Customer Reviews

The Toy

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

A lot of people don't like "The Toy" for some reason, but I did. I didn't see what's not to like about the movie. Jack (Richard Pryor) is a journalist who is trying to find a good job. Eric (Scott Schwartz) is a boy who gets everything he wants, but is struggling to get along with his father. Therefore, Eric gets his dad (Jackie Gleason) to buy Jack as his toy because that's what he wants. Jack and Eric turn out to be great friends and Jack becomes a role model for Eric and teaches him some great lessons.

"The Toy" is a great movie. Parts of it are hilarious and some parts have a lot of meaning to them. I recommend anybody to get "The Toy."

So many people try to turn this movie into a battle about race. Lest we forget that Richard Pryor is the hero in this movie teaching the boy NOT to be racist, arrogant or judge people. In the end the Klan and the other racists get what they have coming to them. So enjoy this movie for what it is; Lighthearted, simple, fun and hysterical, nothing more and nothing less.

This movie is not about Jackie Gleason being a slave driver to Richard Pryor,it is just the opposite.Jack accepts the job of being erics "toy" for a good sum of money.The movie is a good flick i have enjoyed watching since I was a kid back in '83.I enjoyed it then and I still enjoy it now.I must have seen this movie at least 50 times and I havent gotten tired of it yet.Its like a fine wine,gets better with age.

The potentially hilarious teaming of Richard Pryor and Jackie Gleason goes to waste in this depressing 1982 farce. Zero chemistry between the comic legends, with director Richard Donner straitjacketed by an offensively bad script. Though the Pryor-Gleason pairing guaranteed its box-office success, "The Toy" would represent a career nadir for both men.

Gleason and Pryor together in the same film. How could it miss? They have some really fine moments with the rest of the very funny cast. Some have objected to the story but if Pryor saw nothing wrong with the film I don't either. This is one of those wonderfully silly comedies from the 80s that takes me back. It's one of those films that's "never quite as funny as all that" but Pryor and Schwartz turn in good performances with eventually likeable characters. The friendship they form is great. Makes you feel good.

Scott Schwartz, who plays Gleason's son Eric, said he wrote a sequel himself but it's difficult to take him seriously for obvious (and painful) reasons. He went on to do adult films but mostly as the comic relief. You might remember him in A Christmas Story as the kid who sticks to the flagpole.

The anamorphic video on this DVD is top notch. I was so happy because I'd never seen it in widescreen. Some grain but this was most probably on the master copy. The sound is good and clear 2.0 stereo. I noticed an occational whine.

Bonus materials consist of 3 trailers, none of which is The Toy!! ...sigh...

This is outstanding! Richard Pryor is incredibly funny. A rich man's son goes to his Dad's store to pick out a toy and sees Richard Pyror so asks for him. It is hilarious and a must for anyone who likes a good comedy.

If you think this movie is racist you have to be missing the whole point of Richard Pryor.He was trying to point out the absurdity of the situation and as it turns out most of the sonics applied to the movies plot have been discussed in the following reviews after mine.It's basically a lighthearted comdedy and is definately not pro-racism.In fact in the end the KKK get what they deserve.So it is okay to like this movie-I do.

absolutely one of the most delightful movies made. jacky gleason has a heart and it finally comes out. while richard prior is as usual the king of comedy. he beomes the toy for a over privilage boy and soon learns he will be used as the boy wishes. he does teach him all about love and respect in the long run. i have watched this and shared it many times.

In the early 80's, controversial African American comedian Richard Pryor (See No Evil Hear No Evil) was in top form. He was the most influential and electrifying stand-up comic, and one of the highest paid black actors in Hollywood (Pryor was reportedly paid $4,000,000 to appear in 1983's Superman III).

In 1982, Pryor agreed to star opposite the legendary Honeymooners star Jackie Gleason (Smokey And The Bandit), in a remake of a 1976 French film titled Le Jouet, which literally means The Toy in english. The outcome was a classic comedy, although hated by many critics, that is still enjoyed and quoted by people today.

The Toy is directed by Richard Donner (Superman), and also stars Ned Beatty (Superman), Wilfrid Hyde-White (My Fair Lady), Teresa Ganzel (Monsters Inc), and child actor Scott Schwartz (Kidco).

Pryor plays Jack Brown, a struggling and unemployed black writer who will lose his house if he fails to pay $10,000 to pay off his mortgage. Jack finds himself stooping down the social ladder trying to get any job he can get in order to save himself from getting thrown into the street. He finds a job as a cleaning lady for the Bates firm and is hired by Mr. Morehouse, played by Beatty. When local millionaire US Bates, played by Gleason, finds out that one of his cleaning ladies has a moustache, he fires him. To make matters worse, Bates's spoiled little bratty son 'master' Eric Bates, played by Schwartz, arrives in town for a week with his dad, goes to his dad's toy store, and picks out Jack as his toy because he made him laugh. Eric's insistence on keeping Jack and his dad's pampering reults in US negotiating a deal with Jack on the basis that he stays for a week at his mansion to keep his son company. US and Jack go on a collision course over different issues: the amount that Jack needs, US's degrading and racist new wife Fancy Bates, played by Ganzel, and most of all, what the film really focuses on, is how to approach and win over his son.

The Toy is a delightful movie despite what many regard it as being Pryor's and Gleason's low points. In fact, The Toy is one of the funniest films and an excellent pairing for both actors.

Recommended

A

if you read a few reviews up you will see someone say that eric says in the store "I want the black one!" "the black one!". wrong. The stores owner ask him what toy he wants and in a calm fashion he says "I want the black man". Please,no mis-quotes and taking things out of context. This is a great movie, I like a few others in here have been watching this movie from when i was a kid back in '83 and like others on here i watch it every chance I get.All in all this is a keeper.