Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling


1h 37m 1986

Film Details

Also Known As
Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling
MPAA Rating
Genre
Biography
Comedy
Drama
Release Date
1986
Production Company
Robert Wayne Harris
Distribution Company
Sony Pictures Releasing

Technical Specs

Duration
1h 37m

Synopsis

Crew

Teri Abostado

Production Auditor

Carl Aldana

Illustrator

Amy Alexander

Assistant

Dick Alexander

Sound Re-Recording Mixer

Robert Alexus

Rigging Gaffer

John Alonzo

Director Of Photography

Gene Ammons

Song Performer

Norman Ash

Lighting Technician

Roy Ash

Lighting Technician

Sidney R. Baldwin

Photography

Michael Barrett

Best Boy Electric

Count Basie

Song Performer

Renaldo Benson

Song

William Birch

Director Of Photography

Elsa Blangstead

Music Editor

Ruby Bloom

Song

Arlester Boykin

Lighting Technician

Marilyn Bradfield

Technical Advisor

Ophelious Braxton

Best Boy Grip

Bonnie Brown

Assistant

Milton C Burrow

Supervising Sound Editor

Neil Burrow

Sound Editor

Willie Burton

Sound Mixer

Donn Cambern

Editor

Alfred Cleveland

Song

Robert Cornett

Sound Editor

Alice I Daniels

Costumer

John De Cuir

Production Designer

Autry De Walt

Song

Frank Demichelis

Craft Service

Bryan Denegal

Assistant Director

Duke Ellington

Song

Jay Engel

Adr Editor

Mark Fabus

Set Designer

Joseph Fama

Foreman

Carolyn Fitzgerald

Apprentice Editor

Nancy Frazen

Assistant Editor

Les Fresholtz

Sound Re-Recording Mixer

Larry Fuentes

Special Effects

Matt Furginson

Swing Gang

Otho Lee Gaines

Song

Karlene Gallegly

Location Manager

Kenneth Gamble

Song

Dino Ganziano

Hair Stylist

Maritza L Garcia-roddy

Wardrobe

Marvin Gaye

Song

Marvin Gaye

Song Performer

Christopher Gegen

Casting Assistant

Lauren R Glassman

Assistant

Daniel Gluck

Set Designer

William Goldenberg

Apprentice Editor

Mark S Gordon

Sound Editor

Greg A Hall

Wardrobe

Herbie Hancock

Music

Bill Hardin

Assistant Camera

Robert Wayne Harris

Cable Operator

Bruce Hawes

Song

Bud Heller

Key Grip

Jimmy Herron

Property Master

Steven Hiller

Assistant Camera

Leon Huff

Song

Susan Ingram

Assistant Camera

Anthony Jackson

Song

Mahalia Jackson

Song

Mahalia Jackson

Song Performer

Joseph Jefferson

Song

Renee Jones

Production Secretary

Horace B Jordan

Assistant Camera

Fred Judkins

Supervising Sound Editor

Rashon Kahn

Assistant

Chaka Khan

Song Performer

Chaka Khan

Song

Gladys Knight

Song Performer

Ted Koehler

Song

Luca Kouimelis

Script Supervisor

Bud Lacy

Transportation Captain

Tom Laughridge

Camera Operator

Vicki Lemay-jackson

Dga Trainee

Marvin E. Lewis

Boom Operator

Tony Lloyd

Makeup Artist

Mel London

Song

Frederick Long

Song

Joseph P Lucky

Set Designer

Mark Ludwig

Assistant Camera

Ellis Mcdaniel

Song

William J Mclaughlin

Swing Gang

Terry Miles

Makeup Artist

Paul Mooney

Screenplay

Warren Moore

Song

Mckinley Morganfield

Song

Fran Moss

Location Coordinator

Michael A. Muscarella

Construction Coordinator

David J Negron

Special Effects

David J Negron

Illustrator

David J Negron

Special Effects

David J Negron

Titles And Opticals

Phill Norman

Titles

Michael O'shea

Camera Operator

Ronald Oliney

Stunt Coordinator

Ernest Phillips

Painter

Scott Pierson

Transportation Coordinator

Vern Poore

Sound Re-Recording Mixer

Stephanie Powell

Video Assist/Playback

Richard Pryor

Producer

Richard Pryor

Screenplay

Miles Davis Quintet

Song Performer

Cleve Reed

Song

Brossy Reina

Assistant Sound Editor

Clinton Robinson

Props

William Robinson Jr.

Song

Susan Royal

Production Accountant

Mitch Ryder

Song Performer

Dennis Sands

Music Scoring Mixer

Silvio Scarano

Costumer

Wayne Shorter

Soloist

Charles Simmons

Song

Kimberly Sizemore

Assistant

B J Smith

Medic

Eddie Smith

Coordinator

Maureen Solomon

Assistant

Stuart Spohn

Gaffer

Jennifer Stace

Choreographer

William Stevenson

Song

Billy Stewart

Song

Billy Stewart

Song Performer

Sonny Stitt

Song Performer

Barrett Strong

Song

Joe Tapia

Grip

Jim Taylor

Photography

Bill Tiegs

Wardrobe

Sig Tinglof

Set Designer

Dave Tulley

Greensman

Donald Tuttle

Transportation Co-Captain

Pernell Tyus

Camera Operator

Rocco Urbisci

Screenplay

Gregory Van Der Veer

Titles And Opticals

Marilyn Vance-straker

Costume Designer

Dianne Wager

Set Designer

Julia Walker

Hair Stylist

Muddy Waters

Song Performer

Jerry Wexler

Music Supervisor

Paul Wexler

Music Supervisor

Detroit Wheels

Song Performer

Norman Whitfield

Song

Walter Williams

Dolly Grip

Winnie Brown Willis

Costumes

John Wilson

Associate Producer

John Wilson

Production Manager

Robert Wilson

Assistant

Randy Woodside

Lighting Technician

Anna Zappia

Production Coordinator

Jerry Ziesmer

Assistant Director

Film Details

Also Known As
Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling
MPAA Rating
Genre
Biography
Comedy
Drama
Release Date
1986
Production Company
Robert Wayne Harris
Distribution Company
Sony Pictures Releasing

Technical Specs

Duration
1h 37m

Articles

Richard Pryor (1940-2005)


The scathing, brilliantly insightful African-American comic who proved himself on many occasions to be a highly competent screen actor, died of a heart attack on November 10 at his Encino, California home. He was 65. He had been reclusive for years after he publicly announced he was suffering from multiple sclerosis in 1992.

He was born Richard Thomas Pryor III on December 1, 1940 in Peoria, Illinois. By all accounts, his childhood was a difficult one. His mother was a prostitute and his grandmother ran a brothel. His father was rarely around and when he was, he would physically abuse him. From a young age, Pryor knew that humor was his weapon of choice to cut through all the swath he came across and would confront in his life.

After high school, he enlisted in the Army for a two-year stint (1958-60). When he was discharged (honorably!) he concentrated on stand-up comedy and worked in a series of nightclubs before relocating to New York City in 1963. In 1964, he made his television debut when he was given a slot on the variety program On Broadway Tonight. His routine, though hardly the groundbreaking material we would witness in later years, was very well received, and in the late '60s Pryor found more television work: Toast of the Town, The Wild Wild West, The Mod Squad ; and was cast in a two movies: The Busy Body (1967) with Sid Caesar; and Wild in the Streets (1968) a cartoonish political fantasy about the internment of all American citizens over 30.

Pryor's career really didn't ignite until the '70s. His stand up act became raunchier and more politically motivated as he touched on issued of race, failed relationships, drug addiction, and street crimes. His movie roles became far more captivating in the process: the piano man in Lady Sings the Blues (1972); as a wise-talking hustler in a pair of slick urban thrillers: The Mack (1973) and Uptown Saturday Night (1974); the gregarious Daddy Rich in Car Wash; his first pairing with Gene Wilder as Grover, the car thief who helps stops a runaway train in his first real box office smash Silver Streak (both 1976); and for many critics, his finest dramatic performance as a factory worker on the edge of depression in Paul Schrader's excellent working class drama Blue Collar (1978).

On a personal level, his drug dependency problem worsened, and on June 9, 1980, near tragedy struck when he caught fire while free-basing cocaine. Pryor later admitted that the incident, was, in fact, a suicide attempt, and that his management company created the lie for the press in hopes of protecting him. Fortunately, Pryor had three films in the can that all achieved some level of financial success soon after his setback: another pairing with Gene Wilder in the prison comedy Stir Crazy (1980); a blisteringly funny cameo as God who flips off Andy Kaufman in the warped religious satire In God We Tru$t (1980); an a ex-con helping a social worker (Cicely Tyson) with her foster charges in Bustin' Loose (1981). He capped his recovery with Live on the Sunset Strip (1982), a first-rate documentation of the comic's genius performed in front of a raucous live audience.

In 1983, Pryor signed a $40 million, five-year contract with Columbia Pictures. For many fans and critics, this was the beginning of his downslide. His next few films: The Toy, Superman III (both 1983), and Brewster's Millions (1985) were just tiresome, mediocre comedies. Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling (1986), was his only attempt at producing, directing, and acting, and the film, which was an ambitious autobiographical account of a his life and career, was a box-office disappointment. He spent the remainder of the '80s in middling fare: Condition Critical (1987), Moving; a third pairing with Gene Wilder in See No Evil, Hear No Evil; and his only teaming with Eddie Murphy in Harlem Nights (1989).

In 1986, Pryor was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a degenerative disease of the nervous system that curtailed both his personal appearances and his gift for physical comedy in his latter films. By the '90s, little was seen of Pryor, but in 1995, he made a courageous comeback on television when he guest starred on Chicago Hope as an embittered multiple sclerosis patient. His performance earned him an Emmy nomination and he was cast in a few more films: Mad Dog Time (1996), Lost Highway (1997), but his physical ailments prohibited him from performing on a regular basis. In 1998, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington gave Pryor the first Mark Twain Prize for humor. It was fitting tribute for a man who had given so much honesty and innovation in the field of comedy. Pryor is survived by his wife, Jennifer Lee; his sons Richard and Steven; and daughters Elizabeth, Rain and Renee.

by Michael T. Toole
Richard Pryor (1940-2005)

Richard Pryor (1940-2005)

The scathing, brilliantly insightful African-American comic who proved himself on many occasions to be a highly competent screen actor, died of a heart attack on November 10 at his Encino, California home. He was 65. He had been reclusive for years after he publicly announced he was suffering from multiple sclerosis in 1992. He was born Richard Thomas Pryor III on December 1, 1940 in Peoria, Illinois. By all accounts, his childhood was a difficult one. His mother was a prostitute and his grandmother ran a brothel. His father was rarely around and when he was, he would physically abuse him. From a young age, Pryor knew that humor was his weapon of choice to cut through all the swath he came across and would confront in his life. After high school, he enlisted in the Army for a two-year stint (1958-60). When he was discharged (honorably!) he concentrated on stand-up comedy and worked in a series of nightclubs before relocating to New York City in 1963. In 1964, he made his television debut when he was given a slot on the variety program On Broadway Tonight. His routine, though hardly the groundbreaking material we would witness in later years, was very well received, and in the late '60s Pryor found more television work: Toast of the Town, The Wild Wild West, The Mod Squad ; and was cast in a two movies: The Busy Body (1967) with Sid Caesar; and Wild in the Streets (1968) a cartoonish political fantasy about the internment of all American citizens over 30. Pryor's career really didn't ignite until the '70s. His stand up act became raunchier and more politically motivated as he touched on issued of race, failed relationships, drug addiction, and street crimes. His movie roles became far more captivating in the process: the piano man in Lady Sings the Blues (1972); as a wise-talking hustler in a pair of slick urban thrillers: The Mack (1973) and Uptown Saturday Night (1974); the gregarious Daddy Rich in Car Wash; his first pairing with Gene Wilder as Grover, the car thief who helps stops a runaway train in his first real box office smash Silver Streak (both 1976); and for many critics, his finest dramatic performance as a factory worker on the edge of depression in Paul Schrader's excellent working class drama Blue Collar (1978). On a personal level, his drug dependency problem worsened, and on June 9, 1980, near tragedy struck when he caught fire while free-basing cocaine. Pryor later admitted that the incident, was, in fact, a suicide attempt, and that his management company created the lie for the press in hopes of protecting him. Fortunately, Pryor had three films in the can that all achieved some level of financial success soon after his setback: another pairing with Gene Wilder in the prison comedy Stir Crazy (1980); a blisteringly funny cameo as God who flips off Andy Kaufman in the warped religious satire In God We Tru$t (1980); an a ex-con helping a social worker (Cicely Tyson) with her foster charges in Bustin' Loose (1981). He capped his recovery with Live on the Sunset Strip (1982), a first-rate documentation of the comic's genius performed in front of a raucous live audience. In 1983, Pryor signed a $40 million, five-year contract with Columbia Pictures. For many fans and critics, this was the beginning of his downslide. His next few films: The Toy, Superman III (both 1983), and Brewster's Millions (1985) were just tiresome, mediocre comedies. Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling (1986), was his only attempt at producing, directing, and acting, and the film, which was an ambitious autobiographical account of a his life and career, was a box-office disappointment. He spent the remainder of the '80s in middling fare: Condition Critical (1987), Moving; a third pairing with Gene Wilder in See No Evil, Hear No Evil; and his only teaming with Eddie Murphy in Harlem Nights (1989). In 1986, Pryor was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a degenerative disease of the nervous system that curtailed both his personal appearances and his gift for physical comedy in his latter films. By the '90s, little was seen of Pryor, but in 1995, he made a courageous comeback on television when he guest starred on Chicago Hope as an embittered multiple sclerosis patient. His performance earned him an Emmy nomination and he was cast in a few more films: Mad Dog Time (1996), Lost Highway (1997), but his physical ailments prohibited him from performing on a regular basis. In 1998, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington gave Pryor the first Mark Twain Prize for humor. It was fitting tribute for a man who had given so much honesty and innovation in the field of comedy. Pryor is survived by his wife, Jennifer Lee; his sons Richard and Steven; and daughters Elizabeth, Rain and Renee. by Michael T. Toole

Quotes

Trivia

Miscellaneous Notes

Released in United States Spring May 2, 1986

Released in United States Spring May 2, 1986