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A Gathering of Old Men (TV) (1987)
 
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093076/

A Gathering of Old Men is a novel by Ernest J. Gaines published in 1983.

Set on a 1970s Louisiana cane farm, the novel addresses racial discrimination and a bond that cannot be usurped.

Several of the novels by Louisiana-born African American writer Ernest J. Gaines have been adapted into acclaimed tv movies, including his 1971 The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman with Cicely Tyson in the title role in 1974, and Gaines's 1993 National Book Critics Circle Award-winning A Lesson Before Dying with Tyson, Don Cheadle, Mekhi Phifer and in 1999. 

In 1987 Volker Schlöndorff made a film, also titled A Gathering of Old Men (aka Murder on the Bayou), which adheres closely to the novel. It stars Richard Widmark (as Sheriff Mapes), Louis Gossett Jr. (as Mathu), Holly Hunter (as Candy), Joe Seneca (as Clatoo), and Will Patton (as Lou Dimes).

  Louis Gossett Jr.  ...  Mathu  
  Richard Widmark  ...  Sheriff Mapes  
  Holly Hunter  ...  Candy Marshall  
  Joe Seneca  ...  Clatoo  
  Will Patton  ...  Lou Dimes  
  Woody Strode  ...  Yank  
  Tiger Haynes  ...  Booker  
  Papa John Creach  ...  Jacob  
  Julius Harris  ...  Coot  
  Rosanna Carter  ...  Beulah  
  Walter Breaux  ...  Charlie  
  Joe 'Flash' Riley  ...  Jameson (as Jay 'Flash' Riley)  
  Danny Barker  ...  Chimley  
  Howard 'Sandman' Sims  ...  Uncle Billy  
  P. Jay Sidney  ...  Gable  

A regular day in a Louisiana sugarcane plantation changes course when a local white farmer is shot. A group of old, black men takes a courageous step by coming forward en masse to take responsibility for the killing of a white racist, whom one of their members has shot. As the sheriff confronts the suspects, the young plantation owner stands alone in her daring defense of this group of men, provoking racial tension that makes a compelling drama.

In an obituary of Richard Widmark (1914-2008) "A Gathering of Old Men" was mentioned as one of the best roles of his later years. He is, in fact, very good as a good ole boy Louisiana sheriff in the early 1970s. The movie also stars Holly Hunter and Lou Gossett, Jr, and a cast of aged/aging (ca. 1987) black character actors.