The River Niger

Over the years I missed viewing this film and was extremely surprised at the great acting by the entire cast. I remembered that this film was created from a Tony Award winning off Broadway hit play and its deep look into the African American community in the 1970's. James Earl Jones,(Johnny Williams) is a house painter and has an extra hobby writing poetry. Cicely Tyson,(Mattie Williams) plays the wife of Johnny and tries to do her very best to work and keep the family from going down under during rough times and poverty all around them. Louis Gossett,Jr., (Dr. Dudley Stanton), is a very good friend to Johnny and helps him out financially when he spends all his income on booze and can't make the house payments. Super stars, Lou Gossett and Earl Jones make this a classic film and worth every minute of your time to view this film.

There are several things to understand about this movie. 1. The actors and actresses are African American and at the time of the movie were not necessarily appreciated for their outstanding talents that have been showcased in later years. 2. Comments that the "gang" members were hokey perhaps come from those who have never been residents in the Watts area of LA, the south side of Chicago or the east side of Detroit in the early 1970's. (3) I find that the use of the"n" word brings about discussion with today's students of communication and film who are products of the rap culture's influences. All in all the film's adaptation from the original play is a good one.

I love James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson as a couple. They live in the ghetto or slums of Los Angeles, California in the 1970s. The rest of the cast includes the under-used Hilda Haynes and Louis Gosset Jr. The story of Johnny Williams as a poet and his ill wife played by Tyson is not so bad and their surroundings are undesirable as they battle crime, gangs, violence, and living in a tough part of the city. Jones and Tyson are a formidable pair and strong together on screen and they are worth watching the film alone even if it's not that great on paper. JOnes's performance elevates the role into a complex character of JOhnny Williams and there are familiar actors and actresses also in this film. The River Niger might not be that great but it's not that bad and Tyson and Jones are so strong together that you can see them at odds as well. Johnny loves his wife, Mattie, and strives as a poet but the scene where he reads to Mattie is heartbreaking, emotional, and worth watching. I didn't care for the other scenes involving the gangs, violence, and crime. I just loved watching Tyson and JOnes as a couple.

This film contains several well known actors in some different types of roles than the ones we are used to seeing them in. For instance, there's Roger E. Mosely (TC on Magnum PI) as Big Moe, an activist/leader & Glynn Turman (Cooley High & the TV show, A Different World) as Jeff, who has just come home from flight school and is trying to stay out of trouble, but yet at the same time help the cause and his friends. With this movie, we get to see James Earl Jones (Johnny) as a regular everyday working man, a house painter, who just happens to have a knack for some of the most beautiful poetry around. Though he has his own problems, he still tries the best way he knows how to support his family. He is very proud of his son Jeff's accomplishments in flight school and wants more than anything to see him in his uniform. Cicely Tyson plays the ever-supporting wife, Mattie, who loves her husband (despite his 'ways') and family more than anything in the world. She tries to keep herself together even though she and her family are facing some very trying times. The grandmother, Geneva Wilhemnia Brown, is played by the lovely Hilda Haynes. She adds a bit of comic flair at times to the film and interacts especially well with Johnny. The talented Lou Gossett is Johnny's best friend & confidante, who often has to bail him out. These are two buddies who really love each other, even though they rib on each other a lot. The role of Anne was brilliantly done by Jonelle Allen as Jeff's fiancé.

In this film, Johnny & his son, Jeff must ultimately choose between what is right & what is best for for the family. These two strong-willed, passionate men are more alike than they realize and Mattie often has to be the voice of reason & neutrality. I feel that the ending, should have been more complete and given more of an "ending", so that the viewer wouldn't be left with any questions.

A well made film, though it doesn't seem to be too well known. This is the film adaptation of an off-Broadway play that garnered a Tony! Enjoy this worthwhile family drama!

1st watched 9/30/2022 - (Dir-Krishna Shah): Heavy-handed drama about a son returning from his stint in the airforce to try and have a normal life. The movie starts by introducing the family & friends of the man, played by Glynn Turman. His dad, played by James Earl Jones, is a drunk with a heart for poetry and his family. His dad's best friend and family doctor, played by Lou Gossett. The mother, played by Cicely Tyson, and a new entry; the son's fiancee, arrives at the house and is welcomed by the group. These festivities are abruptly interrupted by the arrival of the gang that the soldier was associated with before he went into the air force. The rock of the group, the mother, gets ill and it puts a damper on the family and the returning son, Jeff --- who wants to become a lawyer, but the in-ability to get work pulls him back into helping the gang with their revolution against the white world. This movie shows the reality of black life during the time, but has so many storylines that never get resolved. I guess it may be the point of the story, based on a tony-award winning play - but not showing the audience any real answers doesn't help the movie. Cicely's character keeps a positive spin up to the end, but we really don't know why, and an abrupt non-positive non-climatic ending doesn't help it's cause either. A historic movie in the sense that it's based on an all African-American play but just doesn't sit well, for the most part.