Hacker Cinema
Coming to America
1988 · Film · 117 min
Part of Coming to America Collection
Directed by John Landis
An African prince decides it’s time for him to find a princess... and his mission leads him and his most loyal friend to Queens, New York. In disguise as an impoverished immigrant, the pampered prince quickly finds himself a new job, new friends, new digs, new enemies and lots of trouble.
1 positive17 neutralfrom 18 commenters
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19 comments on Hacker News
That's pretty funny, in the old movie Coming to America there was a scene parodying something similar but it was McDowells vs McDonalds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djI_ret3S9g
> Coming to America scholar Questlove
That's one mighty education focus. I mean I know the guy from his bits and music in SNL and other shows, and I saw the movie couple of times. But never expected those words joined together in such meaning, here on HN.
The Jheri curl is the inspiration for "Soul Glo" in the movie "Coming to America:"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGrasobHcKA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=961x0NmyHKE
According to https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/coming-to-america-oral-history-soul-glo-1136150/, "Soul glo" is the more common term now:
> “The term should be ‘Jheri curl,’” Coming to America scholar Questlove tells Rolling Stone. “But everyone says ‘Soul Glo.’”
(for those who did not make the connection, in the movie Coming to America Eddie Murphy gave some money to two bums - the bums are the Dukes brothers who went bankrupt at the end of the movie Trading Places)
I think of Conan, and Coming to America.
I was told by an industry insider (taken at face value), that he almost never turned down a part, which drove his agent nuts. That's why he was in these kind of oddball movies. I suspect that Nicholas Cage is similar.
Coming to America was an interesting treatise on American corporate culture.
It was also a movie I think.
So 7 basic plots. But an actual plot for an original story isn’t just a basic plot is it? It’s an original work.
Movies are sued all the time for copyright infringement due to substantially copying plot and character elements. [0]
Because these cases tend to each be unique, the line between infringement and non-infringement gets settled very much on a case by case basis.
As a result of this inherent unpredictability, most cases involve the accused settling with the aggrieved party to get the lawsuit dismissed.
This is common in many areas of civil law.
A few examples:
1. *"The Island" (2005)* - Accusation: Similarities to the 1979 film "Parts: The Clonus Horror." - Outcome: Settled out of court. [1]
2. *"Frozen" (2013)* - Accusation: Claimed similarities to a short film named "The Snowman." - Outcome: Disney settled the case. [2]
3. *"Coming to America" (1988)* - Accusation: Art Buchwald claimed the movie was based on his script. - Outcome: Paramount settled for an undisclosed amount. [3]
4. *"The Terminator" (1984)* - Accusation: Harlan Ellison claimed it was similar to an episode of "The Outer Limits." - Outcome: Settled out of court, and an acknowledgment was added to later copies. [4]
5. *"Disturbia" (2007)* - Accusation: Accused of being similar to Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window." - Outcome: Initially dismissed, but a settlement was reached. [5]
[0] https://movieweb.com/movies-accused-of-copyright-infringement/
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parts:_The_Clonus_Horror
[2] https://ew.com/article/2015/06/25/disney-frozen-lawsuit-the-snowman-settlement/
[3] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buchwald_v._Paramount
[4] https://www.cbr.com/terminator-harlan-ellison-credit/
[5] https://www.flixist.com/new-disturbia-and-rear-window-lawsuit-over-settlement-breach/
While I agree with your sentiment, the phrase "we're back" is at least as old as the film (1988) Coming to America, probably older.
I'm aware of Prowse's claims, however, they are just that, claims, which weren't even made public until around 2009.
Paramount actually demonstrated its CTA accounting practices in court in 1990, such practices were found to be "unconscionable" by a judge, and the plaintiff Art Buchwald was permitted to proceed with a tort suit.
So while the practice itself obviously goes back a long way, Coming to America was the movie that revealed such practices to the general public, and even to Hollywood insiders -- thus, I'm sticking with my original statement.
Coming To America was the original "wildly successful movie that made no profit"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buchwald_v._Paramount
What's silly is your characterization of these barber shops.
We're talking about black American males who are local to their barbers and they use the time to talk about the issues that affect them.
There are literally movies (Coming to America, the Barbershop) and TV shows (The Shop: Uninterrupted) which directly feature these concepts. So if they're as unimportant and silly as you suggest, then why are they so prominent?
Could it possibly be because these people find the experience important in a way that you've missed?
My favorite story is about the actor (who else, to be honest?) Samuel L. Jackson, born in 1948, who was in his mid 40s when Pulp Fiction (1994) and Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995) were released.
Some might argue that he had notable roles before that, but I think most people will argue that his career really kicked off after those two movies in particular.
EDIT: According to Wikipedia, "he rose to fame with films such as Coming to America (1988), Goodfellas (1990), Patriot Games (1992), Juice (1992), Menace II Society (1993), True Romance (1993), Jurassic Park (1993), and Fresh (1994)", which means that he was exactly-ish 40 years old when Coming to America (1988) was released.
My main way of thinking about Earl (whom I've seen in other movies, e.g. "Coming to America") or trying to convey who he is to another, is as "the guy who did Vader's voice".
>Nothing worse than sitting in front of a hot meal you can't eat and being unable to get the waiter's attention.
That would be "Waiter come taste the soup":
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094898/crazycredits?item=cz0003114
More seriously, it all depends on the "level" of service, and - ultimately - on the ratio waiters/served people, which is usually between 1/6-1/10 (excellent service) and 1/25-1/30 (scarce or lacking service).
> Eddie was never mainstream
SNL, 48 Hours, Beverly Hills Cop series, Coming to America, Golden Child, Trading Places, Nutty Professor, PJs...
He wasn't "mainstream" with respect to G and PG audiences, and wasn't on "regular" TV shows much. He did tours and cable specials like "Delirious" and "Raw" for the 'adult' market. But he was pretty much everywhere in the 80s, in multiple hit movies and cable specials (and radio charts!) in pretty much every year of the 80s in the to 90s.
Another way to put it - he was about as 'mainstream' as a black entertainer was allowed to be in the 80s. That he dealt more in 'adult' stuff vs 'family' stuff (like Cosby) was his own choice, of course, but he no doubt broke a hell of a lot of barriers in those years.
hey! VHS is actually a tribute to the old "Video Home System" :) We also name our releases with 80s movies, here are some examples of the latest versions:
- 2.63.0 Coming to America - 2.60.0 The Terminator - 2.59.0 Full Metal Jacket
The author clarifies in another post on her blog[1] that she isn't claiming that the film is sufficiently similar to the book that it would infringe on her intellectual property. Rather, she is arguing that she has a contract which guarantees her certain compensation if the studio make a film "based on" her book, and that "based on" doesn't require that the film be so similar to the book that it would infringe her copyright. She references an earlier court case (about the film "Coming to America") which distinguishes what would count as copyright infringement from what would count as a film being "based on" a story, when the words "based on" are used in a contract[2]. This does seem like a slightly headache-inducing legal subtlety.
[1]: http://www.tessgerritsen.com/difference-breach-contract-copyright-infringement/
[2]: http://web.archive.org/web/20111108152730/http://www.degenevieve.com/files/Buchwald%20v%20Paramount.pdf
The movie was "Coming to America" (1988)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buchwald_v._Paramount
Has there ever been a time without massive inequality in NYC? It's been a standard theme in TV and films for as long as I can remember that Manhattan is stunning wealth right next to Harlem's grinding poverty. Look at Eddie Murphy films from the 80s, Coming To America, Trading Places, etc. What's different now?