Richard Pryor Hollywood: The Narrative Films, 1967-1997

Hollywood studios were once eager to bring stand-up comedy king Richard Pryor's dynamic humor to the big screen—so much so that studio executives gave him full access to available resources and creative control to develop his own projects. Unfortunately Pryor's screen talents were far less acclaimed than his stage ones, and flops such as and greatly diminished his reputation. The author examines how this downfall unfolded through comprehensive analyses of each of Pryor's movies.