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