Uptown Saturday Night

with this little movie, Poitier and Cosby manage to elude the traditional stereotypes of black comedies and the blacksploitation films. rather than laughing AT the characters, we are laughing at the situations and their reactions.

i also heard that Marlon Brando laughed out loud at the gangster parody of his Godfather role. me? i couldn't stop laughing throughout the film. madcap and absurd, this movie has several memorable sequences and conversations.

i don't know why this film is not more widely known. it plays with film convention, parodies everything from Godfather to hard-boiled detective movies, and all the while maintains an inspired sense of humor mixed with stand-up and vaudeville influences.

This was the first of 3 movies with Sidney Poitier and Billy Cosby. They have great chemistry as they move through this story of friends spending a night out and then get robbed. They were not supposed to be there in the first place. The supporting stars provide great comic relief. The wives in the movie are great women of African American theater. Harry Belafonte does a hilarious send up of Marlon Brando from "The Godfather". Flip Wilson and Richard Pryor also have parts in the movie and are hilarious. There are a number of great scenes with bill and Sidney running and escaping the gangsters and the end is definitely worth it!

This film still holds up years after it was first released. Steve and Wardell (Sidney Portier and Bill Cosby) are two working stiffs that try to get by. Wardell talks Steve into coming with him to a place called Madame Zenobia's (A HOT spot!). During the outing, the place gets robbed. Steve finds out later that he won the lottery. Trouble is, the winning ticket is in the wallet that was stolen. With the help of Wardell, they do just about ANYTHING to get the ticket back, and that is what makes this film fun. Harry Belafonte, Richard Pryor and Calvin Lockhart and just as wonderful. Worth checking out for the laughs, not just for 70's nostalgia.

Uninhibited comedy about the efforts of two husbands (Perfectly matched Cosby and Poitier) who try to recover stolen money and a winning lottery ticket before their wives discover that the items are missing. There is great support from Pryor, Wilson, Cash and most notably Belafonte, in a great "Godfather" parody role. For Poitier, who also directed, this was the first of many successful collaborations with Cosby.

My favorite character in "Uptown Saturday Night," is Geechie Dan Beauford, played by Harry Belafonte. He looks like Marlon Brando from the 1972 film, "The Godfather." Beauford is an intentional spoof of Don Corleone, with his cotton-stuffed cheeks. And he's so funny because he's anything but a strong character.

This is one of the early films that Sidney Poitier directed. It is disconnected in places. The script has holes in it and the story is disjointed at times. But, the film brings together a host of talented black performers. Poitier and Bill Cosby are the leads and have some funny encounters throughout as Steve Jackson and Wardell Franklin. The supporting cast all add to the fun and humor with their antics. Flip Wilson, Richard Pryor, Cal Lockhart and Roscoe Lee Browne have good roles. Paula Kelly as Leggy Peggy is funny.

This film isn't on the level of comedy that Cosby and company can deliver. But, for light entertainment in a film that brings together several top African-American entertainers, "Uptown Saturday Night" is a good watch.