The Toy (1982) (original) (raw)
Synopsis
When Jackie Gleason told his son he could have any present he wanted, he picked the most outrageous gift of all...Richard Pryor.
On one of his bratty son Eric's annual visits, the plutocrat U.S. Bates takes him to his department store and offers him anything in it as a gift. Eric chooses a black janitor who has made him laugh with his antics. At first the man suffers many indignities as Eric's "toy", but gradually teaches the lonely boy what it is like to have and to be a friend.
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Alternative Titles
'n Knotsgek Kado, Giocattolo a ore, Der Spielgefährte, Su juguete preferido, A kis terrorista és a játékszer, O Brinquedo, Игрушка, הצעצוע, Le Joujou, Іграшка, Oyuncak Adam, Zabawka, Hračka, Mi juguete preferido, 토이, 超级玩具
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Theatrical
10 Dec 1982
- USAPG
30 Mar 1983
- FranceTP
Popular reviews
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i was drunk the other night and a friend asked me if i wanted to pick a random comedy movie to talk about on their podcast. i recalled that i once heard spike lee call this “one of the most racist movies of all time” so this is the one i suggested. and boy, when spike is right, he’s right. -
Because coke ain't cheap. -
Jackie Gleason will buy "The Toy"
To try and bring his kid joy.
Somehow a father,
Cannot even bother,
To spend time with his little boy. -
Richard Donner’s The Toy follows Jack Brown played by Richard Pryor trying to find a job so when he encounters a wealthy man played by Jackie Gleason, he told him to take care of his kid Eric Bates played by Scott Schwartz. They both made a best friend bond that made them care for each other.
Let me give the positives and I feel Both Pryor and Schwartz as Mr. Brown and Bates delivered some cute moments of the film that is easily the best moments and some of the jokes are fine.
My negatives with this film is that the film is surrounded with so many jokes that looses a bit of the overall story and I feel the… -
So, here's the premise: an extremely rich, privileged, white plutocrat, who runs secret fundraisers for the KKK, has a kid from a previous marriage who he can't be bothered with but just gives the spoilt, insufferable brat anything he wants when he sees him for a week once a year. On this visit he buys him a real live black man as a 'toy'!
This American remake of the 1976 French film 'Le jouet' changes 'the toy' from a white to a black man so adds a racist/slavery angle to this 'money can buy you anything but love' and 'everyone has their price' story. But it's a silly slapstick comedy vehicle for Richard Pryor, whose schtick doesn't work nearly so… -
A meeting of comedy giants, who stride across the screen with a walk this way bit...
Francis Veber’s Le Jouet (1976) gets an American adaptation by Richard Donner, with Richard Pryor taking on Pierre Richard’s role as the titular Toy. The plot follows a struggling journalist who while working as cleaning staff at a toy store is hired to be the plaything of the owner’s spoiled son. This is a week gig as a live-in nanny, so questions over human ownership – along with the extent of child bonding shown, are greatly exaggerated. The casting of Pryor does add a racial question to the conversation, but comparisons to slavery are quickly dismissed with the same consideration as the KKK pie fight that the film climaxes with...
The Toy is so much worse than you imagine.
1982 Birth Year Challenge -
Wow, the worst premise ever.
Vegan points:
Richard Pryor is riding a bicycle and lets a dog cross the street with traffic behind him
Vegan alert:
-Richard Pryor offers Mr. Moorehouse chicken
-The kid hates liver
-German governess encourages kid to eat meat
-Reference to cow eaten by piranha
-Men go fishing
-U.S. gave new wife a fur coat -
This film was shot on location in baton rouge, louisiana during the summer of 1982. And apparently during filming, Richard Pryor was hospitalized due to "pneumonia." now i'm from baton rouge and it's never been less than a goddamn 85 degrees in the summer there. what kinda flimsy lungs having b!tch catches pneumonia while sweating their sticky balls off in the hot and humid louisiana summer sun. so somebody's lying here. and i'm guessing that somebody was Richard Pryor's cocaine dealer. -
I chose this for Richard's Donner and Pryor and the era, but boy-oh-boy-oh-boy...this needs to take a permanent residence in Stinksville, buried in the deepest hole they can dig. Either that or shot into deep space...but then, advanced spacefaring aliens might discover it and destroy us based on it.
There are so many problems it's hard to know where to begin, so I'll start with some fairly superficial things I enjoyed. It's bright, knockabout and showcases some (now retro) toys from an era I fondly recall. There's a Twiki from Buck Rogers, an Asteroids arcade cabinet, pinball machines, Superman comics (of course with Donner behind the megaphone).
But the rest of this 'comedy' movie is blanket racism. A wealthy arsehole… -
When I was a kid, I believed the only true measure of success as an adult was determined by whether or not you had a nude painting of Teresa Ganzel on your wall.
I’m sorry, little Christian. I have failed you. -
1982 In Review - December
#6
An underemployed reporter finds himself literally purchased as a toy for a rich spoiled brat.
This was one of those movies that I had never got round to watching and was hoping it contained a great Richard Pryor performance. Sadly it was not to be, the early 80’s were a bit of a graveyard of awful films starring Richard Pryor, he deserved so much better. Jack Brown (Richard Pryor) is in danger of losing everything - his marriage and his home - and becomes so desperate for a job that he dresses up like a traditional Southern maid to serve lunch to businessman U.S. Bates (Jackie Gleason).
He's quickly fired, but Bates' spoiled son…
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This is another nostalgia bomb that appeared on HBO with great frequency. I had not seen it in a while, and was feeling a little leary giving it my first rewatch in years on a day that just also happened to be Juneteenth. Though no one else would know, I internally questioned my decision to watch a movie about a rich, young, white boy (essentially) purchasing an adult, black, man as a "Toy", on such a significant day in such a significant year, but I'm glad I ignored that voice, as it allowed me to revisit a time capsule of memories that haven't aged so poorly, after all.
As far as his movie output goes, I think it would be…