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.