Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling

Plots(1)

Pryor--who produced, directed, cowrote, and starred in this movie--insists that it is not autobiographical. Hard to believe because it's the story of a comedian who was born in a brothel, had several wives, had problems with drugs, and wound up in a burn ward at a hospital when a free-basing experiment went awry (all striking similarities to Pryor's experience). The picture begins with the title character's free-basing accident and flashes back to reveal the course of his life. The boy's mother (Abbott) works as a prostitute in a brothel, while his grandmother (Carmen McRae) brings up the child (E'lon Cox). When he grows up, the young man (Pryor) moves to Cleveland, where he meets nightclub singer Eckstine and stripper Paula Kelly, who help him along in his career as a stand-up comic. Life goes by quickly, however, as Pryor takes more drugs and as wives come and go. Pryor had a chance to make a very important movie here, a powerful cinematic portrait of the effects of drug abuse. He has to be congratulated for the attempt. Pryor's direction is better than the script, and singers Eckstine and McRae make nice dramatic debuts under his firm hand. (official distributor synopsis)