Richard Pryor

This refrigerator magnet reflects a more contemplative look than usually thought of from Richard Pryor.

Diana Ross stars as legendary blues singer Billie Holiday in this biopic that chronicles her rise and fall. It begins with her late childhood, a stint as a prostitute, those early days as a blues singer, her marriages, and her drug addiction. Overly glossy and lacking depth, this is worth seeing only for the performances. Diana Ross was nominated for an Oscar for her acting debut. A dynamo with sparkling screen presence, she realistically conveys the confusion and unhappiness that caused Holiday so much grief. Her performance is almost matched by romantic interest Billy Dee Williams. Watch for Richard Pryor, who is most powerful in a dramatic supporting role as the piano player in a brothel. --Rochelle O'Gorman

Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 11/08/2005

They called Wattstax the "black Woodstock," but there are many differences between that seminal hippie event and the 1972 concert documented in this 30th-anniversary special-edition reissue. Woodstock was all about peace, love, and music. Wattstax, held three years later in Los Angeles, had those elements as well; but as this 103-minute film reminds us, it was a more socio-politically charged event, with its emphasis on black pride and the simple opportunity for African Americans to assert that, in opening speaker Jesse Jackson's words, "I am somebody." There's also a good deal less music in this film than in the Woodstock movie. As the title suggests, a host of great Stax Records artists (including Rufus and Carla Thomas, the Bar-Kays, the Staple Singers, Albert King, and show closer Isaac Hayes) performed, but much of Wattstax doesn't even take place inside the L.A. Coliseum, where the concert was held, but rather in the churches and shops and on the streets of Watts itself (music fans would be better off checking out the Wattstax double CD). Wattstax, in fact, is much less a music movie than a chronicle of black life seven years after the Watts race riots, as well as what comedian Richard Pryor (who delivers several hilarious but scathing bits) calls "a soulful expression of the black experience." --Sam Graham

Classic concert movie captures the August 1972 show that saw more than 100,000 people pack the Los Angeles Coliseum for what came to be called "the black Woodstock." Along with vintage performances by Rufus Thomas ("Do the Funky Chicken"), The Staples Singers ("Respect Yourself"), The Bar-Kays ("Son of Shaft"), and Isaac Hayes (who does "Theme from 'Shaft'" and "Soulsville" in a long-lost ending sequence), the film also features appearances by Richard Pryor and Jesse Jackson, and interviews with residents of L.A.'s Watts neighborhood. 103 min. Widescreen (Enhanced); Soundtrack: English Dolby Digital 5.1; Subtitles: English; audio commentary; bonus footage; theatrical trailers.

From the first cut to the last, this rollicking CD is proof of Pryor's immense talent and influence. His impression of a windy preacher ("Eulogy") is the routine that launched a thousand black comics that came after. "Life is not the ultimate test. The ultimate test is whether your ass will survive Death. Nobody we know has passed this test, least of all this sorry mother." Neither imitated nor equaled is Pryor's signature character "Mudbone," who dominates the middle of the CD. Those hysterical long-form routines would be enough to make this an essential pick, but jolts of painful laughter like "Cocaine" and "Just Us" make Is It Something I Said? the favorite of any Pryor-phile. A great recording of a great standup at the height of his powers. --Michael Gerber

No Description AvailableNo Track Information AvailableMedia Type: CDArtist: PRYOR,RICHARDTitle: IS IT SOMETHING I SAID?Street Release Date: 01/24/1995

The West Coast answer to Neil Simon's Plaza Suite, this film (written by Simon and directed by Herbert Ross) has a high Hollywood gloss. Instead of the omnibus form of the film of the New York version, this film (set at the Beverly Hills Hotel) intertwines the stories (à la Grand Hotel) of several different sets of guests, including Alan Alda and Jane Fonda and Walter Matthau and Elaine May, on one particularly eventful weekend. The story that works best involves Maggie Smith and Michael Caine as an Oscar-nominated actress and her straying, gay husband who come to an understanding (Smith won the Oscar for this film). The least effective is a slapsticky battle between well-to-do but competitive doctors played by Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor. --Marshall Fine

Hollywood Westerns were never the same after director/co-writer Mel Brooks put them through the comedy wringer with this tasteless, hilarious spoof. Can the frontier town of Rockridge cope with the arrival of Cleavon Little as its new--and black--sheriff? With Gene Wilder, Harvey Korman, Madeline Kahn as Lili Von Shtupp, and Alex Karras as the horse-punching Mongo. 93 min. Widescreen (Enhanced); Soundtracks: English Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital mono; Subtitles: English (SDH), French, Spanish.

Mel Brooks scored his first commercial hit with this raucous Western spoof starring the late Cleavon Little as the newly hired (and conspicuously black) sheriff of Rock Ridge. Sheriff Bart teams up with deputy Jim (Gene Wilder) to foil the railroad-building scheme of the nefarious Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman). The simple plot is just an excuse for a steady stream of gags, many of them unabashedly tasteless, that Brooks and his wacky cast pull off with side-splitting success. The humor is so juvenile and crude that you just have to surrender to it; highlights abound, from the lunkheaded Alex Karras as the ox-riding Mongo to Madeline Kahn's uproarious send-up of Marlene Dietrich as saloon songstress Lili Von Shtupp. Adding to the comedic excess is the infamous campfire scene involving a bunch of hungry cowboys, heaping servings of baked beans and, well, you get the idea. --Jeff Shannon

Mel Brooks scored his first commercial hit with this raucous Western spoof starring the late Cleavon Little as the newly hired (and conspicuously black) sheriff of Rock Ridge. Sheriff Bart teams up with deputy Jim (Gene Wilder) to foil the railroad-building scheme of the nefarious Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman). The simple plot is just an excuse for a steady stream of gags, many of them unabashedly tasteless, that Brooks and his wacky cast pull off with side-splitting success. The humor is so juvenile and crude that you just have to surrender to it; highlights abound, from the lunkheaded Alex Karras as the ox-riding Mongo to Madeline Kahn's uproarious send-up of Marlene Dietrich as saloon songstress Lili Von Shtupp. Adding to the comedic excess is the infamous campfire scene involving a bunch of hungry cowboys, heaping servings of baked beans and, well, you get the idea. --Jeff Shannon

Light years before political correctness--1983 to be exact--or his comeback in tame Disney comedies, Eddie Murphy was a charismatic, wonderfully offensive, egocentric 22-year-old black comedian known for crude celebrity impersonations and often shockingly frank diatribes on racial and sexual politics. Dressed in a skin-tight red leather suit and delivering endless streams of obscenities faster than Richard Pryor ever did, Murphy is captured in this raunchy HBO special (a filmed document of his Grammy-winning album, Eddie Murphy, Comedian) at his confident, swaggering, comedic peak--a posture that soon disappeared after a string of bland Hollywood comedies. Here, however, his energy and sheer virtuosity command complete control over the audience for 107 minutes, whether he's mocking personalities like Elvis, James Brown, and Stevie Wonder, or spinning long, gag-filled personal anecdotes about the ice-cream man or dysfunctional family barbecues. There's no apologizing for the immature stereotyping, blatant homophobia, and sexism (though Murphy did so several years later) that surface during the routine. But, then again, unlike his much nastier, one-sided concert film, Raw, no topic here is safe from Murphy's uproarious tongue-lashings--including the comedian himself. --Dave McCoy

Eddie's live, uncensored and hilarious in his first starring comedy concert special. Get ready to laugh out loud again and again as Murphy shares his insights on such topics as maternal discipline, ice cream vendors, what if Mr. T was gay, and the dangers of relatives interbreeding with Bigfoot. WARNING: Contains language unsuitable for children. 70 min. Standard; Soundtrack: English Dolby Digital stereo; bonus footage; interview.

The Original Kings of Comedy achieves the seemingly impossible task of capturing the rollicking and sly comedy routines of stand-up and sitcom vets Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer, and Bernie Mac and the magic of experiencing a live concert show. Director Spike Lee and his crew plant a multitude of cameras in a packed stadium and onstage (as well as backstage, as they follow the comedians) to catch the vivid immediacy of the show, which is as much about the audience as it is about the jokes. And the jokes are funny.All four riff fast and furiously (and with much swearing) on the world in terms of race, family, sex, and in one routine, outer space. Hughley takes comedic aim at extreme sports and eating disorders, while Cedric harks back to the day when gang fights meant calling opponents out onto the dance floor. Bernie Mac, the self-confessed id comedian of the group, presents a routine that is simultaneously offensive and hilarious--an apt reminder that comedy can and should be vicious if we are ever to learn to laugh at ourselves and hopefully be the better for it. Harvey, who acts as the MC for the show, has some transcendent moments with the crowd (a '70s slow jam sing-along, anyone?) that have to be seen to be believed. There's no doubt as to why Kings was a hit with concert and movie audiences; the laughs keep coming, in the tradition of Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy, with a sharp eye on the nuances of today's racially affected culture. --Shannon Gee

It's a king-sized night of laughs when four top black comedians--Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer and Bernie Mac--take the stage in Charlotte, North Carolina, for a rousing, raucous and very uncensored look at soul versus rap, why black people don't bungee jump, church socials, dealing with kids and other topics. Spike Lee directs this hit concert film. 115 min. Widescreen; Soundtracks: English 5.1 and Dolby Surround; Subtitles: English; "making of" featurette; music video; scene access.

RICHARD PRYOR LIVE IN CONCERT. RUDE AND CRUDE.

T-shirt haute qualité sous licence officielle, en emballage plastique individuel.100% Coton.

T-shirt haute qualité sous licence officielle, en emballage plastique individuel.100% Coton.