Word: comics
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...such nit-picking probably misses the point of Bubbling Brown Sugar, which is to demonstrate the wealth and diversity of spectacular talent in Harlem of this period. And in this aspect, the production is an unqualified success, and a powerful emotional experience. Some of the comic acts may be embarrassing as they bring to life outrageous stereotypes; some of the songs are evidence that tastes have changed, and what was stylish forty years ago is hackneyed today. But the faithfulness of Bubbling Brown Sugar (the title is from a line in "Honeysuckle Rose") to every facet of entertainment is undeniable...
...back in the early days of talking pictures, and damned if it does not look like it is going to work again, in a supposedly more sophisticated age. The ultimate triumph of special effects over common sense? A weird sexual charge, heavy in portent, reassuringly innocent in presentation? A comic strip rendering of a myth dredged up out of the collective unconscious and splashed so boldly on the screen that the audience is awed into acceptance by its sheer audacity? Or is it, finally, just an act of primal showmanship, a Barnum-like invitation to admit to ourselves that...
...script, however, the movement of and non-verbal sounds issuing from the actors are fascinating. Director Kerry Konrad has blocked the episodes gracefully, and the crew of bodies (for they are more symbols than individuals) performs with relish and coordination. The multi-headed snake projects a refreshing sense of comic glee while outwitting Eve. Transitions between scenes pose bemusing riddles as the limp, floored torsos of the actors ease into new being. One puzzles over the nature of their metamorphoses, wondering if they are stirring into yawns or anguished gapes; labored breathing or sensual sighs; pained squirming or the muscle...
...comic stories about Dapper are endless, but they tend to obscure the vicious side of the affable councilor. A Wallace supporter since 1968 (years before busing had won the Alabaman many Massachusetts votes), one political insider said O'Neil was with him "every time Wallace was in Boston." In the collection of country western singers and intellectual lightweights that formed the Wallace campaign, Dapper was only good for handshaking pictures for The South Boston Tribune. His advice was never solicited and his responsibilities were nonexistent...
...green syllabus because, as Alex Haley might point out, of its roots. Like tumescent udders (ech!) Mel Brooks's toors hang, full of borscht and seltzer while the crazed milkmaids Mostel, Wilder, Dick Shawn and Kenneth Mars squeeze and squeeze and squeeze. So much of the American comic strain flows through this film that it makes a pallid commentary like Bob Fosse's Lenny a misrepresentation. That movie tried to deal with other, broader things, not what Lenny lived for; this does. The Producers lets an audience know the wild juices that flow when a comedian works--it's like...