Leonard Part 6
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| Leonard Part 6 | |
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 DVD cover for Leonard Part 6 |
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| Directed by | Paul Weiland |
| Produced by | Bill Cosby |
| Written by | Bill Cosby (story) Jonathan Reynolds (screenplay) |
| Starring | Bill Cosby Tom Courtenay Joe Don Baker Moses Gunn Gloria Foster |
| Music by | Elmer Bernstein |
| Cinematography | Jan de Bont |
| Editing by | Gerry Hambling |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | December 18, 1987 (USA) |
| Running time | 85 min |
| Language | English |
| Budget | Unknown |
| IMDb profile | |
Leonard Part 6 is a 1987 comedy film, directed by Paul Weiland and starring Bill Cosby, who also produced and co-wrote the film.
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[edit] Synopsis
Bill Cosby plays Leonard Parker, a former CIA spy who is recruited by the CIA—again—to save the world from an evil vegetarian who brainwashes animals to kill people. The movie also starred Joe Don Baker and Gloria Foster.
According to the opening sequence of the movie, the title refers to the idea that this film is actually the sixth installment of a series of films featuring the adventures of Leonard Parker, as parts one through five were locked up in the interests of world security.
The film ends with Leonard infiltrating the vegetarian base, fending off the vegetarians with magic meat he received from a magician, freeing the captive animals and flooding the base using dish soap. He escapes by riding an ostrich on the roof of the building, with the ostrich flying him down.
[edit] Criticism
When the film was released in 1987, Bill Cosby said he was so disappointed with it that he publicly advised people to not waste their money to see it. Cosby blamed most of the movie's problems on Weiland, whom he thought was too young and inexperienced, although Cosby himself was co-writer and producer. He bought the television rights to the film to make sure it was never shown on TV.
The movie won three Golden Raspberry Awards, for Worst Actor (Cosby), Worst Picture (Cosby), and Worst Screenplay (Jonathan Reynolds and Cosby). It was nominated for two more Razzie Awards, for Worst Supporting Actress (Foster) and Worst Director (Weiland). For the 2005 Razzies, it earned a nomination for the Worst "Comedy" of Our First 25 Years category. A few weeks after the ceremony, Cosby accepted his three Razzies for doing the movie on Fox's The Late Show; he requested that the three Razzies he earned be specifically made out of 24 carat (100%) gold and Italian marble.
The movie was mentioned in an episode of Family Guy. When an animated Cosby hypnotizes Stewie, Stewie responds "And I like pudding. And Ghost Dad was the best movie I've seen since Leonard Part 6."
Many critics also acknowledged Cosby's often confused and lackluster performance. A comedian whose comedy revolves around storytelling and observations of life, Cosby looked quite uncomfortable and lost in a role where the comedy was slapstick oriented and involved one-liner jokes.
The film has been a mainstay on the IMDB's bottom 100 list of the worst films.
[edit] Popular Culture
- The Roots wrote a song entitled "Leonard I-V", the eighth track on their debut album, entitled Organix. The lyrics of the chorus include a repetition of the phrase "Whatever happened to Leonard parts one through five?"
