Okay, I’m going try this again. Last night I tried to write this post but, due to the fact that I was using my old computer, I had formatting problems and then lost the post I was working on. So I’m going to re-write this thing. I don’t really have a lot to say so, like the original post, this one is going to be shorter than usual.
When I was a kid, I grew watching a movie entitled The Toy. The film starred Richard Pryor, Jackie Gleason and Ned Beatty. The great Richard Donner, director of Superman: The Movie, Lethal Weapon, and The Goonies, also directed the movie. Yeah, the Richard Donner. When I was a kid, I never really questioned the movie. However, the other night I was thinking about it and I just couldn’t believe that they got away with it. Here’s a plot synopsis from IMDB.com, if you can believe it:
“On one of his bratty son Eric's annual visits, the plutocrat U.S. Bates (Jackie Gleason) takes him to his department store and offers him anything in it as a gift. Eric chooses a black janitor (Richard Pryor) who has made him laugh with his antics. At first the man suffers many indignities as Eric's "toy", but gradually teaches the lonely boy what it is like to have and to be a friend.”
Um, okay. Yes, the plot of this movie has a rich kid buy a black man and make him his “toy.” Can anyone say slavery? As touchy as a subject as slavery is, I really cannot believe this thing was green lit by a group of studio executives. I mean, they had to see what was really going on. It’s just insane that this thing was actually made by a major studio (Columbia Pictures). Then there’s this running joke that occurs in the film where Pryor’s character constantly refers to the rich boy as “Master Bates.” Yes, it’s his name, but he’s obviously using a play on words there. Yep, not only is this movie playing off on slavery but it’s using a child’s name as a masturbation joke.
Yep, Richard even gets delivered to the rich boy in a wooden box with a big red bow.
What’s amazing about this movie is that I honestly cannot remember a whole scene from it even though I remember watching the thing over and over again. Yeah, I watched this movie as a kid pretty religiously from what I can remember. The only things that stand out in my mind is the scene where Pryor gets bought at the toy store after popping the “Wonder Wheel” and the part where he wears Spider-man pajamas. Yeah, Spider-man pajamas. It’s like my mind has just blacked out this film from my memory.
Let me get one thing across though: the existence of this movie does not offend me. I used to watch it a lot as a kid and I plan on looking in to re-buying it on DVD to help remind me of everything that happens in it. I just think that it’s insane that it actually exists and was distributed by a major studio in the 1980’s. Despite its insane premise, I actually hear the movie is pretty warm and fuzzy, along with working as a morality tale. Still, it also works on the level of Richard Pryor being a slave for a rich kid. I wish I could remember more about the actual movie, but I just have a memory block on this one. If I could, I’d make the post longer. However, since I cannot, I’m just going to leave it at this. Mostly, I just wanted to remind people of this film’s existence.
Still, from what I hear, Soul Plane is a much more racist film than The Toy.
4 comments:
I cannot remember ever hearing the premise of this movie, but, from what you've said here, I just have one question... who in their right mind thought Richard Pryor, one of the most vulgar, drug-riddled comedians ever, would be a good choice for this role? Honestly.
No one else could have done it better.
No one else could have done it better.
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