Which Way Is Up?

Last updated
Which Way Is Up?
Poster which way is up.gif
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Michael Schultz
Written by
Based on The Seduction of Mimi
by Lina Wertmüller
Produced by Steve Krantz
Starring
CinematographyJohn A. Alonzo
Edited byDanford B. Greene
Music by
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • November 4, 1977 (1977-11-04)
Running time
94 minutes
LanguageEnglish
Budget$3 million [1]

Which Way is Up? is a 1977 American comedy film starring Richard Pryor and directed by Michael Schultz. It is an American version of the 1972 Italian comedy film The Seduction of Mimi . Richard Pryor plays three roles: an orange picker who has two women at the same time, the orange picker's father, and a reverend who gets the orange picker's wife pregnant.

Contents

Plot

When he falls into a union action by mistake, Leroy Jones is forced out of town. The only option given to Leroy was a one way bus ticket to Los Angeles, where more jobs are available. While he is away, Leroy becomes smitten with Vanetta, a beautiful labor activist. When he returns home, he has to juggle his wife, his new romance with Vanetta, and his new job. Meanwhile, the Reverend Lenox Thomas takes advantage of Leroy's absence to cavort with Annie Mae, leading Leroy to take revenge with the reverend's wife.

Cast

Reception

TV Guide rated Which Way Is Up? 1/5 stars and wrote that Pryor plays his character as unlikable, making the film unfunny. [2]

Related Research Articles

<i>The Bank Dick</i> 1940 American comedy film starring W. C. Fields

The Bank Dick, released as The Bank Detective in the United Kingdom, is a 1940 American comedy film starring W. C. Fields. Set in Lompoc, California, Fields plays Egbert Sousé, a drunk who accidentally thwarts a bank robbery and ends up a bank security guard as a result.

<i>The Blue Veil</i> (1951 film) 1951 American drama film

The Blue Veil is a 1951 American historical drama film directed by Curtis Bernhardt and starring Jane Wyman, Charles Laughton and Joan Blondell. It tells the story of a woman who spends her life caring for other people’s children, beginning just after World War I. The title refers to the headdresses once worn by governesses and nannies, colored blue to distinguish them from the white veils worn by medical nurses. The screenplay by Norman Corwin is based on a story by François Campaux, adapted for the French-language film Le Voile Bleu in 1942.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Pryor</span> American comedian and actor (1940–2005)

Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor Sr. was an American stand-up comedian and actor. He reached a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most important stand-up comedians of all time. Pryor won a Primetime Emmy Award and five Grammy Awards. He received the first Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 1998. He won the Writers Guild of America Award in 1974. He was listed at number one on Comedy Central's list of all-time greatest stand-up comedians. In 2017, Rolling Stone ranked him first on its list of the 50 best stand-up comics of all time.

<i>Superman III</i> 1983 film

Superman III is a 1983 superhero film directed by Richard Lester from a screenplay by David Newman and Leslie Newman based on the DC Comics character Superman. It is the third installment in the Superman film series and a sequel to Superman II (1980). The film stars Christopher Reeve, Richard Pryor, Jackie Cooper, Marc McClure, Annette O'Toole, Annie Ross, Pamela Stephenson, Robert Vaughn, and Margot Kidder.

<i>The Toy</i> (1982 film) 1982 comedy film by Richard Donner

The Toy is a 1982 American comedy film directed by Richard Donner. The film stars Richard Pryor as a janitor at a department store owned by Jackie Gleason. The owner's son, played by Scott Schwartz, is told that he may have anything in the toy department. He chooses the janitor, who the owner pays to spend a week with the boy. The film also stars Ned Beatty, Teresa Ganzel, and Virginia Capers. It is an adaptation of the 1976 French comedy film Le Jouet. It was a box office success, despite being pilloried by film critics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biograph Studios</span> Former film studio and laboratory complex in the United States

Biograph Studios was an early film studio and laboratory complex, built in 1912 by the Biograph Company at 807 East 175th Street, in The Bronx, New York City, New York, which was preceded by two locations in Manhattan.

<i>Stir Crazy</i> (film) 1980 film by Sidney Poitier

Stir Crazy is a 1980 American comedy film directed by Sidney Poitier, written by Bruce Jay Friedman, produced by Hannah Weinstein, and starring Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor as two unemployed friends who are given 125-year prison sentences after getting framed for a bank robbery. While in prison they befriend other prison inmates. The film reunited Wilder and Pryor, who had appeared previously in the 1976 comedy thriller film Silver Streak. The film was released in the United States on December 12, 1980 to mixed reviews, and was a major financial success.

<i>Bustin Loose</i> (film) 1981 film by Oz Scott & Michael Schultz

Bustin' Loose is a 1981 American road comedy-drama film starring Richard Pryor and Cicely Tyson. It was directed by Oz Scott and Michael Schultz (uncredited) and written by Pryor (story), Lonne Elder III (adaptation), and Roger L. Simon (screenplay). Along with starring Pryor and Tyson, the film also features Robert Christian and George Coe. Bustin' Loose was produced by Michael S. Glick and Pryor.

<i>The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings</i> 1976 film by John Badham

The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings is a 1976 American sports comedy film about a team of enterprising ex-Negro league baseball players in the era of racial segregation. Loosely based upon William Brashler's 1973 novel of the same name, it starred Billy Dee Williams, James Earl Jones and Richard Pryor. Directed by John Badham, the movie was produced by Berry Gordy for Motown Productions and Rob Cohen for Universal Pictures, and released by Universal on July 16, 1976.

<i>Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling</i> 1986 film by Richard Pryor

Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling is a 1986 American biographical comedy-drama film directed, produced by and starring Richard Pryor, who also wrote the screenplay with Paul Mooney and Rocco Urbisci. Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling was Richard Pryor's first and only directorial effort, although he is credited as such on the screen version of his 1983 stand-up comedy concert film.

<i>Klondike Annie</i> 1936 film by Raoul Walsh

Klondike Annie is a 1936 American Western film starring Mae West and Victor McLaglen. The film was co-written by West from her play Frisco Kate, which she wrote in 1921 and a story written by the duo Marion Morgan and George Brendan Dowell. Raoul Walsh directed.

<i>Made in Heaven</i> (1987 film) 1987 film by Alan Rudolph

Made in Heaven is a 1987 American fantasy comedy film directed by Alan Rudolph, script from Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon, and produced by Lorimar Productions. The film stars Timothy Hutton and Kelly McGillis and has cameos by Tom Petty, Ric Ocasek in his film debut, Ellen Barkin and Neil Young. Emmett, a chain-smoking male angel, was played by Debra Winger, but the character was only credited as being played by "Himself."

<i>The Devils Disciple</i> (1959 film) 1959 British film

The Devil's Disciple is a 1959 British-American film adaptation of the 1897 George Bernard Shaw play The Devil's Disciple. The Anglo-American film was directed by Guy Hamilton, who replaced Alexander Mackendrick, and starred Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas and Laurence Olivier. Mary Grant designed the film's costumes.

<i>The Man in the Net</i> 1959 film by Michael Curtiz

The Man in the Net is a 1959 American film noir mystery film starring Alan Ladd and Carolyn Jones, and directed by Michael Curtiz. The supporting cast features Diane Brewster.

<i>Jubal</i> (film) 1956 film by Delmer Daves

Jubal is a 1956 American Western film directed by Delmer Daves and starring Glenn Ford, Ernest Borgnine, Rod Steiger, Valerie French, and Felicia Farr. Shot in CinemaScope, it was one of the few adult Westerns in the 1950s and is described as Othello on the Range. The supporting cast features Noah Beery Jr., Charles Bronson and Jack Elam.

<i>Safe in Hell</i> 1931 film

Safe in Hell is a 1931 American pre-Code melodrama directed by William A. Wellman and starring Dorothy Mackaill and Donald Cook, with featured performances by Morgan Wallace, Ralf Harolde, Nina Mae McKinney, Clarence Muse, and Noble Johnson. The screenplay by Joseph Jackson and Maude Fulton is based on a play by Houston Branch.

<i>The Best People</i> 1925 film by Sidney Olcott

The Best People is a 1925 American silent comedy film produced by Famous Players–Lasky and distributed by Paramount. It was directed by Sidney Olcott with Warner Baxter in the leading role.

<i>Calm Yourself</i> 1935 film by George B. Seitz

Calm Yourself is a 1935 American comedy film directed by George B. Seitz and written by Arthur Kober. The film stars Robert Young, Madge Evans, Betty Furness, Ralph Morgan, Nat Pendleton and Hardie Albright. The film was released on June 28, 1935, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gladys Gale</span> American singer and actor (1891–1948)

Gladys Gale was an American nightclub singer and vaudeville performer, before becoming a character actress in films during the 1930s and 1940s. The wife of a millionaire, she led a checkered life before dying under mysterious circumstances in a Los Angeles hotel room under an assumed name.

<i>One Last Fling</i> 1949 film by Peter Godfrey

One Last Fling is a 1949 American comedy film directed by Peter Godfrey and written by Richard Flournoy and William Sackheim. The film stars Alexis Smith, Zachary Scott, Douglas Kennedy, Ann Doran, Ransom M. Sherman and Veda Ann Borg. The film was released by Warner Bros. on June 30, 1949.

References

  1. "AFI|Catalog". catalog.afi.com.
  2. "Which Way Is Up?". TV Guide . Retrieved 2017-07-22.