Coming to America
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| Coming to America | |
|---|---|
| Image:ComingtoAmerica1988MoviePoster.jpg Coming to America theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | John Landis |
| Produced by | Leslie Belzberg George Folsey Jr. Mark Lipsky |
| Written by | Story: Eddie Murphy Screenplay: David Sheffield Barry W. Blaustein |
| Starring | Eddie Murphy Arsenio Hall Shari Headley James Earl Jones John Amos Eriq La Salle |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | June 29, 1988 |
| Running time | 116 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $28,000,000 |
| IMDb profile | |
Coming to America is a 1988 comedy film directed by John Landis. The screenplay was written by David Sheffield, Barry W. Blaustein and Eddie Murphy, based on an idea and an original script by Art Buchwald. Murphy was joined by James Earl Jones, Arsenio Hall and Madge Sinclair in starring roles.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Akeem Joffer (Eddie Murphy), the prince and heir to the throne of the fictitious African country Zamunda, is discontented with being pampered all his life. The final straw is when his parents (James Earl Jones and Madge Sinclair) present him with a bride-to-be he has never met before, trained to mindlessly obey his every command.
Akeem concocts a plan to travel to America to find a wife he can both love and respect. He and servant Semmi (Arsenio Hall) settle on Queens, New York, and after several scrapes, find an apartment and begin working at a local restaurant called McDowell's, a blatant copy of McDonald's, passing themselves off as students. When he first meets Akeem and Semmi, owner Mr. McDowell (John Amos) explains all the minute differences between his place and McDonald's, ending with the line, "They use the sesame seed bun. My buns have no seeds."
Akeem falls in love with Lisa (Shari Headley), the daughter of the restaurant's owner, Mr. McDowell who possesses the qualities the prince is looking for. The rest of the film centers on Akeem's attempts to win Lisa's hand in marriage, while adjusting to life in America and dodging his royal duties and prerogatives.
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Eddie Murphy | Prince Akeem Clarence Randy Watson Saul Sanyu |
| Arsenio Hall | Semmi Morris Reverend Brown Last (ugly) woman in bar scene |
| James Earl Jones | King Jaffe Joffer |
| John Amos | Cleo McDowell |
| Madge Sinclair | Queen Aoleon |
| Shari Headley | Lisa McDowell |
| Paul Bates | Oha |
| Eriq La Salle | Darryl Jenks |
| Frankie Faison | Landlord |
| Vanessa Bell Calloway | Imani Izzi |
| Louie Anderson | Maurice |
| Allison Dean | Patrice McDowell |
| Jake Steinfeld | Cab Driver |
| Calvin Lockhart | Colonel Izzi |
| Michele Watley | Bather |
| Cuba Gooding, Jr. | Boy in Barber Shop |
| Ralph Bellamy | Randolph Duke |
| Don Ameche | Mortimer Duke |
| Samuel L. Jackson | Hold Up Man at McDowell's |
| Clint Smith | Sweets |
[edit] Production
Because of the obvious name similarity, the film's producers had to obtain permission from McDonald's before using the name McDowell's. The scenes in McDowell's were actually filmed at a Wendy's restaurant located at 8507 Queens Boulevard in Elmhurst, Queens.
Like many of Eddie Murphy's films, Coming to America features Murphy in several different roles, this time paired with Arsenio Hall, who also plays multiple roles. For example, Hall plays Reverend Brown, who introduces Randy Watson (Murphy) and his band Sexual Chocolate, who perform a hilarious rendition of Whitney Houston's song "Greatest Love of All" at the "Black Awareness Rally." In the barbershop scenes, Murphy and Hall (heavily made up) play the elderly barbers Clarence and Morris, who engage in a furious debate with Sweets about the boxing skills of Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano rather than attending to Akeem's hair. The barber scene is especially notable because Murphy plays both Akeem and Clarence simultaneously, effectively giving himself a haircut. Murphy also plays the old Jewish man in the barbershop who calls Akeem, "Kunta Kinte," referring to the Roots character made famous by LeVar Burton (trivia: John Amos played the adult Kunta Kinte later in the Roots series).
Famed South African chorus, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, sings Mbube during the opening sequence (the song is known as The Lion Sleeps Tonight in America). The group has gone on to record several different versions of Mbube; however, the version heard in Coming to America has not been released on its soundtrack or on CD as of 2006.
John Landis' calling card/easter egg, See You Next Wednesday, appears on a science-fiction movie poster in the subway station after Lisa storms off the train and Akeem follows her.
Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche reprise their roles as the Duke brothers from another Landis / Murphy collaboration, Trading Places. Randolph and Mortimer Duke lost their enormous fortunes in that film because of Murphy's character. In this film, the two men are now homeless and living on the streets. Akeem gives them a paper bag filled with money, which they gratefully accept and exclaim "We're Back!" (while failing to notice that the generous Prince Akeem bears an uncanny resemblance to Billy Ray Valentine, the man who ruined them).
[edit] Lawsuit
The film was the subject of the Buchwald v. Paramount civil suit, filed by Art Buchwald in 1990 against the film's producers on the grounds that the film's idea was stolen from a 1982 script that Paramount had optioned from Buchwald. Buchwald won the breach of contract action and the court ordered money damages. The parties later settled the case before an appeal.
[edit] In popular culture
| Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
References to the movie in later pop culture:
- One of the Zamunda scenes is recreated in the 1997 Busta Rhymes video Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See.
- Soul Glo has entered the English and American vernacular as a name for any jheri curl product. Family Force 5 lead singer Solomon Olds also based his "gangsta" name Soul Glow Activatur on the fictional hair gel.
- The song Coming to America, by Dipset rap duo S.A.S., contains the lyric "Now we're coming to America like Eddie Murphy".
- In the track "Coming2America" on the Ludacris album "Word of Mouf", he alludes to a scene in Coming To America where Akeem is being bathed by topless female servants by extracting the line "The royal penis is clean, Your Highness." Snoop Dogg and R. Kelly repeated this on their single That's That. Additionally, the melody used for That's That is extrapolated from the background music during this scene.
- In the Dave Chappelle skit "Haters Convention" one of the participants is mocked for his dress sense, with Chappelle referring to him as a "Sexual Chocolate Motherfucker". This is based on the Sexual Chocolate band led by Randy Watson in Coming to America.
- Also, in the scene towards the end where the King of Zamunda (James Earl Jones) and his entourage arrive at McDowell's looking for Akeem, he tells Mr. McDowell to call him when he sees Akeem. McDowell asks if he wants him to tell Akeem his father is in the city, the King replies, "No, do not alert him to our presence, I shall deal with him myself", just like in 1983's Return of the Jedi, where Darth Vader (voiced by James Earl Jones) says the same exact line in reference to Luke Skywaker, also his "son", being on the forest moon of Endor and being able to "sense" Vader through the Force. Although unclear if the line was intentionally put in the movie, and most likely a coincidence, it should be noted that Director Landis' close relationship with George Lucas may have spurred this satirism toward his contemporaries' film.
- In the scene where Samuel L. Jackson is attempting to hold up the McDowell's restaurant, you will see a small boy sitting on the ground. That boy is none other than the New York Yankee's own Alex Rodriguez.
[edit] References
- ^ Thane Rosenbaum wrote, "In 1995, the syndicated columnist Art Buchwald prevailed after a seven-year legal battle against Paramount Pictures, claiming that he had submitted the idea, and the original script, for the Eddie Murphy film, Coming to America, without ever being properly compensated or acknowledged for his efforts. The trial court eventually agreed with Buchwald, although the damage award that he received was considerably less than what he had sought, and even less than what he eventually had to pay out in legal fees. The Myth of Moral Justice, page 182.
[edit] External links
Films directed by John Landis |
|---|
Schlock (1973) • The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977) • National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) • The Blues Brothers (1980) • An American Werewolf in London (1981) • Trading Places (1983) • Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) • Into the Night (1985)• Spies Like Us (1985) • ¡Three Amigos! (1986) • Amazon Women on the Moon (1987) • Coming to America (1988) • Oscar (1991) • Innocent Blood (1992) • Beverly Hills Cop III (1994) • The Stupids (1996) • Blues Brothers 2000 (1998) • Susan's Plan (1998) • Slasher (2004) • Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project (2007) • |
fr:Un prince à New York it:Il principe cerca moglie ja:星の王子 ニューヨークへ行く nn:Coming to America pt:Coming to America ru:Поездка в Америку (фильм,1988)
