A Piece of the Action (1977)
Director:
Sidney Poitier
Tagline:
« A delightfully delicious dilemma! »
Actors:
Manny Durrell
Dave Anderson
Joshua Burke
Lila French
Sarah Thomas
Rating:
(1’737 votes)
(1’737 votes)
Quotes:
« Dancer in the Disco: David Anderson, you haven't danced with me all night. Now, if you don't dance with me, I'm a gonna holler "Rape"!
»
« Dave Anderson: Is that a request?
»
« Dancer in the Disco: What, the rape or the dance?
»
« Dave Anderson: Don't make no never mind to me.
»
« Manny Durrell: A job is like a ball team. You don't have to like everybody you play with but you play with them because the only way you'll get your piece of the action, your championship ring, is…
»
« student: …for everybody to get one!
»
« Manny Durrell: That's what winning is – getting your piece of the action.
»
« Dave Anderson: Did you ever hear of the Quantum Theory?
»
« Lila French: Physics wasn't my best subject.
»
« Dave Anderson: It's not physics, it's a discotheque.
»
« Lila French: A discotheque?
»
« Dave Anderson: Yes, a discotheque. You know, like you do the funky chicken, the funky rhinoceros, the…
»
« Lila French: Yes, I know, I know, I know.
»
« Dave Anderson: You do?
»
« Lila French: You think I'm an old spinster, dedicating her life to good works and no fun at all. Is that what you think?
»
« Dave Anderson: I didn't say that you was old.
»
« Lila French: Well, you're wrong.
»
« Dave Anderson: You are old?
»
« Lila French: No, the other.
»
« Dave Anderson: I'm sorry. I was wrong.
»
« Dave Anderson: We'll go to dinner tonight and then we'll go to the Quantum Theory.
»
« Lila French: No!
»
« Dave Anderson: What is it that you have against me? I'm rich, I'm "suave-y", and I have a clean navel; I'm full-blooded – I bought it from a veteran!
»
« Lila French: [laughing] Oh, David! You're impossible!
»
« Lila French: Uh-uh. You just have to get to know me.
»
« Lila French: Maybe I better.
»
Trailer:
A Piece of the Action
Runtime:135 minutes
Plots:
A retired Chicago cop blackmails two rich thieves into “volunteering” to help juvenile delinquents change paths.
Dave Anderson and Manny Durrell are two high-class sneak thieves who have never been caught. Joshua Burke is a retired detective who has enough evidence on both of them to put them behind bars, but instead he offers to maintain his silence if the crooks will go straight and do work at a youth center for delinquents. At first, the crooks are reluctant and unwilling, and so are the kids. As time goes by, they gain the trust and admiration of the kids and they start to enjoy the job. All goes well until someone from the past orders them to do one last heist–or else.
Dave Anderson and Manny Durrell are two small-time crooks who each pull flawless jobs. Now the cops are completely baffled. But one newly-retired officer, Joshua Burke, knows who they are and what they did, but instead of turning them he offers them a proposition: work at a youth center for underprivileged teenagers or…With very little choice, they agree to it, but they also try to find out who he is.
