Calvin Lockhart

The first in a trio of very broad comedies from director Sidney Poitier features Poitier and Bill Cosby as two small-time hustlers always looking for an angle. During a robbery at a swanky nightclub, they are relieved of their wallets, only to find later that one of them had a lottery ticket that came up a winner. The chase is on as they scour the city to find their prize, along the way running up against Harry Belafonte as a sly and suave mob kingpin (with a nod to Don Corleone) with his eye on the ticket as well.

Back in the day, when Richard Roundtree, Fred Williamson, Issac Hayes, and Pam Grier were stickin' it to the Man, Sidney Poitier and Bill Cosby collaborated on three buddy comedies that offered urban audiences an alternative to private dicks, sex machines, and bad muthas. The Uptown Saturday Nightstars re-team for an "outtasite" scam involving hypnosis, a hopeless beanpole boxer (Jimmie Good Times Walker), and two rival kingpins.