105 minutes
4/14/1976
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.
James Earl Jones
as Johnny Williams
Cicely Tyson
as Mattie Williams
Louis Gossett Jr.
as Dr. Dudley Stanton
Glynn Turman
as Jeff Williams
Jonelle Allen
as Ann Vanderguild
Roger E. Mosley
as Big Moe Hayes
Ralph Wilcox
as Al
Teddy Wilson
as Chips
Charles Weldon
as Skeeter
Shirley Jo Finney
as Gail
Hilda Haynes
as Wilhelmina Geneva Brow
Ed Crick
as White Police Lieutenant
Tony Burton
as Black Policeman
Zakes Mokae