

His own epiphany and announcement--after a number of trying events--that the students are not children, but adults, each deserving of concern and respect, and owing responsibility to the world--is the turning point of the story. Simply by abiding by the rules by which he expects them to abide, "Sir" earns not just the students' respect, but their love; he has treated them like no other adult in their lives has done.

The message is obvious: regardless of race, creed, colour, or even gender or social position, every person is deserving of the same level of respect. It was true in 1967; it's true today; it will always be true.

See the movie; if you can find a copy, read the book, too.

Though Denzel Washington is used to promote this movie, it's not really a Denzel vehicle -- he doesn't show up until halfway through the movie, and during the second half of the movie, his appearances are staccato and brief. In other words, he's not the star.

The main characters are the members of the Peterson family -- father John (Farentino), mother Judith (Fuller), and younger daughter Amy (Meyers) -- each of whom struggles with his or her grief when the elder daughter of the family, Lynne (Vigard), is killed by a drunk driver. The family drifts apart as John obsesses over getting the guilty driver convicted of manslaughter; Judith sinks into helpless depression; and Amy is left lonely and afraid, her world suddenly upside-down.

Denzel comes into the picture as the extremely overworked but nevertheless competent public prosecutor Martin Sawyer, who is assigned the case against the driver charged with Lynne's death.

It's not a spectacular movie -- it has its maudlin moments, its result is predictable, and there are times you'll want to kick some of the characters for their obstinacy -- but as I say, it's a product of its time, and there are worse ways of spending an hour and a half. The message is a little heavy-handed, but it remains a valid one, however dated the movie itself may be (check out Denzel's glasses!).

It didn't run very long, but "Gabriel's Fire" is a fantastic series for anyone who wants to see the complete range of James Earl Jones' ability as an actor, and not only to hear the range of his beautiful voice! Even just the first episode gives him the chance to show off a broad range of emotion, of action, of genuinely slipping into his character -- the ex-cop, ex-con, Gabriel Bird.

The series begins with Bird in his twentieth year in prison for murder; he killed a white cop during a raid, and was convicted for this, but because of his exemplary military record, his sentence was reduced to life in prison. A friend of his in prison is murdered, bringing Bird through circumstances together with his friend's lawyer, and on this is built the premise of the series.

Jones does take over every scene he's in, but he's got rather an overwhelming personality on the screen; he can't help that, I think =D If you get a chance to see the series, take it!