Let’s Do It Again

Back in the day, when Richard
Roundtree, Fred Williamson, Issac
Hayes, and Pam Grier were stickin’
it to the Man, Sidney Poitier and
Bill Cosby collaborated on three
buddy comedies that offered urban
audiences an alternative to
private dicks, sex machines, and
bad muthas. The Uptown Saturday
Nightstars re-team for an
“outtasite” scam involving
hypnosis, a hopeless beanpole
boxer (Jimmie Good Times Walker),
and two rival kingpins. Though in
fashion and patois Let’s Do It
Again is a candidate for the ’70s
time capsule, it does hold up
better than most of its more
militant blaxploitation brethren.
Poitier, the straight man, and
Cosby, working his improvisational
mojo, are a great comedy team.
Worth the price of purchase alone
is the sight of these icons decked
out in flamboyant Mack Daddy duds
to impress their marks, Kansas
City Mack (John Amos) and Biggie
Smalls (Calvin Lockhart). Curtis
Mayfield’s score, with vocals by
the Staples Singers, is also good
for the soul