"Uptown Saturday Night" is well worth watching just to see its amazing cast. It's a cast of the who's who in black entertainment in 1974 and you'll see the likes of Bill Cosby, Sidney Poitier, Don Marshall, Richard Pryor, Harry Belafonte, Paula Kelly, Flip Wilson, Roscoe Lee Browne, Harold Nicholas and many familiair faces in this movie. This is a good enough reason to watch the film!
Steve and Wardell (Sidney Poitier and Bill Cosby) are two friends who decide to see how the 'other half' live. So, they sneak into an exclusive black night club and it sure looks like they're going to have a good time. However, as Wardell is making a fortune gambling, a group of masked gunmen storm the joint and rob everyone. Now while this seems pretty bad....it gets a LOT worse. Soon after this, Steve learns that he had the winning lottery ticket in his wallet....the wallet that was stolen by the gunmen!!
Now, you'd THINK someone with common sense would just give up and kiss their lottery money goodbye. But Steve and Wardell are really, really stupid! So, they go to all the big men in the urban underworld in seach of this missing wallet....and again and again, they nearly get killed in the process. Amazingly...they don't stop and keep working hard to find that ticket...even when their efforts are both pathetic and rather comical.
This is a very odd film for Sidney Poitier. While Bill Cosby was known at the time for comedy, Poitier is generally seen as being as funny as Richard Nixon or John Houseman! Still, despite this, the film is fun AND Cosby and Poitier went on to make two more comedies together!
So is it any good? Yes. Although I am some old white guy, and certainly NOT the target audience for the film, I thought the story was very clever and was a nice showcase for the actors. It also has some very nice music and is incredibly silly...and fun.
By the way, if you see the film, watch for Harry Belafonte. He's practically unrecognizable (and funny) as a Don Corleone-type gangster...with puffy cheeks to boot.
Steve and Wardell (Sidney Poitier and Bill Cosby) are two friends who decide to see how the 'other half' live. So, they sneak into an exclusive black night club and it sure looks like they're going to have a good time. However, as Wardell is making a fortune gambling, a group of masked gunmen storm the joint and rob everyone. Now while this seems pretty bad....it gets a LOT worse. Soon after this, Steve learns that he had the winning lottery ticket in his wallet....the wallet that was stolen by the gunmen!!
Now, you'd THINK someone with common sense would just give up and kiss their lottery money goodbye. But Steve and Wardell are really, really stupid! So, they go to all the big men in the urban underworld in seach of this missing wallet....and again and again, they nearly get killed in the process. Amazingly...they don't stop and keep working hard to find that ticket...even when their efforts are both pathetic and rather comical.
This is a very odd film for Sidney Poitier. While Bill Cosby was known at the time for comedy, Poitier is generally seen as being as funny as Richard Nixon or John Houseman! Still, despite this, the film is fun AND Cosby and Poitier went on to make two more comedies together!
So is it any good? Yes. Although I am some old white guy, and certainly NOT the target audience for the film, I thought the story was very clever and was a nice showcase for the actors. It also has some very nice music and is incredibly silly...and fun.
By the way, if you see the film, watch for Harry Belafonte. He's practically unrecognizable (and funny) as a Don Corleone-type gangster...with puffy cheeks to boot.