A Piece of the Action

Jesse Shanks started his review by saying, “More mainstream than typical blaxploitation due to the presence of popular stars Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier, A Piece of the Action was the third and last pairing of the two and the "franchise" is showing a little wear. The film's plot is quite weak and the charm is stretched a little thin as well. Not much is summoned up that is superior to a typical "urban" television comedy of the era like Good Times or Welcome Back, Kotter. The biggest problem is that the script just never jells and comes across as a patchwork of bits and improvisations.” With a runtime of two hours and fifteen minutes, somehow “A Piece of the Action,” released in 1977, looked like more than everything it was.

Likable criminals Dave Anderson (Bill Cosby) and Manny Durrell (Sidney Poitier) are top-notch cone men who have never been afoul of the law. Joshua Burke, played by James Earl Jones, is a retiring detective with enough evidence on both of them and have them arrested. He says that he won’t say anything if the criminals will go straight and do work at a youth center for criminals. This is where the storyline goes off but doesn’t head anywhere fast. At first, the criminals are hesitant and unwilling (and so are the kids). As the film goes on, trust and admiration is shared (along with cold cash) and progress is made to get jobs for the kids.

Shanks noted, “The film walks a difficult path between comedy and social commentary and rarely feels comfortable as either. Some of the dialogue is cloying and stiffly delivered street lingo as reality is watered-down for some kind of fantasy street world that we see in television and movies. Poitier trades on his performance as the school teacher who brings a London East End class to life in To Sir With Love. Cosby's performance leans more toward his films that bombed, with mostly unrelated mugging and schtick making up his performance, that hopefully is improvised.”

The cast includes Denise Nichols as Lila French and Tracy Reed as Manny’s girlfriend Nikki. A very young Sheryl Lee Ralph is here as one of the “delinquents,” Barbara, and has a very powerful scene where she wants more respect from the teachers. Look for Poitier’s older brother Cyril as the janitor of the youth center, Mr. Theodore, and soon-to-be actor of television’s “What’s Happening!!”, as Raj, Earnest Thomas. The likeness of the actors is really the best part of “A Piece of the Action,” and it shows even though the script might be week. Another saving grace of the film is the strong score by “Superfly” composer Curtis Mayfield, which also has one of the best singers Mavis Staples in some songs.

Putting all three comedy films that Cosby and Poitier did together, this one people say pauses behind the previous two films.

However, I didn’t see any problem with the film and thought it was another good comedy. As the final one that Poitier and Cosby did together, they did a good job together, once again. When I saw this, it was on the same DVD as “Uptown Saturday Night,” so I saw this one before “Let’s Do It Again.” However, you can watch any of these three films in any order and it wouldn’t matter since all three are different stories. If you saw the first two and liked them, you should see this one and give it a chance. Don’t listen to the backlash this has gotten, just see it and judge for yourself.

Alright everyone, this ends this year’s “Black History Movie Month,” or as I dubbed it, “Sidney Poitier Month.” I hope everyone enjoyed it and hopefully everyone has been checking out some of these movies I recommended. I know there are certain Poitier movies that people thought I would review, like my brother’s all time favorite, but I haven’t seen those. Maybe one day I will, but not right now.

Hold on to your seats and see what I will review next month.

Let's Do It Again

Sidney Poitier and Bill Cosby made a nice comic relationship in “Uptown Saturday Night,” and it works even better in “Let’s Do It Again,” released in 1975. The movie isn’t really a sequel, the names of all the characters have been changed, but it gives us simply the same duo of protagonist: Poitier as the quiet and often confused straight man, and Cosby as the fast talking con artist.

This time they’re from Atlanta, where Poitier’s character, Clyde Williams, is a milkman and Cosby’s character, Billy Foster, works in a factory. Roger Ebert noted in his review, “They're members of the Sons and Daughters of Shaka, a fraternal lodge run along the same lines as Amos 'n' Andy's beloved Mystic Knights of the Sea, and their job is to raise money for the lodge's old folks' home.”

There’s a middleweight title fight arriving, and Billy Foster has an idea: he and Clyde Williams will fix the fight, bet the arena’s $18,000 building fund on the result and clean up at 5-to-1 odds. It should be to bet on the fight because Clyde has a unique gift, he can put the bets on anyone. He and Billy take their wives (Denise Nicholas and Lee Chamberlin) to New Orleans on vacation, catch the bony middleweight contender, Bootney Farnsworth (J.J. Evans from the classic show “Good Times,” Jimmie “Dy-No-Mite” Walker), put the bets on him and convince him he won’t get hurt and easily beat the champ (Rodolphus Lee Hayden). He does.

The story grows convoluted, involving two enemy men bookmakers (Calvin Lockhart and James Evans from “Good Times,” the great John Amos) who find out they’ve been scammed. Billy and Clyde, stuck in the middle, have Billy’s fast talk as their only way. He does a great job at it in scenes that look somewhat a little improvised. (After they get stuck in the champ’s hotel room, Billy explains they’re fans from the champ’s hometown who wanted to sing their new fight song to him. Ebert notes, “Cosby begins to sing, Poitier tries to keep up, the hoods snarl and it's a great scene.”)

Poitier directed both “Uptown Saturday Night” and “Let’s Do It Again,” and the new movie is a more solid job. Ebert mentions, “Maybe that's because he's more concerned with getting on with the slapstick, while in "Uptown" the action was constantly being slowed down with cameo appearances by Poitier's innumerable friends. This time the guest shot is limited to Ossie Davis, as the pompous windbag who heads the fraternal lodge.”

“Let’s Do It Again” isn’t a horribly ruthless comedy, but within its boundaries it works well. And it’s really good natured. Ebert admitted, “I was struck by how much more fun they were than in a movie like last year's "Freebie and the Bean," where the violent special effects overwhelmed the comic purpose.” Cosby and Poitier work well together and it could be they would have made their comedies as often as they could. In the final scene of the movie, in any event, they’re guessing on putting the bets on heavyweight fight between Muhammad Ali and Sammy Davis Jr.

This is another good comedy from the duo work and effort put in from both Poitier and Cosby. You should see this one if you liked “Uptown Saturday Night” because you will think this one is funnier and a better job. If you can just put aside all the allegations that Cosby has gotten over the past several years and just look at him as one of the most inspirational comedians, then check this movie out and get a good laugh. I promise, you will enjoy it and not be disappointed.

Check in this Friday when I wrap up this year’s “Sidney Poitier Month” with the last movie that Poitier and Cosby acted in.

Uptown Saturday Night

The next Sidney Poitier trilogy that I will be looking at co-stars a famous comedian that I know a lot of people are bashing now because of his cases with women. However, I still want to talk about these and not mention any of the issues that are going on right now, so let’s get started with the first in the trilogy, “Uptown Saturday Night,” released in 1974.

Dick Lochte started his review by saying, “I can't believe that screenwriter Richard Wesley and director Sidney Poitier were unconscious of the ghosts of Amos and Andy when they went to work on Uptown Saturday Night. The film's heroes are too similar to those radio and television prototypes.”

Lochte continued, “Poitier's Steve Jackson, like Andrew H. Brown, is a middleage, lower-middle-class fellow of meager imagination. Bill Cosby’s Wardell Franklin combines the bogus smarts and self-deception of Kingfish Stevens with the cab-driver occupation of Amos Jones. And their night on the town which leads to an involvement with gangsters, fast women and assorted jive artists is straight from the Amos 'n' Andy book of record.”

Lochte went on, “Yet it is not quite correct for a critic, a white one especially, to dismiss the results as a throwback to the golden days of radio, not that the movie is funny and old-fashioned and let it go at that. Something else is at work here.”

The obvious difference between this movie and the sitcom is who worked on this, laughing with the characters rather than at them. The mood is actually proud in the work of difficult everyday reality. Cosby, dressed like a gangster, steps outside and gets arrested because he slightly looks like a wanted man. The scene is there for laughs, but the original idea of black life – that police can pull you over at any time for any reason – does not go unnoticed.

Look at Roscoe Lee Browne’s two-faced Congressman Lincoln, a large sketch who puts a dashiki over his sharkskin suit to meet “the people,” gives laughter with a real edge. Also, Richard Pryor’s Sharp Eye Washington, a con man who is known for coning fellow Africans, is another example of this strangely effective setting of laughs with bitter truth.

Lochte said, “Throughout the film I had the feeling that it was too weighed down with talent, that it wasn't funny enough to justify its overwhleming cast, because nothing could.” (A black celebrity not included must really feel insulted.)

Lochte admitted, “But in thinking back on it, I have nothing but good feelings about the movie. Poitier and Cosby, two sophisticated entertainers, doing their numbers as uncomplicated ghetto dwellers: Flip Wilson, as the Reverend, flailing and railing through a sermon about loose lips leading to sin.” Harry Belafonte’s dangerously spoofs Godfather Brando mockery as gang lord Geechie Dan. Calvin Lockhart’s sneaky thief enjoying himself at a church picnic, and the rest all complete a pretty enjoyable total.

Lochte noted, “Recent movies like Claudme and Five on The Black Hand Side and now Uptown Saturday Night are hopefully harbingers of a new direction in black cinema away from the crude, self-destructive and violent exploitation films of the past few years.” It would be nice if their success would act as an inspiration for the film industry completely.

This is actually a good comedy that I think everyone should watch. If you can put all of the stuff Cosby is guilty for aside and just watch this film, you will actually enjoy this. There are a lot of good laughs in here that everyone will laugh at this from beginning to end. Check it out and give it a chance.

Now, as I already mentioned, this film was successful that it became a trilogy. I will be looking at them next week in “Sidney Poitier Month.”

Monsters vs. Aliens

For this year’s “President’s Day Movie Review,” I was looking through some lists, and surprisingly, I found the 2009 DreamWorks movie, “Monsters vs. Aliens” on the list. I had seen a little bit of the film’s beginning, so I checked out the rest yesterday. Now, I will let you know what I thought of it.

Paying tribute to 1950s sci-fi movies through a lens of 21^st Century scope, “Monsters vs. Aliens” jumps out of the screen as an always strong, sometimes engaging imitation of jokes and action.

Hugh Hart said in his review, “Though viewable in conventional 2-D, it's worth the two or three extra bucks to see DreamWorks Animation's stereoscopic cartoon in the format for which it was conceived. The movie was authored in the studio's proprietary InTru 3D, and screened for this review in an IMAX 3D theater. It will also be shown in 2,000 or so RealD-equipped screens around the United States.”

“Monsters vs. Aliens” starts off slow and not really funny as the protagonist, Susan Murphy (Reese Witherspoon) prepares to marry an anchor (Paul Rudd) who wants to cancel their Paris honeymoon so he can audition for a weatherman job in Fresno, California.

Instead, she gets hit by a comet, grows 50 feet tall, and ends up in a secret prison. Here’s where the film begins.

Wanting to return to normal, Susan, now called Ginormica, makes friends with mutant prisoners that could be labeled as the smart one (Dr. Cockroach (Hugh Laurie)), the dumb one (gelatinous B.O.B. (Seth Rogen)) and the action lizard (Missing Link, the half-ape/half-fish mutant (Will Arnett)).

Each has a funny back story, but Rogen’s B.O.B. gets most of the funny lines and also stars in the film’s funniest outsider scene, when he tries to flirt with a bowl of Jell-O.

Released by military manager General W.R. Monger (Kiefer Sutherland) and a clownish American president (former host of “The Colbert Report” and current host of “The Late Show,” one of my favorite comedians, Stephen Colbert), Susan and her team prevent an alien invasion led by the film’s most persuasive character: Gallaxhar.

Hart credited, “Giving Gallaxhar his melodramatic voice, Rainn Wilson (The Office) channels Flash Gordon-era villainy as the dastardly megalomaniac who happens to be shaped like an airborne octopus.”

Hart continued, “Monsters co-directors Rob Letterman (Shark Tale) and Conrad Vernon (Shrek 2) hew to the big-budget cartoon formula by crafting a solid mix of kid-friendly antics laced with snarky pop culture references.”

A rising score by Hans Zimmer dependent Henry Jackman nudges the adventures whenever the mostly snappy dialogue fails, and the veteran design team clearly knows how to animate a great scene in three dimensions.

Hart said, “Thematically, the heroine's be-who-you-are lesson in self-esteem is hard to argue with, though hardly novel for these kinds of pictures.”

Hart continued, “But it's the action scenes that stand out by milking the 3-D angle for maximum impact.”

Hart goes on, “San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge serves as a backdrop for the monsters' traffic-snarling smackdown with a cyclopic robot. In outer space, a near-mesmerizing March of the Clones set piece achieves epic impact because of the stereoscopic depth of field. Even a suburban subdivision springs to life in a fresh way when giant Susan and friends march through the photorealistic streets of her hometown.”

The mutants end up flying into the sunset on the back of the giant, mute Insectosaurus for what DreamWorks left with the possibility of a sequel, but ended up with a cartoon series. This PG-rated tribute to mid-century science fiction clichés revisits the past to inspire a look of cinema’s 3-D future.

For what it’s worth, this is a good DreamWorks movie for kids. If you haven’t seen it, I say you should because it is funny. This is not a total bore since the jokes are nice, the animation is great, and the story will keep you engaged. I didn’t feel at all bored throughout the runtime. If this is one of those movies that you want to see only once and never again, I get it because I might do that. However, if anyone asks if I want to see it again, I wouldn’t mind seeing it again.

Happy President’s Day everyone! Stay tuned Friday when I continue “Sidney Poitier Month.”

Hitch

For this year’s “Valentine’s Day” movie review, I thought I would look at another romantic comedy, “Hitch,” released in 2005, another movie I saw On Demand.

This is a nice, if a little long, romantic comedy from two men who have made so much of their career in the genre. Director Andy Tennant is well-known for love stores, previously working on “Fools Rush In,” “Ever After,” and “Sweet Home Alabama.” Even though Will Smith did become successful as an action hero and a dramatic protagonist, he is at his most likable in this type of movie, when he makes his fans laugh and gets the girl.

James Berardinelli said in his review, “Hitch in underpinned by a simple premise, which makes it a surprise that the running time comes close to two hours. The length is the film's lone noticeable problem - snip about 20 minutes off of it, and it would have been a breezy pleasure. (So much for the unwritten rule that no movie can sustain comic momentum for more than 90 minutes…) But the expectation of third act romantic complications causes Kevin Bisch's screenplay to bog down during its final 40 minutes, and even the appeal and chemistry of the actors can't prevent Hitch from losing some of its load.”

Alex Hitchens, played by Will Smith, is a self-called “date doctor.” His job is to help those in the dating game to stop making mistakes so they can find true love. He focuses on common mistakes, like “meet cutes,” and gives dancing and kissing lessons. Hitch has the common motto of “those who can’t, teach.” His own love life is negated. The knowledge he leaves with is based on looking, not experience. Hitch once fell in love, and the pain from that experience has kept him from trying it again – until now. He falls for gossip columnist Sara, played by Eva Mendes, who gets Hitch’s attention from their first meeting. A series of horrible dates does nothing to discourage the two from finding out that they might have found their “special someone.”

Meanwhile, Hitch has a new client – Albert (Kevin James), an obese accountant who wants to impress the love his life, celebrity Allegra Cole (Amber Valletta). Hitch does what looks like the impossible – teaching Albert how to get Allegra to notice him. However, that’s the easy part. The hard part is convincing Albert to really relax himself so that Allegra won’t leave unhappy on a date with a silly man who doesn’t have self-confidence.

If you think you can predict where “Hitch” is going, you’re probably right. Berardinelli said, “Like most romantic comedies, this one is light on surprises, with predictability being considered an asset by many aficionados.” However, “Hitch” has something many movies in the genre don’t: a sense of humor. There are times when this movie is hilarious. If you look at Hitch and Sara’s first date, when a badly placed leg move makes them both fall into the Hudson River. Then there’s another get-together, where they find out a food allergy which ends with a rush through CVS to find Benadril.

Despite having a lot of chemistry between Smith and Eva Mendes, and Kevin James and Amber Valleta to know there is a legitimate romance, the strongest duo is Smith and James, whose mentor/student relationship results in so man of the film’s best moments. Berardinelli said, “The buddy moments offer a nice counterbalance to the potentially saccharine romantic interludes, avoiding the "all hearts and flowers" trap that occasionally causes seizures by male members of the audience who show up to impress a date.”

Hitch was 2005’s only real contender for a Valentine’s Day movie watch. (Berardinelli said, “I will ignore the existence of the dismal The Wedding Date - hopefully movie-goers will follow suit.”) Not only does this follow the expected course of really falling in love and hitting the feels, but it really makes viewers laugh. Even though a little trimming of the runtime would have been better, Smith keeps the happenings from becoming a bore.

When I saw the trailer to this movie, I knew it was going to be hilarious. I wasn’t wrong when I saw this movie On Demand. I didn’t have any problems with the movie when I saw it, especially the runtime, so I think for this Valentine’s Day; you can watch this and get a good laugh, especially if you are a fan of any of the lead actors.

Check in tomorrow when I review my yearly “President’s Day Movie.”

The Organization

We first met Virgil Tibbs in “In the Heat of the Night,” when he was a cop from Philadelphia. In “They Call Me Mister Tibbs,” he moved to San Francisco and had a really detailed top home. Now, in “The Organization,” released in 1971, he (Sidney Poitier) has moved into a less detailed home (maybe after reading the reviews thinking how he could pay the bills on his police salary), but he still has his loving wife (Barbara McNair), sweet daughter and smart-mouth son (George and Wanda Spell). However, there is just a little chance for each member to do what he does because Tibbs is at his breaking point in the most difficult criminal of his career. Roger Ebert said in his review, “It is so complicated, in fact, that I am not sure I could figure it out. Maybe we're supposed to take things in the spirit of "The Big Sleep" (1946) which didn't bother to tie up several very loose ends.”

The story is not really focused. It’s about an obscure group of characters (a storefront preacher, a member of a girl’s track team, etc.) who steal a large amount of heroin. The members include preacher Dave Thomas (Billy Green Bush) and the passionate Juan Mendoza (Raul Julia), Annie (Lani Miyazaki), Charlie (Lamont from “Sanford and Son,” Demond Wilson), Stacy (James A. Watson Jr.) and Joe (Ron O’Neal). Ebert noted, “But after they make their getaway, someone else kills the guy they left behind, bound and gagged. They let Tibbs in on their secret because they don't want the murder rap (although since they DID kidnap the guy and nothing can bring him back to life, you'd think they would keep quiet).”

Anyway, after an investigation that gets a little confused, Tibbs is suspended from the force for hiding what he knows. Ebert noted, “And then he is either put back on the force (in a scene not in the picture) and is on plainclothes duty in the unfinished subway system, or he was not cleared and just happens to be working on the subway when the movie's big chase scene goes by.” Anyway, there’s a little shooting, a few identities are revealed, and the movie comes to an unsatisfying end.

What happened? The first two movies had a focused, well put together story. What’s the story and focus here, if there was one? I don’t get this movie and what it was trying to do. All I can say is this is a sad attempt to end a trilogy that I have ever seen. If you liked the first two movies of the “Tibbs Trilogy,” don’t see this one. You will be confused all throughout the duration of the movie of what they were trying to do.

Stay tuned on Sunday for the yearly “Valentine’s Day Movies.”

They Call Me Mister Tibbs!

Sidney Poitier reprises his role as Virgil Tibbs in the 1970 crime drama, “They Call Me Mister Tibbs!” a story that is not connected to the previous film, “In the Heat of the Night.” Once again, he is an expert homicide detective and is now on the case of the murder of a prostitute. The main suspect is San Francisco political advocate Reverend Logan Sharpe, played by Martin Landau, the last person seen with the victim. Tibbs and Sharpe are friends, and Tibbs wants to believe the priest is not guilty. Sharpe admits to Tibbs he has slept with the murdered prostitute, and the detective strengthens his focus on his friend, and in one climactic scene, Tibbs interrupts a city-council where Sharpe is campaigning for political change. On the other end, after dealing with drug addicts, pimps, murderers and other criminals his entire shift, Tibbs returns home to his wife Valerie (Barbara McNair) and his two children (George and Wanda Spell), only to be really scolded for being late for dinner and spending all day at his job.

In the suspenseful sequel to “In the Heat of the Night,” the great Sidney Poitier reprises his role as the fearless detective who, this time, must solve a difficult murder in the city by the Bay. With an original score by the great Quincy Jones, “They Call Me Mister Tibbs!” is a great mystery that is one of the best of the genre. When a prostitute is murdered in San Francisco’s classy Nob Hill distract, an unknown tip hints minister and political advocate Reverent Logan Sharpe. Lt. Virgil Tibbs, who has known Sharpe for many years, asks to be in charge of the case so that he can clear his friend’s name. Gary Tooze said in his review, “So begins the detective's journey through a twisted maze of baffling evidence, frantic chases, deadly gunfire and bad alibis. Before long, Tibbs finds himself bitterly torn between his duty as a cop and his loyalty to a friend.” Directed by Hollywood legend Gordon Douglas and including an all-star supporting cast that includes Barbara McNair, Edward Asner, Anthony Zerbe and Jeff Corey.

Tooze said, “Further adventures of Lieutenant Virgil Tibbs, the black cop who took on an entire Southern town in In the Heat of the Night.” Poitier plays the Tibbs again, but this time he’s in San Francisco, the script diligently doesn’t have racial issues, and the film goes the way most sequels go. Poitier properly solves his murder mystery and survives some domestic issues, but neither he nor director Gordon Douglas can turn this into anything more than a simple thriller.

Tooze admitted, “I think They Call me Mister Tibbs is a good crime drama falling somewhere between the two previous Virgil Tibbs film entries.” Poitier is always great in everything he has done.

In all honesty, this is a good follow-up to the previous film. It doesn’t include anything of the racial issues or any of that was mentioned in the last film, but it’s good in its own respective way. If you liked the first one, you should see this one because you will like it in its own way. Check it out and give it a chance because you will enjoy the crime thriller this film turns out being.

However, I can’t say that it continued being that way for this trilogy. Stay tuned this Friday to find out what I mean in “Black History Movie Month” where we are dedicating this as “Sidney Poitier Month.”

In the Heat of the Night

For this year’s “Black History Movie Month,” I’m dedicating this entire month to the great Sidney Poitier. He is a great actor/director, and has done some of the best works in cinema history. Let’s start this epic month with the 1967 classic, “In the Heat of the Night.”

Sidney Poitier goes up against violent racists in smalltown Mississippi in this heated 1967 police flick.

David Jenkins said in his review, “Wow… As Dinah Washington once sang, “what a difference a day makes”. It would be disingenuous to say that Norman Jewison’s sweat-dappled southern policier gains a chilling relevance at a time when then the White House is being populated with white supremacist yahoos, because the film’s power was evident long prior to the world going very wrong indeed.”

“In the Heat of the Night” is a film of standardized racism, taking place in the small town of Sparta, Mississippi. It shows racism as a normal part of life, showing people in prison which is being supported with caring segregation and arrogant behavior. The people of the town have such large hatred that it rises a pretty, accepted part of regular southern life.

A businessman, played by Jack Teter, has been found dead on the streets, which tarnishes all plans of a new factory and economic affluence. At the request of Sheriff Bill Gillespie, played by Rod Steiger, the police are told to scout the city for suspects. Along comes Detective Virgil Tibbs, played by Sidney Poitier, who is a moody, out-of-town detective who actually is just passing through. Going against his thinking, he decides to help them look through the case once they see he’s an innocent man. By doing so, he sees that’s not simply trying to find a murderer, but to face off against a long line of racism in the city’s history. Jenkins described, “He is Sparta’s worst nightmare.”

As Tibbs, Poitier lets out a large amount of honorable moral confusion. Jenkins asks, “Should he just let the mouth-breathing, chain-swinging scum wallow in their own filth? Should he risk life and limb to deliver a peaceable humanist lesson to his slathering aggressors? And is there a happy ending for either course of action?” One of the film’s most amazing and vague elements is the suggestion that Tibbs sees racism as a normal part of violent crime, and his main suspects are all old personages whose believe were made on cotton fields and black slavery. What’s great about the film (and Poitier’s performance) is that it’s never said that he’s a hero or a savior. His status is way more vague and interesting than that.

Jenkins noted, “The film’s dutiful thriller mechanics are far less important than its politics – it has passed the test of time more for the small gestures and the iconic lines of dialogue.” One scene that is still really powerful is when Tibbs fights rich landowner Eric Endicott, played by Larry Gates. He asks whether this affirmed and evidently racist man might have had reasons for murder, and Tibbs gets slapped. The understandable reaction is Tibbs slaps Endicott back. This one part summarizes the urge to fight back. Jenkins said, “What’s most telling, though, is how physically and emotionally shaken Endicott is by the transaction.” He knows his time has ended.

This is a great movie that everyone should see, especially those who are fans of Sidney Poitier. People probably know this, but this is the movie that has the famous line, “They call me Mister Tibbs.” I have a feeling this is where Disney got the idea to spoof the line in “The Lion King” when Pumbaa said, “They call me Mister Pig.” I might be right, but I might be wrong, who knows. Still, you should see this movie because you will love it, I promise.

The success of this movie led it to have sequels, which we will look at next week in the continuation of “Sidney Poitier Month.”