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In the early '70s, the blaxploitation cinema wave was garnering both buzz and bucks in American urban markets, and the Hollywood establishment duly noted the significant box-office returns on these modestly made but street-savvy actioners. Warner Brothers was quick to come to terms with Sidney Poitier and hand him the directorial reins on an urban comedy with higher production values than what had gone before. The end product, the enduringly popular Uptown Saturday Night (1974), has just been released to DVD by Warner Home Entertainment, and it retains a lot of its diverting and innocuous charm.
The story's protagonists are a pair of working stiffs, steelworker Steve Jackson (Poitier) and cabbie Wardell Franklin (Bill Cosby), who're out to get a weekend's kicks by sneaking out on their sleeping wives and visiting a legendary after-hours club. The fun winds up coming at a price, as a masked gang raids the place at gunpoint and rolls all the patrons.
As it develops, Steve has more than the obvious reasons to be afraid of facing his wife (Rosalind Cash) in the morning. His missing wallet contained a number that has just hit for $50,000, and Steve and Wardell have to try and subtly nose around the local underworld for a clue to its location. Their efforts get them stumbling into a turf war between the veteran mob boss Geechie Dan Beauford (Harry Belafonte) and the upstart Silky Slim (Calvin Lockhart), and they have to play both sides against the other to get out with their lives, much less the ticket.
The filmmakers' original notion was to cast Redd Foxx and Richard Pryor in the leads; Cosby's interest upon reading the script was in the small role of the low-rent P.I. Sharp Eye Washington. The studio didn't regard the Foxx/Pryor team as bankable, however, and Poitier agreed to star. It worked out for the best; his buddy chemistry with Cosby is palpable, and he proved a very capable straight man in what was essentially his first comic performance. The average joe persona that he took on here was also a big departure from the men of superhuman intelligence and integrity that he played at the height of his stardom, and he made it work.
Cosby complements him well, and the viewer can tell those moments when he's going off the script and adding his own distinct touches. The supporting cast gets plenty of opportunities as well. Belafonte's patently having fun, with his cheeks padded in Don Corleone fashion; a youthful Pryor makes good with his moments as Sharp Eye Washington. Also scoring were Flip Wilson as a no-nonsense reverend, Roscoe Lee Browne as a pretentious congressman, and legendary dancer Harold Nicholas as the diminutive but nasty hood Little Seymour. The response was such that Warners would roll out two more Poitier/Cosby vehicles over the next few years, Let's Do It Again (1975) and A Piece Of The Action (1977).
Warner's DVD presents Uptown Saturday Night in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The video mastering is more than adequate, but it's unfortunate that only a mono audio track is offered. An engaging commentary track comes courtesy of Dr. Todd Boyd, the USC communications professor who authored Am I Black Enough For You: Popular Culture From The 'Hood And Beyond. "Dr. B" gives conversational perspectives about the production, its players, and the era of its release, and also appears on the seven minute featurette The Lowdown On Uptown: A Retrospective. Others sharing insights in the mini-documentary are the film's screenwriter, Richard Wesley; New York Press critic Armond White; and James Earl Jones.
For more information about Uptown Saturday Night, visit Warner Video. To order Uptown Saturday Night, go to
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by Jay S. Steinberg
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