O Brinquedo

Underneath all the "controversy" about the rich whitey "buying" the po' black man as a toy for his son, there's actually a very touching story about a kid and his dad who don't know how to communicate their feelings.

All this "slave" stuff seems a bit silly - in the early '80s, Richard Pryor was probably the most popular (and funniest) comedian out there, so who better to play the role of Jack Brown? They needed someone with great comic timing, who is fantastic delivering funny lines and doing slapstick, and who can emote as good as anyone then when a dramatic scene called for it. Who would have been a better choice than Pryor? No one.

The bratty kid and his "toy" Pryor raise heck in every scenario, from a dinner party, to a democrat KKK fundraiser, to a printing press room, and just about everywhere in the dad's mansion. Along the way, Eric the kid learns more and more about how to be a decent person from Jack, who is trying to get a job from the kid's dad (the amazing Jackie Gleason) who owns the local newspaper, among everything else.

Ned Beatty shines as always as one of Gleason's flunkies, showing that he was one of those guys who could play just about every kind of role.

Pryor of course is absolutely hilarious as Jack, paid to befriend the kid, and take the brunt of the kid's jokes and pranks, always with hilarious results.

Sure this isn't the funniest film ever made, but this is a very likable film for anyone that puts the prejudices against it aside and just chills and enjoys it.

I've seen this movie more times than I'd ever admit to, and the thing that keeps me watching is Pryor. He shines in just about every scene he's seen, especially when he's paired with the Wonder-Wheel. It's just that the rest of the film isn't on the level.

That's not to say it's a bad film; it's just not a solid one. This remake of a Francis Veber film (the name escapes me) finds Pryor as Jack Brown, an unemployed writer who seeks a job with a newspaper. He arrives at Bates Industries, run by the powerful industrialist U.S. Bates (Jackie Gleason). He works a variety of odd jobs, incl. a janitor in a department store, where he is spotted by U.S. Bates' spoiled son, Eric, during the afforementioned Wonder-Wheel fiasco. Eric wants Jack as a toy, and this leads to a movie that blends the comedic with the sentimental, and works about half of the time.

The movie does take it's time to illustrate the goings-on in the Bates home. Eric spends much time tormenting Jack; during their first night, he shoots firecrackers at him, among other things. The two of them play air-hockey, and when Jack is beating Eric, the boy quits. Jack questions the boy if his father knows that his son is a quitter, to which Eric replies, "He doesn't care what I am, as long as I stay out of his way." That scene illustrates Eric's m.o.; he's frustrated at the neglect and inattentiveness he receives from his father, and expresses it in rebellious behavior.

That's all good and well, and that scenario does have a positive resolution, but the movie is burdened with unnecessary elements that don't belong in a movie like this. The movie has a racist subtext: Jack essentially allows himself to be bought, even though he says he can't. There's also a subplot towards the end dealing with the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan that serves no purpose other than to wreck a party. And U.S. Bates' wife, Fancy, is a poorly-drawn character; she comes along with an impressive bust and an annoying voice, and does little that is humorous, aside from her pronounciation of "U.S."

Still, the main reason to see the film is Pryor. See it for no other reason than to see a legend doing what he does best.

It's nearly a shot-by-shot remake of the French masterpiece (Le Jouet - 1976). So much for saying I think!

The comparison isn't for the sake of the American movie, since that movie didn't change anything. They kind of translated the French movie to American the way they translated "Le Jouet" into "The Toy" ("The Toy" is what "Le Jouet" means in English!). The only added thing was a storyline about racism which suited (Richard Pryor)'s character, and harmonized with the motif; as if slavery still exists, making the poor as the rich people's toy.

But overall nothing could reach to the original's special pace, or exceptional personality. For example, in (Le Jouet), the rich man's villa was dark, and the silence worked powerfully more than the talking. Here, forget any of that. Instead, they leaned to weak and cheap tricks like repeating the domino's fall, showing off the stepmother's body, and aiming at the adult joking (there was a purposed kick out of hearing the boy says dirty words!).

(Pryor) filled it with his own buffoonery, and some funny lines, however couldn't capture the serious sense of the story, dealing with the movie as a toy itself. He was a golden star at the moment, so maybe they left him do whatever he wants. Or maybe that's the taste of his comedy anyway. (Patrick Williams)'s music was very cute, but not up to (Vladimir Cosma)'s tender memorable score of the original. And nothing can imitate (Le Jouet)'s end, which's one of the most touching and expressing cinematic endings I've ever seen.

Director (Richard Donner), with the 2 scriptwriter, lacked the French director (Francis Veber)'s smart touches while he was transforming his own short story into feature film. Yes, (Donner) made it fairly, but it's still one of his most spiritless movies that lacks the personal touch. He was executing more than creating at this break between the end of the 1970s' (Superman)'s movies, and his movies at the mid-1980s: (Ladyhawke), (The Goonies), and (Lethal Weapon).

Have watched the original or not, this one is good, fresh and solid as an afternoon movie. In fact, its good condition is a proof of the original's beauty. Though, it's obvious that (The Toy) couldn't be as unique as (Le Jouet). I believe this is the habit of Hollywood that loves to "toy" with older movies, or TV shows, making them mostly easier and slighter!

This is simply put, a fun, charming movie about a boy (Scott Schwartz) who decides to make Richard Pryor his toy for a week while he visits his powerful father Jackie Gleason. Simple gags, jokes and life lessons are what this movie is all about. It should be noted that Schwartz, who also played "Flick" in A Christmas Story went on to co-star in non-sexual roles in hardcore XXX films, then did a XXX scene himself, virtually destroying any chance for a comeback as an adult actor.

"The Toy" is a remake of the French movie "Le Jouet," but writer Carol Sobieski and director Dick Donner have infused it with a racist theme that is specifically American.

US Bates (Gleason), a wealthy, powerful Louisiana industrialist purchases, Jack Brown, a janitor (Pryor) to perform as an object for his spoiled son's amusement.

After an initial period of friction due to young Eric's (Schwartz) obnoxious, selfish behavior, they agree to investigate Bates's personal and professional misbehavior in a home-made newspaper, called "The Toy."

Infuriated, Bates demonstrates to the two investigators that he owns the people who work for him by ordering his assistant named Morehouse (Beatty) to drop his pants on command (he later screams at another assistant "I told you to dance!")

The iconoclastic rebels who finally take down Bates at a Klan fundraiser are Eric's innocent generation who never knew Jim Crow and the truth-burdened, unemployed black man with nothing to lose because he's already at the bottom.

This movie is filled with enough Pryor minstrelsy to keep movie-going Whitey occupied and chuckling, but is at the same time digging deep into the reality and shame of this country's racist past, and, indeed, present. And we haven't even addressed the alcoholic indentured man-servant Barkley (Hyde-White) or the Fraulein-who-cries-Mandingo (Leslie-Lyttle.)

From the buying of Brown to the sycophantic staff to the Senator-for-hire Newcomb (consonance: Nuke 'Em,) US Bates proves that slavery isn't over...people just cost a little more these days.

In this day when skirting the issue of race and playing it safe at the risk of being offensive has crushed any discussion of racism in this country, it's nice to see that Hollywood once had the balls to make a movie that called a spade a...well, you get it.

Oh, and the kid grows up to be a porn star.