3 comedy capers showcase Cosby and Poitier

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Feb 15, 2004 by Chris Hicks Deseret Morning News

New to DVD are three 1970s caper comedies, buddy films with Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier (who also directed all three), which were hits of a more family-friendly nature during the so-called "blaxploitation" era. Also new is an Oscar nominee starring Bill Murray.

-- "Uptown Saturday Night" (Warner, 1974, PG, $19.97). Cosby (sporting a big bushy beard) is a cabbie, and Poitier is a steelworker who leave their wives at home to go out one night to an illegal gambling house. But thieves show up and steal everyone's valuables, including a winning lottery ticket in Poitier's wallet. So he and Cos approach mobster Harry Belafonte (doing a "Godfather" imitation) to help them get it back. This is sitcom-style slapstick comedy, but it gets a big boost from the stars. In addition, Richard Pryor has a funny cameo, and Flip Wilson plays a preacher, a variation on one of the characters from his TV comedy/variety show.

Extras: Widescreen, audio commentary, making-of featurette, trailer, etc.

-- "Let's Do It Again" (Warner, 1975, PG, $19.97). This is the funniest of the three, as factory-worker Cosby (still sporting that beard) and milkman Poitier take their wives to New Orleans. There, they plot to win big money for their lodge by betting on a wimpy boxer (Jimmie Walker) -- after he's been hypnotized by Poitier. Silly but funny slapstick, with John Amos as a bad guy and Ossie Davis as the leader of the lodge.

Extras: Widescreen, audio commentary, etc.

-- "A Piece of the Action" (Warner, 1977, PG, $19.97). Cosby (clean-shaven this time) and Poitier play strangers here, burglars who both rip off other rip-off artists. They are brought together by retired cop James Earl Jones, who blackmails them into helping out disadvantaged kids at a local community center.

Cosby goes out to investigate their situation, and Poitier instructs the kids at the community center, and in these sequences the film echoes one of his biggest hits, "To Sir, With Love." Toward the end it shifts gears again and becomes a caper comedy.

There are some funny and poignant moments here, although it's too long and tends to stall when it gets preachy.

Extras: Widescreen, making-of featurette, trailers, etc.

-- "Lost in Translation" (Universal, 2003; R for language, brief nudity, sexual innuendo; $26.98). Sofia Coppola (Francis Ford's daughter) directed this low-key character piece, with some amusement provided by a subdued Bill Murray. Both are up for Oscars. The story has a burned-out American movie star, who is bored in Tokyo while filming a liquor commercial, befriending a lonely young newlywed (Scarlett Johansson).

A most enchanting tale, but be warned that it's also atypical Murray material, and it's definitely aimed at the art-house crowd. (And the R-rated elements are fairly tame.)

Extras: Separate widescreen and full-frame editions, interviews, extended/deleted scenes, making-of featurette, music video, etc.

-- "Intolerable Cruelty" (Universal, 2003, PG-13, $26.98). George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones are wonderful in this dark screwball/ romantic comedy about a sleazy divorce lawyer who falls in love with a female predator he beats in court. And Billy Bob Thornton has a funny cameo.

This is a film by Joel and Ethan Coen ("O Brother, Where Art Thou?" "Raising Arizona"), but it's more traditional than their usual fare (which they discuss in the featurettes), and the comedy is a bit hit and miss. Not their finest hour, but enjoyable enough on its own glossy terms, and given a boost by the stars.

The bonus features include the Coens' "approved" outtakes, and their quirky sensibilities are more evident there: a few bloopers, a really obnoxious quick-cut series of clips featuring supporting actor Paul Adelstein repeating the line "Everybody eats berries" over and over and lengthy black-and-white silent footage of a train.

E-mail: hicks@desnews.com