A Piece of the Action (1977). Starring Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby, James Earl Jones, Denise Nicholas, Hope Clarke, Tracy Reed, Ja'net DuBois, Frances Foster, Ernest Thomas, Eric Laneuville, Sheryl Lee Ralph Dave Anderson (Bill Cosby, Man and Boy, Let's Do It Again) and Manny Durrell (Sidney Portier, In The Heat of the Night, Buck and the Preacher) are two high-class sneak thieves who have never been caught. Joshua Burke (James Earl Jones, The Man, Claudine) is a retired detective who has enough