A Lesson Before Dying (1999)
In the 1940s South, an African-American man is wrongly accused of the killing a a white store owner. In his defense, his white attorney equates him with a lowly hog, to indicate that he didn't have the sense to know what he was doing. Nevertheless convicted, he is sentenced to die, but his godmother and the aunt of the local schoolteacher convince school teacher go to the convicted man's cell each day to try to reaffirm to him that he is not an animal but a man with dignity.
Director: Joseph Sargent
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Don Cheadle as Grant Wiggins |
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Cicely Tyson as Tante Lou |
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Mekhi Phifer as Jefferson |
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Irma P. Hall as Miss Emma |
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Brent Jennings as Reverend Ambrose |
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Lisa Arrindell as Vivian Baptiste |
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Dana Ivey as Edna Guidry |
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Frank Hoyt Taylor as Sheriff Guidry |
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Stuart Culpepper as Henri Pichot |
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Von Coulter as Farrell Jarreau |
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Elijah Kelley as Clarence |
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Wynton Yates as Louis Washington |
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Patty Mack as Inez |
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Jameelah Nuriddin as Irene |
| Writing | Ernest J. Gaines | Novel |
| Writing | Ann Peacock | Teleplay |
| Directing | Joseph Sargent | Director |
| Production | Robert Benedetti | Producer |
