{"id":4998,"date":"2007-12-16T21:59:00","date_gmt":"2007-12-17T04:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=4998"},"modified":"2022-02-27T10:12:08","modified_gmt":"2022-02-27T17:12:08","slug":"uptown-saturday-night-1974","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=4998","title":{"rendered":"Uptown Saturday Night (1974)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Never have so few owed so much to so many.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/12\/Uptown-Saturday-Night-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/12\/Uptown-Saturday-Night-Poster-197x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-23440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/12\/Uptown-Saturday-Night-Poster-197x300.jpg 197w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/12\/Uptown-Saturday-Night-Poster-84x128.jpg 84w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/12\/Uptown-Saturday-Night-Poster.jpg 580w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA factory worker (Sidney Poitier) and his taxi-driving buddy (Bill Cosby) visit a chic after-hours club one night, where they&#8217;re held up at gunpoint by a gang of masked robbers. When Poitier realizes that a winning lottery ticket is in his stolen wallet, he and Cosby set out to recover their valuable property; soon they find themselves embroiled in a vicious gang war between Geechie Dan Beauford (Harry Belafonte) and Silky Slim (Calvin Lockhart).\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>African-Americans<\/li>\n<li>Amateur Sleuths<\/li>\n<li>Billy Cosby Films<\/li>\n<li>Comedy<\/li>\n<li>Gangsters<\/li>\n<li>Harry Belafonte Films<\/li>\n<li>Richard Pryor Films<\/li>\n<li>Sidney Poitier Films<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nSidney Poitier directed and co-starred in three comedic &#8220;buddy pictures&#8221; with Billy Cosby during the mid-1970s; <em>Uptown Saturday Night<\/em> was the first of these. It&#8217;s lighthearted, innocuous fare, with a smattering of enjoyable moments and performances sprinkled throughout (the inimitable Harry Belafonte is nearly unrecognizable as a stuffed-cheeks &#8220;don&#8221;), but the screenplay drags in parts, ultimately seeming more like an excuse for amusing vignettes than a compelling narrative. It doesn&#8217;t offer nearly as many genuine laughs as its much sillier follow-up, <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=5004\"><em>Let&#8217;s Do It Again<\/em> (1975)<\/a>, which I recommend instead if you&#8217;re curious about this series. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Fun, believable rapport between Cosby and Poitier<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/12\/usn-rapport.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/12\/usn-rapport.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1200\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4996\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Cosby smooth-talking his way out of a confrontation with &#8220;Little Seymour Pettigrew&#8221;<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/12\/usn-smooth-talking.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/12\/usn-smooth-talking.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1200\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4997\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Harry Belafonte as Geechie Dan Beauford &#8212; clearly having fun riffing on Marlon Brando&#8217;s Don Corleone<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/12\/usn-goochie.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/12\/usn-goochie.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1200\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4999\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, but it&#8217;s worth a look simply for historical purposes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0072351\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1974\/06\/17\/archives\/film-poitier-in-2-rolesstars-in-and-directs-uptown-comedy.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdverdict.com\/reviews\/uptownsaturdaynight.php\">DVD Verdict Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/4307\/uptown-saturday-night#articles-reviews?articleId=64944\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeout.com\/movies\/uptown-saturday-night\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Never have so few owed so much to so many.&#8221; Synopsis: A factory worker (Sidney Poitier) and his taxi-driving buddy (Bill Cosby) visit a chic after-hours club one night, where they&#8217;re held up at gunpoint by a gang of masked robbers. When Poitier realizes that a winning lottery ticket is in his stolen wallet, he and Cosby set out to recover their valuable property; soon they find themselves embroiled in a vicious gang war between Geechie Dan Beauford (Harry Belafonte)&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=4998\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4998"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81803,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4998\/revisions\/81803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}