''Cornbread, Earl and Me'' is a 1975 American

coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

that stars Tierre Turner,

Laurence Fishburne Laurence John Fishburne III (born July 30, 1961) is an American actor. Throughout his career, he has gained recognition for his roles on stage and screen as militant and authoritative characters. List of awards and nominations received by Laur ...

(in his film debut), and

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

player

Jamaal Wilkes Jamaal Abdul-Lateef (born Jackson Keith Wilkes; May 2, 1953), better known as Jamaal Wilkes, is an American former basketball player who was a small forward in the National Basketball Association (NBA). A three-time NBA All-Star, he won four NBA ...

. It was directed and co-produced by Joseph Manduke. The film is loosely based on the 1966 Ronald Fair novel ''Hog Butcher''.

Plot

The film focuses on three

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

youths living in an urban neighborhood. Nathaniel Hamilton is a star basketball player from the neighborhood, nicknamed "Cornbread." In the film, he epitomizes the dream of the neighborhood to be successful, as he is about to become the first from his district to enter college on an athletic scholarship. He is also a local hero to the much younger friends Earl Carter and Wilford Robinson. The plot thickens after a pick-up basketball game ends because of a heavy rain, and all the kids run to the local store and hang out, waiting for the rain to end. All the kids leave, except for Cornbread, Earl and Wilford. Earl and Wilford get into a playful argument about how fast Cornbread can run home. It is decided that Cornbread should make it home in 25 seconds, so he runs off, after buying another soda for himself. Unknown to all of them, an assault suspect in the neighborhood is dressed like Cornbread. The two police officers are hot on the suspect's trail, but lose him in the rain. As the police officers are coming out of an alleyway, they see Cornbread running and mistake him for the suspect they are seeking. Later the two officers fatally shoot Cornbread in the back. Wilford screams hysterically, ensuing a riot. The coroner's inquest is hampered by severe police intimidation, and no one knows anything about the shooting, except for Wilford, who appears on the witness stand in court by telling exactly what he saw (in graphic detail).

Cast

Moses Gunn Moses Gunn (October 2, 1929 – December 16, 1993) was an American actor of stage and screen. An Obie Award-winning stage player, he is an alumnus of the Negro Ensemble Company. His 1962 off-Broadway debut was in Jean Genet's ''The Blacks,'' and ...

as Benjamin Blackwell, Lawyer *

Rosalind Cash Rosalind Cash (December 31, 1938October 31, 1995) was an American actress. Her best-known film role is in the 1971 science-fiction film ''The Omega Man''. Cash also had another notable role as Mary Mae Ward in ABC's ''General Hospital'', a role ...

as Sarah Robinson, mother of Wilford *

Bernie Casey Bernard Terry Casey (June 8, 1939 – September 19, 2017) was an American American football, professional football player and actor. He was a football player and All-America, All-American hurdler at Bowling Green Falcons, Bowling Green State Un ...

as Officer Larry Atkins *

Madge Sinclair Madge Dorita Sinclair CD (née Walters; April 28, 1938 – December 20, 1995) was a Jamaican actress best known for her roles in '' Cornbread, Earl and Me'' (1975), ''Convoy'' (1978), ''Coming to America'' (1988), '' Trapper John, M.D.'' (1980� ...

as Leona Hamilton, mother of Cornbread *

as Wilford Robinson *

Thalmus Rasulala Thalmus Rasulala (born Jack Crowder; November 15, 1939October 9, 1991) was an American actor with a long career in theater, television, and films. Noted for starring roles in blaxploitation films, he was also an original cast member of ABC's soa ...

as Charlie, Boyfriend of Sarah *

Antonio Fargas Antonio Fargas (born August 14, 1946) is an American actor known for his roles in 1970s blaxploitation and comedy movies, as well as his portrayal as Huggy Bear in the 1970s TV series ''Starsky & Hutch''. Early life Fargas was born in New York C ...

as "One Eye" *

Logan Ramsey Logan Carlisle Ramsey Jr. (March 21, 1921 – June 26, 2000) was an American character actor of television and film for nearly 50 years. Early life Ramsey was born in Long Beach, California, the son of Harriet Lillian (née Kilmartin) and Captai ...

as Deputy Coroner * Vince Martorano as Officer John Golich *

Charles Lampkin Charles Lampkin (March 17, 1913 – April 17, 1989) was an American actor, musician and lecturer. Early life Charles Lampkin was born in Ward 4 of Montgomery, Alabama. He was the third son of Edgar Lampkin and Sarah Bidell. His paternal lineage ...

as Fred Jenkins, Store Owner *

Stefan Gierasch Stefan Gierasch (February 5, 1926 – September 6, 2014) was an American film and television actor. Personal Gierasch was a native of New York and studied at The Actors Studio. Gierasch was married 33 years to actress Hedy Sontag at the time o ...

as Sergeant Danaher *

Stack Pierce Robert Stack Pierce (June 15, 1933 – March 1, 2016) was a Hollywood actor who was previously a boxer and professional baseball player.Speakers InternationaStack Pierce His acting career began in the early 1970s with television roles in the ser ...

as Sam Hamilton, father of Cornbread * Tierre Turner as Earl Carter, Wilford's Friend *

(credited as Keith Wilkes) as Nathaniel "Cornbread" Hamilton *

Hal Baylor Hal Harvey Fieberling (born Hal David Britton; December 10, 1918Texas, U.S., Birth Certificates, 1903-1932 for Hal David Britton, 1918 > 057451-061848, retrieved from Ancestry.com – January 15, 1998)Hal Harvey Fieberling in the U.S., Social ...

as Mr. Wilson * Beverly Hope Atkinson as Edna * William Upton as "Stud" * Erik Kilpatrick as "Ace"

Release

The film had its premiere on May 20, 1975 at New York City's Penthouse Theatre for the benefit of the

United Negro College Fund UNCF, the United Negro College Fund, also known as the United Fund, is an American philanthropic organization that funds scholarships for black students and general scholarship funds for 37 private historically black colleges and universities. ...

. It opened to the public the next day at the theatre and grossed $83,512 in its first week of release. In its third week of release the film made $228,000 from 12 cities. In 1977, the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' stated that it was ultimately a box-office success. In 2001, the film was released on DVD. In 2010, it was digitized in High Definition (1080i) and broadcast on

MGM HD MGM Holdings, Inc. was an American holding company based in Beverly Hills, California. It was launched on February 11, 2005, by a creditor-oriented consortium and the former parent company of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (from which the "MGM" initials ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cornbread, Earl And Me 1970s English-language films 1970s American films 1975 drama films 1975 films 1970s coming-of-age drama films African-American drama films American International Pictures films American basketball films Blaxploitation films Films based on American novels

Plot

Cast

Release

See also

References

External links