Directed by:
Robert TownsendCinematography:
Peter DemingComposer:
Patrice RushenCast:
Robert Townsend, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Helen Martin, Anne-Marie Johnson, Kim Wayans, Conni Marie Brazelton, Rusty Cundieff, Tony Edwards, Grand L. Bush (more)VOD (3)
Plots(1)
This debut feature by Robert Townsend is an ingenious guerrilla satire that takes riotous aim at the typecasting of Black actors in 1980s Hollywood. The writer-director-star’s megawatt charisma propels Hollywood Shuffle, the hilarious tale of a struggling actor attempting to break into an industry where the only roles available to Black performers seem to be hustlers, butlers, slaves, and “Eddie Murphy types”—forcing him to choose between selling out and maintaining his self-respect. Lampooning everything from film noir to zombie flicks to Siskel and Ebert, Townsend and cowriter Keenen Ivory Wayans cannily turn the frustrations of the Black artist into a subversively funny pop-culture critique. (Criterion)
(more)Cast
Wren T. Brown
USA
Best movies:
Rebound: The Legend of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault (1996) (TV movie)
Ally McBeal (1997) (series)
The Hidden (1987)
Dom Irrera
USA
Best movies:
The Big Lebowski (1998)
That's Adequate (1989)
Hey Arnold: The Jungle Movie (2017) (TV movie)
Tommy Morgan Jr.
Best movies:
Lorrie Marlow
USA
Best movies:
The Human Tornado (1976)
Hollywood Shuffle (1987)
The Night Before (1988)
Jimmy Woodard
Best movies:
Cop (1988)
Joshua Tree (1993)
Why Me? (1990)
Jesse Aragon
USA
Best movies:
Echo Park (1985)
Exterminator 2 (1984)
Hollywood Shuffle (1987)
Michael Colyar
USA
Best movies:
Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993)
What's Love Got to Do with It (1993)
Poetic Justice (1993)
Roy Fegan
USA
Best movies:
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1991) (TV movie)
They Call Me Bruce? (1982)
Hollywood Shuffle (1987)
Richard McGregor
Best movies:
Your Mother Wears Combat Boots (1989) (TV movie)
House Party (1990)
Hollywood Shuffle (1987)
Sarah Kaite Coughlan
Best movies:
Hollywood Shuffle (1987)
Happiness Runs (2010)
Tick Tock (2000)
Verda Bridges
USA
Best movies:
The Bucket List (2007)
Ally McBeal (1997) (series)
House Party (1990)
Tammy Kaitz
Best movies:
Hollywood Shuffle (1987)
Man Camp (2019)
Myra J.
USA
Best movies:
Far Out Man (1990)
House Party (1990)
Hollywood Shuffle (1987)