Piece of the Action DVD

A Piece of the Action
Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier, co-stars of the comic capers Uptown Saturday Night and Let's Do It Again, team up again for this socially conscious comedy-adventure. This time out, Poitier and Cosby play Manny Durrell and Dave Anderson, Windy City con artists with a long history of cheating crooks who rip off the poor. They are blackmailed by retired cop Joshua Burke (James Earl Jones) into "giving back to the community." Manny and Dave soon find themselves posing as career counselors for a group of surly inner-city youths at a local community center. Despite the efforts of such unruly kids as class clown Gerald (Eric Laneuville) and bitter Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph), Manny actually begins to take pride in the help he's giving to his students. Soon, though, he's forced to deal with two additional obstacles: the arrival of his girlfriend's obnoxious parents (Gammy Burdett and Wonderful Smith) and the attentions of a local mobster (Titos Vandis) upset that he's been had. As with his previous Cosby collaborations, Poitier directed A Piece of the Action, whose cast also includes Denise Nicholas as a community center leader, Tracy Reed as Manny's girlfriend, Nikki, and Ja'net DuBois as Nikki's tipsy aunt, Nellie. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Cast Hope Clarke as Sarah Thomas Bill Cosby as Dave Anderson Ja'net DuBois as Nellie Bond Jason Evers as Ty Shorter Frances Foster as Bea Quitman James Earl Jones as Joshua Burke Marc Lawrence as Louie Denise Nicholas as Lila French Sidney Poitier as Manny Durrell Tracy Reed as Nikki McLean Titos Vandis as Bruno

Crew Marie V. Brown - Costume Designer David Rawley - Costume Designer Dwight Williams - First Assistant Director Sidney Poitier - Director Pembroke J. Herring - Editor Curtis Mayfield - Composer (Music Score) Alfred Sweeney - Production Designer Donald M. Morgan - Cinematographer Melville Tucker - Producer William J. McLaughlin - Set Designer Willie D. Burton - Sound/Sound Designer Wiliam L. McCaughey - Sound/Sound Designer Henry Kingi - Stunts Coordinator Timothy March - Screen Story Charles Blackwell - Screenwriter Timothy March - Screenwriter Sioux Richards - Script Supervisor

A Piece of the Action
The third and final installment in the Bill Cosby/Sidney Poitier "trilogy," A Piece of the Action again abandons the characters and plot lines of previous outings to provide a new variation on the stars' buddy dynamics. The film also eschews straight-up crime comedy for something a little more socially conscious. Although the comedic bits prove too broad to gel particularly well -- unless one counts the unintentional humor in hearing Poitier meticulously intone, "You not dealing with a boy, titty-sucker" -- the caper elements provide a nice contrast to prevailing Blaxploitation stereotypes. As in Uptown Saturday Night and Let's Do It Again, the film's classy gangster schtick is borrowed from classic crime flicks rather than their gaudier '70s descendants. A Piece of the Action may not have seemed au courant at the time of its release, but its breezy entertainment has dated fairly well. The film also, however, offers a thoughtful streak during the plot thread in which Poitier (echoing his performances in The Blackboard Jungle and To Sir, With Love) teaches job skills to a group of inner-city youths. In stark contrast to such feel-good, white-savior mythology as Dangerous Minds and The Principal, A Piece of the Action treats the subject intelligently and from several angles, exploring downwardly mobile peer pressure and bourgeois guilt with something approaching real insight. The neat ending may not completely resolve such thorny issues, but for a supposedly lightweight romp, this film has a lot on its mind. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
 

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General Specifications: Language Options: English Subtitle Options: English, French, Spanish Sound Processing: DD1: Dolby Digital Mono Additional Features: cc "Dynamite Duo: A Retrospective," featuring James Earl Jones, Denise Nicholas, Jimmie Walker, John Amos, Julius Harris, screenwriter Richard Wesley, New York Press critic Armond White and Dr. Todd Boyd Theatrical trailers of this film, Let's Do It Again, and Uptown Saturday Night Subtitles: English, Français, & Español DVD Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1: Alternate Wide Screen MPAA Rating: PG DVD Discs Included: 1 DVD Sides: 1 DVD DVD Region Code: 1 Content Length: 135 min   DVD Chapters: Side #1 -- 1. Thief in the Night [5:07] 2. Crime Scene Credits [1:43] 3. Miss Moneybag [4:39] 4. Screwed [2:44] 5. Cashing Out [2:22] 6. Warning Sign [1:55] 7. Important Invitation [5:52] 8. Lunch Summons [3:33] 9. Volunteers [5:43] 10. Job Applicants [4:33] 11. Dues-Paying Orientation [5:21] 12. Board Night [2:38] 13. Surprise Surprise [4:08] 14. Attention Span Spin [6:02] 15. A Different Approach? [2:29] 16. Hitters Getting Hit [5:12] 17. Incentives [5:43] 18. Willie's Interview [4:42] 19. Not Ready [:46] 20. Get to Know Me [3:26] 21. Date Watch [4:02] 22. Common Courtesy [2:11] 23. Man on the Street [3:10] 24. A Night Out [2:50] 25. Open Door [3:50] 26. Getting the Picture [2:15] 27. Suspicious Characters [4:13] 28. Bruno's Got Them [3:02] 29. Burke at Work [3:04] 30. Two Hasty Heists [3:53] 31. The Exchange [4:36] 32. Talking a Deal [3:16] 33. Commencement [7:27] 34. Honest Work [4:38]