Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

richard.fuller1 But first things first.The reason this show, Sanford Arms, The Redd Foxx Show, Baby Im Back, all came about was because Foxx and Desmond Wilson had disputes as to which one of them was the star of the show. The quote tossed around back then was that Desmond Wilson said he could do 'Sanford and Son' with a chicken. Contracts clearly came up for renewal and who should get paid what reached a boiling point. the show began in '72, was replaced with Sanford Arms approximately five years later.Both men struck out on his own to find success outside of Sanford and Son, neither met with the same success.I for one actually thought Redd Foxx's show and Baby I'm Back, which Wilson did with Denise Nicholas (later of In The Heat of the Night) and Helen Martin (of 227) were both very funny. Much funnier than Sanford.As to the idea that Wilson was now stigmatized for playing a homosexual in a made for TV movie, first I've heard of that (the movie and the stigma).That reviewer should check out Soap with billy Crystal, Ode To Billy Joe with Robbie Benson, boys in the Band, Norman, Is That You? etc, etc, to see actors who didn't have their careers 'stigmatized' from portraying homosexuals.Even still, there was nothing about Desmond Wilson not being wanted on this Sanford outing because he had played a gay character.Sanford itself aired today on BET. It was like lost episodes of Sanford and Son to me. There were plenty of episodes that didn't have Lamont, Grady or Bubba in them; plenty of episodes without Donna (further made confusing by an earlier appearance by Lynn Hamilton as Lamont's landlady).Rollo does appear briefly on this second outing, and the show isn't overrun with fat jokes either.To even put an extremely large white man like this in the show that the network was wanting to hold on to the previously established audience was rather mindblowing and daring (moreso than Bill Cosby bringing in Erika Aleksander and Raven Symone when he ran out of daughters on Cosby Show).Still the transition of the show is intriguing to watch.Foxx obviously wanted to get his character out of the junk business with the rich girlfriend (played by Marguerite Ray, who for nearly a decade would play Mamie the maid on Young and Restless, leading to utter confusion as to why this show was so popular among black youths when it also sported the fewest black characters of all soaps at that time, something they have since rectified), as well as recreate Esther moments with the girlfriend's maid (big miss).Even more peculiar was the young man brought in to play the nephew Cliff. I looked up the actor to see who he was and was astonished to see he was the token off of Sliders, who ended up being the only actor to stick it out with that show.All of this in and of itself makes this Sanford outing an interesting anchor in black entertainment history of sorts.The show is even further enriched by a handful of appearances by LaWanda Page, the sensational Aunt Esther.You can hear the remorse from the audience when Esther declares that Woodrow had passed away.Also, I don't think the adopted son of Esther and Woody was named Cliff (as played by Eric Launeville).In the end, this show could just as easily air along with Sanford and Son, and no one would really be bothered by the changes.the most astonishing aspect for me was the alteration of the house. LOL! That was a bit much! and I did notice Foxx taking a very different approach to his portrayal as well. He didn't seem as in character to me.Yes, I missed bubba and Grady and Woody, but Cal had his fun moments.

Richard-757 This show was missing Lamont for one very simple reason. Note that even on this site, there is no reference to the "made for TV" show this actor did, in which he plays a gay man. The movie sucked to be honest, but it was an attempt, way ahead of it's time, to show that there are more gay people among us than, at the time, we wanted to believe. It was effective, but the show just sucked. But, at a young age I learned 1 out of3 men has had an "alternative experience". So while the rest of the world might want to forget it, I never did. I always look at that 3rd person with suspicion now! LOL, that's a joke, calm down! Anyway, after doing this made for TV movie, the attempt to make a comeback of the Sanford and Son show with Lamont was not possible. He was now a labeled man. It was NOT OK for a man in Hollywood to play a gay guy yet. So His career died on the vine and the attempt at a comeback for the show did too, because Lamont, as bland as the character may have seemed, was the perfect straight man to Redd Foxx.

Joseph P. Ulibas Sanford (1980) was an attempt to relive the glory of Sanford and Son. Three years after the first show went off the air, Redd Foxx was back as Fred G. Sanford, proprietor of the Sanford "Empire" (the Sanford Arms and the Junk Store). Lamont wasn't in the series (he was written out of the storyline). Cal, a former colleague of Lamont moves in with Fred and becomes part owner of the business. Sadly the show was buried by N.B.C. and it never had a chance to find an audience. Several characters from the old series found their way back (Aunt Esther, Grady and Rollo). Redd even found a new love interest, Eve a rich widow. The show lasted for two seasons before it faded into obscurity. Recommended.

hillari This spinoff of sorts was a weak attempt to continue to the success of Sanford and Son. Lamont Sanford's character had taken a job elsewhere and his friend Cal took the place of Fred's partner in the business. Fred also had a new girlfriend, a rich Beverly Hills matron (it was never explained what happened to his fiancee, Donna, from the previous show). His new girlfriend had a mother who disapproved of Fred being a junkman from South Central LA. Aunt Esther was also still on hand to exchange insults, but the magic that had made the earlier show a classic was just not there.