Cornbread, Earl and Me (1975)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Joseph Manduke

Writers:

Ronald Fair (novel)
Leonard Lamensdorf (writer)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

He Had the Lightest Touch in a Heavy Town.

Plot:

A 12-year-old is traumatised by the murder of his friend, a star basketball player.

Plot Keywords:

Basketball | Black Cop | Sergeant | African American | Police Brutality

Cast

Moses Gunn	...	Benjamin Blackwell
Rosalind Cash	...	Sarah Robinson
Bernie Casey	...	Officer Larry Atkins
Madge Sinclair	...	Leona Hamilton
Jamaal Wilkes	...	Nathaniel 'Cornbread' Hamilton (as Keith Wilkes)
Stefan Gierasch	...	Sgt. Danaher
Charles Lampkin	...	Fred Jenkins
Vince Martorano	...	Officer John Golich
Logan Ramsey	...	Deputy Coroner
Thalmus Rasulala	...	Charlie
Antonio Fargas	...	One-Eye
Laurence Fishburne	...	Wilford Robinson (as Laurence Fishburne III)
Stack Pierce	...	Sam Hamilton
Tierre Turner	...	Earl Carter
Bill Henderson	...	Watkins

Also Known As:

Hit the Open Man

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | USA:PG

Company:

American International Pictures (AIP)

Trivia:

Laurence Fishburne's film debut. He is credited as Laurence Fishburne III.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Century of Black Cinema (2003) (V)

Promising film hampered it's by music

This is a rather well done film with great performances. Where it drops the ball is on the overdramatic music that sledgehammers the emotional tone of the more dramatic scenes.

It resists the temptation of villianizing all of the antagonists, especially the judge (which no doubt would've been portrayed as racist and corrupt in a similar film made today).

Bernie Casey (who I'll always think of as U.N Jefferson in Revenge Of The Nerds) is terrific and it's too bad I don't see him in too many films today.

Great 70's feel and the first appearance of Larry Fishburn makes this a film to check out.