Richard Pryor in Hollywood

Hollywood studios were once eager to bring stand-up comedy king Richard Pryor’s dynamic humor to the big screen—so much so that studio executives gave him full access to available resources and creative control to develop his own projects. Unfortunately Pryor’s screen talents were far less acclaimed than his stage ones, and flops such as The Toy and Superman III greatly diminished his reputation. The author examines how this downfall unfolded through comprehensive analyses of each of Pryor’s movies.

Anthony Balducci studied journalism at Baruch College and holds a University of Florida criminology degree. He has written three previous books and numerous articles on film comedy as well as online contributions to Feet of Mud, World Cinema Paradise and other websites. He lives in New Port Richey, Florida.

Anthony Balducci
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 228
Bibliographic Info: 71 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2018
pISBN: 978-1-4766-7382-0
eISBN: 978-1-4766-3279-7
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments  vi
Introduction  1
The Busy Body (1967) 5
Wild in the Streets (1968) 14
Uncle Tom’s Fairy Tales: The Movie for Homosexuals (1969) 18
Carter’s Army (1970) 20
The Phynx (1970) 23
You’ve Got to Walk It Like You Talk It or You’ll Lose That Beat (1971) 25
Lady Sings the Blues (1972) 26
The Mack (1973) 30
Some Call It Loving (1973) 37
Hit! (1973) 40
Uptown Saturday Night (1974) 42
Adiós Amigo (1976) 47
The Bingo Long Traveling ­All-Stars & Motor Kings (1976) 52
Car Wash (1976) 57
Silver Streak (1976) 58
Greased Lightning (1977) 65
Which Way Is Up? (1977) 73
Blue Collar (1978) 85
The Wiz (1978) 102
California Suite (1978) 104
The Muppet Movie (1979) 108
Wholly Moses! (1980) 109
In God We Tru$t (or Gimme That Prime Time Religion) (1980) 111
Stir Crazy (1980) 114
Bustin’ Loose (1981) 123
Some Kind of Hero (1982) 136
The Toy (1982) 142
Superman III (1983) 151
Brewster’s Millions (1985) 160
Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (1986) 168
Critical Condition (1987) 173
Moving (1988) 180
Harlem Nights (1989) 182
See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989) 186
Another You (1991) 190
The Three Muscatels (1991) 194
Mad Dog Time (1996) 195
Lost Highway (1997) 196
Epilogue  201
Notes  203
Bibliography  217
Index  219