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For my buck, black comedy involves black actorsJun 12 '01 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line So there is my list - some old, some new but all are very funny movies, and worth a rent anytime So this opinion is a little different than others written for this column...but it is near blackxploitation and black heritage...so i am going to just run with this as i interpret it... I very much enjoy black comedy, there is something really raucous about the birth of it all, for me from early Nipsey Russell and Flip Wilson, Redd Foxx, and Bill Cosby (Oil and Water), through Richard Pryor and into the glorious eighties and Eddie Murphy.... and right on through to the new breed of Chris Rock or perhaps some Robert Townsend or Eddie Griffith... #1 for me will always be Beverly Hills Cop 1 - this was the funniest movie i had ever seen when it came out. I went back to the theater about seven times, and just could not stop myself from laughing. Eddie's delivery and shifting into and out of characters was just so good. From his falsetto, to his imitation of the old white chief of police to his ordering people around...it is a classic, and watch carefully when he gets something off of the fruit plate, and see Damon Wayans doing his best falsetto too... #2 would have to be Coming to America...here we again see both Eddie Murphy as well as Arsenio Hall playing it to the absolute hilt. Eddie plays an African Prince, an old Jewish Man and a horrible lounge singer, and Aresenio's old man barber and Preacher are priceless....James Earl Jones is great as well, and if you look underneath the Afro sheen, there is an early performance by Eriq Le Salle...this one is a classic #3 - no question for me its Robert Townsends HollyWood Shuffle. This movie is the ultimate satire of the seventies blaxploitation movies. Robert made this movie on a shoestring budget, but it comes off remarkably funny. There are an endless stream of familiar black actors and actresses, and the plot is about a man trying to make it in Hollywood...a must see #4 - Bingo Long's Traveling All Stars and Motor Kings...Billy D Williams and James Earl Jones - along with Richard Pryor in this most excellent farce about the Negro baseball leagues. This one was made from the heart, and will appeal to sports fans as the laughs just keep coming...i never get enough of this film. #5 - Car Wash - for me this movie never stopped giving, with hilarious shtick, and god bless Rose Royce for her song, another Richard Pryor movie, with some good work by Bill Duke, came out the same year as Bingo Long, and took me by surprise...i love this movie #6 - I'm Gonna Git You Sucka - another romp through making fun of blaxploitation movies, starring Keenan Ivory Wayans, and Damon his brother. This movie had great satire of Shaft, and the Mack and most of the cheesy black detective movies of the seventies. They brought in Isaac Hayes and James Brown, to add actors who were actually a part of the movies that they are making fun of....good stuff #7 CB4 - another satire, picking at rappers and some rap popularity...Chris Rock is hysterical as this is a mock Rockumentary format of the rise of several rap bands. #8 - Boomerang - Another Eddie Murphy classic, and while not widely considered a great movie, it is one of my favorites. I think that Grace Jones and Geoffery Holder stole this movie with their bizarre sexual interaction and marketing. The interplay between Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence and David Allen Grier is just hilarious... #9 Harlem Nights - this movie has everybody in it, Redd Foxx, Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Arsenio and some very good stuff from Della Reese who banters back and forth with hilarious profanity with Redd. This was heavily salty language wise, and guess what that is why i watched it...how could you expect anything else when you gather together the kings of the F-Word on one screen.... #10 House Party - the original and always the best, kid and play just flat out make me laugh. With some good interplay from Martin Lawrence and a plot that is somewhat non-existent, the rappin, hair, and dialogue are what this movie is all about...  |
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by carstairs38
by Stephen_Murray
by cdm72
