The River Niger

Name: The River Niger
Genre: Drama
Released: 1976-04-14
Duration: 1 h 45 min
Rating: 6.1
Cast: Cicely Tyson, James Earl Jones, Louis Gossett Jr.

19761976
RR
1h 45m

6.1/10

262

James Earl Jones, Louis Gossett Jr., Cicely Tyson, Jonelle Allen, and Glynn Turman in The River Niger (1976)

Drama

An intimate look at life in the ghetto: Johnny Williams is a house painter who moonlights as a poet, struggling to financially and emotionally support his cancer-ridden wife Mattie. But time... Read allAn intimate look at life in the ghetto: Johnny Williams is a house painter who moonlights as a poet, struggling to financially and emotionally support his cancer-ridden wife Mattie. But times are tough and the poverty-troubled streets are even tougher, and it takes every ounce of... Read allAn intimate look at life in the ghetto: Johnny Williams is a house painter who moonlights as a poet, struggling to financially and emotionally support his cancer-ridden wife Mattie. But times are tough and the poverty-troubled streets are even tougher, and it takes every ounce of Johnny's love and courage for the couple to make it through their strife, finding redempt... Read all

6.1/10

262

Top credits

See production, box office & company info

See more at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win

Photos12

James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson in The River Niger (1976)

James Earl Jones in The River Niger (1976)

James Earl Jones, Louis Gossett Jr., and Cicely Tyson in The River Niger (1976)

An intimate look at life in the ghetto: Johnny Williams is a house painter who moonlights as a poet, struggling to financially and emotionally support his cancer-ridden wife Mattie. But times are tough and the poverty-troubled streets are even tougher, and it takes every ounce of Johnny's love and courage for the couple to make it through their strife, finding redemption in the River Niger. —Echo Bridge Home Entertainment

love poet house painter ghetto symbolism 20 more

Taglines
- Some rivers can't be dammed...some people won't be broken.
Genre
- Drama
Certificate
- R
Parents guide
- Add content advisory

Trivia
James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson worked together again on Broadway in The Gin Game from 2015 to 2016.

Connections
Referenced in Call Me Angel, Sir (1976)

Top review

7/10

I Wanted To See Jones and Tyson

This movie starred some heavy-hitter actors, Black or otherwise: James Earl Jones, Cicely Tyson, Louis Gossett Jr., Glynn Turman, and a couple of other familiar faces. There is a lot going on in the movie without there being a clear direction toward any one thing.

Johnny Williams (James Earl Jones) was a hopeless alcoholic whose sole source of pride was his military son, Jeff (Glynn Turman).

Jeff was like many young Black men in the 70's, he wanted more than what the world was willing to give him, but most of all he wanted to be his own man.

The movie had some erudite moments from both Johnny and Jeff, but at other times it seems to wander hoping to survive on poignant rhetoric. Unfortunately, I was watching a bad dub because the sound would drag and the picture quality was bad even for 1975--and this was an Amazon Prime video!

But, I'd never hold video or sound quality against a low budget drama. The overall product wasn't that great, but it had its moments and considering the budget was probably barely enough to cover bus fare to and from shoots, I'll give it a pass.

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