Coming to America

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Coming to America

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 with story by Eddie Murphy, who also starred in the movie.

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 Joffer
Clarence
Randy Watson
Saul
Arsenio Hall Semmi
Morris
Reverend Brown
Ugly Girl
James Earl Jones King Jaffe Joffer
John Amos Cleo McDowell
Madge Sinclair Queen Aoleon Joffer
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
Sheila Johnson Lady-in-Waiting
Jake Steinfeld Cab Driver
Calvin Lockhart Colonel Izzi
Samuel L. Jackson Hold-Up Man
Vondie Curtis-Hall Basketball Game Vendor
Don Ameche Mortimer Duke
Ralph Bellamy Randolph Duke
Garcelle Beauvais Rose Bearer
Cuba Gooding, Jr. Boy getting haircut in barbershop

[edit] Production

Because of the name similarity, the film's producers had to obtain permission from McDonald's before using the name McDowell's. The McDowell's scenes were filmed at a Wendy's restaurant located at 8507 Queens Boulevard in Elmhurst, Queens.

Coming to America features Murphy and Arsenio Hall in several different roles, which following the success of this film became a Murphy film staple. Hall plays Reverend Brown, who introduces Randy Watson (Murphy) and his band Sexual Chocolate, who perform George Benson's song "Greatest Love of All" at the Black Awareness Rally. In the barbershop scenes, Murphy and Hall 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; co-star 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 and Murphy collaboration, Trading Places. Randolph and Mortimer Duke lost their enormous fortunes in that film. 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!" (failing to notice that the generous Prince Akeem bears an uncanny resemblance to Billy Ray Valentine, the Trading Places man who ruined them). A portion of the Trading Places score can be heard during the Bellamy-Amache cameo.

[edit] Soundtrack

[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.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ 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

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
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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) •