{"id":7533,"date":"2024-10-27T14:07:21","date_gmt":"2024-10-27T18:07:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=7533"},"modified":"2024-10-27T14:07:21","modified_gmt":"2024-10-27T18:07:21","slug":"richard-pryor-live-on-the-sunset-strip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/10\/27\/richard-pryor-live-on-the-sunset-strip\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip <\/strong>(1982)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Columbia\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 82 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong language throughout including references to sex, violence and drugs)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Joe Layton\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Paul Mooney and Richard Pryor\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Harry Betts\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Haskell Wexler\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: March 12, 1982 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Richard Pryor.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $36.2M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0In his second concert film Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip<\/strong>, the comedian introduces us to a new persona, one that\u2019s wiser and more introspective than the wild, hard-partying guy we knew in the previous decade. It\u2019s first time he\u2019s been back on stage since he set himself on fire during an episode of drug-induced psychosis in June \u201880. Nearly dying seems to have scared Pryor straight. It also makes him more vulnerable in the eyes of an adoring audience. They see before them a man who now accepts that he is NOT indestructible. It makes the comedian more human. At the same time, he still commands the stage like very few can.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The movie opens with a montage of the various rock clubs, motels and other hot spots along L.A.\u2019s famed Sunset Strip including Whisky a Go-Go and the Chateau Marmont Hotel where, coincidentally, John Belushi died eight days before Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip<\/strong> landed in theaters. It then cuts to inside the Palladium where we watch Pryor take control of the stage. He gets off to a rocky start. His timing is a bit off. We can see that his confidence has ebbed somewhat. It takes about 20 minutes or so for Pryor to find his rhythm but once he does, he puts on a good show.<\/p>\n

\u00a0As a comedian, Pryor does more than just tell jokes. Any drunken idiot at a party can do that with varying results. Pryor is a born storyteller. When he tells a story, there\u2019s always a point to it. He tells us about his trip to Africa. He talks about the native animals, a bit that I found lacking. Then he gets to his last day there. While sitting in his hotel room, he realized that in the weeks he spent there, he never heard anybody use the n-word. Not even once. It hit him so hard on an emotional level, he vowed then and there to never use the n-word again.<\/p>\n

\u00a0He\u2019s open and honest about his life; in particular, his past drug use. He speaks of his cocaine pipe as if it was a living entity. He talks about tough guy actor Jim Brown coming to visit him and asking repeatedly \u201cWhatcha gonna do?\u201d as a means of intervention. His honesty in these moments is frank and brutal…. and funny.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Pryor talks about the night of his accident. In one of the movie\u2019s comic highlights, he explains that the incident was caused by him dunking a cookie into a mixture of low-fat and pasteurized milk. He also quips, \u201cWhen you\u2019re running down the street on fire, people get out of your way.\u201d He goes on to describe his sometimes painful recovery and his new drug-free outlook on life. Pryor has the unique gift of effectively mixing pathos with humor. This is why he\u2019s still regarded as one of the all-time great comedians.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Not all of Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip<\/strong> works for me. The opening bit about sex is a bit weak. The animals talking, while amusing, is rather silly. HOWEVER, Pryor\u2019s imitations of the Italian mobsters he worked for in his youth are spot-on and hilarious. He is a gifted mimic. That bit had me laughing so hard, I had to pause the DVD until I could compose myself. I also got a kick out of his on-set stories from Stir Crazy. In talking with the inmates at Arizona State Penitentiary where the 1980 comedy was filmed, he asked one dude why he killed everybody in the house. The guy answers, \u201cThey was home.\u201d These three words support Pryor\u2019s earlier \u201cThank God we got penitentiaries\u201d comment better than any government-funded research project on the subject.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Pryor died in 2005 of a heart attack after years of declining health due to MS. Knowing that, a viewing of Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip<\/strong> is accompanied by sadness for a lost talent. At the same time, watching the audience (including Jesse Jackson) laughing riotously reminds us that Pryor is not really gone. He lives on through his work. The guy made some great films including my personal favorite Bustin\u2019 Loose. I\u2019m not sure I\u2019d call Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip<\/strong> great, but it\u2019s definitely good. At the very least, it should serve as a primer for aspiring comedians. This is how it\u2019s done, comedy grasshoppers.<\/p>\n

TRIVIA TIDBIT: Did you ever wonder why a billboard for the movie musical Annie is so prominently displayed on the poster. That\u2019s because director Joe Layton served as executive producer on it. Talk about self-promotion.\"\"<\/p>\n

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Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip (1982)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Columbia\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 82 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong language throughout including references to sex, violence and drugs)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Joe Layton\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Paul Mooney and Richard Pryor\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Harry Betts\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Haskell Wexler\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: March 12, 1982 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Richard Pryor.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $36.2M (US) Rating: *** \u00a0In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7599,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comedies","category-documentary"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Richard-Pryor-Live-on-the-S.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7533"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7601,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7533\/revisions\/7601"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}