Search - Hollywood Shuffle on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Violence, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Adult Language, Profanity Movie Release: 1987 DVD Release: 07/24/2001 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Audio Tracks: English, Spanish Subtitles: English, French, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 21 mins Studio: MGM Members Wishing: 2 Genres: Comedy, Showbiz Comedy, Media Satire

This satirical look at the ambivalent relationship between Hollywood power brokers and African-American performers marked the writing, producing, and directing debut of Robert Townsend. The filmmaker also stars as Bobby Taylor, a struggling actor looking for his big break despite his family's and co-workers' reservations about his chosen career path. While working a day job flipping burgers, Bobby heads out to insulting cattle calls where white casting agents pass judgement on whether he seems "black enough." Meanwhile, he imagines himself playing Sam Spade, Rambo, and other movie heroes rather than the stereotypical roles actually available to him. When Bobby actually does win one such pimp-daddy part, however, he is forced to choose between accepting work that opens doors, but ultimately demeans him and returning to obscurity with his principles intact. Hollywood Shuffle's enormous supporting cast includes a wealth of black actors, from then-unknowns such as Damon Wayans to veterans such as 227 star Helen Martin. Self-financed and filmed on scraps of hand-me-down celluloid, the film helped establish actor Townsend as a director of note and also kick-started the career of co-screenwriter and co-star Keenen Ivory Wayans, who would cast Townsend in his own directorial debut the following year. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Robert Townsend - Bobby Taylor
Robert Townsend - Jasper
Robert Townsend - Sam Ace
Robert Townsend - Speed
Anne-Marie Johnson - Lydia/Willie Mae/Hooker #5
Starletta DuPois - Bobby's Mother
Helen Martin - Bobby's Grandmother
Craigus R. Johnson - Stevie, Bobby's Brother

Alternately bitingly and bitterly funny, The Hollywood Shuffle gets a fair MGM DVD release. Robert Townsend's directorial debut may have helped kick off the African-American comedy boom of the 1990s, but it has aged better than many movies that followed in its wake. Made on a shoestring budget, The Hollywood Shuffle doesn't exactly boast lush production design, but the DVD's widescreen transfer is clean and the audio track is well balanced. Townsend self-financed much of the movie and it would be interesting for a future DVD to include an audio commentary by him and co-writer Keenan Ivory Wayans, who went on to launch the In Living Color TV show. ~ Nick Dedina, All Movie Guide