"Betye Saar: Drifting Toward Twilight" covers renowned American artist Betye Saar’s large-scale work “Drifting Toward Twilight”—recently commissioned by The Huntington— a site-specific installation that features a 17-foot-long vintage wooden canoe and found objects, including birdcages, antlers, and natural materials harvested by Saar from The Huntington’s grounds. This film captures the artist's process in preparation for her upcoming exhibition, while also homaging Betye's life and work throughout her career. We are producing this project in collaboration with Betye's studio, Roberts Project, and Sola Saar Augusston, granddaughter of Betye and co-curator of the exhibit for the Huntington Museum. It will be exhibited in an annex next to the artist's piece within the Huntington's Virginia Steele Scott Galleries of American Art.
Original Film Writer
A hard-on-his-luck hound finds himself in a town full of cats in need of a hero to defend them from a ruthless villain's wicked plot to wipe their village off the map. With help from a reluctant mentor, our underdog must assume the role of town samurai and team up with the villagers to save the day.
Self (archive footage)
In this comedy special, Jon Stewart, John Mulaney, Chelsea Handler and Dave Chappelle honor George Carlin, Joan Rivers, Robin Williams and Richard Pryor.
Himself
A two-hour television special on the life of Richard Pryor featuring interviews by those close to him, focusing on his contributions to standup comedy.
Self - Actor and Comedian (archive footage)
The life story of Richard Pryor (1940-2005), the legendary performer and iconic social satirist who transcended racial and social barriers with his honest, irreverent and biting humor.
Self (archive footage)
Richard Pryor's impact on the craft of comedy and today's top comics is legendary and unrivaled. This program surveys the profound and enduring influence of one of the greatest American comics of all time.
Self (archive footage)
The story of the gold-plated statuette that became the film industry's most coveted prize, AND THE OSCAR GOES TO... traces the history of the Academy itself, which began in 1927 when Louis B. Mayer, then head of MGM, led other prominent members of the industry in forming this professional honorary organization. Two years later the Academy began bestowing awards, which were nicknamed "Oscar," and quickly came to represent the pinnacle of cinematic achievement.
Self (archive footage)
Mel Brooks: Make a Noise journeys through Brooks’ early years in the creative beginnings of live television — with Sid Caesar on Your Show of Shows — to the film genres he so successfully satirized in Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, High Anxiety, and Spaceballs — to the groundbreaking Broadway musical version of his first film, The Producers. The documentary also delves into his professional and personal ups and downs — his childhood, his first wife and subsequent 41-year marriage to Anne Bancroft — capturing a never-before-heard sense of reflection and confession.
Self (archive footage)
Mike Epps, Richard Pryor Jr. and others recount the culture-defining influence of Richard Pryor - one of America's most brilliant, iconic comic minds.
Using a 35mm strip of motion picture slug featuring the recently deceased American comedian Richard Pryor, this extended Rorschach assault on the eyes moves out of a flickering chaos created by incompatible film gauges into a punchline involving historically incompatible racial stereotypes.
In the late 1950s, a fresh, unconventional style of standup comedy emerged in sharp contrast to the standard "Take my wife, please" approach. It tackled such previously taboo subjects as sex, religion, drugs, and politics, and ushered in an avant-garde era of comedy that was decidedly more cerebral, satirical, and improvisational than before. Here are many of the maverick comedians who took those big risks years ago and paved the way for today’s current crop of outrageous, in-your-face comics. Many of these rare television performances have not been seen in 30 or 40 years. Carl Reiner & Mel Brooks (1966) Jackie Mason (1961) Bob Newhart (1966) Shelly Berman (1966) Bill Cosby (1965) Jonathan Winters (1961) Smothers Brothers (1974) Steve Martin (1977) Rowan & Martin (1964) Lily Tomlin (1975) George Carlin (1967 & 1975) Richard Pryor (1967 & 1974) Andy Kaufman (1977) Hendra & Ullett (1966) Billy Crystal (1976) Jay Leno (1978) David Letterman (1979)
Himself (archive footage)
The film explores the history of the word throughout its inception to present day. Woven into the narrative are poetry, music, and commentary from celebrities about their personal experiences with the word and their viewpoints. Each perspective is unique, as is each experience... some are much more comfortable with the word than others.
Himself (archive footage)
This documentary praises comedian Richard Pryor by showing fragments of various shows Pryor made and having famous comedians talk about the importance and greatness of Pryor. Different themes are reviewed this way. Among others, they are the use of the word nigger, the way Pryor talked about racism, the fact Pryor talked openly about his own faults on-stage and the fact he didn't mince matters.
Himself
For fans of comedy, Sam Kinison needs no introduction. His scathing comedy tackled tough topics no other comedian dared to touch. Fed up and disenfranchised with his career as a Pentacostal preacher, Sam left the ministry to try his hand at comedy. Almost immediately, and thanks in part to the foresight of Rodney Dangerfield who showcased Sam on an HBO special, his piercing scream, extreme humor and irreverent take on life attracted attention. Containing rare, early footage of Sam preaching and performing stand up at the world famous Comedy Store, the Award Winning "Why Did We Laugh" tells the story of a comedic genius who touched a deeper chord in people than most entertainers. Sadly, Sam was taken from us far too early, yet leaving us with a lasting and unique legacy.
Self
This documentary attempts to go beyond the sensationalized media coverage and the stereotypes to examine several key conflicts from the point of view of both Black and Jewish activists.
Self (archive footage)
A series of thirty-two trailers put together to illustrate the film industry's attitude to and packaging of African-American screen imagery.
Arnie
A tormented jazz musician finds himself lost in an enigmatic story involving murder, surveillance, gangsters, doppelgängers, and an impossible transformation inside a prison cell.
Jimmy the Gravedigger
With his boss in the madhouse, a mobster is temporary boss of the criminal empire just as vicious rivals threaten the control of the empire.
Himself (archive footage)
A documentary juxtaposing the events of the 20th century with the commentary of stand-up comedians.
Narrator / Wino / Bartender
Donna Bon Viant (Belaine) is a college student, who has to complete an assignment on the 14th century for her African American literature class. She chooses to base her writings on The Three Musketeers, a famous novel by Alexandre Dumas, père. Donna begins to read the novel and falls asleep in the process. She dreams a zany dream involving the adventures of "The Three Muscatels". The adventures include a number of people in Donna's life including students in her class, members of her family, and an alcoholic she met earlier in the day named Russell (Pryor).
Eddie Dash
George has been in a mental hospital for 3 years and is finally ready to go out into the real world again. Eddie Dash, a dedicated con-man, is supposed to keep him out of trouble, but when people begin to recognise George as a missing millionaire, Eddie wants to take advantage of the situation.
Himself
Celebrating Sammy Davis Jr 's 60th anniversary in show business, including musical,comic and dancing performers.
Sugar Ray
'Sugar' Ray is the owner of an illegal casino and must contend with the pressure of vicious gangsters and corrupt police who want to see him go out of business. In the world of organised crime and police corruption in the 1920s, any dastardly trick is fair.
Wallace 'Wally' Karue
A murder takes place in the shop of David Lyons, a deaf man who fails to hear the gunshot being fired. Outside, blind man Wally Karue hears the shot but cannot see the perpetrator. Both are arrested, but escape to form an unlikely partnership. Being chased by both the law AND the original killers, can the pair work together to outwit them all?
Arlo Pear
Arlo accepts what seems to him to be a dream promotion to Idaho. He soon discovers, however, that moving has its own share of problems.
Eddie Lenahan/Dr. Kevin Slattery
Eddie is a con artist. When he's framed and comes before a judge, he hopes to get off the hook by climbing insanity—but instead ends up in a hospital for a mental assessment. That night, a storm causes a power failure and, in the ensuing chaos, Eddie is mistaken for a doctor and suddenly finds himself in charge of the hospital.
Producer
Although Jo Jo Dancer has achieved success as a stand-up comedian, he hasn't found happiness. After receiving severe burns in a narcotics-related incident, Jo Jo remains in a coma, and, while in this state, he looks back on his life. Drifting off into memories of his troubled childhood, Jo Jo revisits his youth, recalling his eventual rise to fame and the decadence that followed. As he considers his existence, he must decide if he wants to go on living or not.
Jo Jo Dancer / Alter Ego
Although Jo Jo Dancer has achieved success as a stand-up comedian, he hasn't found happiness. After receiving severe burns in a narcotics-related incident, Jo Jo remains in a coma, and, while in this state, he looks back on his life. Drifting off into memories of his troubled childhood, Jo Jo revisits his youth, recalling his eventual rise to fame and the decadence that followed. As he considers his existence, he must decide if he wants to go on living or not.
Screenplay
Although Jo Jo Dancer has achieved success as a stand-up comedian, he hasn't found happiness. After receiving severe burns in a narcotics-related incident, Jo Jo remains in a coma, and, while in this state, he looks back on his life. Drifting off into memories of his troubled childhood, Jo Jo revisits his youth, recalling his eventual rise to fame and the decadence that followed. As he considers his existence, he must decide if he wants to go on living or not.
Director
Although Jo Jo Dancer has achieved success as a stand-up comedian, he hasn't found happiness. After receiving severe burns in a narcotics-related incident, Jo Jo remains in a coma, and, while in this state, he looks back on his life. Drifting off into memories of his troubled childhood, Jo Jo revisits his youth, recalling his eventual rise to fame and the decadence that followed. As he considers his existence, he must decide if he wants to go on living or not.
Self
A compilation film of stand up performances and comedy routines featuring some of the biggest stars in the early years of television. This film was directed by Sandy Olivieri. Here is a partial list of the performers who appeared in the film Bob Newhart, Mort Sahl, Jack Benny, Lenny Bruce, Johnny Carson, George Carlin, et al.
Montgomery Brewster
Brewster, an aging minor-league baseball player, stands to inherit 300 million dollars if he can successfully spend 30 million dollars in 30 days without anything to show for it, and without telling anyone what he's up to... A task that's a lot harder than it sounds!
Writer
One of comedian Richard Pryor's later stand-up performances. As foul-mouthed as ever, Pryor touches on most of the same topics as in his previous live shows.
Self
One of comedian Richard Pryor's later stand-up performances. As foul-mouthed as ever, Pryor touches on most of the same topics as in his previous live shows.
Director
One of comedian Richard Pryor's later stand-up performances. As foul-mouthed as ever, Pryor touches on most of the same topics as in his previous live shows.
Gus Gorman
Aiming to defeat the Man of Steel, wealthy executive Ross Webster hires bumbling but brilliant Gus Gorman to develop synthetic kryptonite, which yields some unexpected psychological effects in the third installment of the 1980s Superman franchise. Between rekindling romance with his high school sweetheart and saving himself, Superman must contend with a powerful supercomputer.
Self - Host
Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever is a 1983 television special produced by Suzanne de Passe for Motown Records, The show was also co-written by de Passe along with Ruth Adkins Robinson who would go on to write shows with de Passe for the next 25 years, including the follow up label tributes—through "Motown 40," Buz Kohan was the head writer of the threesome. The program was taped before a live studio audience at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California on March 25, 1983,[1] and broadcast on NBC on May 16. Among its highlights were Michael Jackson's performance of "Billie Jean", a Temptations/Four Tops "battle of the bands", Marvin Gaye's inspired speech about black music history and his memorable performance of "What's Going On", a Jackson 5 reunion.
Jack Brown
On one of his bratty son Eric's annual visits, the plutocrat U.S. Bates takes him to his department store and offers him anything in it as a gift. Eric chooses a black janitor who has made him laugh with his antics. At first the man suffers many indignities as Eric's "toy", but gradually teaches the lonely boy what it is like to have and to be a friend.
Cpl. Eddie Keller / Ted Segal
A Vietnam vet returns home from a prisoner of war camp and is greeted as a hero, but is quickly forgotten and soon discovers how tough survival is in his own country.
Producer
Richard Pryor's stand-up act includes his frank discussion about his freebasing addiction, as well as the infamous night on June 9, 1980 that he caught on fire.
Writer
Richard Pryor's stand-up act includes his frank discussion about his freebasing addiction, as well as the infamous night on June 9, 1980 that he caught on fire.
Self
Richard Pryor's stand-up act includes his frank discussion about his freebasing addiction, as well as the infamous night on June 9, 1980 that he caught on fire.
Producer
After ex-con Joe Braxton violates his probation he is given a second chance, all he has to do is drive a group of special kids across the country.
Story
After ex-con Joe Braxton violates his probation he is given a second chance, all he has to do is drive a group of special kids across the country.
Joe Braxton
After ex-con Joe Braxton violates his probation he is given a second chance, all he has to do is drive a group of special kids across the country.
Harry Monroe
New Yorkers Skip Donahue and Harry Monroe have no jobs and no prospects, so they decide to flee the city and find work elsewhere, landing jobs wearing woodpecker costumes to promote the opening of a bank. When their feathery costumes are stolen and used in a bank robbery, they no longer have to worry about employment — they're sent to prison.
G.O.D.
A naive monk, named Brother Ambrose, is sent by the abbot on a mission to raise $5,000 in order to save their monastery from closing. He goes to Hollywood where he encounters a number of eccentric characters.
Pharaoh
Harvey and Zoey, two tourists in Israel, discover an ancient scroll about Herschel, the man who was almost Moses. Herschel receives the command from God to free his people from slavery, but Moses keeps getting all the credit.
Balloon Vendor
A Hollywood agent persuades Kermit the Frog to pursue a career in Hollywood. On his way there he meets his future muppet crew while being chased by the desperate owner of a frog-leg restaurant!
Himself (archive footage)
Sesame Street celebrated its 10th anniversary in the spring of 1979 with a half-hour PBS special hosted by James Earl Jones titled A Walking Tour of Sesame Street. The special aired on individual PBS stations at various times between March and May 1979. (Muppet Wiki)
Writer
Richard Pryor delivers monologues on race, sex, family and his favorite target—himself, live at the Terrace Theatre in Long Beach, California.
Self
Richard Pryor delivers monologues on race, sex, family and his favorite target—himself, live at the Terrace Theatre in Long Beach, California.
Dr. Chauncey Gump
The misadventures of four groups of guests at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
The Wiz
Dorothy Gale, a shy kindergarten teacher, is swept away to the magic land of Oz where she embarks on a quest to return home.
Zeke Brown
Fed up with mistreatment at the hands of both management and union brass, and coupled with financial hardships on each man's end, three auto assembly line workers hatch a plan to rob a safe at union headquarters.
Leroy Jones/Rufus Jones/Rev. Lenox Thoma
Richard Pryor plays three roles - a beleaguered, sex-starved farm worker named Leroy Jones; the farm worker's randy old father Rufus; and the hypocritical town preacher Rev. Lenox Thomas - and Pryor has never been so outrageously funny. The lives and love lives of these three men cross and crisscross as Leroy tries to get his life back on track.
Wendell Scott
This film is based on the true life story of Wendell Scott, the first black stock car racing champion in America.
Richard Pryor wanders around the NBC Studio, encountering various eccentrics. Meanwhile, the Reverend James L. White, the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin Dada and others are taping their own segments.
Unaired roast of Richard Pryor by the cast of The Richard Pryor Show including Robin Williams (Good Will Hunting, Dead Poets Society), Sandra Bernhard (Without You I'm Nothing), Shirley Hemphill (What's Happening!!), Paul Mooney (Hollywood Shuffle), LaWanda Page (Sanford and Son), Tim Reid (WKRP in Cincinnati), Edie McClurg (Ferris Bueller's Day Off) and Marsha Warfield (Night Court) and Peter Cullen (The Tigger Movie).
Grover Muldoon
A somewhat daffy book editor on a rail trip from Los Angeles to Chicago thinks that he sees a murdered man thrown from the train. When he can find no one who will believe him, he starts doing some investigating of his own. But all that accomplishes is to get the killer after him.
Daddy Rich
This day-in-the-life cult comedy focuses on a group of friends working at Sully Boyar's Car Wash in the Los Angeles ghetto. The team meets dozens of eccentric customers -- including a smooth-talking preacher, a wacky cab driver and an ex-convict -- while cracking politically incorrect jokes to a constant soundtrack of disco and funk. Some of the workers find romance as the day moves along, but most are just happy to get through another shift.
Charlie Snow
Tired of the slave-like treatment of his team's owner, charismatic star Negro League pitcher Bingo Long takes to the road with his band of barnstormers through the small towns of the Midwest in the 1930s.
Sam Spade
Two incompetent Western outlaws engineer several failed crimes, including a botched stagecoach holdup. Fred Williamson, a tough-guy perennial in blaxploitation movies, does a rare comedy turn as a blundering patsy to Richard Pryor's slick con man.
Himself
A chronicle of the 1975 International Press Conclave hosted by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer over two days in May 1975.
Sharp Eye Washington
Two blue-collar buddies search the underworld for a winning lottery ticket lost in a nightclub holdup.
Screenplay
A town—where everyone seems to be named Johnson—stands in the way of the railroad. In order to grab their land, robber baron Hedley Lamarr sends his henchmen to make life in the town unbearable. After the sheriff is killed, the town demands a new sheriff from the Governor, so Hedley convinces him to send the town the first black sheriff in the west.
Juke
“WINTER, 1973. Late afternoon: the entr'acte between dusk and darkness, when the people who conduct their business in the street -- numbers runners in gray chesterfields, out-of-work barmaids playing the dozens, adolescents cultivating their cigarette jones and lust, small-time hustlers selling ‘authentic’ gold wristwatches that are platinum bright---look for a place to roost and to drink in the day's sin. Young black guy, looks like the comedian Richard Pryor, walks into one of his hangouts, Opal's Silver Spoon Café. A greasy dive with a R & B jukebox, it could be in Detroit or in New York, could be anywhere. Opal's has a proprietor -- Opal, a young and wise black woman, who looks like the comedian Lily Tomlin -- and a little bell over the door that goes tink-a-link, announcing all the handouts and gimmes who come to sit at Opal's counter and talk about how needy their respective asses are.” — Hilton Als
Jeff
A jazz musician falls in love with a comatose woman at a carny sideshow and takes her to his mansion to join his cabinet of sexual curiosities.
TV special starring Lily Tomlin
Mike Willmer
A federal agent whose daughter dies of a heroin overdose is determined to destroy the drug ring that supplied her. He recruits various people whose lives have been torn apart by the drug trade and trains them. Then they all leave for France to track down and destroy the ring.
Slim
Goldie returns from five years at the state pen and winds up king of the pimping game. Trouble comes in the form of two corrupt white cops and a crime lord who wants him to return to the small time.
Himself
A documentary film about the Afro-American Woodstock concert held in Los Angeles seven years after the Watts riots. Director Mel Stuart mixes footage from the concert with footage of the living conditions in the current day Watts neighborhood. The film won the Golden Globe for Best Documentary Film.
Piano Man
Chronicles the rise and fall of legendary blues singer Billie Holiday. Her late childhood, stint as a prostitute, early tours, marriages and drug addiction are featured.
Wino
This oddball counterculture comedy/drama follows Zalman King through a series of kooky misadventures while he searches for his life's purpose in New York City.
Self
Richard Pryor: Live & Smokin' is the first stand-up act of Richard Pryor to be filmed out of the four that were released in total. This film was filmed in 1971 but not released until 1985, on VHS. This was the first stand-up act that Pryor did before he hit the mainstream audience. With only 48 minutes of footage, it is the shortest of Pryor's stand-up routines.
Writer
Richard Pryor: Live & Smokin' is the first stand-up act of Richard Pryor to be filmed out of the four that were released in total. This film was filmed in 1971 but not released until 1985, on VHS. This was the first stand-up act that Pryor did before he hit the mainstream audience. With only 48 minutes of footage, it is the shortest of Pryor's stand-up routines.
A collection of subversive comedy sketches and routines relating to the peace movement.
Richard Pryor
A rock band is invented by the government as a cover to find hostages in a remote castle in Albania held by communist enemies of the USA.
Pvt. Jonathan Crunk
A racist officer is put in charge of an all-black squad of troops charged with the mission of blowing up an important hydro-dam in Nazi Germany. Their failure would delay the Allies' advance into Germany, thus prolonging the war. These African-Americans have little military training, but Captain Beau Carter has no choice. He leads the rag-tag and they turn out to be heroic.
Otis Tucker
TV-pilot that was an ABC Movie of the Week in October of 1969 and then became a TV-series as part of the 1970-71 season.
Writer
A white man goes on trial for having raped a black woman.
A white man goes on trial for having raped a black woman.
Stanley X
Striking a zeitgeist nerve, Wild in the Streets stars Christopher Jones (Ryan's Daughter) as Max Frost, rock singer and poster boy for the counterculture revolution of the '60s. While performing with his band, The Troopers, at a political rally for Senate candidate Johnny Fergus (Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild), Max seizes the opportunity to spout his own political philosophies which include, among other things, that the voting age should be lowered to 14. And thus begins the tale of Max's meteoric rise. But as he moves further and further into uncharted waters, first as a voice for the youth movement (or is he just a mouthpiece for opportunist politicians?) and then as a nominee for President of the United States, Max will not bend to the will of the old guard. Instead he begins implementing his own ideas of what would make a better world, including re-education camps for those over the age of 35 along with a liberal dosing of LSD.
Whittaker
Sid Caesar is a bumbling gopher to a mob boss who must recover a fortune in cash stowed in the suit of a corpse.
