Coming to America
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Coming to America is a 1988 romantic comedy film directed by John Landis. The screenplay was written by David Sheffield, Barry W. Blaustein, and Eddie Murphy. Murphy also stars in the film along with James Earl Jones and Arsenio Hall.
Plot Summary
Eddie Murphy stars as Akeem, the Prince of a fictitious African monarchy called Zamunda. The country is ruled by King Jaffe Joffeur (played by James Earl Jones), and is home to the Prince's royal servant, Semmi (Arsenio Hall).Faced with the prospect of an arranged marriage to a woman he has never met, Akeem pleads with his father, the King (James Earl Jones), to be allowed to find a bride of his own choosing.
In the process, Akeem wishes to travel outside of Zamunda after living there since birth. His father misunderstands him and believes that the Prince wishes to "sow his royal oats" before settling down with his arranged bride.
After being granted a forty-day vacation from his father, Akeem reveals his true intentions to Semmi of finding a bride in America. The prince and his royal servant flip a coin, choosing New York City, New York over Los Angeles, California, and Akeem picks the borough of Queens, believing it to be the best place to look for potential bride for a king.
Akeem and Semmi pretend to be African university students in order not to stand out. At first, Akeem meets with a series of potential mates, but they all appear to have personal issues. At a "Black Awareness Week" event, Akeem sees Lisa McDowell (Shari Headley) giving a speech and becomes interested in her. Lisa's father, Cleo McDowell (John Amos), is the owner of a fast food restaurant called McDowell's, which is being investigated by McDonald's Corporation for copying the entire establishment. In an attempt to get to know Lisa, Akeem seeks employment for Semmi and himself at the restaurant and are placed on sanitation duty. Darryl Jenks (Eriq La Salle), who is Lisa's current boyfriend, is the son of the rich inventor of "Soul Glo", a jheri curl product.
Cleo treats Darryl well because he hopes his daughter will marry into wealth. Darryl upsets Lisa by having Cleo announce that the two are engaged without proposing to her first. Lisa seeks comfort by talking to Akeem, who tells Lisa that he was a goat farmer back in Zamunda. It takes a while to win her affection, but eventually he does, and they fall in love. When King Jaffe and his entourage come searching for his son, Cleo discovers that Akeem is a prince and begins to treat him well. When Lisa finds out who Akeem really is, she becomes upset because of his deception. King Jaffe tells her that Akeem had just come to "sow his royal oats" and had a bride waiting back in Zamunda, which upsets her even further. Akeem confronts her and reaffirms his love for her. Lisa, however, is not confident to pursue the relationship any further and bids him a tearful farewell. Back in Zamunda the royal wedding proceeds, with Akeem still assuimg his bride will be the previous one chosen for him by his parents. However, to his suprise, the bride happens to be Lisa, who was brought to Zamunda after the King abolished the original arranged marriage tradition.
Cast
- Eddie Murphy as Prince Akeem/Clarence/Randy Watson/Saul
- Arsenio Hall as Semmi/Morris/Reverend Brown
- James Earl Jones as King Jaffe Joffer
- John Amos as Cleo McDowell
- Madge Sinclair as Queen Aoleon
- Shari Headley as Lisa McDowell
- Paul Bates as Oha
- Eriq La Salle as Darryl Jenks
- Frankie Faison as Landlord
- Vanessa Bell Calloway as Imani Izzi
- Louie Anderson as Mauric
- Allison Dean as Patrice McDowell
- Sheila Johnson as Lady-in-Waiting
- Jake Steinfeld as Cab Driver
- Calvin Lockhart as Colonel Izzi
- Michele Watley as Bather
- Cuba Gooding, Jr. as Boy in Barber Shop
Lawsuit
The film was the subject of the Buchwald v. Paramount lawsuit, 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 lawsuit and was awarded damages; Paramount settled with Buchwald, unwilling to risk an appeal.Trivia
- This film includes a cameo of two characters from the movie Trading Places, another Eddie Murphy film. At the end of Trading Places, the Duke brothers, Randolph and Mortimer, lose their entire fortunes at the hands of Murphy's character. In this film, the brothers are now homeless and living on the streets. (The World Trade Center can be seen in full glory as the backdrop to this scene.) Prince Akeem gives them a paper bag filled with a large sum of money, enough to get them off the streets again.
- Eddie Murphy plays a number of other different characters interspersed throughout the movie. One in particular was Randy Watson, who sang a rather terrible rendition of Whitney Houston's hit song Greatest Love Of All with his back-up band, Sexual Chocolate. This takes place during the "Black Awareness Rally" scene.
- Musician Karl Denson is a member of Sexual Chocolate.
- Actor John Amos was in a McDonald's commercial in the 1970s.
- Cuba Gooding Jr.'s first ever role in a motion picture as the boy getting his hair trimmed at the barber shop.
- Because of the obvious name similarity, the film's producers had to obtain permission from McDonald's before using the name McDowell's. The scenes of McDowell's were filmed at the actual address located at 85-07 Queens Boulevard in Elmhurst, Queens. Currently there is a Wendy's at that location.
- Actors James Earl Jones and Madge Sinclair performed as king and queen again in Disney's Lion King. That role was also Sinclair's last, before she died of leukemia.
- At multiple points in the movie, the old man in the barbershop calls Akeem "Kunta Kinte." John Amos had earlier played Kunta Kinte in the 1977 miniseries Roots.
- One of the Zamunda scenes is recreated in the 1997 Busta Rhymes video Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See.
- Soul Glo has entered the English and American vernacular as a name for any jheri curl product.
- 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.
- Actor Jamie Foxx played the soldier who opened the door to the back room in the engagement scene.
- Samuel L. Jackson played the man who tried to rob the McDowell's restaurant at gunpoint in one of his early roles.
External links
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