Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageA Piece of the Action (1977)
Director: Sidney Poitier
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Poitier and Cosby, successful thieves and pointedly more honest than the organisations they rob, suddenly acquire a social conscience when blackmailed by a retired cop (Jones) into doing time at the local community centre and using their knowhow to prepare a bunch of dead end kids for society. Instead of usefully contemplating the subversive implications of such an arrangement, A Piece of the Action abandons the idea that society's there for the taking in favour of wholesale sincerity and homespun philosophy. The result is best described as integration comedy: a kind of black version of Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People.Author: CPe
Cast & crew
Director: Sidney Poitier
Producer: Melville Tucker
Cast: Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby, James Earl Jones, Denise Nicholas, Hope Clark, Tracy Reed, Titos Vandis, Frances Foster, Jason Evers, Marc Lawrence full cast
Duration: 135 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Hippies who work for The Man
To celebrate George Clooney comedy 'The Men who Stare at Goats', we look back at six memorable onscreen hippies who fought the system from within
Roland Emmerich's guide to disaster movies
Ahead of the release of '2012', Roland Emmerich offers his ten tips on creating the perfect global catastrophe
Grant Heslov: interview
Grant Heslov, director of 'The Men who Stare at Goats' talks about his old pal George Clooney, his interest in the paranormal, and his fond memories of working on 'Happy Days'
The Coen brothers discuss 'A Serious Man'
Masters of contrary comedy, Joel and Ethan Coen have struck gold again with their latest, ‘A Serious Man’
Ten inspirations behind 'Avatar'?
Time Out ponders the influences behind James Cameron's anticipated space-opera on the basis of the trailer
Michael Jackson's This Is It: review
Kenny Ortega's posthumous concert film is a rousing eulogy for one of pop's great enigmas
Michael Haneke: The man behind the menace
From Cannes to Munich to London, Dave Calhoun tours Michael Haneke's Palme d'Or winner, 'The White Ribbon'
Lone Scherfig talks 'An Education'
Danish director Lone Scherfig was an unlikely choice for a very English affair like 'An Education'. Cath Clarke meets her
How Jane Campion brought John Keats back to life
Time Out gets Romantic with the ‘difficult’ New Zealander about her new film, 'Bright Star'
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now