Richard Pryor Double Feature: Which Way Is Up?, The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings
This Richard Pryor Blu-ray double-feature features iconic comedian and actor Richard Pryor during the height of his incredible career.
Primetime Emmy winner Richard Pryor was an influential and controversial stand-up comedian in the 1970s, tackling issues like racial inequality and promoting peace, equality, and social change from the stand-up comedy stage. He released 17 comedy albums over the course of his career, garnering him five Grammy wins (including the Lifetime Achievement Award) and another five nominations for “Best Comedy Recording.”
Richard Pryor won the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor (1998) and the 1996 NAACP Image Awards Lifetime Achievement Award.
Fans can visit his Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6438 Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, CA.
Which Way Is Up? (1977)
Richard Pryor plays three roles – a beleaguered, sex-starved farm worker named Leroy Jones; the farm worker’s randy old father Rufus; and the hypocritical town preacher Rev. Lenox Thomas – and Pryor has never been so outrageously funny. The lives and love lives of these three men cross and crisscross as Leroy tries to get his life back on track. The fun kicks into high gear when Leroy moves from labor to management. He tries to juggle his wife and his girlfriend, but the only peace he can find is in the arms of the Reverend’s wife! It’s a case of too many women and too little time. No wonder he doesn’t know Which Way Is Up?
- Theme song “Which Way is Up?” was written by Norman Whitfield (Motown producer/songwriter) and sung by R&B group Stargard
- Based on Lina Wertmuller’s “Seduction of Mimi”
- Fan Favorite, with a Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score of 83%
Key Cast:
- Richard Pryor, known for Brewster’s Millions, Stir Crazy, and The Wiz
- Lonette McKee, known for Brewster’s Millions, Malcolm X, and TV series The Game
- Margaret Avery, known for The Color Purple (she was Nominated for an Oscar for her supporting role), TV series Being Mary Jane and The Nana Project
- Bebe Drake, known for Wild Hogs, Friday After Next, and Space Jam
The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings (1976)
In the world of 1930s Black League baseball, a spirited team of renegade players travels around the Midwest looking for that one big score. Richard Pryor, Billy Dee Williams and James Earl Jones star as three barnstorming ballplayers who take on prejudice and their own League’s unfair rules while stealing cars, food and home base – anything to prove that they’re the best team around. It’s a showdown of brains over booby traps and sportsmanship over racial segregation as Bingo Long’s All-Stars swing their way to a winning season.
- Inspired by William Brashler’s 1973 novel, “The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings”
- Executive Producer Berry Gordy (Motown Records)
- 89% Rotten Tomatoes Score
- “…carefully blends comedy and social history.” – George Mercer, The Boston Phoenix
Key Cast:
- Richard Pryor, known for Brewster’s Millions, Stir Crazy, and The Wiz
- Billy Dee Williams, known for Batman, The Take, and Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back
- James Earl Jones, known for Field of Dreams, The Lion King and Star Wars
- Tony Burton, known for The Shining, and Rocky
