Product Details

• Actors: Richard Pryor, Gene Cross, Julie Hampton, Jesse Jackson
• Directors: Joe Layton
• Writers: Richard Pryor, Paul Mooney
• Producers: Richard Pryor
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Subtitles for the Hearing Impaired: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: January 11, 2000
• Run Time: 82 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000031EGO
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #95,337 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Taken together, Richard Pryor's concert films, the essential Live in Concert, the virtuoso Live on the Sunset Strip, and even the lesser Here and Now, provide a more incisive autobiographical portrait of the groundbreaking comedian than the fictionalized Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling. In Sunset Strip, Pryor relates two life-changing experiences. The first is his trip to "the motherland," Africa. As funny as is the routine in which Pryor gives voice to a couple of cheetahs poised to prey on unsuspecting gazelles, he brings the audience up short with a moving revelation that leads him to forswear ever again calling another black person the "N-word." The second, of course, is his near-fatal freebasing accident, which Pryor at first jokingly passes off as an accident involving milk and cookies. Then, he takes the audience step by harrowing step through his growing cocaine addiction (abetted by his untrustworthy pipe which speaks to him in reassuring tones), alienation from friends, including the formidable Jim Brown ("Whatcha gonna do?"), the explosion that resulted in third-degree burns over the upper half of his body, and finally, the agonizing rehab. It is even more unflinching and savagely funny than his Live in Concert routine about his heart attack. Other memorable bits include his experiences as a 19-year-old stand-up comedian working at a Mafia-owned club, a monologue from one of his signature characters, Mudbone, and his visit to a penitentiary while filming Stir Crazy. Sunset Strip captures Pryor's triumphant return to the stage. He is a survivor, unbowed, winning this round over the demons that plagued him throughout his career. --Donald Liebenson

Product Description

Pryor gives a triumphant performance in this classic comedy/concert film. Big laughs and moving moments provide a rare glimpse at the man behind the material. 1982/color/82 min/R/widescreen.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars So Funny You'll Need the Pause Button October 2, 2002

By Samurai

Format:DVD

I first saw this film with a friend and we were both laughing so hard we constantly had to stop the film just to recover. Richard Pryor is absolutely one of the funniest and most honest human beings who ever lived. As far as I'm concerned the only comedian who has even come close is Bernie Mac. But Bernie is tame compared to the full throttle antics of Pryor.

Pryor approaches the show knowing the audience has read a lot about his troubled personal life so he comes out and point blank explains everything. From how he ran down the block after setting himself on fire accidentally, to his troubled marriage, to his trip to Africa and how it changed him.

There's a lot of F-bombs (surprise) so you probably don't want to watch this movie in mixed company. If you're sensitive to "white people are so funny" routines then you should probably get a life. But if you wanna hear about how even the African hares intimidated Pryor ("I ain't never seen a rabbit look at me like that before") or how the lions wanted to eat him and his camera, then this is a movie that will have you laughing so hysterically you'll probably pee in your pants.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Pryors finest hour April 14, 2005

By Joe Clay

Format:DVD

Richard Pryor has influenced scores and scores of comedians and theres a good reason why....because hes one of the greats!!! This show which was filmed in Vegas is truly his finest hour. Taped after his infamous freebasing incident, he touches on his cocaine addiction....and as brutal as it was he makes it funny. Also, he talks about gangsters he used to work with and them telling murder stories!! No comedian would dare touch on things like this, and to make these things funny takes TALENT. Of which Pryor has an abundance of.

So if you want a revealing, awe inspiring, provacative and funny comedy show, this is it. Pryors finest hour, the show of himself.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Pryor at his turning point February 8, 2005

By Andre M.

Format:DVD

This is a watershed performance for Richard Pryor. This was filmed shortly after the infamous freebasing fire nearly killed him in the early 1980s. Here, he talks frankly about that incident (the joke with the match is an amazing example of how he could find humor inhis darkest moments) and his need to quit drinking and dope. The tour de force here is the Africa routine. The cologne and body odor gag falls back on some un-PC stereotyping of Africans(of course, PC types aren't gonna watch this anyway), but his announced decision in this piece to never use the N-word again in comedy got a standing-o from me then and still makes me proud of him today. Sadly, this was his last truly great comedic work. From here on in, it would be unbearably bad movies and lackluster comedy like "Here and Now" before he succumbed to MS. So this is truly important as the last great work of Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor. Enjoy.