IMDb RATING
6.0/10
3.7K
YOUR RATING
Failed parolee Joe Braxton has one last shot at redemption: by driving school kids from Philadelphia to Washington State.Failed parolee Joe Braxton has one last shot at redemption: by driving school kids from Philadelphia to Washington State.Failed parolee Joe Braxton has one last shot at redemption: by driving school kids from Philadelphia to Washington State.
- Awards
- 2 wins
Angel Ramirez Jr.
- Julio
- (as Ángel Ramírez)
- Directors
- Oz Scott
- Michael Schultz(uncredited)
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAccording to DVD Talk, "The film sat around gathering dust, until Stir Crazy (1980) came out, made a ton of cash, and prompted the producers to re-shoot sequences and release the film. The end result is a film that was produced before and after Pryor's suicide by fire attempt (you can see a physical difference during certain parts of the movie)."
- GoofsWhen Joe Braxton is hanging on the side of the bus as it begins to go down the hill, you can clearly see the cable of his safety harness attached to the rail of the bus.
- Quotes
Joe Braxton: [after forcing himself to give up his candy bar to the warehouse guard dog] Shit! There goes my goddamn dinner.
- Alternate versionsA few deleted scenes appeared on some TV versions, including a sequence where Joe and Marvin try to escape the warehouse, at the beginning.
- SoundtracksJust When I Needed You
Written by Roberta Flack & Eric Mercury
Performed by Roberta Flack with Luther Vandross
Featured review
Funny
Bustin' Loose (1981)
*** (out of 4)
Richard Pryor plays a con man who is blackmailed by his probation officer into taking eight troubled kids on a bus trip from Philadelphia to Seattle. Having been made in a politically incorrect time and featuring Pryor with troubled kids means you're going to have a great load of laughs but the film also has a heart of gold but more on this in a bit. As for pure laughs this is probably the best film I've seen from Pryor, although Moving is still my favorite movie of his due to it just being a personal favorite. This movie here features non-stop laughs from start to finish and it really gives Pryor a chance to act and he proves to be very reliable here. Pryor does a great job with the comedy and really delivers the jokes but what's most refreshing is seeing how well he does with the more dramatic moments. The film has a heart of gold but I think there are a few too many tender scenes meant to make the viewer get tears in their eyes. A lot of these dramatic scenes are pretty heartfelt but I think there are just too many of them. Pryor handles all of this very well though. Cicely Tyson plays the woman trying to save the kids and she's does a good job, although the romantic subplot with Pryor is pretty weak. There are numerous great scenes in the film including a great sequence where Pryor runs into the KKK but the highlight of the movie is certainly the scene where Pryor is driving the bus and three of the kids, acting like thugs, come up and start messing with him.
*** (out of 4)
Richard Pryor plays a con man who is blackmailed by his probation officer into taking eight troubled kids on a bus trip from Philadelphia to Seattle. Having been made in a politically incorrect time and featuring Pryor with troubled kids means you're going to have a great load of laughs but the film also has a heart of gold but more on this in a bit. As for pure laughs this is probably the best film I've seen from Pryor, although Moving is still my favorite movie of his due to it just being a personal favorite. This movie here features non-stop laughs from start to finish and it really gives Pryor a chance to act and he proves to be very reliable here. Pryor does a great job with the comedy and really delivers the jokes but what's most refreshing is seeing how well he does with the more dramatic moments. The film has a heart of gold but I think there are a few too many tender scenes meant to make the viewer get tears in their eyes. A lot of these dramatic scenes are pretty heartfelt but I think there are just too many of them. Pryor handles all of this very well though. Cicely Tyson plays the woman trying to save the kids and she's does a good job, although the romantic subplot with Pryor is pretty weak. There are numerous great scenes in the film including a great sequence where Pryor runs into the KKK but the highlight of the movie is certainly the scene where Pryor is driving the bus and three of the kids, acting like thugs, come up and start messing with him.
helpful•41
- Michael_Elliott
- May 24, 2008
- How long is Bustin' Loose?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $11,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $31,261,269
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $6,622,753
- May 25, 1981
- Gross worldwide
- $31,261,269
- Runtime1 hour 34 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
![Bustin' Loose (1981)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjMxNzhmNWUtMDJiNS00ODRjLWFlZmItZWVkNTc2NGE5YTE1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNzc5MjA3OA@@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,3,90,133_.jpg)