Hollywood Studios and Richard Pryor

Hollywood studios were once eager to bring stand-up comedy king Richard Pryor's dynamic humor to the big screen—so much so that studio executives gave him full access to available resources and creative control to develop his own projects. Unfortunately, Pryor's screen talents were far less acclaimed than his stage ones, and flops such as The Toy and Superman III greatly diminished his reputation. The author examines how this downfall unfolded through comprehensive analyses of each of Pryor's movies.