The Guy girls remember the 1982 Richard Pryor film The Toy with a great deal of fondness, in part because it was on heavy rotation in the Guy household through their childhood. But a film about a billionaire’s young son “purchasing” a Black man to be his toy for the week has some pretty chilling implications that the movie itself doesn’t do enough to acknowledge.
In this week’s episode, Tracie shares how rewatching this movie in 2024 is both better and worse than she expected. It’s better because Richard Pryor is a delightful and talented center for the movie. And it’s worse because the film lets the villainous U.S. Bates, played by Jackie Gleason, get away with truly reprehensible behavior without real consequence and gives him a happy ending that he doesn’t earn. While the film is an indictment of capitalism, it also reinforces the idea that being nice to oppressors is how to secure human rights.
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