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“They’re my homegirls, but we smoked them.” (Neither Campbell nor Johnson could be reached for comment.) All parties brought their A-game, so the audience is the true winner. House Party isn’t just one of the most important black films ever made—it’s one of the most important films of the late 20th century, a movie that showed Hollywood the breadth of the black experience, and the immense interest in it. Part of why House Party resonated then and continues to now is that kind of warm authenticity.
Comedy show
While they played teenagers, they were nearly a decade out of high school. Comedian Robin Harris was on the verge of breaking big when he appeared as Pops, Kid's strict father, in "House Party." Pops forbids Kid to attend Play's party, given that it takes place on a school night and Kid has homework to do. Once he realizes Kid has sneaked out of the house, he angrily searches for him. Apart from his work as a producer, songwriter, and funkmaster, he's known for his colorful hair and outfits, his outsized personality, and his incalculable influence on other musicians, from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Tupac Shakur and beyond. Though he's had some hardships, including substance abuse, he's come out the other side as funky as ever, getting sober in 2019 and receiving a Lifetime Achievement Grammy that same year. Though Martin Lawrence was the biggest star to come out of "House Party," George Clinton was the biggest one in it — despite only appearing in a cameo.
Full Force rewrote a lot of their scenes and added the "we're gonna kick your f-ing ass," chant.
The duo carried this atmosphere over into their big-screen debut, which was also the first effort from writer-director Reginald Hudlin, who would go on to helm projects like Boomerang and produce Django Unchained for Quentin Tarantino. The film was a critical and popular success, spawning sequels and, decades later, a remake that's being produced by LeBron James. Back in 1986, Harvard University undergrad Reginald Hudlin won an award for his short thesis film “House Party”. Three years later, he and his older brother writer/director/producer Warrington would expand the short into a full length first feature. The original script was written with the intention crossover Rap superstars Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince would play the main roles but they declined so the script was modified for Kid of Kid N’ Play to occupy the role originally intended for Will “Fresh Prince” Smith.
John Witherspoon
Kid and Play get into a dance contest with attractive girls Sydney and Sharane (originally it was Kid and Groove against Sydney and Sharane, but after Groove gets drunk and passes out, Play takes his place), then have a freestyle battle. Stab and his friends attempt to crash the party but are arrested a second time for attempting to burn the house down. At the very beginning of the movie, kids dance inside of a house, and the noise is so loud that it blows the roof off. The careless property damage might be worth it if there were any stakes or sense of narrative momentum to the script by Stephen Glover and Jamal Olori. Kevin keeps claiming he needs to throw the party to earn money for his daughter’s school (custody seems to be a factor), because his musty homemade beats aren’t making him any money, and his parents (Bill Bellamy and Nia Long in an unfortunately short appearance) are selling their home. Damon’s motivation seems to be that he just wants to floss in a borrowed mansion for the ’gram.
House Party (1990 film)
Sure, its R-rating is earned—there is no shortage of raunchy jokes—but it feels true to Black teenage experience in a way that audiences hadn’t seen in a major film since Cooley High. These were young Black people who aren’t sanitized—they face issues like cop harassment, after all—but who also aren’t “at-risk” necessarily, and whose lives aren’t neatly divided into stereotypical boxes. The movie shows you Black kids from the projects and from middle-class suburbia—and they don’t seem all that far away from each other, geographically or culturally. But never looks or feels like the same backdrop as Boyz N the Hood or Colors; it feels like this story could be anywhere in Black America.
The principal cast was rounded out by actress Tisha Campbell, video vixen & dancer A.J. Johnson plus members of Full Force as the antagonists, Stab (Paul Anthony), Zilla (B-Fine) & Pee Wee (Bowlegged Lou). “House Party” was shot in California during July 1989 before the soundtrack was done and Kid N’ Play were working on their sophomore LP. Harris' comedy was known for its explicit language and its side-splitting jokes. He had a small role as a bartender in "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka" and a larger one as Sweet Dick Willie in "Do The Right Thing," as well as playing Jerome in Eddie Murphy's "Harlem Nights" that same year.
Martin Lawrence: Bilal
In an interview with DJ Vlad in 2017, Lou said he rewrote a scene—including adding Pee-Wee's high-pitch nasally voice and his infamous sing-songy declaration to "kick your f--king aa-ass" and showed it to the Hudlin brothers. "We killed it and Warrington Hudlin looked at us and said, 'Keep it!'…. After that, I changed all of our f--king scenes in there," with his brothers' help, Lou said. Stab, Pee-Wee and Zilla aka the bullies who tormented and chased Kid throughout the entire movie and then tried to light Play's brick house on fire, were played by Full Force (Paul Anthony, Bowlegged Lou and B-Fine). But Lou, who'd been a theater buff, said their bully roles were "kinda plain, kinda bland, kinda like with no personality," so they re-worked them to give them some personality. The Hudlin brothers were just striking while the iron was hot using the momentum generated by recent films made by Black filmmakers. Little did they know how integral their film would become to not only helping to make Rap music and Hip Hop culture break into the mainstream in 1990 but pave the way for what would be regarded as a Black film renaissance the following year.
Robin Harris was a rising star in the world of stand-up comedy at the time he was cast to play Pop, the father of Kid's protagonist in House Party. He'd already gotten his start in movies, appearing in late '80s classics like I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, Harlem Nights, and Do the Right Thing. As Pop, he was the hard-edged disciplinarian trying to keep his son out of trouble, and coming down hard when his rules weren't obeyed. He's last seen just before the credits roll, preparing to punish Kid for his night of debauchery. Martin Lawrence was a fresh-faced 25 year-old when he appeared in a supporting role in House Party, with his only previous film credit coming in Spike Lee's drama Do the Right Thing.
“House Party”: A 25th Anniversary Retrospective
They accepted and in September 1990 the show “The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air” became a hit out of the gate for NBC. The Hudlins also had a cameo as thieves chased by an attack dog who jumped on the bus to escape it. “House Party” hit theaters on March 9th, 1990 via New Line Cinema and even though it only opened on 520 screens it averaged almost $9000 per screen and landed at #3 in the box office opening weekend making almost double its $2.5 million budget.
15 Things You Probably Didn't Know About House Party - Mentalfloss
15 Things You Probably Didn't Know About House Party.
Posted: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 08:00:00 GMT [source]
However, they do not do anything after realizing that Kid's only condom is too old to be used. When Sydney's parents come home – now revealed as one of the couples at the high-school reunion, including the man Kid ran into – Sydney helps Kid sneak out of the house. Rather than miss the party of the year, Kid sneaks out while Pop is sleeping. On his way to the party, Kid is stopped by the neighborhood police and runs into Stab and his brothers, jumps over a fence where a fat man named Roughouse is having sex.
Hip-hop was written into House Party’s script, but it went over the heads of many studio executives. Although the genre was rising in popularity during the late ’80s, and hip-hop-centric films like 1983’s Wild Style, 1984’s Beat Street, and 1985’s Krush Groove had become cult favorites, it still wasn’t on the average exec’s radar. Grillo says the staff at New Line’s New York office was well aware of hip-hop’s rising influence because they rode the subways and walked the streets, unlike their Los Angeles counterparts.
'House Party' star Christopher Martin says reboot is headed to theaters - REVOLT
'House Party' star Christopher Martin says reboot is headed to theaters.
Posted: Sun, 28 Aug 2022 07:00:00 GMT [source]
The good news is that Mitchell would go on to demonstrate a much wider range, with House Party serving as a launchpad for a long and venerable screen career. The '90s, in particular, were good to him, with roles on The John Larroquette Show and in the classic sci-fi comedy Galaxy Quest, in which he hilariously portrayed the grown-up Tommy Webber. After House Party, Johnson's acting career moved in fits and starts, leading her to roles in films like Sister Act and Baby Boy, and to television in a main role on Sirens and episodic turns in Chicago Hope and JAG, among others. Her most notable work, however, has been in the world of fitness, where she's become a wellness coach and the host of VH1's series Flab to Fab. She has served as a spokesperson for the American Cancer Society, and as Lindsay Lohan's life coach in the 2014 Oprah Winfrey Network docu-series Lindsay, demonstrating she's not afraid of any challenge. Comedians were cast in several key roles or did cameos in numerous scenes that helped the film flow perfectly.
He manages to get out of another scrape with Stab and his brothers, and they all end up in a jail cell. Kid entertains the rest of the men in the cell by rapping, distracting them long enough for Play, Sharane, Bilal, and Sydney to arrive and bail him out. After Play and Bilal drop him off, Kid sneaks in the house and gets undressed. As he is about to get into bed, he looks up to find Pop holding a belt as he prepares to spank him. Several pivotal scenes for ‘House Party’ were taped in Los Angeles County, the most populous county in California and the United States. The production team of the HBO Max movie set up camp in South Central Los Angeles, a region in southern Los Angeles County, to record some important sequences.
He gives Kid a beat to rap over while Kid is trying to avoid Stab and his brothers. Throughout "House Party," two white cops stop most of the major characters and hassle them. Played by Barry Diamond and Michael Pniewski, they're only referred to as "Cop #1" and "Cop #2" in the credits, though Robin Harris' Pops reads their badge names as Boyd and what sounds like Warnoski.
She's part of the crew that helps bail Kid out when he's jailed for fighting Stab and his crew, and the pair cap their night with a passionate kiss. Reginald Hudlin went on to direct “Boomerang”, produce the animated Adult Swim series “The Boondocks”, write for Marvel’s “Black Panther” as well as become President Of Entertainment for BET. He also co-wrote the highly slept on script turned graphic novel “The Birth Of A Nation” with Aaron McGruder. Once the Hudlins were no longer involved with the “House Party” franchise the films got further and further away from what initially made them resonate with audiences. There’s a reason why “House Party” still works 25 years after it was first released in theaters. Another interesting twist is after Will Smith & Jazzy Jeff turned down the lead roles in “House Party”, Quincy Jones and Benny Medina pitched them the idea of starring in a TV show instead.
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