The BEST episodes of Frontline season 1987
Every episode of Frontline season 1987, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Frontline season 1987!
Explores a wide scope of the complex human experience.
#1 - The Earthquake is Coming
Season 1987 - Episode 2 - Aired 2/3/1987
Frontline examines the startling implications of what will happen when the big earthquake hits California, detailing the awesome effects as systems rupture and the entire nation's economy, industries, and national security are jeopardized.
Watch Now:Amazon#2 - In Search of the Marcos Millions
Season 1987 - Episode 11 - Aired 5/26/1987
The day Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos fled the Philippines in 1986, they left with $8.9 million in jewelry, cash, and bonds. But the Philippine government claims they took much more, plundering the wealth of the nation, stashing it in fake companies and secret bank accounts. Frontline tracked hundreds of millions of dollars of the Marcos money and asked whether the Philippine government will ever get it back.
#3 - Apartheid Part 5: 1987
Season 1987 - Episode 20 - Aired 12/16/1987
Part 5 looks at an unprecedented meeting in the struggle for South Africa's future. Two years before the release of Nelson Mandela, dissident white Afrikaners met with black leaders from the outlawed African National Congress in Dakar, Senagal, to discuss strategies for change in South Africa, presaging the reforms that would come later.
#4 - Apartheid Part 4: 1978-1986
Season 1987 - Episode 19 - Aired 12/15/1987
When PW Botha became prime minister of South Africa two years after the Soweto uprising in 1976, he realized that apartheid must 'adapt or die.' Part 4 explores the reforms undertaken by Botha to maintain white supremacy, changes that have deeply divided Afrikaners and have provoked explosive reactions from many blacks.
#5 - Apartheid Part 3: 1963-1977
Season 1987 - Episode 18 - Aired 12/15/1987
'Independent homelands' for blacks was the centerpiece of Prime Minister Hendrick Verwoerd's vision of apartheid. Part 3 focuses on how the white government found African leaders to collaborate with them in a plan to make foreigners of black South African citizens by deporting them to independent homelands in rural areas of the country. The program looks at the increased resistance to the homeland policy as seen through the first nationwide attack by young black South Africans in the Soweto ghetto in 1976.
#6 - Apartheid Part 2: 1948-1963
Season 1987 - Episode 17 - Aired 12/14/1987
Part 2 details the new policy which included classifying all South Africans by race, removing blacks from cities where many had lived for generations, and establishing separate and unequal schooling for blacks. Frontline focuses on the increasing black resistance in the 1950s and the rise of resistance leader Nelson Mandela.
#7 - Apartheid Part I: 1652-1948
Season 1987 - Episode 16 - Aired 12/14/1987
Many white South Africans claim that the entire country is theirs by right. No black man, they say, occupied South Africa before the first tiny Dutch settlement in 1652. Part 1 refutes this claim and traces the country's colonial history, the emergence early in the 20th century of the African National Congress, the rise to power of Afrikaner nationalists, and the formal policy of apartheid.
#8 - The Politics of Greed
Season 1987 - Episode 15 - Aired 6/23/1987
As corruption scandals rock New York City, the careers of dozens of high officials are being destroyed. Frontline takes an inside look at the seamy side of urban politics and asks whether this is any way to run a government.
#9 - Keeping the Faith
Season 1987 - Episode 14 - Aired 6/16/1987
The black church was once the soul of its community. It was a rallying point and a force for change. Now, as the black middle class grows and the church evolves, correspondent Roger Wilkins asks whom does it serve and to what end?
#10 - Death of a Porn Queen
Season 1987 - Episode 13 - Aired 6/9/1987
She was from Minnesota. Young, pretty, and fresh. She went to Hollywood in search of a dream and found herself in X-rated movies, on drugs, and estranged from her family and friends. Correspondent Al Austin retraces her story, discovering why after two years as a porn queen, she took her own life.
#11 - Israel: The Price of Victory
Season 1987 - Episode 12 - Aired 6/2/1987
The Six Day War was a decisive victory for Israel. But many Israelis feel that something has gone wrong. On the war's twentieth anniversary, Frontline finds a nation struggling with its image and its role as a democracy and reveals what has happened to the dream.
#12 - The Bombing of West Philly
Season 1987 - Episode 10 - Aired 5/5/1987
'I could hear the bullets all around me, hitting all around the house. I was forced back by gunfire,' says Ramona Africa, the only adult survivor of MOVE, a small, violent, urban cult. Years of tension ended May 13, 1985, when police bombed Africa's house. The surrounding neighborhood burned out of control, leaving 250 homeless. Frontline correspondent Leon Dash examines why the bombing really happened.
#13 - War on Nicaragua
Season 1987 - Episode 9 - Aired 4/21/1987
As the Iran-contra scandal was still unfolding, Frontline correspondent William Greider revealed how the US began supporting the contras in Nicaragua and why our involvement there continues. The program is a meticulous reconstruction of US policy toward Nicaragua, and an investigation into how US foreign policy is made.
#14 - The Secret File
Season 1987 - Episode 8 - Aired 4/14/1987
How could an ordinary citizen be considered a national security risk? Penn Kimball, a university professor, former New York Times editor, Rhodes scholar, and Eagle Scout, was stunned to discover that for 30 years, government files existed declaring him as a disloyal American. As he tries to clear his name, Frontline examines the government decision to gather information on American citizens.
#15 - Street Cop
Season 1987 - Episode 7 - Aired 3/31/1987
Frontline takes a gritty look at street cops. In Boston's busiest, most violent police district, they confront the never-ending calls for help and the never-ending chase after drugs.
#16 - Desperately Seeking Baby
Season 1987 - Episode 6 - Aired 3/3/1987
Two million American couples desperately want babies and can't have them. They are turning to private adoption deals brokered by lawyers and counselors. Sometimes they get a new baby and a happy home; sometimes their hearts are broken. Frontline looks at a system filled with ambiguity and heartbreak.
#17 - The Nazi Connection
Season 1987 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/24/1987
German scientists were responsible for putting the first American on the moon. Now, 15 years later, government investigators are asking whether some of them were also responsible for Nazi war crimes. Frontline examines their war records and the role of American officials who decided to bring them to the United States.
#18 - Stopping Drugs (2)
Season 1987 - Episode 4 - Aired 2/17/1987
A two-part special examining efforts to stamp out drugs. Part 2 journeys into America's schools to find out if drugs are really a major problem and if anti-drug efforts are working.
#19 - Stopping Drugs (1)
Season 1987 - Episode 3 - Aired 2/10/1987
A two-part special examining efforts to stamp out drugs. Part 1 examines the personal struggles of addicts trying to kick the habit and the effectiveness of drug treatment programs.
#20 - The Real Stuff
Season 1987 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/27/1987
One year after the Challenger disaster, Frontline examined the all-too-human side of the space program as seen through the eyes of the astronauts and engineers responsible for making it work. Correspondent James Reston tells the inside story of a program plagued by problems and politics.