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Roots

  • TV Mini Series
  • 1977
  • TV-14
  • 9h 48m
IMDb RATING
8.4/10
18K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
1,690
129
Roots (1977)
Home Video Trailer from Warner Home Video
Play trailer1:28
2 Videos
81 Photos
BiographyDramaHistory

A dramatization of author Alex Haley's family line from ancestor Kunta Kinte's enslavement to his descendants' liberation.A dramatization of author Alex Haley's family line from ancestor Kunta Kinte's enslavement to his descendants' liberation.A dramatization of author Alex Haley's family line from ancestor Kunta Kinte's enslavement to his descendants' liberation.

  • Stars
    • LeVar Burton
    • Robert Reed
    • John Amos
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    8.4/10
    18K
    YOUR RATING
    POPULARITY
    1,690
    129
    • Stars
      • LeVar Burton
      • Robert Reed
      • John Amos
    • 73User reviews
    • 10Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Won 9 Primetime Emmys
      • 17 wins & 35 nominations total

    Episodes8

    Browse episodes
    TopTop-rated1 Season1977

    Videos2

    Roots: 30th Anniversary Special Edition
    Trailer 1:28
    Watch Roots: 30th Anniversary Special Edition
    Roots: 30th Anniversary Special Edition
    Trailer 1:28
    Watch Roots: 30th Anniversary Special Edition

    Photos81

    Richard Roundtree and Leslie Uggams in Roots (1977)
    Roots (1977)
    Ji-Tu Cumbuka in Roots (1977)
    Cicely Tyson in Roots (1977)
    Cicely Tyson and Maya Angelou in Roots (1977)
    LeVar Burton in Roots (1977)
    John Amos and Madge Sinclair in Roots (1977)
    Leslie Uggams in Roots (1977)
    Sandy Duncan and Madge Sinclair in Roots (1977)
    Georg Stanford Brown in Roots (1977)
    Irene Cara and Beah Richards at an event for Roots (1977)
    Irene Cara at an event for Roots (1977)

    Top cast

    Edit
    LeVar Burton
    LeVar Burton
    • Kunta Kinte…
    Robert Reed
    Robert Reed
    • Dr. William Reynolds
    John Amos
    John Amos
    • Older Kunta Kinte…
    Louis Gossett Jr.
    Louis Gossett Jr.
    • Fiddler
    Lynda Day George
    Lynda Day George
    • Mrs. Reynolds
    Olivia Cole
    Olivia Cole
    • Mathilda…
    Madge Sinclair
    Madge Sinclair
    • Bell Reynolds
    Ben Vereen
    Ben Vereen
    • Chicken George Moore
    Lloyd Bridges
    Lloyd Bridges
    • Evan Brent
    Chuck Connors
    Chuck Connors
    • Tom Moore
    Georg Stanford Brown
    Georg Stanford Brown
    • Tom Harvey
    Lorne Greene
    Lorne Greene
    • John Reynolds
    Ralph Waite
    Ralph Waite
    • Slater
    Sandy Duncan
    Sandy Duncan
    • Missy Anne Reynolds
    Brad Davis
    Brad Davis
    • Old George
    Edward Asner
    Edward Asner
    • Capt. Thomas Davies
    Ji-Tu Cumbuka
    Ji-Tu Cumbuka
    • Wrestler
    Hilly Hicks
    Hilly Hicks
    • Lewis Harvey
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Author Harold Courlander successfully sued author Alex Haley for plagiarizing works which led to the book that served as the basis for this miniseries. Haley paid $650,000 in an out-of-court settlement.
    • Goofs
      Kizzy, a slave who works in the fields, has long, beautifully manicured fingernails.
    • Quotes

      Omoro, Kunta's father: [holding his infant son up to starry sky] Kunta Kinte, behold the only thing greater than yourself!

    • Alternate versions
      The original version of Roots on ABC featured slightly different opening titles. The Roots Mural was the same, but when the title Roots was shown on-screen it was over a dark blue background. The cover of the novel rises up from a horizontal to a vertical position. The screen says "AN ABC NOVEL FOR TELEVISION ALEX HALEY'S ROOTS THE SAGA OF AN AMERICAN FAMILY." Current VHS, dvd, and re-broadcasts simply have "Roots" on a black background, without the other information. Also, the end credits have been changed considerably. In the original, there were eight sets of end credits (one for each episode.) When the show was re-edited to six episodes, names were combined for different hours and some of the end credit sequences (with a still from that episode) are missing, including one featuring Kizzy and Missy Anne having a picnic.
    • Connections
      Featured in The 29th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1977)
    • Soundtracks
      Oluwa
      by Quincy Jones

    User reviews73

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    10/10
    The Best TV Miniseries Ever Offered by a Major Commercial Network Before Cable
    Two of the most important American television programs are "The Civil War" by Ken Burns (1989), and the epic narrative miniseries "Roots" (1977) based on the book "Roots: The Saga of an American Family" by Alex Haley. Despite the controversy surrounding the book, and the facts of Haley's ancestry (for example, the slave Toby aka "Kunte Kinte", may never have fathered Kizzy and therefore may not be a direct ancestor of Haley) the series is an important and ground-breaking work in its stunning portrayal of slave life in America from the late 18th century to the mid-19th century.

    For decades, the United States has been largely in denial of its treatment of African-Americans both as slaves and later in post-Civil War periods. The south of the 19th century had fabricated the reality of slave conditions and down-played the brutality inflicted on both slaves and anti-slave sympathizers. Racial hatred and brutality continued into the 20th century, largely fueled by white traditions that have (and continue to) concoct misrepresentations of historical reality to younger generations. By the middle of the 20th century, nearly 100 years after the end of the American Civil War, President Johnson signed Civil Rights legislation into law with the White Southern community kicking and screaming all the way. If legislation couldn't change people's hearts and minds, what could?

    Americans love movies, story-telling/narrative film depictions of reality. There had never before been a nationally distributed film production that honestly told the story of the African-American slave experience. Fourteen years after Johnson's legislation, "Roots" was broadcast on national television by the American Broadcasting Company (ABC). I regard those network executives that green-lighted the broadcast in great esteem for their willingness to take a chance on this most-important series. I doubt whether US commercial television will ever produce and broadcast such a high-caliber and controversial program again in the near future. And to give credit to the American viewing public, "Roots" was a huge success.

    From beginning to end, "Roots" is an absolute triumph of film production, the best-ever miniseries offered by a corporate network prior to the rise of cable television. The acting and the script are top-notch. Almost every notable African-American acting talent of the time was solicited to join the cast, from LeVar Burton and John Amos (Kunte Kinte, Toby) to Lou Gosset Jr (Fiddler) to Ben Vareen (Chicken George) to James Earl Jones (Alex Haley). Even OJ Simpson makes an appearance. A lot of notable white talent appears as well, such as Ed Asner and Sandy Duncan.

    Slavery is a tragedy and "Roots" is a tragic story. "Roots" has its light moments, its inspiring moments, although it is its heartbreaking moments that stay with you: The moment the young African Kunte Kinte is shackled, sold as chattel and forced to board the slave ship bound for America. The whipping of the young Kunte Kinte to "break" him into slavery. The selling of Kizzy, Toby's daughter, to another slave master because of her involvement with a scheme to help a runaway. These are the moments that make Roots' larger point. Another aspect that makes Roots effective in its rhetoric is that it never seeps into sentimentality to makes its point. The story relies on an honest narrative and the audience is left to draw their on conclusions. Is it brutal? Yes. Unjust? Definitely. And that is what it was. (If you don't believe "Roots", sell yourself into slavery and see how you like it.)

    Two aspects occur to me about what this story means beyond just the plain inhumanity of the institution of slavery. One aspect is that the benefit of slavery is terribly minute when compared to the staggering price paid by the slaves themselves and everyone else. Simultaneously, non-slaves were pressed into service to maintain slavery as an institution. Such titanic sadness, misery, hopelessness brutality, and inhumanity is forced upon people (both slave and non-slave) in return for a more comfortable life for a minuscule segment of the population. And yet the amount of work, effort, and money to maintain the inhumane infrastructure seems more burdensome than if these people were free. The average white southerner could not afford to own slaves, and many worked for slave owners as overseers, slave-catchers, auctioneers, and other positions designed to maintain the institution. In short, misery for thousands with a little comfort for a few.

    The other tragedy is the denial of positive contribution to society. Those who were slaves were denied giving their love, their knowledge, their inspiration, and their culture to society. All this beauty sacrificed so a few white aristocrats can laze around on sofas in front of fireplaces in giant mansions. Someone once said that if we don't help foster the gifts in other people, we run the risk of never seeing how our world could be made better. Slavery is a tragedy for the people enacting it as well, although the suffering aspect is less apparent.

    "Roots" is a story that needs to be told and retold. Shown and re-shown. I would encourage any teacher trying to convey the reality of slavery in America to consider showing at least a segment or two of "Roots". There is no question that the film is mesmerizing. It saddens me that there are still those in America that want to hang onto southern myths that propagate that slavery wasn't that bad. These are some of the same people that are convinced the holocaust is a fabrication. It is better to forgive than the forget. We have to embrace our roots.
    helpful•42
    18
    • classicalsteve
    • Jul 16, 2007

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • January 23, 1977 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Raíces
    • Filming locations
      • St. Simons Island, Georgia, USA
    • Production companies
      • David L. Wolper Productions
      • Warner Bros. Television
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      9 hours 48 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

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