Roots (TV Miniseries)
1977 · Series · 573 min. · United States
From the moment the young Kunta Kinte (LeVar Burton) is stolen from his life and ancestral home in 18th-century Africa and brought under inhumane conditions to be auctioned as a slave in America, a line is begun that leads from this most shameful chapter in U.S. history to the 20th-century author Alex Haley, a Kinte descendant. The late Haley's acclaimed book 'Roots' was adapted into this six-volume television miniseries. The programs cover several generations in the antebellum South and end with the story of "Chicken" George, a freed slave played by Ben Vereen whose family feels the agony of entrenched racism and learns to fight it. Between the lives of Kunta and George, we meet a number of characters, black and white, and learn much about the emotional and physical torments of slavery, from beatings and rapes to the forced separation of spouses and families. The installment which aired in 30 January 1977 in the USA was the most-watched TV show in US history (since surpassed by the "M*A*S*H" (1972) finale and "Who Shot J.R.?" episode of "Dallas" (1978)).
Direction Marvin J. Chomsky · John Erman · David Greene · Gilbert Moses
Cast Todd Bridges · Robert Reed · John Amos · Madge Sinclair · Ed Asner · LeVar Burton · Ben Vereen · Brad Davis · Lynda Day George · Olivia Cole · Carolyn Jones · Chuck Connors · Leslie Uggams · Sandy Duncan · Moses Gunn · Hari Rhodes · O.J. Simpson · Ralph Waite · Louis Gossett Jr. · Lorne Greene · Vic Morrow
Soundtrack Quincy Jones · Gerald Fried
Screenplay Alex Haley · James Lee · M. Charles Cohen · William Blinn · Ernest Kinoy
Cinematography Stevan Larner · Joseph M. Wilcots
Original title Roots
7.3
3K votes (FilmAffinity)
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