Let's Do It Again

This time Sidney Poitier and Bill Cosby play 2 friends who belong to a group and were supposed to be raising money. They end up trying to train a boxer to beat the current champ by hypnotizing him. They end up getting their wives involved and Denise Nicholas has the best line of all - "Will you tell that girl to get that thing out of my face before I make her eat it?" THey are so over the top that it makes it even better. The supporting cast is pretty much the same as the previous movie. If nothing else, Sidney Poitier is keeping a lot of black actors employed! Once you get into it, you will truly enjoy it. Jimmy Walker isn't even the best part of the movie.

This is my favorite of the Bill Cosby/Sidney Poitier trilogy from the 70's. The chemistry between these two is fantastic.

Cosby and Poitier are friends and lodge brothers who are trying to save their lodge from demolition. They decide to take the meager building fund and place bets on a boxing match. The catch? The fighter they are going to bet on is a 5 to 1 underdog, and a hapless Jimmie Walker. Walker keeps getting knocked out by his sparring partners! How do they hope to win? Hypnosis!

The actors are all first rate and there is fun all around. These films were a nice contrast to the "Blaxploitation" films of the 70's, as they provided more positive roles for many black actors. John Amos and Calvin Lockhart are rival gangsters who take the bets and then go after Cosby and Poitier. Denise Nicholas shines as Cosby's wife and the always great Ossie Davis is the leader of the lodge.

Fans of the Cosby Show may be surprised by Cosby in these films. There is a great scene where Cosby and Nicholas engage in a bit of "dirty" talk in a restaurant. This is not Cliff and Claire Huxtable!

Poitier directed these films and shows great ability. The scenes are staged well and the shots are never dull. It's a shame he didn't direct more.

This film is worth it, if only for the scenes of Cosby trying to pass himself off as a gangster. His outfit has to be seen to be believed. Check this and Uptown Saturday Night and A Piece of the Action sometime.

Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier play working class men who want to get rich. They come up with $20,000 for a scheme, but $18,000 of that comes from their lodge's building fund. The men take their wives to New Orleans and, while there, they see an opportunity in an inept boxer, played by Jimmie Walker, who has the opportunity to win the middleweight title. Poitier hypnotizes the boxer and makes him very confident, and the men pose as New York millionaires and place bets with a bookie (well played by John Amos) who later figures out what they did and wants to take advantage of the situation, possibly bringing down rival Biggie Smalls.

Cosby is his usual self, only hipper (especially when he dresses in wild outfits to pretend to be rich). It's a real pleasure to see Poitier in a role that you can laugh at, since most of his characters have been so sophisticated. The two men together are great, especially when they are trying to get out of jams. I especially enjoyed seeing Cosby pretend to be a big-time gangster while talking on the phone. Walker, of course, was one of the best buffoons in 1970s TV, and he doesn't disappoint here. Even when his character is confident and talented, he still has that cartoonish quality about him.

Curtis Mayfield's music, with vocal performances by the Staples Singers, added a lot to the movie.

It wasn't quite a family movie, but it was quite clean compared to similar movies being made today, with very little cursing and not much to really object to.

I had a good time.

Although not as good as its predecessor, "Uptown Saturday Night", this sequel always provides some good laughs, especially if you overlook the wide-eyed Amos & Andy style acting of the principals (the worst perpetrator, oddly enough, being the typically stoic Sidney Poitier). Minstrel-esque hamming for the camera aside, this one is just plain fun to watch. Calvin Lockhart and John Amos are great comedic villains, almost playing their roles straight amidst the tom-foolery surrounding them.

As an African-American who grew up in the 70's, this and all the other Blaxploitation films provides a nostalgic, although somewhat exaggerated, look at life in the Black community. Put "Let's Do It Again" on a triple-bill with "Car Wash" and "Cooley High" and you'll have an entertaining blast from the past.

I've seen this movie along with Uptown Saturday Night countless times and, this one being the better of the two, and I still crack up. Bill & Sidney are great together and it's a shame they haven't collaborated since the 70's.

Jimmy Walker is simply "down right NAYISTEE!! with laughs".

I'm waiting for the DVD.