
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

Sandy Ward
Store Manager

Stack Pierce
Sam Hamilton

Don McGovern
Det. Kelly

Hank Rolike
Man

Rosalind Cash
Sarah Robinson

Bernie Casey
Officer Larry Atkins

Jamaal Wilkes
Nathaniel 'Cornbread' Hamilton

Erik Kilpatrick
Ace

J. Jay Saunders
Mr. Johnson

Madge Sinclair
Leona Hamilton

Thalmus Rasulala
Charlie

Antonio Fargas
One-Eye

Sarina C. Grant
Mrs. Parsons

Bill Henderson
Watkins

Laurence Fishburne
Wilford Robinson

Hal Baylor
Mr. Wilson

Beverly Hope Atkinson
Edna

Charles Lampkin
Fred Jenkins

Moses Gunn
Benjamin Blackwell

Logan Ramsey
Deputy Coroner

Stefan Gierasch
Sgt. Danaher