Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling

1986
R
1h 37m

IMDb RATING

6.3/10

2.2K

YOUR RATING

Richard Pryor in Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (1986)

After severely burning himself in a drug incident, a comedian has a near death experience in which he reviews his life.

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57 Photos

Stand-Up Biography Comedy Drama

After severely burning himself in a drug incident, a comedian has a near death experience in which he reviews his life.After severely burning himself in a drug incident, a comedian has a near death experience in which he reviews his life.After severely burning himself in a drug incident, a comedian has a near death experience in which he reviews his life.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.3/10

2.2K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 nomination total

Videos1

Trailer 1:15

Trailer

Photos57

+ 51

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Riffraff

Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The dark side of Jo Jo's (Richard Pryor) growing acclaim in the film's story line is a reliance first on booze, then drugs. It is an aspect of the film which, Pryor admits, was painful to evoke as a writer, director, and actor. He said, "I look at the movie now and ask myself, 'Why did you show people that?' But I had no choice. It was something I had to do. I won't cop out, trying to explain why Jo Jo, or I, did drugs. I know why. I understand it even better after making the picture. But it's all there on film for people to take as they see fit. I'm one of the lucky ones. I was gone, crazy, out of my mind. But I'm alive."

Goofs
A 1980's Lincoln Town Car appears twice during the "Young Jojo" sequence: Over Young Jojo's shoulder during closeups when he looks back at "Older Jojo" sitting at the corner store, and then again briefly parked in front of the family house a few minutes later when he returns home and is chastised by his grandmother for playing on the lawn.

Quotes
Jo Jo Dancer: [to his wife as he gets on the bus] I'm gonna write you, I'm gonna write you.

Connections
Featured in At the Movies: Last Resort/Short Circuit/Jo Jo Dancer Your Life Is Calling/Broken Rainbow (1986)

Soundtracks
My Destiny
Produced by Arif Mardin, Philippe Saisse and Chaka Khan
Written and Performed by Chaka Khan
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Records

User reviews17

Featured review

6/10

personal docudrama

Jo Jo Dancer (Richard Pryor) is a successful comedian. In a drunken haze, he severely burns himself. His spirit watches his wounded body in his hospital bed and recalls his journey to that point. As a child, Jo Jo grew up in the brothel with his mother. As a young man, he decides to go to the big city Cleveland to try his hand in stand up. His father beats him up and his young wife is too afraid to go with him. He gets a gig at a strip club. As his career rises, his marriages suffer a roller-coaster ride of drug use and other difficulties.

This is a thinly-veiled personal docudrama. I think it's probably a mistake for Pryor to direct the movie himself. It's technically competent but the material is there for something much more compelling. The story never gets much tension. It's coated in a functional lifetime docudrama. An experienced director would be able to bring something more interesting in the structure and also a deeper performance from Pryor. I love Pryor as a comic and an actor. I don't love this movie quite as much.