Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (1986)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

Richard Pryor

Writers:

Rocco Urbisci (writer) &
Paul Mooney (writer) ...

Release Date:

2 May 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Comedy | Drama

Plot:

After severely burning himself in a drug incident, a comedian has a near death experience in which he reviews his life.

Plot Keywords:

Comedian | Drugs | Death | Hospital | Stand Up Comedian

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Richard Pryor	...	Jo Jo Dancer / Alter Ego
Debbie Allen	...	Michelle
Art Evans	...	Arturo
Fay Hauser	...	Grace
Barbara Williams	...	Dawn
Carmen McRae	...	Grandmother
Paula Kelly	...	Satin Doll
Diahnne Abbott	...	Mother
Scoey Mitchell	...	Father
Billy Eckstine	...	Johnny Barnett
Tanya Boyd	...	Alicia
Wings Hauser	...	Cliff
E'Lon Cox	...	Little Jo Jo
Michael Ironside	...	Det. Lawrence
J.J. Barry	...	Sal

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:12 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Richard Pryor's autobiographical film and his directorial debut. The movie was filmed in Los Angeles and in Peoria at the actual locations where much of the story takes place.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in TV in Black: The First Fifty Years (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

SHOTGUN

Underrated

Jo Jo Dancer Your Life is Calling (1987)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Richard Pryor direct, wrote, produced and stars in this film about a famous stand up comic who begins to rethink his life after catching himself on fire. If you've seen any of Pryor's three concert films then most of this film will be familiar since this is clearly an autobiographical film dealing with stuff we're heard Pryor discuss before. Everything from growing up in a whore house to his various marriages all the way to the fire incident, which nearly cost him his life. The director isn't the strongest in the world but Pryor's performance is right on the mark and the screenplay does a nice job at showing off these various stages in his life. The film has some very hard hitting moments and some touching ones just like his concert films.