BLACK PICTURES 3 Cosby-Poitier comedies available on DVD

SCRIPPS HOWARD
By the early 1970s, Sidney Poitier apparently felt somewhat frustrated by his role as America's most respected movie Negro: the dignified, articulate, well-mannered and impeccably dressed uber-black found in such films as "To Sir, with Love" and "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner."
Such civil-rights-era characters seemed aloof and even square to the young urban audience that gravitated toward the violent anti-heroes found in "Shaft" and "Superfly."
But Poitier -- a Best Actor Oscar-winner for 1963's "Lilies of the Field" -- wasn't about to pander to the bloodthirsty or squander his reputation on "blaxploitation."
Poitier turned to directing with "Buck and the Preacher" (1972), a racially conscious Western, and "A Warm December" (1973), a romance.
Getting it right
But it wasn't until the comedy hit "Uptown Saturday Night" (1974) that Poitier the director was able to develop a humble, working-class character for Poitier the actor.
The movie, co-starring Bill Cosby, was so successful that it spawned two follow-ups, "Let's Do It Again" (1975) and "A Piece of the Action" (1977), also directed by Poitier.
All three Cosby-Poitier films are now available on DVD from Warner Home Video. The "Uptown" disk includes a short documentary about the film and a commentary track by Dr. Todd Boyd of the University of Southern California, author of "Am I Black Enough for You: Popular Culture from the 'Hood and Beyond."
Other details
The three films were produced by First Artists, a company founded by Poitier, Paul Newman, Barbra Streisand and Steve McQueen in the manner of United Artists, formed in 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith. But despite such a lofty pedigree, the Cosby-Poitier pictures are simple buddy comedies.
The humor is extremely broad. "Let's Do It Again" borrows from the Three Stooges and the Bowery Boys with a plot in which Poitier uses hypnotism to transform skinny Jimmie Walker (then appearing as J.J. on TV's "Good Times") into a champion prizefighter.
In "Uptown Saturday Night," Harry Belafonte does a "Godfather" imitation as a puffy-cheeked gangster named Geechie Dan.
In both films, much of the comedy comes from Cosby's outlandish, pimped-out getups. Poitier, for his part, is smart enough to play the straight man, often hovering slightly behind Cosby even when both actors are in the frame.