It Came From the Bargain Bin (Bustin Loose)

Welcome back to “It Came from the Bargain Bin”. I hope you all enjoyed the October “Horrorween” reviews but this week it is time for a change of pace.

I am afraid that I am all horrored out for a while and need to review a movie that comes from a different genre, as will probably be the case for the next few reviews. But who knows, it’s all about what grabs my eye when I make my visit to The Bin.

This week’s review focuses on favorite actors we may have had when we were children. Growing up we have all had our favorite actors; from stars like maybe  or anybody who was in the Star Wars trilogy to a favorite of the kids that I’ve work with over the years; Adam Sandler. Okay, so kids are not the best judges of actors but their choices are pure and not necessarily based on how dynamic an actor maybe. All a kid knows is that this particular actor makes them laugh or makes them want to be Luke Skywalker or Han Solo, or for girls, Princess Leia. There is something refreshing about a child’s reasons for their likes and dislikes. My favorite actor as a child was Richard Pryor. Strange choice, I know. This is a true story. One day when my young friends and I were riding in the car being driven by my close friend’s mother, my friend’s mom posed a commonly asked question asked of children by adults: What do you want to be when you grow up? One of my friends responded ” a fireman”, another responded “a policeman” and I responded “Richard Pryor”. Now, as you can imagine, my answer received quite a look from my friend’s mom. My friend’s mom did not say much but I am sure that she was running through a number of responses in her head. She must have decided to just let me be a kid and let it go at that. I guess that I wanted to be Richard Pryor because HBO at the time was showing a number of Richard Pryor movies, like “The Toy”, what kid wouldn’t want to be a giant toy when they grew up, and another childhood favorite of mine, which happens to be this week’s selection from The Bin………”Bustin’ Loose”.

 Bustin’ Loose

Directed By: Oz Scott

Written By: Richard Pryor, Lonne Elder III and Roger L. Simon

Starring: Richard Pryor and Cicely Tyson

Reviewed by: Joe Sikes

Joe Braxton (Richard Pryor) is a man who has been down and out and for as long as he can remember and now Joe is on the last of his legs to save himself from prison time. The only saving grace Joe has is to drive a group of  juvenile delinquents from Philadelphia to Washington state. Without Joe and Vivien (Cicely Tyson) the loveable group of juvenile delinquents will be subjected to living in a group home that cares nothing about the children’s well-being. Vivien (Cicely Tyson) is the Head of the children’s home and will do whatever it takes to deliver the children from the evil that awaits them, even if it means letting an ex-convict drive a broken down bus 3000 miles away from Philly.

Bustin’ Loose is chock full o’ corny situations but this movie is still full of laughs and situations that will pull at the most cynical of heartstrings. I have found out that this movie still makes me feel soft-hearted. “Bustn’ Loose” comes from a time when children’s movies were actually rated R but if you can get past the profanity of the movie you will find that this is a film that opens the hearts of adults as well as children. I give Bustin Loose 2 Guys and barring the profanity,  I think your children would enjoy this as well. See you next week.

Tagged as: Bustin Loose, Cicely Tyson, Comedies, movie reviews, Movies, Richard Prior