Let's Do It Again (1975)

Two Atlanta men raise funds for their charity by rigging boxing matches in New Orleans, but their tricks attract the mob's attention.

Director:

Sidney Poitier

Writers:

Richard Wesley (screenplay), Timothy March (story)

Stars:

Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby, Calvin Lockhart

5 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sidney Poitier	...	Clyde Williams
Bill Cosby	...	Billy Foster
Calvin Lockhart	...	Biggie Smalls
John Amos	...	Kansas City Mack
Jimmie Walker	...	Bootney Farnsworth
Ossie Davis	...	Elder Johnson
Denise Nicholas	...	Beth Foster
Lee Chamberlin	...	Dee Dee Williams
Mel Stewart	...	Ellison
Julius Harris	...	Bubbletop Woodson
Paul Harris	...	Jody Tipps (as Paul E. Harris)
Val Avery	...	Lt. Bottomley
Morgan Roberts	...	Fish an' Chips Freddie
Talya Ferro	...	Biggie's Crony #1
Doug Johnson	...	Biggie's Crony #2

Storyline

Clyde Williams and Billy Foster are a couple of blue-collar workers in Atlanta who have promised to raise funds for their fraternal order, the Brothers and Sisters of Shaka. However, their method for raising the money involves travelling to New Orleans and rigging a boxing match. Using hypnotism, they turn the scrawny underdog into a super-confident fighting machine. They bet heavily on him, he wins easily, and they return to Atlanta with their money. All is fine until the gangsters conned by these two figure out what happened show up in Atlanta with a grudge. Now Williams and Foster have to rig the fight again so the gangsters can get their money back or they'll be killed. Can they do it again...?

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Plot Keywords:

boxing | blaxploitation | husband wife relationship | urban setting | gang | 

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Taglines:

It's the same two dudes from "Uptown Saturday Night"...but this time they're back with kid dyn-o-mite!

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Crime

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Certificate:

PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jimmie Walker's character name (Bootney Farnsworth) was used in Dr. Dre's The Chronic on the track titled 'The 20-Sack Pyramid'.

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Quotes

Beth Foster: Kansas City Mack! Kansas City Mack! You think I work for that small time country chump? You surprise me Mr. Smalls. You ain't got the smarts I thought you had.
Biggie Smalls: What?
Beth Foster: I work for the New Syndicate, sugar. I'm on the road 10 days out of every month. And all I do is move money from one city to another. Now that money is theirs. And they want it, in Chicago, with *me* by morning!
Biggie Smalls: You're lying.
Beth Foster: You try me.
[Biggie's girlfriend points a gun in Beth's face]
Beth Foster: Will you tell this child to take this thing out of ...
[...]

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Connections

Referenced in Dead Teenagers (2007)

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Soundtracks

Let's Do It Again
(uncredited)
Music and Lyrics by Curtis Mayfield
Performed by the The Staple Singers

User Reviews

Worthwhile, undemanding entertainment,..

July 2008 Update:

A sequel to "Uptown Saturday Night" in every real sense; though Cosby and Poitier play different characters it's the same guys in all but name, the film's title even a blatant reference to this fact. Though this didn't quite match the box office of the former it's arguably slightly the better of the two films, albeit uneven in tone.

As a big fan of Poitier, it has to be said that he's not as good a director as he is an actor, and that his light entertainment gene isn't as developed as it could be. Even dressed up in an outrageous pimp zoot suit he casts a staid presence, a straight, slightly stiff foil to Cosby and a clash of styles against Jimmy Walker's cartoonish boxer.

Back in May 1999 when I posted my original review, I described this as a "sublime vehicle" and "extremely pleasing", giving it 7/10. I can only conclude that I was fooling myself, viewing the film through youthful, Poitier-tinted sunglasses. Let's Do It Again is a decent enough film, but lacks sophistication on any real level and is, at best, undemanding entertainment.

Two years after this movie came out Cosby and Poitier would try it once more, with "A Piece Of The Action", after which Poitier would retire from acting and only make sporadic returns. As a trilogy to retire on, then it's good that Poitier left by putting smiles on people's faces, even though comedy clearly isn't his thing in front of the camera. Indeed, after a stonefaced first half, Poitier indulges in somewhat desperate mugging throughout the second half of this movie, illustrating that he had more success with comedy behind the camera... three years after his retirement from acting he directed Stir Crazy.

Trivia about the film includes a cameo from George Foreman (then a year deposed as heavyweight champion upon the film's release) and the inspiration for Biggie Smalls's nickname. Curtis Mayfield and the Staple Sisters add to a fine soundtrack that's almost as good as the sublime gospel in the first film of this unofficial trilogy.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 October 1975 (USA)

Also Known As:

Let's Do It Again

Filming Locations:

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$70,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

First Artists, Verdon Productions Limited, Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1