Main Cast: Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby, Calvin Lockhart, John Amos, Jimmie "J.J." Walker
Release Year: 1975
Country: US
Run Time: 112 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
A pair of blue-collar buddies use hypnosis to turn a wimpy boxer into a champ in this crime comedy, which reunites actor/director Sidney Poitier and comedian Bill Cosby, stars of the similarly themed Uptown Saturday Night. Clyde Williams (Poitier) and Billy Foster (Cosby) want to help raise funds to sustain the Sons and Daughters of Shaka Lodge, their local community group. Given that Clyde was trained as a hypnotist while in the military, the pair decide to con mobster Biggie Smalls (Calvin Lockhart) by placing a high-stakes bet on a boxing match and then using hocus-pocus to transform skinny underdog Bootney Farnsworth (Jimmie Walker) into a bruiser. When Biggie finds out about their ruse, he and his thugs move in to reclaim their money, setting the stage for further laughs and sleight-of-hand. With a supporting cast that includes Denise Nicholas and Lee Chamberlin as the protagonists' wives and Ossie Davis as an elder at their lodge, Let's Do It Again also reunited Good Times stars Walker and John Amos to the silver screen. Cosby and Poitier would return two years later with A Piece of the Action, though Lockhart, another veteran of Uptown Saturday Night, would sit out the final team-up. Hip-hop fans will note that Lockhart's character provided one of the aliases for slain '90s rap star Christopher Wallace, also known as the Notorious B.I.G. The soundtrack for Let's Do It Again featured Curtis Mayfield songs performed by the the Staple Singers. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Review
In extending the success of their hit comedy Uptown Saturday Night, director/star Sidney Poitier and co-star Bill Cosby took the unusual step of throwing continuity to the wind. Adopting new characters for both of the film's thematic sequels, they were able to keep the material fresh while still capitalizing on their established screen chemistry. Skewering underworld clichés, Blaxploitation flashiness, and middle-class African-American values, Let's Do It Again updates the earlier film's playful underworld milieu with new settings ranging from the boxing ring to the black church. The Sons and Daughters of Shaka Lodge, a sort of cross between a protestant congregation, a social club and the Nation of Islam, provides just as much comic fodder as Calvin Lockhart's imposing Biggie Smalls and Good Times vet Jimmie Walker's jug-eared wannabe champ. The supporting players, from Denise Nicholas and Lee Chamberlin to John Amos, prove exemplary, but by this point, Poitier and Cosby had their odd-couple routine down cold. Their effortless interplay provides much of the picture's charm. Let's Do It Again may not be as iconic as, say, Shaft or Superfly, but it's a welcome example of an enjoyable buddy flick that doesn't rely on tired black-guy/white-guy dynamics to fuel its punch lines. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Ossie Davis - Elder Johnson; Denise Nicholas - Beth Foster; Lee Chamberlin - Dee Dee Williams; Mel Stewart - Ellison; Julius Harris - Bubbletop; Paul Harris - Jody Tipps; Val Avery - Lt. Bottomley; Talya Ferro - Biggie's Crony #1; Doug Johnson - Biggie's Crony #2; Richard Young - Biggie's Crony #3; Cedric Scott - Biggie's Crony #4; Morgan Roberts - Fish 'n' Chips Freddie; Billy Eckstine - Zack; George Foreman - Factory Worker; Med Flory - Rufus; Hilda Haynes - Telephone Operator; Jayne Kennedy - Girl at Factory; Erica Hagen - Girl in Hotel; Jimmy Lennon, Sr. - Fight Announcer; Judyann Elder - Maid
Credit
Pembroke J. Herring - Associate Producer, Alan Shayne - Casting, Reuben Watt - First Assistant Director, Sidney Poitier - Director, Pembroke J. Herring - Editor, Eddie M. Barron - Hair Styles, Curtis Mayfield - Composer (Music Score), Roebuck "Pops" Staples - Songwriter, Monty Westmore - Makeup, Alfred Sweeney - Production Designer, Donald Thorin - Cinematographer, Donald M. Morgan - Cinematographer, Mickey McCardle - Production Manager, Melville Tucker - Producer, Ruby Levitt - Set Designer, Charles Spurgeon - Special Effects, Willie D. Burton - Sound/Sound Designer, Harry W. Tetrick - Sound/Sound Designer, Henry Kingi - Stunts Coordinator, Timothy March - Screen Story, Richard Wesley - Screenwriter, William Saracino - Music Editor, Wallace Oliver - Properties Master, Vivian Jones - Script Supervisor, Richard A. Wells - Second Assistant Director, Sidney Baldwin - Still Photographer, David Rawley - Costume/Wardrobe, Marie V. Brown - Costume/Wardrobe, Garner J. Morris - First Assistant Editor
Let's Do It Again is a 1975 film starring Sidney Poitier and Bill Cosby. Poitier also directed. The film is about blue-collar workers who decide to rig a boxing match to raise money for their fraternal lodge. The song of the same name by The Staple Singers was featured as the opening and ending theme of the movie, and as a result, the two have become commonly associated with each other.
This was the second film pairing of Poitier and Cosby following Uptown Saturday Night, and followed by A Piece of the Action (1977). Although their characters have different names in each film, the three Poitier-Cosby pictures are considered to be a trilogy. Of the three, Let's Do It Again has been the most successful both critically and commercially. Calvin Lockhart and Lee Chamberlin also appeared in Uptown Saturday Night.
Set in Atlanta, it follows Clyde Williams (Poitier) and Billy Foster (Cosby) as a pair of blue-collar workers who are trying to raise funds for the Brothers and Sisters of Shaka. They decide to rig a boxing match in New Orleans. They use hypnotism to convince underdog boxer Bootney Farnsworth (Jimmie Walker) that he is a highly skilled prize fighter. He fights and defeats the champion, 40th Street Black (Rodolphus Lee Hayden). Williams and Foster cleanup after betting Farnsworth. The pair return home, and all is fine until the gangsters who lost money betting on the other guy figure out the scam and come to Atlanta, to get the pair to do it again...or be killed.
Unable to enter Farnsworth's training room to hypnotize him again, Williams and Foster decide to bet on the match being a draw, and place bets with both gangster groups. They then enter his 40th Street Black's training room and successfully hypnotize him. Both fighters end up simultaneously knocking each other out, and Williams and Foster are able to collect their bets before the gangsters discover what happened.
When the film premiered, John Amos and Jimmie Walker were starring as father and son in the CBS sitcom Good Times.
Influence in popular culture
The late New York rap artist The Notorious B.I.G. took his alias, Biggie Smalls, from Calvin Lockhart's character in this film. However, the alias could not be used as his name due to ownership issues. East Coast rap group Camp Lo named their second album "Let's Do It Again" after their debut album was named "Uptown Saturday Night," an obvious reference to the two Cosby and Poitier movies.
Musician/MTV personality Fonzworth Bentley took his stage name from Jimmie Walker's character, Bootney Farnsworth.[1]
