If You Give a Dance, You Gotta Pay the Band (1972)
Life in a black ghetto isn't easy for 14-year-old Billie Jean Sims, who has a father in jail, a blind grandmother, and a brother with a drug habit. Growing up among drug pushers, prostitutes, and pimps, Billie Jean still has some things going for her: fierce pride, a loyal friend named Fish, and, at last, enough savings to visit her father 1200 miles away in prison.
- Released
- 1972-12-19
- Genres
- TV Movie, Drama, Comedy
- Runtime
- 73 min
- Status
- Released
- Directed / written by
- Fred Coe
- TMDB rating
- 5.0/10 from 2 votes
Cast
- Donna M. Bryan as Billie Jean Sims
- James Broderick as Trick
- Georgia Burke as Grannie
- Laurence Fishburne as Fish
- Sonny Jim Gaines as Mr. Sims
- Arthur French as Customer
- Moses Gunn as Mr. Miller
- Albert Hall as T-Bone Sims
- Dots Johnson as Jim
- John Marriott as Jessie
- George Miles as Shake-a-Hand
- Haywood Nelson as Ronnie