How does retired cop Joshua Burke (James Earl Jones) get two career criminals, Manny Durrell (Sidney Poitier) and Dave Anderson (Bill Cosby), to follow the straight and narrow? Con them into helping juvenile delinquents turn over a new leaf. But how? Burke has never been able to nail the duo, but he uses what he knows of their seedy past to blackmail them into volunteering.
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Sadly Over-hyped
In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.
It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
This film is the third and final installment of the fine collaboration between Poitier and Cosby. Unfourtuately,it suffers from the first two films being great comedies of their time, so comparison is inevitable. The movie fails because they've taken our two players out of their working class element and portrays one as a sophisticatated con man and the other as a high class thief. It also never explains how Police detective James Earl Jones'discovers them as either.Where the film works is with Poitier's interaction with the troubled youth in the classroom sequences. Some good young actors are on display here and Poitier seems right at home reminiscent of "to sir with love".But once again then the film regresses back to the caper portion of the film which is as bland as bleach. And Cosby, who was the comic catalyst in the previous films was nothing more than a shell of his former form. The films message is mostly positive, but it terms of big laughs. It falls short.
I had a hard time figuring this movie out. Eventually all the pieces were put together and explained. I thought James Earl Jones did a great job as the retired detective who had big plans for Manny and Dave. Bill Cosby was funny as usual as Dave, and Sidney Poitier did a capable job as Manny, though this sort of movie isn't typical of his talent. If anything, Jones was playing the role that Poitier should have, because Poitier is such a brilliant actor. But so is Jones.At times this resembled 'To Sir, With Love' (which I have never seen in its entirety but hope to), since Manny ended up playing a similar role. Manny and Dave were so funny trying to figure out a way out of their predicament or at least make the best of it if they couldn't. The kids were good in a 'Welcome Back, Kotter' sort of way.The real problem with this movie was that it got too confusing. A simple story about the detective conning the guys into helping the less fortunate city kids might have been better. But then the other set of crooks made the story complicated, though still funny.I always enjoy Bill Cosby, anyway, and James Earl Jones plays such good characters. Sidney Poitier adds quality to whatever he does.
Worth a look on late night TV otherwise skip this misfire.Piece of the Action starts off like a crime caper and ends up wanting to be a morality play. Problem is there is no character development. We are supposed to accept Cosby and Poitier as personalities not actors playing fully developed characters.This is an uneven script. You can almost see two movies cut into this thing. There's the crime caper.And there's the Welcome Back Kotter type class of losers who need to get jobs. This is the morality play part. And it's all jive.We're supposed to accept Cosby and Poitier as wonderful guys who lead blessed lives even though they are no better than the mob guys they swindle. What a mess.
This is a funny movie! I first saw this film when I was 12 years old. This had to be Sheryl Lee Ralph's break out role...she's good.(I use to imitate her part down to the neck roll). Cosby and Poitier were a great duo. They were cool when cool was COOL - even when they were dancing at the end...hilarious! This film ran during the times when Blaxploitation films were in, but it's not what I would call a Blaxpolitation film...It's drama and "back in the day" comedy ...Cosby style. I really enjoyed this film and would love to see it rerun. I haven't belly laughed in a while.