Uptown Saturday Night

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Uptown Saturday Night
File:Uptown-Saturday-Night-Poster.jpg
Directed by Sidney Poitier
Produced by Melville Tucker
Written by Richard Wesley
Starring Sidney Poitier
Bill Cosby
Harry Belafonte
Edited by Pembroke J. Herring
Production
company
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release dates
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  • July 26, 1974 (1974-07-26)
Running time
104 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $3,000,000 (approx.)
Box office $6.7 million (US/Canada rentals)[1]

Uptown Saturday Night is a 1974 comedy film written by Richard Wesley, and directed by Sidney Poitier, who 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. It opened to positive reviews.

Synopsis

Steve Jackson (Sidney Poitier), 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. As the ad for the film states: "They get funny when you mess with their money".

Cast

Cameos

Television pilot

Shortly after the film's release, NBC commissioned a pilot for a sitcom version of Uptown Saturday Night,[2] 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.

Remake

In 2002, it was announced that Will Smith 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.[3][4] In 2012, it was reported that Adam McKay will direct the remake of Uptown Saturday Night, with Smith and Denzel Washington in the leads.[5]

See also

References

External links