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Film / Bustin' Loose

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A 1981 American Road Comedy-Drama directed by Oz Scott note  that has failed parolee Joe Braxton (Richard Pryor) attempting to get another shot by driving a bunch of kids in a bus but runs into trouble.

The movie also stars Cicely Tyson, Robert Christian, George Coe, Earl Billings, Bill Quinn, Peggy McCay, Roy Jensen, Angel Ramirez, and Nick Dimitri.

It was released on May 22, 1981. It eventually lead to a series of the same name in 1987.


Tropes for the film:

  • Briar Patching: Joe Braxton begs a judge not to release him to his parole officer. When the judge ignores him, he and the parole officer exchange warm handshakes.
  • Everyone Has Standards: Even though many of the children (and adults) on the bus are non-white, the Klansmen volunteer to help push the bus out of the mud when they're told that the kids are all blind.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Joe Braxton is a sleazy petty crook with a cynical outlook, but he grows to deeply care for the troubled children that he takes across the country.
  • The Klan: Humorously portrayed, as they end up helping a busload of schoolchildren get out of a mud hole, only to fall face-first into the mud.
  • Shout-Out: To Jaws, as Joe sings the theme song when fishing.
  • Tagline: "He's mad, he's bad, and he's Bustin' Loose!".
  • Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: The kids in Braxton's charge exhibit this to varying levels, sometimes Played for Laughs and sometimes not. One girl was previously a child prostitute, and makes sexual advances towards Joe because that's the only way she knows of showing affection.

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