Which Way Is Up?

It's been about 30 years since I almost watched the entirety of this movie (the only reason I couldn't was because I was 13 at the time and my mom wouldn't let me watch the rest when she caught me watching a sex scene!) so now that I have indeed done so on Netflix Streaming, I'm sooo glad I did! Richard Pryor must of had the time of his life making this movie with director Michael Schultz especially when-in the only time in his career-he portrayed three characters: Leading player Leroy Jones, his father Rufus, and reverend Lenox Thomas. The story deals with unions, promotions, adultery, sexual problems, and trying to find a balance of it all. Leroy has his hands full dealing with wife Margaret Avery as Annie Mae, Lonette McKee as social activist Vanetta, and Marilyn Coleman as Sister Sarah, wife of the reverend. Pryor's scenes with Ms. McKee are the most romantic, while his sequences with Ms. Avery and Ms. Coleman are the most comic. But they all have some poignancy about them that makes one care for them. Pryor himself is at his best with his takes on each character and the way Leroy changes his demeanor for whatever occasion. In other words, I found Which Way Is Up? quite hilarious so yeah, that's a high recommendation.

Based on "The Seduction of Mimi", this Americanized version of the script loses much in the translation. Significantly damaged are the cutting social satire and the tragic aspect. The original, dealing with radical Italian politics and labor issues, Italian concepts of family honor, traditional Italian gender roles and an intimidating pyramid of social corruption MIGHT have worked here IF the Hollywood scriptwriters knew how to superimpose a uniquely American template onto these themes and redrew the map to fit. Instead they used the original script verbatim and threw-out anything too idiomatic, replacing political irony with rather dumb 70s TV sitcom jokes.

This left Pryor in the unenviable position of having to shore-up this spineless farce. He's left pretty much on his own. As in too many Peter Sellers movies, he's given free reign to pad the scenes with comic improvisation. In front of an audience Pryor was a genius at this. The camera just doesn't pick it up here. Most of his valiant efforts fall flat. Both Margaret Avery and Marilyn Coleman give more finely tuned comedic performances.

Pryor may actually be miscast. The role of Leroy calls for a Chaplineque everyman caught in the middle of tyrannical forces over which he has no control and must constantly deny his ideals and desires in order to survive. The role calls for an idiot, but a sympathetic one, and Pryor isn't credible as a dope. When he attempts to look clueless, he looks like a hip wiseguy trying to look innocent. And that's really funny in the right situation. But here it works like a spice trying to taste bland.

Fortunately, Pryor would try his hand at this type of character in Blue Collar with far better results.

I'm certain most of the blame can be leveled on both the producer and director. Steve Krantz was okay with cartoons, but a total hack at producing live action films. He was probably hovering around impeding the camera-work and making sure there were no retakes. Michael Schultz never made much of his directorial career and is particularly stale in the comedy genre. After some early potential he quickly sold himself out as a Hollywood flunkie for square producers like Krantz.

Five stars for Pryor because anything he's in is worth a look, plus an extra star for Avery, Coleman and gratuitous sightings of Korla Pandit and Hank Worden.

When I started watching "Which Way Is Up?" I didn't realize that it focuses on labor issues. Richard Pryor is in his usual comedic form - playing a triple role, no less - but this is actually more of a serious role for him. It's apparently a remake of a Lina Wertmüller movie (I've never seen the original). This makes me wish that Lina Wertmüller had directed Richard Pryor in a movie; maybe she could've cast him as a rule-trashing cool dude who takes on Mussolini.

Anyway, the movie does draw attention to unions, and management's efforts to stifle it. And there's no shortage of Richard Pryor's comedy. Worth seeing.

Also starring Margaret Avery (Shug in "The Color Purple"), DeWayne Jessie (Otis Day in "Animal House") and Tim Thomerson (of the Trancers franchise).

Pyror was genius! Seeing it again after 30+ years you have to really respect what was necessary to produce this movie in 1970's climate! Also pleased to see Bebe Drake, Margaret Avery, Marilyn Coleman, and of course Vonnetta McKee. Margaret and Vonnetta went on to have their own successes and I've always been proud of them but Bebe and Marilyn have turned out to be character actresses for black womanhood! I love them! They may not have the same name recognition as some of the others but they have truly endured through time! They are in so many different roles and bring something different to them all. They were outstanding in WWIU but I look forward to seeing them wherever they turn up!

This is a remake of a story written by Director, Lina Wertmuller. It is the story of Leroy Jones, played very capably by Richard Pryor. Pryor steals the show here as he plays Leroy, a migrant fruit picker, his grouchy old father and the local minister. It is the story of Leroy, and his accidental rise to management. Leroy is manipulated by "the man", the president of the Agricultural conglomerate that employs Leroy and his friends. It does a very good job of showing just how one can be seduced by the appearance of power. Leroy loses everything that means anything to him in his rise to management at the "company". The segments where Leroy interacts with his "father" are too funny for words. Pryor doesn't have a great range of acting ability but what he does, he does the best.