Cotton Comes to Harlem

Ossie Davis makes his directorial debut a smashing success in the action crime comedy Cotton Comes To Harlem. Coffin Ed Johnson (Raymond St. Jacques) and Grave Digger Jones (Godfrey Cambridge) are neighborhood plainclothes cops who keep tabs on the residents and keep a lid on trouble. The Reverend Deke O'Malley (Calvin Lockhart) is a crooked, money-laundering preacher under suspicion by the detectives. Over $87,000 in cash is hidden in a bale of cotton, money Deke has bilked from the trusting community. Redd Foxx and Cleavon Little also appear in this popular feature that spawned future sequels of lesser quality.