Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling

Jo Jo Dancer Your Life is Calling (1987)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Richard Pryor direct, wrote, produced and stars in this film about a famous stand up comic who begins to rethink his life after catching himself on fire. If you've seen any of Pryor's three concert films then most of this film will be familiar since this is clearly an autobiographical film dealing with stuff we're heard Pryor discuss before. Everything from growing up in a whore house to his various marriages all the way to the fire incident, which nearly cost him his life. The director isn't the strongest in the world but Pryor's performance is right on the mark and the screenplay does a nice job at showing off these various stages in his life. The film has some very hard hitting moments and some touching ones just like his concert films.

I'm not sure if a biographical film as raw and truthful as "Jo Jo Dancer" ever had a chance to be a big financial hit. But viewed now, more than 15 years later, it is obvious that the film did not deserve the critical drubbing it got back in the day. Writer-director-producer-star Richard Pryor created a very strong film, simultaneously entertaining, funny, pathetic, provocative, heartbreaking, revealing, and raw. Two things held it back. Firstly, it was too rough for the super-slick mid-80s, being shot and structured more like a seventies film. Secondly, even though the climax of the film--Jo Jo setting himself on fire in a harrowing, drug-fueled despair--is powerful, it lacks a sense of closure. Sadly, the reason for this is that, like the real life Richard Pryor upon whose life the story is based, Jo Jo doesn't die at the end. He is badly burned and we are briefly shown that he lives to continue his career, just as Pryor did.

The story is told through flashbacks, after Jo Jo has set himself on fire, focusing on how he got to that point. Since the story abruptly ends soon after his suicide attempt, however, we are not shown much of what happens after that point. In an odd bit of irony, Jo Jo's survival then makes for an unsatisfying conclusion, story-wise. It's as though Pryor is saying, hey I burned myself up and that made me all better. It just isn't satisfying.

Other than those minor points, however, "Jo Jo" is a fine film that stands as one of the best of Pryor's spotty film career, and one of the very few dramatic films that allowed his unique brand of rage and vulnerability to show through completely ("Blue Collar" and "The Mack" being two others).

Not a classic, but certainly not the bomb it was painted as in '86. And, I might add, head and shoulders above the majority of dramatic films cranked out by hollywood today.

Not only is this movie funny, but it's also clever as in it's idea, of having a clone of the Richard Pryor character as his savior. As we know, all comedians have suffered severe depression or encountered some horrible times in their lives. Coked up, an alcoholic too, Jo Jo (Pryor) severely burns himself. Coming out of it, enter the other Pryor, the voice inside his head, the apparition, telling him to get his life back on track. Obviously, bits of the movie are inspired from Pryor's background. The movie starts with Jo Jo as a kid, living with his mother, who (hows this?) manages a whorehouse, so he gets to the savor the tasty sights through peepholes, or through having his ears pressed up against the doors, hearing those joyous sounds of sex. As he grows up into his late teens, he tells his mother he's gonna become a comedian. Obviously her initial response has her laughing aloud. So he leaves and toughs it on his own, while later becoming involved with two women, the latter, Debbie Allen, wanting to see him dead. This is a strong drama, too a comedy, that's balanced well, but more a drama. Richard's stand up stuff here is top notch, just as good as his real stand up, where both are potent, with their much undeniable truth surfaced underneath. You can't help thinking, some of the real Richard has been incorporated into his character, Pryor, just as good a dramatic actor, as a comedic one. The explanatory joke involving birth, really cracked me up. Watch out for Wings Hauser who Pryor knocks out, when finding him and his first girlfriend in an uncompromising position, doing blow whatever. An anti drug alcohol movie in part, this shows the pitfalls and struggles of the virgin comedian, the highs and lows they encounter, the humiliation and bitter disappointments, he must first endure. and . The movie also features Marvin Gaye's "What's going On" over a montage. Allen (Fame) as Pryor's second wife is particularly good. A movie treat for Pryor fans or peepers, for that matter.

Jo Jo Dancer (Richard Pryor) is a successful comedian. In a drunken haze, he severely burns himself. His spirit watches his wounded body in his hospital bed and recalls his journey to that point. As a child, Jo Jo grew up in the brothel with his mother. As a young man, he decides to go to the big city Cleveland to try his hand in stand up. His father beats him up and his young wife is too afraid to go with him. He gets a gig at a strip club. As his career rises, his marriages suffer a roller-coaster ride of drug use and other difficulties.

This is a thinly-veiled personal docudrama. I think it's probably a mistake for Pryor to direct the movie himself. It's technically competent but the material is there for something much more compelling. The story never gets much tension. It's coated in a functional lifetime docudrama. An experienced director would be able to bring something more interesting in the structure and also a deeper performance from Pryor. I love Pryor as a comic and an actor. I don't love this movie quite as much.

I found this film to be a really good depiction of Richard Pryor's life. But, I would've used the actual story of his life instead of using a fictional character to depict his life. Only a suggestion though Richard. But besides that, it is a great bio that has charm and laughs along the way (that later reminded me of Andy Kaufman's Man on the Moon). Trivia note- Pryor wrote, produced, directed (his first real film, though he directed Richard Pryor Here and Now) and starred in this film, which would be his last film to have writer, producer and director on his credits (he now has MS). A-