Steve Jackson (Sidney Poitier) is a hard-working factory grunt. His free-wheeling best friend Wardell Franklin (Bill Cosby) convinces him to go to Madame Zenobia's club, an underground after-hours joint. A masked gang breaks in and robs everyone. Afterwards, the lottery ticket in Steve's stolen wallet wins big. They are desperate to retrieve the ticket. They can't go to the cops and they can't tell anybody. They hire private detective Sharp Eye Washington (Richard Pryor) but he gets arrested right away. They go to Congressman Lincoln (Roscoe Lee Browne) but he's a bigger faker. Lincoln's wife directs them to gangster Dan "Geechie Dan" Beauford (Harry Belafonte) but he gets hit by rival Silky Slim who happens to have robbed Zenobia's.
Poitier is a square and Cosby is a scheming irresponsible party guy. Both are exactly that. Cosby is that and more in real life. One hopes to separate the artist from the art. In this case, Cosby's real life issues actually work in this movie's favor. He's this character but rapier. It's not the funniest movie but it has a general sense of irreverence. Besides the two headliners, there are some legendary black actors at work. Pryor has a fun short section. I like jumping from one legend to the next. The finale does lose a bit steam.
Poitier is a square and Cosby is a scheming irresponsible party guy. Both are exactly that. Cosby is that and more in real life. One hopes to separate the artist from the art. In this case, Cosby's real life issues actually work in this movie's favor. He's this character but rapier. It's not the funniest movie but it has a general sense of irreverence. Besides the two headliners, there are some legendary black actors at work. Pryor has a fun short section. I like jumping from one legend to the next. The finale does lose a bit steam.