As he lies unconscious in a hospital, his spiritual alter ego gets up and begins a journey of his own. It's technically competent but the material is there for something much more compelling. The true life story of Wendell Scott, the first black stock car racing driver to win an upper tier NASCAR race. Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. As his career rises, his marriages suffer a roller-coaster ride of drug use and other difficulties.This is a thinly-veiled personal docudrama. The title of the film is mentioned in the lyrics to the 2013 Afrojack song "The Spark" and the 2016 Danny Brown song “Downward Spiral”. After severely burning himself in a drug incident, a comedian has a near death experience in which he reviews his life. An experienced director would be able to bring something more interesting in the structure and also a deeper performance from Pryor. Plot Keywords Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling In this film that closely parallels his own life story, Richard Pryor plays Jo Jo Dancer, a popular stand-up comedian who has severely burned himself in a drug incident. He throws bottles and paraphernalia into the fireplace, screams to himself that he's gotta stop, and then decides to do cocaine one last time. One and Done: Actor turned one-time Director, 25 Great ’80s Movies Time Has Forgotten (Flavorwire. | His spirit watches his wounded body in his hospital bed and recalls his journey to that point. Title: Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling received mixed reviews from critics. Looking for some great streaming picks? Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling received mixed reviews from critics. Goldie returns from five years at the state pen and winds up King of the pimping game. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. On a long-distance train trip, a man finds romance but also finds himself in danger of being killed, or at least pushed off the train. Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling is a 1986 American biographical[2] comedy-drama film directed, produced by and starring Richard Pryor, who also wrote the screenplay with Paul Mooney and Rocco Urbisci. All the while, Jo Jo's spirit watches these events and attempts to convince his past self to turn off from his path of self destruction. All the while, Jo Jo's spirit watches these events and attempts to convince his past self to turn off from his path of self destruction. Username or Email. A comedic take on the daily life of car-wash employees, chronicling their hopes, fears, joys, dreams, and tribulations, and meeting some eccentric customers along the way. Kenneth Chisholm . This was the first[3] and only feature film Pryor directed[4] (although he is credited as such on the screen version of Richard Pryor: Here and Now). 1986 Directed by Richard Pryor. The story never gets much tension. As foul-mouthed as ever, Pryor touches on most of the same topics as in his previous live shows. Trouble comes in the form of two corrupt white cops and a crime lord who wants him to return to the small time. "Richard Pryor Comes Clean In Harrowing Recap Of Life", Evolution/Revolution: The Early Years (1966–1974), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jo_Jo_Dancer,_Your_Life_Is_Calling&oldid=980128170, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 24 September 2020, at 19:24. With Richard Pryor, Debbie Allen, Art Evans, Fay Hauser. He stares at his puffy face in the mirror and has a panic attack. He long aspired to having the Nobel laureate in literature Toni Morrison come share conversation and a film of her choosing. Build up your Halloween Watchlist with our list of the most popular horror titles on Netflix in October. The film came out after Pryor had set himself on fire while freebasing. An underemployed reporter finds himself literally purchased as a toy for a rich spoiled brat. After severely burning himself in a drug incident, a comedian has a near death experience in which he reviews his life. His father beats him up and his young wife is too afraid to go with him. ... Search: Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling ; Where to watch. Recovering from third-degree burns, superstar comic Jo Jo Dancer looks back on growing up in a small-town bordello, working his way through the lower echelons of the nightclub circuit (enacting Pryor’s great “Mafia club” routine), and finally getting swallowed up by the LA drug scene. Jo Jo's spirit watches and attempts to convince his past self to end the cycle of self-destruction. Con man Kevin Lennihan, framed in a jewel smuggling, tries for an insanity plea, and is sent to a hospital for review, where he is confused for a doctor and takes over the hospital when a major storm hits. Parents Guide, One and Done: Actor turned one-time Director, 25 Great ’80s Movies Time Has Forgotten (Flavorwire. It is an aspect of the film which, Pryor admits, was painful to evoke as a writer, director, and actor. Synopsis A comic with one eye on his audience and another eye on the truth. It currently has a 55% "Rotten" rating on the movie review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes based on eleven reviews. He gets a gig at a strip club. As he lies unconscious in a hospital, his spiritual alter ego gets up and begins a journey of his own. Synopsis He revisits his life, from growing up in a brothel as a child and struggling to beat the long odds to become a top rated comedian. The director of a foster home is forced to move her kids from Philadelphia to Seattle in a broken-down bus driven by a fast-talking parolee assigned to the task. We track him restlessly around his luxurious Hollywood home as he calls a drug dealer and sets up a party, all the time claiming that he's off drugs. Part live stand-up performance, part documentary, this film is one of comedian Richard Pryor's later stand-up performances. Password. Directed by Richard Pryor. It's coated in a functional lifetime docudrama. As he lies unconscious in a hospital, his spiritual alter ego gets up and begins a journey of his own. (1986). He revisits his life, from growing up in a brothel as a child and struggling to beat the long odds to become a top rated comedian. Arlo accepts what seems to him to be a dream promotion to Idaho. In this film that closely parallels his own life story, Richard Pryor plays Jo Jo Dancer, a popular stand-up comedian who has severely burned himself in a drug incident. “Jo Jo Dancer” begins when its hero already is an entertainment superstar. In this film that closely parallels his own life story, Richard Pryor plays Jo Jo Dancer, a popular stand-up comedian who has severely burned himself in a drug incident. However, his success leads to extensive drug use and womanizing that takes its toll on his life. In this film that closely parallels his own life story, Richard Pryor plays Jo Jo Dancer, a popular stand-up comedian who has severely burned himself in a drug incident. He soon discovers, however, that moving has its own share of problems. Richard Pryor’s startlingly raw, criminally underseen spin on the filmed autobiography. He revisits his life, from growing up in a brothel as a child and struggling to beat the long odds to become a top rated comedian. In a drunken haze, he severely burns himself. ''Jo Jo Dancer'' isn't an easy film to watch, though not necessarily because of the graphically dramatized details of the event that almost killed Mr. … However, his success brings new problems as he develops a tragic pattern of substance abuse that begins to screw up his life. View production, box office, & company info. However, his success brings new problems as he develops a tragic pattern of substance abuse that begins to screw up his life. The earlier parts of the film were shot in Pryor's hometown of Peoria, Illinois. A Vietnam vet returns home from a prisoner of war camp and is greeted as a hero, but is quickly forgotten and soon discovers how tough survival is in his own country. She selected Richard Pryor’s 1986 semiautobiographical feature, Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling—a brutal, hilarious, and poignant testimony to Pryor’s comic brilliance. African-American comedian Jo Jo Dancer (Richard Pryor) calls friends to invite them to a Friday night party. | As Dancer lies hospitalized in a coma, his spiritual alter ego revisits his life, from growing up in a brothel as a child and struggling to beat the long odds to become a top-rated comedian.