
Cornbread, Earl and Me
He Had the Lightest Touch in a Heavy Town.
The unintentional shooting by police of a star basketball player has profound personal, political and community repercussions in this acclaimed adaptation of the novel Hog Butcher by Ronald Fair. This was one of the more thoughtful urban dramas produced at the height of the "blaxploitation" craze. Also released under the title Hit the Open Man, it features the screen debut of Laurence Fishburne, who was barely a teenager at the time.
Director Joseph Manduke
Trailer
Cast

Madge Sinclair
Leona Hamilton

Bill Henderson
Watkins

Beverly Hope Atkinson
Edna

Thalmus Rasulala
Charlie

Erik Kilpatrick
Ace

Hal Baylor
Mr. Wilson

Stack Pierce
Sam Hamilton

Sandy Ward
Store Manager

Moses Gunn
Benjamin Blackwell

Rosalind Cash
Sarah Robinson

Laurence Fishburne
Wilford Robinson

Stefan Gierasch
Sgt. Danaher

Jamaal Wilkes
Nathaniel 'Cornbread' Hamilton

Hank Rolike
Man

Logan Ramsey
Deputy Coroner

J. Jay Saunders
Mr. Johnson

Bernie Casey
Officer Larry Atkins

Antonio Fargas
One-Eye

Sarina C. Grant
Mrs. Parsons

Charles Lampkin
Fred Jenkins

Don McGovern
Det. Kelly