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Back in the day, when Richard Roundtree, Fred Williamson, Issac Hayes, and Pam Grier were stickin' it to the Man, Sidney Poitier and Bill Cosby collaborated on three buddy comedies that offered urban audiences an alternative to private dicks, sex machines, and bad muthas. The Uptown Saturday Nightstars re-team for an "outtasite" scam involving hypnosis, a hopeless beanpole boxer (Jimmie Good Times Walker), and two rival kingpins. Though in fashion and patois Let's Do It Again is a candidate for the '70s time capsule, it does hold up better than most of its more militant blaxploitation brethren. Poitier, the straight man, and Cosby, working his improvisational mojo, are a great comedy team. Worth the price of purchase alone is the sight of these icons decked out in flamboyant Mack Daddy duds to impress their marks, Kansas City Mack (John Amos) and Biggie Smalls (Calvin Lockhart). Curtis Mayfield's score, with vocals by the Staples Singers, is also good for the soul. --Donald Liebenson ... Read more

Reviews (21)

cool Film&Smoking Soundtrack
Props to the Genius of Brother Sidney Poitier for directing this Classic&also to the Funky vibe of Bill Cosby.John Amos One of the Most slept on Actors Ever.same thing with Clavin Lockhart.Ossie Davis was Cool as was the whole Cast.this Movie pre-dated Hip-Hop.keep in mind the Name Biggie Smalls.the Soundtrack which has Music Produced by curtis Mayfield with the Staple Singers on vocals is a Must have as well.the Movie&Music go hand in hand.finally on DVD with Great commentary.Enjoy.this is a Feel Good Movie with Soul.

It's About Time... Good Comedy From The 70's On DVD
This is one of the few movies I can say I was waiting for to arrive on DVD. Yes, its campy corny, and predictable, but it has something for me at least that a lot of movies dont; it just makes you feel good and have a good time watching it.

Bill Cosby and Sidney Potier had great chemistry together in all three of their films. Uptown Saturday Night was more critically acclaimed, but this film is just more fun.

The Characters names are still unforgetable: 40th Street Black, Bootney Farnsworth, Kansas City Mack, Jody Tibbs and of course Bill as Mongo Slade. Great Stuff.

The Soundtrack with the Staple Singers still makes you move even though the songs are about 30 years old; the mark of hitting the bullseye musically. One thing that must be mentioned is the mostly black cast for a film of this kind was not the norm back when this film was made and the actors in the film all were either stars in their own right, or would be stars later.

Best scene in the movie without giving too much away for those who have not watched it: the final boxing scene and the aftermath; just plain funny.

Anyway, go out and get this DVD. You will be sure to enjoy it. The whole family can watch it also as I can't recall hearing any foul language.

Highly recommended

Two of the Best, in their Best
Of the three that Bill Cosby & Sidney Poitier made (Uptown Saturday Night, Let's Do It Again and A Piece Of The Action) I
loved this one best. An all-star cast along with the plot in
the boxing match,their wives and dealing with the two kingpins
gave me enough laughs to drive my wife up the wall. The Cosby/Poitier team I feel, is a positive comedy duo that rates with Crosby/Hope.

For real
This movie is good clean fun. Not a lot of cursing, fun comedy action. A must see for the new generation. Don't wait for the new Will Smith version. Which he won't give me a roll in. He's going to redo Let's Do it Again and Uptown Saturday night.A very pleasant movie.

THEY DID IT AGAIN
Of all the movies Sidney Poitier and Bill Cosby made, this is the best comedy made together. Very funny and I love the music. I have been waiting for YEARS for this movie to come out on DVD. I,m buying many to give to all my friends. If you wanna laugh a lot, this is the dvd you want. Very, very funny movie. ... Read more

Description

Jason is back, hockey mask and all. And he's up to his old maniacal tricks in Friday The 13th, Part V: A New Beginning. This time he seems to have set his sights on the young patients at a secluded halfway house. And more than a few of his teen targets end up in half, in quarters...you name it, Jason does it. ... Read more

Reviews (155)

A New Killer. A New Beginning.
Although most fans of this series say that this is the worst of the series, I whole-heartedly disagree. There are much worse installments of the franchise. The reason why people dislike this movie is mainly because of the fact that Jason Voorhees is not the killer of the movie. That's the beauty of it. It shows the fact that an average joe (or Roy in this case) can mentally snap and go off on a horrific killing spree. Let us not forget that this how Mrs. Pam Voorhees started.

The acting by the cast is horrible and the script wasn't thought out all that well. There are however some hilarious comedic moments now and then in the movie. It's one reedeming quality is the acting portrayed by John Shepherd as Tommy Jarvis. The portrayal of Tommy as a seriously disturbed young man after his encounter w/Jason is very realistic for it shows the constant fear, anger, sadness and paranoia of surviving that horrific night from F13thIV.

This movie had a lot of potential but fell short in what could have been the best in the series since the original.

Don't take my word for it: see it for yourself...if you dare.

NOT AS BAD AS PEOPLE SAY IT IS
YEAH I ADMIT THAT I WAS DISSAPOINTED THAT THE KILLER WAS NOT JASON BUT FOR ALMOST ALL OF THE MOVIE HE ACTED LIKE JASON,MOVED LIKE JASON AND KILLED LIKE JASON SO I THOUGHT IT WAS JASON FOR MOST OF THE MOVIE,THIS ISNT MY FAV IN THE SERIES,MY FAVS ARE PARTS 3,4 AND 6,PART 7 WAS WATCHABLE AND SOMETIMES ENJOYABLE BUT JASON TAKES MANHATTAN AND JASON GOES TO HELL WERE JOKES,EVEN THOUGH I AM A BIG FRIDAY THE 13TH FAN THIS IS NOT MY FAV SERIES OF HORROR MOVIES,MY FAVS ARE THE EVIL DEAD SERIES,A COUPLE OF THE HALLOWEEN SERIES AND A COUPLE OF THE NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET SERIES,BUT THIS INSTALLMENT IN THE FRIDAY THE 13TH SERIES ISNT THAT BAD AT ALL,ITS ACTUALLY QUITE ENTERTAINING AND HAS A COUPLE OF REAL INTERESTING CHARACTERS LIKE VIOLET,SHES SO HOTT,REGGIE THE RECKLESS,TOMMY AND THE HILARIOUS HICK MOTHER AND SON,I AM TRYING TO FIND THE SONG THAT THE GIRL VIOLET IS DOING THE ROBOT DANCE TOO,THE NAME OF THE SONG IS "HIS EYES" BY PSEUDO ECHO AND SHE DOES A PRETTY COOL VERSION OF THE ROBOT DANCE IN THE MOVIE,SHE REMINDS ME OF A YOUNGER MADONNA,ALTHOUGH THIS MOVIE ISNT THE BEST IN THE SERIES ITS STILL WORTH A LOOK

No Jason? No problem.
This is routinely cited as one of, if not the, worst film in the Friday series, and that's saying something.

First off, you won't be watching this flick by accident. Either you're a fan of the series, or not really. It's no secret that the films follow the same formula. It's a real statement about the 80s and about Hollywood in general that the ultra-cynical filmmakers would churn out the same product every year, to diminishing returns, until they ran it into the ground (witness the appalling Part VIII, Jason Takes Manhattan). Strangely enough, the last two installments of this indefatigable series were two of the best: Jason X, and Freddy vs Jason. You have to wreck the series to rebuild it.

Jason was killed at the end of Part IV. It seems that it only took a little bit more abuse than he had endured in Parts 2 and 3 to kill him, even though he was stabbed, hung, axed in the head, etc. But apparently, Tom Savini's machete-to-the-head finale to The Final Chapter was the necessary fix.

Tommy Jarvis, the hero of Part IV, finds himself in a halfway house, years after the events of the previous film. Of course, he is still completely haunted by Jason, the masked maniac invading his daily thoughts. (In Hollywood, you can never recover from trauma, ever, and it will always return to destroy you and your life.)

One day at the half-way house, populated with troubled 80s kids, someone gets butchered, and the cops haul off one of the youths. Then, one-by-one, people start getting offed by a hockey-masked psycho, and Tommy is convinced Jason is back from the dead. It's up to him to ultimately square off against the villain, again, after the requisite amount of bodies pile up.

No secret, but it's not Jason doing the killing in this one, which is the main reason the movie is not well regarded. Also, it happens to be ineptly directed and acted on many fronts, and the gore and violence has been cut to ribbons, yet again, courtesy of the hypocrits at the MPAA who gave an R rating to WAY more violent action films of the same period. Remember folks, if someone gets shot in the movies, it's an action movie, and that's okay. If they get stabbed, it's a horror movie, and the gore needs to be limited.

I would separate the Friday flicks into about three categories, the first four sequels comprising one, then VI, VII, and VIII comprising another, and the later era with Jason Goes to Hell, Jason X, and Freddy vs Jason the last. The original film was going to be a one-off murder mystery, till they decided to have Jason inexplicably rise from Crystal Lake. Then they had a new franchise on their hands. The early films still tried to be horror films, but they weren't scary, just very cynical and violent, and cheaply done. They're fun for fans in the obvious ways, but the series certainly changed with Part VI, becoming more self-reflexive.

The DVD, of course, is a lousy, bare-bones job, yet another by Paramount. We get...a trailer! Wow. The picture is good, the sound is fine, but these are real fan films, best enjoyed by horror film fans and geeks, who have fun with the whole thing, but of course we get zero in the appreciation department from Paramount. Compare these to some of the excellent Anchor Bay DVD releases, most of which reverently collect bonus material for added value.

Recommended for series fanatics, this film will have you rooting for the killer to bump off the annoying cast with demented glee. It does have some appropriately sick and demented touches, including the flare, the decapitated-on-motorbike death of an inbred cretin, a chainsaw, Dudley from Different Strokes, and a cameo by Corey Feldman, whose career would only go downhill after this masterpiece. Oh, and one of the more ineptly directed whodunit plots in a long time.

Not The Peak of the Series
Arguably the worst movie of the Friday the 13th series, "A New Beginning" is exactly that: a restart of the series. The shame in the movie is simply that (SPOILER ALERT!!!) Jason is not the killer. Rather, the culprit is the Ambulance driver posing as Jason to commit murders - - quite the dissapointment. For this the movie instantly loses alot of credit, seeing how Jason is the staple of the Friday the 13th series. Now, I don't want to bash the movie too hard here, there are still pleanty of thrills, scares and deaths. The formula for the film is exactly the same as that of its brothers, its just without the real Jason, and you don't even really know that until the end of the film (although you strongly suspect it about midway through). The film has the usual lot of dimwitted teenagers, including some of the "hardest" nudity in the series, but without Jason at the helm, this film is a sinking ship. Good for a watch, but definatley not my favorite.

My descent into cinematic self-torture
After watching and enjoying the 'Freddy Versus Jason' flick, I made it my duty to watch every 'Nightmare on Elm Street' and 'Friday the 13th' flick so's I could catch up on the back story of both combatants. And after viewing the first five 'Friday' flicks, I'm beginning to regret my decision. I mean, really-- what's the point?! Each new one's pretty much the same as the previous one! Well, except that this movie's setting is some hostel for wacko teenagers rather than a camp or house near Crystal Lake. Then there are the hilariously overdone 'squishy' sound effects that pop up every time an edged weapon rips into some poor slob's flesh. And there's one rather gruesome killin' that Jason DOESN'T perform here, which is kinda new. And the Jason-kills here are even more over-the-top than ever before (A road flare?! Gimme a freakin' break!). Then there's the whole mystery over whether or not the guy doin' almost all of the killin's is the real Jason!

Otherwise, there's the usual 'Friday' staples such as the intro that refers to the previous installment (featuring a brief appearance by 'Friday 4' star Corey Feldman). And of course there's the group of teens (& a few adults) that get picked off one by one. Speakin' And let's not forget the tried-and-true boink scene and pot use, both of which automatically mark for death the partakers in such debauchery. Then there're the attempts at acting by most of the cast that are so bad, you'd swear Ed Wood did the casting! And we can't forget the ending that gives ya a hint that it ain't over yet. Topping things off: just like the previous flicks, I didn't find myself all that scared by the goings-on here. It's probably due to the fact that, after having watched the first four installments, I've become jaded by it all. Well, that and I can see someone's doom comin' from a mile away.

Well, that's pretty much all I hafta say 'bout this entry in the 'Friday the 13th' canon. I'm halfway through now, yay! Now it's on the Part VI, yay! I just can't WAIT to see what new twists they've got in store for me there, heh. Um, yay...

'Late ... Read more

Description

Tom Selleck (THREE MEN AND A BABY) turns in a riveting performance as Jimmie Rainwood, an average citizen whose life becomes a living nightmare when he's framed by a pair of crooked cops and sent to prison for a crime he didn't commit. With his life torn apart, Rainwood swears revenge, vowing to fight back and deliver justice to the dishonest cops who set him up -- no matter what the price! Ultimately, Rainwood risks everything to recapture his normal life, and prove once and for all that he is an innocent man! ... Read more

Reviews (11)

Two inept cops who frame An Innocent Man
This is the story about two inept cops who frame AN INNOCENT MAN named Jimmie Rainwood(Tom Selleck). The two plain clothes police officers deviously plant drugs inside Jimmie's home,also using his mailing address. The cops spot a shadow of what looks like a pistol,but is actually a hair dryer. Jimmie was drying his hair after taking a shower. After other officers discover the drugs in Jimmie's home,he is arrested,arraigned,convicted and sent to prison for six years. After Jimmie is released,he and a few friends scheme to incarcerate the drug-planting cops. The cops end up in jail. Jimmie's buddy(F. Murray Abraham),who's still in prison,says at the end of the film,"Ain't life a motherf---er?". This film was not as great as THREE MEN AND A BABY and HER ALIBI,but I loved it.

AN EXCELLENT SELLECK MOVIE
As long as I can remember I've always immensely enjoyed/loved Tom Selleck movies. This is defintely one of his best(as well as 'Her Alibi'). This is a very enjoyable prision movie with a range of emotions. This film as always been on my DVD wishlist so I'm very excited that it's finally on DVD. I highly reccomend this film, you won't regret it.
By Justine Ryan

An Entertainingly Uncomfortable Film
Even though you know what's going to happen to Tom Selleck's character, and you know that the ending will be happy, watching the process is enjoyably discomfiting. This is a plot film -- stuff keeps happening to the main character, things he appears utterly incapable of controlling, and everything spirals right into disaster. Great Friday night fare. Make a lot of popcorn and savor it.

an excellent movie
Very entertaining movie. The characters are all great, the plot and the suspense are terrific.

Best Selleck Drama
I always like Tom Selleck movies. Some are actually very entertaining. This is by far his best dramatic role. I was very impressed how well he played the part of a framed Airline crew chief Jimmie Rainwood. F. Murray Abraham gives a great performance as one of the prison inmates, Virgil Cane, that befriends him. It has all the elements for some good drama, bad cops, drugs, decent and really bad convicts, attractive loving wife, and motive for revenge.

David Rasche and Richard Young do a fine job as the crooked detectives that frame him. I have recommended this to many people since many Selleck fans are not even aware of it. Whether you like Selleck or not you will enjoy this film if you like movies like "The Fugitive","US Marshals", and "Shawshank Redemption". It is being released on DVD soon and you can bet I pre-ordered a copy. ... Read more

Description

A shipment of cocaine ditched in the ocean triggers a rock 'n' roll escapade in this tune-filled counterculture cult film featuring Jack Palance (City Slickers) and the legendary Andy Warhol. Our oddball odyssey finds struggling rock singer Destn (Tom Sullivan), his manager (Palance), and his band contending with the mob after a drug-running assignment goes bad, leaving them stuck on an island running for their lives while finding the time for some chemical and musical recreation along the way. This delirious time capsule was filmed at Warhol's actual Long Island estate by director Ulli Lommel (The Boogeyman) and now makes its return to home video after a nearly twenty-year absence. It'll blow your mind! ... Read more