Episode Transcript
[00:00:23] Speaker A: There we are. All right.
Yes. We did it.
We made it to another live right here on Facebook.
Hi, I'm Moya.
[00:00:39] Speaker B: And I'm Georgia, her comical sidekick.
[00:00:43] Speaker A: And it's time for another exciting, thrilling and fantastical episode of how Betty Davis saved my life. Life lessons from classic Hollywood. And we have just a doozy for you. And I know that we promoted Cocoon. For those of you who are on Facebook, that was the promotion there. And for those of you who listen to us on our audio podcast, shout out to all of our audio listeners. Thank you all so much for your support. Thank you all who are on our YouTube page. So let's all, let's get together right here on Facebook and have this live party, guys. So every other Saturday, 01:00 p.m. Central time. But yes, cocoon was advertised. But who knew?
It's nowhere to be found online streaming anywhere. Georgia. And so I had to hurry up and scramble Georgia night and say, georgia, guess what I can't find anywhere. And Georgia's like, what? So I just want to share with you, if really, really quickly, something I saw in the research as to why. So shout out to this channel, Joe Blow originals on YouTube. Go and take a look at this channel because it's really fascinating about what happened. So of course there's legalities. The studio who made the, produced that, I guess owns it. Let me just say that they won't release it online. Go check out Joe Blow originals on YouTube to see why. But it's very fascinating. And why, like he says, she said, I think it's a guy. Why you should always keep your Blu rays and you have, I don't own any, not movies and stuff, but do you have a library or any dvds or anything?
[00:02:41] Speaker B: Yeah, I sure do.
[00:02:43] Speaker A: Okay. What do you have? Too bad you had cocoon.
[00:02:47] Speaker B: No, I didn't have cocoon. Oh, gosh. I've got some old stuff. I've got just a mix of stuff that I've picked up from garage sales and dollar stores.
[00:02:59] Speaker A: That's good. That's where you find everything.
[00:03:04] Speaker B: Yeah, it's everything. It's romance, action, comedy. Everything you can think of. Yeah.
[00:03:10] Speaker A: Okay. So that's why we had to scramble and we're going to do two. So these movies were further down the list, but it got bumped up. And those of you who are excellent all the time, followers and listeners. And again, shout out to the Facebook Live crew and all our groups that we're a part of. Thank you all for supporting us and listening to us.
So we had to change everything on our page. And so those of you who know that. So now we had to bump up Uptown Saturday night and Silver Streak because we were supposed to have been done.
I don't know if that's right, but we were supposed to have done uptown Saturday night months ago. But that got bumped because I can't remember why we bumped it. But anyway, we are here now, and Georgia is a uptown Saturday night virgin, if you will. So I cannot wait to see and hear what she has to say about this movie. I am with bated breath because I've seen it like a million times.
[00:04:18] Speaker B: Really?
[00:04:19] Speaker A: Yeah. And I absolutely love this movie so much. So, Georgia, without further ado, go ahead on and get us started on uptown Saturday night.
[00:04:34] Speaker B: All right. Well, this was a fun movie. And I felt like I was making a trip into black world here.
[00:04:43] Speaker A: Yes.
As you should.
[00:04:49] Speaker B: I was watching these are black folks doing black things. And black, I love it.
And they are funny and they're not thinking about white folks at all.
As a white woman watching this movie, that's what my take is.
And so I thought, you folks have a lot more fun than we do. Anyway.
[00:05:23] Speaker A: This is not scripted. George and I did not talk about this movie. No, we didn't know. So this is totally her.
[00:05:30] Speaker B: This is totally me, I have to say. Yeah, we really did dress and talk like that in the. Because I was there. So, yes, this is accurate depiction of how people talk and dress. And let's hope all these styles never come back again. But anyway, so I'm going to go ahead and set you up with this movie. So you have, in a way, this is a buddy picture because you've got Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier, who also directed. And they are working class guys.
[00:06:02] Speaker A: Yeah, Sydney directed.
[00:06:04] Speaker B: And they make, it's kind of funny. They kind of sneak out one night and while their wives are asleep, and they make their one and only visit to this fancy black after hours club called Madame Zenobias. Yes, things are really happening. Oh, my God.
[00:06:25] Speaker A: So look, Georgia, I'm going to go ahead on and play some of it. Hopefully we don't get too copyright struck. I think this is free in the public domain, but let's just start there because Norman, I don't know if you're listening, but I hope when he sees this or hears this, Norman, you missed a fashion show like no other.
Because I haven't seen it in forever, Georgia, maybe about. Maybe about 1015 years. And girl, the fashion. I was just like, oh, Laura, why didn't black people just stop in the. Let black culture just stop there because we had it all, just had the music, the style, the unity and community. I mean, girl. So let's just take a look real quick at Sydney.
So Sydney is Stephen Jackson, and he's Stephen and Bill Cosby. Girl, first of all, shout out to Bill Cosby with the wide collar and the piping. I love this. I've seen dudes now wear this. This type of.
This is. This is on trend. This is trendy. So you could wear this now and nobody wouldn't even blink. But let's see. So this is Wardell, and this is Steve. Steven or Steve. So they're at Madam Zenobia's. A questionable place, if you will. Perhaps a house of ill repute. But let's take a look.
Okay, stop, girl. Look, soon as you walk in the door, give me this suit. I need this suit and hat.
I need this white, this ensemble here. I need this, and I need. What? So what do you want, Georgia? What do you want? Well, let's go shopping. What do you want?
[00:08:12] Speaker B: I like the one that's got the beautiful glittery rhinestones on. Ooh, I love that.
[00:08:19] Speaker A: Look at her with the one shoulder out. Okay.
[00:08:23] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:24] Speaker A: Sashayan down this very long staircase. Well, okay, so let's go and listen to the music, because my husband came and he said, oh, man. He said, who grinding that organ?
Because they're killing. Look at this dude's suit, girl.
Now, if you're a dude and you're brave enough, you could wear this now, because dre 3000 from outcast, he kind of helped bring this funky aesthetic back in Outcast heyday. But let's go.
[00:08:59] Speaker B: Hello, Susie. How are you?
[00:09:02] Speaker A: So this is the very beautiful Lee.
Oh, what's her last name? Lee Chamberlain. And for anybody who looked at good 70s tvs and movie, she was in a number of movies, not just black movies, but she was in everything. She's beautiful. She got that gap tooth. And for whatever reason, like her and Lauren Hutton model, the gap tooth woman was in. But watch out. And I had this dress girl when I had a different. I had this figure, too, and that was a million years ago. But look at her. So this is Madden Zenobia.
[00:09:38] Speaker B: I heard about you, Daniel.
[00:09:40] Speaker C: Yes, I did.
[00:09:41] Speaker A: Look at the lady with the turban girl. This is going to take us an hour. Just getting through the fashion at Madam Zenobia's.
So there's Bill's. Full suit is really cool. And look at her coming with this. This is so modern. Like, you could wear all this.
So I'm going to fast forward a little bit. So Madame Zenobia invites them to go through the red door. The red door where all your dreams come through come true. And you ain't seen nothing yet.
Shout out to no. My hometown. We just had Mardi Gras carnival season earlier this week. Fat Tuesday. And they have a Mardi Gras.
It's like, classy bourbon street up in here. So check it out.
[00:10:36] Speaker B: Step.
[00:10:36] Speaker A: Okay, we ain't looking at that.
Let's stop sharing that.
And then we'll into Wix studio, and then we'll get back to our regularly scheduled programming. Let's put it back.
And look, I had that great build up, and people are like, come on.
[00:11:00] Speaker B: Let'S go to monograph.
[00:11:02] Speaker A: All right, so here they go.
[00:11:09] Speaker C: What you think going on back there? I don't know. Hocus, maybe.
[00:11:14] Speaker B: You, um.
Let's do it.
[00:11:28] Speaker A: All right. Georgia, what do you think of that music?
[00:11:31] Speaker B: I thought it was just so quintessentially 70s, because that's how it was. It was kind of syncopated jazz with the horn in there.
[00:11:42] Speaker A: Pure funk. Now, were you a funketeer? What kind of music did you like in the 70s? Let me ask you that.
[00:11:48] Speaker B: Oh, gosh. Anything that they played on the radio in the. Was into.
I listened to everything.
I went to nightclubs. I was disco. Were you a disco queen?
Oh, God, yes, I went to the disco.
[00:12:05] Speaker A: I believe you. I bet you were a killer. I know you were a killer dancer.
[00:12:10] Speaker B: The bump. Oh, man, I can see you. Oh, yeah, I can see you.
[00:12:15] Speaker A: So speaking of the hustle and the bump. Girl, this girl, her body doing all those dances in one move. Check it out.
Work. You better work. You better work. You better work.
Okay, let's stop it right there, girl. This woman's hair, this wig, she is Marie Antoinette. Okay, so, Georgia, take it from here. What's going on?
[00:13:16] Speaker B: So Bill Cosby's character gets involved in a dice game, and, I mean, he decides to team up with this woman, and she cannot lose. I mean, she is just pure magic. And they're winning and winning, and of course, the fun. Oh, my gosh. Comes to an abrupt halt because we have these mass men come in, and they hold everybody up. Oh, my gosh.
[00:13:49] Speaker A: So shout out to Dave Chappelle, the dice game with grits and gravy. And with Eddie Griffin and Ashley Larry, because right on cue, dice game gets robbed. Shout out to the Chappelle show. Back in the day, man, it was so funny. My husband and I were looking at this, and we were cracking up laughing. Say, oh, man, it's just right on cue to dice game getting robbed. R-I-P to Eddie Murphy's brothers, Charlie Murphy. Charlie Murphy.
[00:14:22] Speaker C: Rip.
[00:14:28] Speaker A: Look at those guys.
[00:14:29] Speaker C: Anybody make the wrong moves, get put full of hope. We mean business. Do what you're told and you won't get hurt.
[00:14:38] Speaker A: Okay, so Neelu said gets robbed. And Marie Antoinette managed to keep her head and her wig, but. So it gets robbed. And so, Georgia, fast forward us to what's the issue of this joint getting robbed?
[00:14:56] Speaker B: Well, they tell everybody, well, you got to take off your clothes. They can keep their underwear. But anyway, so, unfortunately, one of our guys here, Sidney Poitier, they take his wallet, and it is not until he gets home later on that he finds out that his wallet contained a lottery ticket that was a winning one. And the numbers he played were winning. And he's about to get $50,000.
I did the research back then. $50,000 was huge. And it turns out that $50,000 in today's money is $332,000.
[00:15:42] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:15:43] Speaker B: And so, yes, $332,000, which means so much to him and his wife. And so he will do anything to get that ticket back. And that's what makes this movie so fun, because the two of them decide they're going to go together and they're going to try everything they can. And these two guys are so ill equipped. I mean, they are so innocent. They're not street smart. And what do they do?
They decide to take off and try and find these gangsters and go into the underworld and try and recover their wallet. And that's the whole premise of the movie from this point on.
[00:16:25] Speaker A: And so you see the one and only flip Wilson kind of reprising his role as Revan Gonchange or Revin get right. I can't remember from just the classic flip Wilson tv show, and he is hilarious in here. Roslyn Cash. I'll show her in a second.
Unfortunately, all these people are gone. I think just Bill is with us. Yeah, I just think Cosby is still with us. Man. That's crazy. But, yeah. Roslyn Cash, she plays.
She plays his wife. And Roslyn Cash, again, great beauty outshore. She was in everything. Her career really was into the 2000. I think she just recently died, too. But, yeah, so she. Here she is. So this is her singing in the choir.
So, yeah, she plays Sydney Poite as Steve's wife. And also Katie Lester. She was a minor celebrity in her time.
She plays Wardell or Bill Cosby's. Wife. So just who's who in 70s, back then, some of the career had longer careers, 70s stars, major and minor. So they had, they made sure, so Sydney and Bill made sure that they tried to get as many black actors and actresses and entertainers in this movie. Georgia, do you have any trivia about that?
[00:18:03] Speaker B: Not exactly, but I just think that this movie may have been pivotal in giving black actors scripts that were not blackploitation type films. I think that they saw how this movie didn't need to rely on that. I mean, they're given like major serious and comedic roles and the range of talent. And I think this movie was a jumping off point because they saw how successful it was. That's what spawned these other two related movies.
[00:18:31] Speaker A: Yes. Afterwards, yes, there were a sequels.
Piece of the action. Let's do it again. I don't know if I have them in the right order, but they did not play the same characters. But it was still these two paired up and each movie was more successful than. And so you are absolutely right. So I'm going to fast forward to what Georgia was talking about after they have failed tremendously on their own to try to relocate this stolen wallet with the ticket default ticket in there. They say, hey, let's hire a private investigator and let's just take it from here.
[00:19:11] Speaker C: Washington, Ms. Dwarf, we're looking for shop.
[00:19:29] Speaker A: I was girl, when I saw this back girl, I split a gut laughing with Pryor.
[00:19:36] Speaker B: And then Bill, his reaction, I know the face.
He puts up his dukes. Look at that.
The fist go up.
[00:19:49] Speaker A: Yeah, that one knuckle girl. I laugh so hard. So here's Richard Pryor's. Was this his debut film? Debut? I'm not sure.
[00:20:00] Speaker B: I'm not sure either. Moya.
[00:20:02] Speaker A: Ooh. If it's not his debut, it's his very early on film work because he's even fatter. Because Richard Pryor, if you notice when he first started standing, he was so skinny, probably because he was hungry, trying to eat. And you can see he's fatter on here. But he had not become the film star that he would later become in the, when he did latest things, the blues and which way is up? And we'll see his later movies as well paired up with Gene Wilder later on. But anyway, so here it is. Sharp eye. Watch the girl. This man rip. Just one of the best comedians ever and comedic actors who looking for him?
[00:20:46] Speaker C: Steve Jackson. And this is my friend Wardell Franklin. We want him for a job. What kind of job? Well, some property, ours was stolen. We want him to get it back for us?
Cost you $500. 500? Oh, we ain't got that kind of money.
[00:21:00] Speaker B: $400.
[00:21:03] Speaker A: So needless to say, Mr. Washington is not on par with the truth.
Misrepresents himself in a number of.
This is. We saw this free on YouTube. So please go and take a look at it for yourself and let us know what you think.
They negotiate him down to $50. What does it take? Happens. And so we'll take a look at it after this goes off. But that was so funny. Oh, my gosh.
Let's go back to our movie.
Let me back it up a little bit.
So Richard just has a little cameo in here. And it's just the comedic. And Richard, they would do things just in one take a lot of time. And they would do it off the cuff a lot of times. Their stuff was not scripted. They were just that talented. So let's take a look at him getting what happens with Mr. Sharp eye Washington.
[00:22:35] Speaker C: I'd like to get 300 tickets to the policeman's ball.
Your condes are over, Washington.
He stole our money. He stole a lot of people's money, fella. We've been in your trail a long time, Washington. I was framed. You said that in Des Moines, Iowa, where you were Cleopas Washington, a preacher. You escaped from custody. You said that in Jersey City, where you were Henry Hawthorne Washington, a bogus lawyer. You jumped to bail. Your clients are still waiting for you to held their cases.
[00:23:05] Speaker B: Lucky.
[00:23:06] Speaker C: That's my cousin, Clarence Washington.
[00:23:08] Speaker A: That's not me.
[00:23:09] Speaker B: That's not me.
[00:23:10] Speaker C: Damn, man, we trusted you. I mean, why us?
[00:23:21] Speaker A: Why not you, brother?
[00:23:22] Speaker B: Why not you?
[00:23:23] Speaker A: Why not you, brother? Forget all that unity stuff.
Oh, my gosh. So, going to try to fast forward it a little ahead. So, through a series of misadventures. And this is a hilarious scene with this crooked politician.
Girl, this was so funny. And we running out of time. But let me just show you this dude was so too faced.
And he totally represented how politicians are. Because on his wall behind him, he got Malcolm X.
Look what he did. So I'm going to just show you this.
Look what this dude is doing. And this is politics down pat.
[00:24:12] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:24:17] Speaker A: A duck shaker.
So when he finds out what color the people coming in to meet with him, ain't nothing changed, George. Ain't a dog on thing change. Right? It's up the clothes.
[00:24:33] Speaker B: That scene right there says so much. Moya, you nailed it.
[00:24:37] Speaker A: It says it all. And then at least he put his dashiki on correctly. As we just found out. Sometimes it's okay to wear your dress backwards.
[00:24:52] Speaker B: It doesn't matter.
[00:24:54] Speaker A: Georgia, do you know what I'm talking about?
[00:24:56] Speaker B: I think I do.
[00:24:59] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh. Just sidebar. Georgia. I'm not going to make it through 2024. If this is what 2024 is going to be like, I'm not going to make it.
I'm just not.
[00:25:12] Speaker B: Oh, I know. We've got so much ahead of us.
[00:25:16] Speaker A: But at least this dashiki is not on backwards. So let's move on.
So they try to get help from this guy and to come to find out, he's saying, oh, I don't know about Madden. Zenobia's. Oh, that place is bad. And walks his wife. And you should recognize her because this is Leggy Peggy, who was hitting his bone.
[00:25:37] Speaker B: Leggy Peggy?
[00:25:38] Speaker A: Sorry, I didn't realize you were at a conference.
[00:25:45] Speaker B: Brother. Man, what's happening?
No, around here, folks call me Mrs. Lincoln.
[00:25:56] Speaker A: You know, hypocrite. So his wife. And look, I won't give away too much. Just go and look at it. It was so, you know, we didn't show all of it during when it was a Nobel. But yeah, she was the one, like George is saying, hitting them bones and getting. Bill Cosby getting.
So Roscoe Lee Brown, late. The late, great Roscoe Lee Brown. And y'all would know him a lot from his voiceovers as well.
He would do the milk commercials. The power of. Was it milk or cheese? Something like that. But like I said, this was the who's who of 70s black entertainment legends. So anyway, we're going to move on down the road.
We would be here all day. This scene is hilarious.
Let me just show a little bit. So they're trying to again, on their own, trying to find this ticket. And let's just say they skirting death.
[00:26:59] Speaker B: George, you can get real ugly.
[00:27:02] Speaker C: You sure this place? Yes, I'm sure. Now, look, all we got to do is go on inside, see this cat, love Seymour, and ask him about our property. Now, come on.
[00:27:31] Speaker A: You know, I think I've been to that bar.
[00:27:35] Speaker B: And they still decide to go in anyway.
[00:27:38] Speaker A: Girl, what did you say that was? 50k worth? 300 is like triple, triple that or something.
[00:27:44] Speaker B: Girl. Heck, yeah.
[00:27:45] Speaker A: I don't win now more than six.
[00:27:47] Speaker B: Times more than 130,000. Yeah, that's why these fools go where angels fear to tread.
[00:27:53] Speaker A: Exactly.
So they go in here almost like a Star wars bar scene. It is hilarious. They get their behinds handed to them. But please, look at that. Because Harold Nicholas from, I believe that's Harold Nicholas from the Nicholas brothers right here. The fantastic dancing trio back in the day. And I think this was the one who was married to Dorothy Dandruff. If I'm wrong, please correct me. But as Lil Seymour. And all this leads them to this guy and Georgia. Did you recognize this?
[00:28:33] Speaker B: Had. No, I did not recognize him. If I had not known that that was Harry Belafonte, I would not have kind of. It's funny the way he does this takeoff on the Godfather, but no, he's totally is.
[00:28:48] Speaker A: He is. And so, so he's one of the villains in the movie and he killed it.
I remember those Vicks. Baker writes, I love Smith and things.
[00:29:16] Speaker C: Well, sir, seems like some property of mine was stolen and I need some help.
So what you're coming to me for?
[00:29:29] Speaker A: So we'll move it along.
This is how he meets Geechee Dan. Shout out to the Geechees. Was that in the Carolinas? I think South Carolina. This is Geechee Dan Buford played by Harry Belafonte. So they hook up with this gangster and that leads them to another gangster. Yes. I am leaving some stuff out because I want you to look at it. Just, girl, look at these fashions. So each outfit is wilder than next. So this leads them to this other gangster played by the late, great.
[00:30:04] Speaker C: Hi, Mark Barton at Sandy Hook.
[00:30:05] Speaker A: Promise here the late, great Calvin Lockhart.
And we'll take a look at that in just a second.
[00:30:17] Speaker B: I just wanted to insert though, that I was really particularly fascinated seeing Harold Nicholas playing little Seymour because like Moya mentioned, along with his brother Fayhard Nicholas, they were considered by their dancers to be like the world's best dancers ever. And so when I saw him and how athletic he appeared to be, that was a real treat for.
[00:30:40] Speaker A: Absolutely, absolutely.
So, yeah, gave him a shout out too. Like I said, they did a beautiful job with this cast because this is at the height of the black exploitation. And you can see that Sydney did not want to do that, but he still kept the soul of the movie. It still had a lot of soul and black culture, what it was at that time. And so he did a really good job on that. So here's the second set of gangsters that Geechee Dan is beefing with when they all meet. And so I left out a lot. Go back and look at it.
Look at this fashion, man. The men you had men and women, the men were dressed to kill, right, Georgia?
[00:31:29] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:31:30] Speaker A: Look at the hats.
[00:31:31] Speaker B: Whoa.
[00:31:32] Speaker A: When hats were still a thing.
This is Lincoln Kilpatrick. He's been in everything in the, might have been to the 90s, too, but he was in a lot of stuff.
And here's the one and only Calvin Lockhart.
Shout out to Ashley. Say so I'm going to tell you something in a second about him, girl. He was so good looking. Oh, my gosh.
And look what he had on. Look at the men. So let's look at the men's fashion. How he had this huge gold, like, I guess, plate, medallion, a little tunic, vest with the puff sleeve. But he doesn't look ridiculous.
Does he have on a merse? Looks like he has a bag.
[00:32:27] Speaker B: I think he does.
[00:32:29] Speaker A: All right. Silk and slim. I see you.
But all the men, just the fashion in just, I could just go on and on and on. But Calvin Lockhart. So check out Ashley says so. Her YouTube channel. Shout out to her. She's a really good piece. Ashley says so she has a great channel about what happened with Lockhart's career because he was poised to be the next big black, I guess, if you will, movie star. They was calling him like the black Steve McQueen and go check her channel and see what happened to him. But a little trivia. He played the dad of the first princess and coming to America, the one, Vanessa Belle Calloway, she played that Eddie Murphy told her to jump up and down and bark like a dog on 1ft. He played her dad in that. So just a little trivia about that. So these are greats. These are, and I hate to say black actor or black Hollywood, but just for reference and context, these were the top tier stars of that time. So we're going to fast forward today. Meet. So, Georgia, what happens at this point?
[00:33:37] Speaker B: At this point, they try to broker a deal with Geechee Dan and say, let's go in together and see if we can get this. They're convinced that they've got this huge, big find and that only Bill Cosby and Sidney partier knows where it is. And so, yeah, there's going to be like a big, there's a big shootout and everything. Yeah, there is. But then they decide to partner together. And so then we move on to the. I love this picnic. Oh, my God.
[00:34:13] Speaker A: Goodness, girl. Let's look at the food. I was drooling looking at this dog on food. Oh, my gosh. So this is a church picnic, guys. This is where the gangsters decide to have a neutral spot. Ain't unchanged. You can't even have a picnic. And as we saw, apparently, you can't even have a Super bowl parade. But I'll move on.
So this is where they have try to have their neutral exchange of you at the dog on church picnic. So this is where we are right here.
Look at this food.
They got the whole hog that open.
Look how big the soda cans and stuff.
The reverend told him, don't be bringing no bottles.
Look at this girl.
[00:35:09] Speaker B: Georgia.
[00:35:09] Speaker A: The man and brought the Georgia juice.
The reverend specifically told him, do not do that. He told all the people, don't bring bottles to the church picnic. I remember our church picnic back home. They were one and done. I made a pig out of myself. I had so much fun. I was filthy when I came. I was a little girl.
[00:35:31] Speaker B: Georgia.
[00:35:32] Speaker A: Y'all ever had anything like this?
[00:35:34] Speaker B: Yeah, we did. But, oh, my gosh, not on the food was nothing near that good.
[00:35:42] Speaker A: I'm going to stop it right here because this is where the climax of everything starts. And so go check it out.
Uptown Saturday night, 1974. Black folks, culture and fashion and music at its finest, at its heights. So, Georgia, let's stay in the 70s. We're going to go up two more years. What is our next movie?
[00:36:07] Speaker B: We've got silver streak.
[00:36:09] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:36:12] Speaker B: Two years later.
[00:36:13] Speaker A: Yes. So let's talk about Silver Streak, starring none other than Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor, who hadn't totally blown up as a star he was going to be, but he was just getting into it. So, yes, Georgia, tell us about silver streak.
[00:36:37] Speaker B: Well, I'm going to try to explain the plot to you a little bit.
So you have an everyman character, Gene Wilder, and he boards the silver streak and a train that's traveling from LA to Chicago, and he's a book editor. He's expecting a boring train ride. Right? Like that's going to happen.
He gets into this very steamy liaison, and there's all these double entendres going on before that, and they're getting cozy, and all of a sudden, he sees this dead body hanging from the train, which falls off, and nobody believes him about what he thought he saw.
[00:37:21] Speaker A: And that's very hitchcockian.
[00:37:22] Speaker B: Right?
[00:37:23] Speaker A: Fair throwback to Hitchcock.
[00:37:25] Speaker B: Oh, very, very much. And when he goes to check on whether the dead guy is still on the train or not, well, then the bad guys. Well, then the bad guys get interested in him and go, oh, he knows, too.
So this is where the running gag starts. Okay, so, yes, he's being, of course, the innocent. Gene Walder is now suspected of being a murderer, and he keeps getting thrown off the train, and it's a running gag.
And what he says, his reaction is, like, mine would be.
But anyway, but this all builds and it gets very exciting. And, of course, about too late in the movie, a lot of people say, but then Richard Pryor makes his entrance to the movie. But I want to say a couple of things about Richard Pryor, because I think that Richard Pryor, as an actor and a comedian, had a very complex know. He could be very edgy and profane and angry and sympathetic and sweet all at the same.
You know, we were talking about Eddie Murphy, and although Eddie Murphy had a more successful film, didn't for me. He doesn't project the same combination of attitude and vulnerability that.
And so the director trusted Richard Pryor to let him project his own personality because he comes across as very smart, sharp, funny, clever, nobody's fool. But unlike Eddie Murphy, who normally has the screen all to himself, Pryor works so well with Wilder instead of trying to shove him into the background. And so, unlike the last movie, Silver Streak became really the start of these great buddy movies that they.
So I really think that there's a scene for me that's really very kind of touching. Kind of.
There's. There's a scene where Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder have to leave each other. Watch how, I'm going to ask everybody when you see this movie, watch how Pryor shows his obvious affection and friendship for Gene Wilder, because there's a gentleness in Richard Pryor's delivery of his lines that gives some added depth to his character. Yeah, he's a fast talking thief, but one the audience has sympathize with because it shows the depth of his acting. This is, that's what I wanted to tell y'all about Richard Pryor to be watching for with this.
[00:40:09] Speaker A: The movie co stars Jill and all these people are dead. Jill Claiborne, Patrick McGuin as the. Like, most of these people are dead. I think almost everybody in this movie is dead. Oh, gosh.
And like Georgia said, I can see, like, some know, you advertise Richard Pryor and he's not in it. But that's not true. The movie is well paced as well because it's really a throwback if you like a hitchcockian type.
It is.
It has Hitchcock action, Bond, almost like James Bond. And see Wilder, who people previously knew from Willy Wonka, I don't think he hadn't done a Frankenstein. You know what I'm trying to say? The Frankenstein movie yet.
[00:40:59] Speaker B: Young Frankenstein.
[00:41:00] Speaker A: Yeah, young Frankenstein. So we knew him from. Because our first Gene Wilder movie was blazing saddles with.
And it's funny, I didn't even think about it so this is the second movie there with a black man, with a comedic black man, if you will. And it worked. Really know his career took off and Richards took off. And so the next movie they did where it was more prior. Girl, we got to do stir crazy.
This movie was. Yes, this silver streak is more action and suspense and thrill. Stir crazy is just pure comedy. Have you seen stir crazy?
[00:41:48] Speaker B: I might have a long time ago.
[00:41:50] Speaker A: When they're in jail, they go to jail. Go to prison. They go to prison.
Oh, okay.
[00:41:57] Speaker B: I can't remember it too good.
[00:41:59] Speaker A: Okay, well, we're going to put that on a.
So what's the plot? Real quick, George, I know you touched on it, but what's the plot of Silver Streak? Because we're kind of running out of time.
[00:42:09] Speaker B: Well, the plot of Silver Streak is Gene Wilder gets caught up in this crime where the character played by Patrick McGuin has perpetrated a great art fraud and he's trying to prevent from being exposed. And so all these murder. Patrick McGuin is committing these. He and his henchmen committing these murders. And poor, hapless Gene Wilder, he's fallen in love with Joel Claiberg. He keeps getting thrown off the train and he keeps coming back. And Richard Pryor helps him.
[00:42:43] Speaker A: Right.
[00:42:44] Speaker B: And this all leads to a very stunning climax. But I just want to tell you, in the 70s, disasters, movies were very big.
[00:42:52] Speaker A: Yes. And I wanted Georgia to revisit the plot because I just want to. McGuin was a terrorist, and this guy was doing things to cover. He would have collateral damage to cover up of the most trivial thing that he was covered. So I just wanted to touch on that because nothing has changed. Nothing has changed. And it's just eerie how things say the same. But, George, I like how you touched on that disaster because I don't want to give it away. Now. This was not free. You have to buy it on the streaming platforms. It was not costly at all. It was a good deal. But that ending scene, and I don't want to give it away.
Do you know how they did that ending scene, the climax?
[00:43:39] Speaker B: Yeah, I do, in a way, know how they did it?
They had all these studio shots in different places where they did slow motion of that. But it is incredibly realistic the way they did it.
It's stunning. Even in this day, where we're sophisticated 47, 48 years later, with all of our CGI and technical abilities, this is still a very rousing. It's huge.
It's big. The way they do it, it's very successfully done.
[00:44:20] Speaker A: Yes. And we're not going to give it away. But check it out. If you want some hitchcockian shots and scenes with great comedy, like comedy from not over the top, comedy from Richard is not vulgar or anything like that. Richard Pryor, he was so underrated as an actor. I'm glad you said, really? And he did drama. Oh, gosh. What's the name of this movie where he came back from Vietnam and he was working in a factory? Of course, I can't remember. But if you know, let us know in the comments. I'm going to stop right here, George. I'm going to give you the last word.
[00:44:55] Speaker B: Well, you know that scene that you had just posted with Richard Pryor and he's dressed as a porter. That scene that Richard Pryor does. I was on the floor, I was laughing so hard. That line. He says, oh, my God. And what he says to oh, I was to, oh, my God. I love that scene in the movie. That. And of course, there's a very famous scene where let's just say Richard Pryor tries to pass up just going to. And the reason it works is because it's making fun of white people.
[00:45:30] Speaker A: And it's so. I'm so glad you said that.
[00:45:34] Speaker B: It's making fun of white people and that's why it works. So people should not be offended when they see it.
[00:45:39] Speaker A: Right.
[00:45:41] Speaker B: It's done in such a skillful way. Yes, it's outrageously funny, but it taps into these gross stereotypes about race. But it works on all levels. And it's not offensive. It's very playful, it's very telling. Well, let me just watch it with an open mind and just appreciate you couldn't do this scene nowadays. But yes, you got to watch.
[00:46:02] Speaker A: And let me just say this. And when I say that, you're right, Noah. I'm not for making fun of white people or anybody maliciously. I'm not for that. If it's comedy is comedy funny is funny. I don't care who is doing it. But let me just say this, because you are not going to try to make this podcast controversial by anything we said here. If you want to be offended, you could be offended by Hello Kitty. Okay? You can take a teddy bear, the cutest one, and be offended.
And I'm not putting words in Georgia mouth. I just said what I just said.
She had the right context. And that's how the scene was. It's a scene, like she said, where he's trying to pass him off as black. And it was, to me, tastefully done. Me and my family saw this years ago. None of us like, oh, this is terrible. We'll never look at this. No one had a problem with this. And I allude I was going to pull up Tropic Thunder, another scene you could not do today with Robert Downey Jr. And again, you got to get the context. It was making fun of white people and the caricature that they think black people are.
And it was, you know, when Georgia said it wasn't offensive, like I said, don't try to turn that around and make that be something. No, it was comedy. And if it was the other way, look, we saw this with white girls when the Wayans brothers did it. Unfortunately, these movies couldn't be done now because people are so highly sensitive over what my opinion is. Just straight up comedy. And I think comedy was so beautiful about comedy. Georgia, in my opinion, when it's done correctly, it should be an equal opportunity offender, if you will, or nothing's off the table. And if you are offended by it, then don't watch it, don't look at it. But censoring people and trying to get it shut down, I am against that. I don't care if it's funny. It's funny. And that's all I got to say about that. So, George, I'm sorry I interrupted you, but I just want to make that clear.
[00:48:09] Speaker B: No, I appreciate everything you said, moya. It was spot on. And I just want to, y'all, if you just want to have a fun time and have a lot of laughs, these are great popcorn movies for like, a rainy day or Sunday afternoon. So go check them out.
[00:48:29] Speaker A: Yes. So uptown Saturday night is free on YouTube and Silver Streak, you have to pay for it. It was about $4 on other streaming platforms. Well, guys, thank you so much for spending time with us. I know we ran a little bit over, but we had a double feature. We haven't done that in a while. So thank you for supporting us. Shout out to our YouTube family and family and friends. But, yeah, we're family and friends in cinema. Our supporters, I should say, and followers, and of course, our Facebook and all of our OG listeners on our audio podcast. Guys, we do this for you. We enjoy just giving you all this fun stuff. So I'm Moya.
[00:49:06] Speaker B: And I'm Georgia.
[00:49:07] Speaker A: And we don't have our next set of movies yet, so go to our Facebook page and check out coming attractions. We trying to figure that out. I'm sorry. We've been doing so good by scheduling stuff ahead, but we will have that out for you soon. We'll have it out next week, so take care. This is how Betty Davis saved my life. Life lessons from classic Hollywood. We cannot wait to see you guys next time. Take care.
