Features: DVD, Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 1.85:1, Dolby Digital (2.0) Mono, English, Spanish, French Subtitled, 4 Discs
Widely considered the "funniest man alive," Richard Pryor stars in one side-splitting romp after another in these timeless classics that will have your rolling from beginning to end. The laughs are non-stop in this 4-movie comedy collection, featuring WHICH WAY IS UP?, BREWSTER'S MILLIONS, CAR WASH and BUSTIN' LOOSE.WHICH WAY IS UP?: In one of his most outrageously funny films, Richard Pryor plays three roles--a beleaguered, sex-starved farm worker named Leroy Jones; the farm worker's randy old father Rufus; and the hypocritical preacher Rev. Lenox Thomas in his serio-comic tale of love, seduction, jealousy and betrayal set against the milieu of central California's strife-torn farm country. BREWSTER'S MILLIONS: Could you spend $30 million dollars in 30 days and have nothing to show for it? That's exactly what Richard Pryor has to accomplish in this hilarious contemporary version of George Barr McCutcheon's big money comedy classic. Montgomery Brewster (Pryor) is a down-and-out baseball player who discovers that he's the only living relative of an eccentric millionaire (Hume Cronyn). Monty stands to inherit $300 million, but only if he can spend $30 million in a single month without acquiring any tangible assets, and without telling any of his bedazzled and bewildered friends, including his best buddy, Spike (John Candy). If he fails, it's back to zero again. On hand to help Pryor spend his loot are Jerry Orbach, Tovah Feldshuh and Pat Hingle. It's an American excess story that's enriching to funnybones of all ages. CAR WASH: Everybody is cleaning up and getting down in this classic comedy, the first 'disco slacker' movie from the decade that brought you the tube top, the polyester suit and lots of good times. It's just a typical day in the lives of the employees, customers and passersby of a Los Angeles car wash, but what a day! There's a would-be robbery, an assembly line of the weirdest, baddest, shadiest characters you've ever met and lots of booty-bumping music to pass the hours till quitting time. Featuring outrageously hilarious performances by George Carlin, 'Professor' Irwin Corey, The Pointer Sisters, and Richard Pryor as Daddy Rich, a flamboyant Reverend who preaches the goodness of the dollar, Car Wash is a timeless classic celebrating an era devoted to living life in the fast lane. BUSTIN' LOOSE: Richard Pryor stars in, co-produced, and wrote the story for this wild, wacky and warm-hearted road movie with a difference, which later inspired a TV series. When budget cuts close a children's home in Philadelphia, Vivian Perry (Emmy Award winner Cicely Tyson, an Oscar nominee for Sounder) decides to save eight special-education students by taking them to her aunt's farm outside Seattle. In desperate need of a driver/mechanic for the bus, she teams up with Joe Braxton (Pryor), an equally desperate ex-con who hates women and children. Fueled by Roberta Flack's songs, the action is fast and funny as this delightfully mismatched group battles the bus, the law, the Ku Klux Klan, and even each other on the way west. But it all ends happily for the kids, the con, and the straight-laced lady.
"[Car Wash] Boisterous ...very funny..." Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide
Editor's Note
WHICH WAY IS UP?: A seriocomic tale of love, seduction, and betrayal in the strife-torn farm country of central California. Richard Pryor plays several roles here, most significantly a migrant worker who works his way up the ranks in the agricultural company controlling one of the farms. BREWSTER'S MILLIONS: Director Walter Hill tries his hand at this adaptation of the often-filmed novel by George Barr McCutcheon. Richard Pryor stars as Brewster, a penniless struggling pitcher for a minor league baseball team. His luck changes when he is informed that a wealthy uncle has died, leaving him a vast fortune under one condition: in order to inherit the full amount, he must first spend 30 million dollars in 30 days. The caveat: he may not give it away, spend it frivolously, or tell anyone about the arrangement, and at the end of the 30 days, no tangible assets may remain. Richard Pryor and John Candy both turn in excellent comic performances as two bush-league baseball players who are suddenly thrust into the world of the wealthy--helping make BREWSTER'S MILLIONS a winner. CAR WASH: Director Michael Schultz follows up his critically acclaimed and commercially successful COOLEY HIGH with this hilarious day-in-the-life tale set in modern-day Los Angeles. At Sully Boyar's car wash, a motley crew of young city-dwellers "work their fingers to the bone" waiting on the eccentric and sometimes haughty clientele. Throughout the day, the young men find time to indulge in personal pursuits: one fellow fantasizes about the pretty waitress working at a local restaurant, a militant preaches politics, and more disgruntled workers find a way to justify their laziness. As the day wears on, the many levels of oppression that control each individual's life gradually become apparent. Luckily, Schultz and screenwriter Joel Schumacher don't dwell on the potentially depressing aspects of their subject matter; proving that sometimes laughter is the best medicine, they stuff their film with enough verbal, visual, and situational humor to keep the audience laughing throughout. This can also be attributed to the performances by the all-star ensemble of performers, including Franklin Ajaye, Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Bill Duke, and Garrett Morris. Cementing the deal is the film's soundtrack, which features the soulful music of diva Rose Royce. BUSTIN' LOOSE: Foulmouthed Joe (Richard Pryor) breaks his parole, but is given a chance to prove his worth by a schoolteacher (Cicely Tyson). She hires him to drive a bus full of Special School kids from Philadelphia. Joe is a bit unnerved by their various mental problems but soon the bonds of friendship are formed, and Joe wins the respect of both the kids and their teacher.
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