Wattstax Review

Post by **cbreez0101** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 12:36 pm

Check out this review of WATTSTAX, coming soon to DVD.

From CRITIC’S CHOICE/Film; Take ’71 Pryor; Add Funky Chicken
By Elvis Mitchell.
Printed: The New York Times, May 5, 2000, Late Edition – Final, Section E, Column 4, Page 28.

Richard Pryor has so rarely been captured in his truest essence that “Wattstax,” a 1973 documentary about a benefit performance for the Watts community in Los Angeles, is worth seeing just for the few moments of the comedian “maxing and relaxing” through a few routines that frame the action.

The picture . . . includes an interview with Mr. Pryor, and he throws out a few lines with a coolness so sly it could initially seem like indifference. This is the Pryor of the clubs and coffeehouses, when he was making his reputation before he blew up into a household name.

His slippery brilliance is evident, with hair-trigger reflexes so brutal that he’s like Cassius Clay in the legendary Sonny Liston fight, when the punch that dropped Liston came so fast no one is sure whether he threw it. Mr. Pryor is feral in his swiftness; you can see the routines cooking up in his head.

for more info: http://wattstax.com - wattstax.com'

Post by **SweetLuchia** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 1:57 pm

cbreez0101,

THANK YOU for posting this review! I had no idea such a documentary even existed maybe because I was born the same year it came out

I can't wait to see it. It sounds like he talks a lot about the comedic process in it. [Font size=3 face=v color=yellow]Man I LOVE listening to him talk about the process![/font] He did a lot of that during the interview he gave at the comedy store for "Here and Now". [Font size=4 face=v color=yellow]It's SO fuckin cool to hear a LEGEND speak about his craft![/font]

Post by **reelblack** » Mon Mar 22, 2004 9:56 pm

SweetLuchia,
FYI, we just hosted a screening of WATTSTAX over the weekend here in Philly on the big screen. I've seen it a buncha times before on bootleg, but never realized it's a FUCKIN' GOOD MOVIE. There truly is nothing like it. It capture's Black folks at their highest level of confidence and self respect. The fact that it's finally coming back into play may hopefully allow more of us to see we have reached much greater peaks as a people than the BS we willingly accept nowadays as representative of ourselves.
www.reelblack.com