Uptown Saturday Night
Encyclopedia
Uptown Saturday Night is a 1974
comedy
film
written
by Richard Wesley
, and directed
by Sidney Poitier
. Poitier also stars in this film, along with Bill Cosby
and Harry Belafonte
. Cosby and Poitier teamed up again for Let's Do It Again
(1975) and A Piece of the Action
(1977). Although their characters have different names in each film, the three films are considered to be a trilogy
.
), a blue-collar worker at a steel mill, has just begun a two-weeks-long vacation. He is convinced by his friend Wardell Franklin (Bill Cosby
) to go to a party that Saturday night at Madam Zenobia's, an uptown nightclub.
While the two are at the party, the club is robbed. The masked bandits force the patrons to strip to their underwear, then steal their money and jewellery, including Steve's wallet.
The following day, Steve is at home and reading his newspaper when he learns he has won the lottery. However, he realizes that the lottery ticket was in the wallet that was stolen from him, and Steve and Wardell spend the remainder of the film tracking down his wallet by consulting with crooked politicians, fake detectives, con-artists, and underworld crime bosses.
cameo appearances by:
commissioned a pilot
for a sitcom version of Uptown Saturday Night, starring Cleavon Little
and Adam Wade, playing the respective roles played by Cosby and Poitier in the film. The pilot did not sell, though it was seen on NBC during the summer of 1979 as part of Comedy Theater, one of many showcases featuring unsold pilots.
and his production company
, Overbrook Entertainment
, had secured the rights to the trilogy for remakes to star Smith and to be distributed by Warner Bros.
Smith stated that he hoped to get Eddie Murphy
, Martin Lawrence
and other famous African-American stars to be in the films.
The 1996 album Uptown Saturday Night
by the rap duo Camp Lo
was named after the movie, with one member (Geechie Suede) taking his stage name from the film.
1974 in film
The year 1974 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*February 7 - Blazing Saddles is released in the USA.*August 7 - Peter Wolf, lead singer of The J...
comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
written
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
by Richard Wesley
Richard Wesley
Richard Wesley is an African American playwright, and screenwriter for television and cinema. He is an associate professor at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts where he is presently the chair of the Rita and Burton Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing.Wesley was born in Newark, New...
, and directed
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
by Sidney Poitier
Sidney Poitier
Sir Sidney Poitier, KBE is a Bahamian American actor, film director, author, and diplomat.In 1963, Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field...
. Poitier also stars in this film, along with Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby
William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the...
and Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte
Harold George "Harry" Belafonte, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, actor and social activist. He was dubbed the "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s...
. Cosby and Poitier teamed up again for Let's Do It Again
Let's Do It Again (1975 film)
Let's Do It Again is a 1975 film starring Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby and Jimmie Walker. Poitier also directed. The film is about blue-collar workers who decide to rig a boxing match to raise money for their fraternal lodge...
(1975) and A Piece of the Action
A Piece of the Action (film)
A Piece of the Action is a 1977 comedy crime film starring Sidney Poitier and Bill Cosby. Poitier also directed the film. This was the third film pairing of Poitier and Cosby following Uptown Saturday Night and Let's Do It Again, and Poiter's last acting role for more than 10 years, as he focused...
(1977). Although their characters have different names in each film, the three films are considered to be a trilogy
Trilogy
A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, or video games...
.
Synopsis
Steve Jackson (Sidney PoitierSidney Poitier
Sir Sidney Poitier, KBE is a Bahamian American actor, film director, author, and diplomat.In 1963, Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field...
), a blue-collar worker at a steel mill, has just begun a two-weeks-long vacation. He is convinced by his friend Wardell Franklin (Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby
William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the...
) to go to a party that Saturday night at Madam Zenobia's, an uptown nightclub.
While the two are at the party, the club is robbed. The masked bandits force the patrons to strip to their underwear, then steal their money and jewellery, including Steve's wallet.
The following day, Steve is at home and reading his newspaper when he learns he has won the lottery. However, he realizes that the lottery ticket was in the wallet that was stolen from him, and Steve and Wardell spend the remainder of the film tracking down his wallet by consulting with crooked politicians, fake detectives, con-artists, and underworld crime bosses.
Cast
- Sidney PoitierSidney PoitierSir Sidney Poitier, KBE is a Bahamian American actor, film director, author, and diplomat.In 1963, Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field...
— Steve Jackson - Bill CosbyBill CosbyWilliam Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the...
— Wardell Franklin - Harry BelafonteHarry BelafonteHarold George "Harry" Belafonte, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, actor and social activist. He was dubbed the "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s...
— Geechie Dan Beauford - Flip WilsonFlip WilsonClerow Wilson, Jr. , known professionally as Flip Wilson, was an American comedian and actor. In the early 1970s, Wilson hosted his own weekly variety series, The Flip Wilson Show...
— The Reverend - Richard PryorRichard PryorRichard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was an American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic, writer and MC. Pryor was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful vulgarities, and profanity, as well as racial epithets...
— Sharp Eye Washington - Calvin LockhartCalvin LockhartCalvin Lockhart was a Bahamian-American actor on stage and in film. He was best known for the role of a big time gangster "Biggie Smalls" in the 1975 film Let's Do It Again, not to be confused with the deceased rapper Biggie Smalls...
— Silky Slim - Rosalind CashRosalind CashRosalind Cash was an American singer and actress, whose best known film role was as Charlton Heston's character's love interest Lisa, in the 1971 science fiction cult classic, The Omega Man...
— Sarah Jackson - Roscoe Lee BrowneRoscoe Lee BrowneRoscoe Lee Browne was an American actor and director, known for his rich voice and dignified bearing.-Biography:Browne was the fourth son of a Baptist minister, Sylvanus S. Browne, and his wife Lovie...
— Congressman Lincoln - Paula KellyPaula Kelly (actress/dancer)Paula Kelly is a dancer and actress in motion pictures, television and theatre.-Early life and career:...
— Leggy Peggy - Lee ChamberlinLee ChamberlinLee Chamberlin is an American film and television actress.Chamberlin was a regular performer during the first two years of the esteemed series The Electric Company, and she made guest appearances in the television series What's Happening!! Diff'rent Strokes, and NYPD Blue to list a few...
— Madame Zenobia - Johnny SekkaJohnny SekkaJohnny Sekka was a British film and television actor.Born Lamine Sekka in Dakar, Senegal, the youngest of five siblings, his Gambian father died shortly after his birth...
— Geechie's Henchman - Lincoln KilpatrickLincoln KilpatrickLincoln Kilpatrick was an American film, television, and stage actor.-Career:Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Kilpatrick attended Lincoln University and earned a degree in drama before he began acting. Encouraged by Billie Holiday, Kilpatrick began his career in 1959 in the Broadway production of A...
— Slim's Henchman #1 - Don MarshallDon Marshall (actor)Donald James Marshall is an actor best known for his role as "Dan Erickson" in the television show Land of the Giants....
— Slim's Henchman #2 - Harold NicholasHarold NicholasHarold Lloyd Nicholas was an American dancer specializing in tap. He was the younger half of the world famous tap dancing pair the Nicholas Brothers, known as two of the world's greatest dancers. His older brother was Fayard Nicholas...
— Little Seymour Pettigrew
cameo appearances by:
- Ketty LesterKetty LesterKetty Lester is an American singer and actress, who is best known for her 1962 hit single, "Love Letters", which reached the Top 5 of the charts in both the United States and the United Kingdom.-Life and career:...
— Irma Franklin - Jophery C. Brown — Geechie Dan henchman
- Gene McDanielsGene McDanielsGene McDaniels was an American singer and songwriter, who had his greatest recording success in the early 1960s.-Biography:...
— Member of the Choir - Ray Parker Jr.Ray Parker Jr.Ray Erskine Parker, Jr. , is an American guitarist, songwriter, producer and recording artist. Parker is known for writing and performing the theme song to the motion picture Ghostbusters, for his solo hits, and performing with his band Raydio as well as the late Barry White.-Early life and...
— Ray - George ReynoldsGeorge ReynoldsGeorge Reynolds is a British businessman best known for his time as chairman of Darlington Football Club.Reynolds became involved in criminal activities during the 1950s, and spent six months in jail for smuggling watches from incoming ships in the 1960s...
— Big Percy - Richard Warren — Driver
Television pilot
Shortly after the film's release, NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
commissioned a pilot
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
for a sitcom version of Uptown Saturday Night, starring Cleavon Little
Cleavon Little
Cleavon Jake Little was an American film and theatre actor.Little was widely known for his lead role as Sheriff Bart in the 1974 Mel Brooks comedy Blazing Saddles. He also was the irreverent Dr...
and Adam Wade, playing the respective roles played by Cosby and Poitier in the film. The pilot did not sell, though it was seen on NBC during the summer of 1979 as part of Comedy Theater, one of many showcases featuring unsold pilots.
Remake
In 2002, it was announced that Will SmithWill Smith
Willard Christopher "Will" Smith, Jr. , also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor, producer, and rapper. He has enjoyed success in television, film and music. In April 2007, Newsweek called him the most powerful actor in Hollywood...
and his production company
Production company
A production company provides the physical basis for works in the realms of the performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, and video.- Tasks and functions :...
, Overbrook Entertainment
Overbrook Entertainment
Overbrook Entertainment is an American entertainment company based in Beverly Hills, California, USA. The production company was started by Will Smith between 1997 and 1999, about the same time the production for Wild Wild West was underway....
, had secured the rights to the trilogy for remakes to star Smith and to be distributed by Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
Smith stated that he hoped to get Eddie Murphy
Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan "Eddie" Murphy is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, singer, director, and musician....
, Martin Lawrence
Martin Lawrence
Martin Fitzgerald Lawrence is an American actor, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and stand up comedian. He came to fame during the 1990s, establishing a Hollywood career as a leading actor, most notably the films Bad Boys, Blue Streak, and Big Momma's House...
and other famous African-American stars to be in the films.
The 1996 album Uptown Saturday Night
Uptown Saturday Night (album)
-Album:-Singles:-Personnel:*art direction – Carla Leighton*artwork – Dr. Revolt*assistant engineering – Dejuana Perignon, Dexter Thibou, Max Vargas*bass – Joe Quinde*design – Carla Leighton*engineering – Guido, Joe Quinde...
by the rap duo Camp Lo
Camp Lo
Camp Lo is an American hip hop duo, formed in 1995, which hails from The Bronx, New York. The duo consists of rappers Sonny Cheeba and Geechi Suede , both of Muslim upbringing.-Career:...
was named after the movie, with one member (Geechie Suede) taking his stage name from the film.