I love movies that deal with crossing the country. I've done it myself several times, and I love the vistas that appear out of nowhere. I can relate doing it as a teenager so I can feel the enthusiasm of the unique group of kids on the bus with ex-convict Richard Pryor and their teacher and mentor, Cicely Tyson. The first half of the movie is very difficult to like, with prior going out of his way to try to steal a big screen TV and getting cost. His parole officer, Robert Christian, makes him take on the job of driving the bus from Philadelphia to Washington State to Tyson's family farm where she wants to take the children for a vacation they'll never forget. The kids are difficult to handle and Tyson isn't exactly easy to deal with, making him sleep on the bus when they stop at a hotel because there aren't enough rooms and later putting him in positions that are rather uncomfortable in her efforts to get this bus which is ready to fall apart at any minute to its destination.

While the situation with the KKK turns out to be very funny (their white robes get plastered with mud when they turn out to be good samaritans and help the bus get unstuck),the scene with a young Asian girl who used to be a nine year old prostitute is rather awkward as she makes a pass at Prhot. It's noble though to see Pryor tell her in a rather assertive way that she should stop making passes at men just because she feels that's what she needs to do to get them to like her. The kids are a variety of races and in spite of frequent arguments seem to genuinely like each other, although a few of them have major behavioral issues. Pryor risks pneumonia, his freedom and his life over and over again, and in spite of his shady ways, is genuinely a likeable character. My jaw dropped when he was walking through the rain to find help to get the price on stock and found himself walking with a bunch of klan members, but the payoff had me in stitches. That's when my feelings about the film slowly began to change.

Pryor and Tyson are certainly legendary actors, I just see them together it was at first perplexing because they don't seem like they would sit together, but eventually they do. Tyson, best known for mostly dramatic roles, gets to break loose of her serious demeanor, showing that in certain types of situations, she can be funny on screen. The kids slowly began to grow on me, bratty because that's how kids are, but showing a lot of heart and decency because that's also how kids are. This is the type of film where the joy grows, and loving the country myself, it was nice to relive my own joy of nature by seeing it through a youngster's eyes again. It's like imagining W. C. Fields and the Little Rascals working together, but with some four letter words thrown in and perhaps a bit of reality too. So with a little bit of patience, this film ends up being better-than-expected, a few irritating moments, one or two heartbreaking and one or two touching. Through his screenplay and direction, Pryor shows a lot about himself outside of his public image, and he gets to turn his character around in the process.

I guess that "Bustin' Loose" is most famous because it was during the production of this movie that Richard Pryor had his near-death experience with freebasing. But there's more to the movie than that. Pryor plays an ex-con who gets a second chance by getting assigned to drive a bus load of special needs children from Philadelphia to Washington state.

Much of the humor derives from Richard Pryor's and Cicely Tyson's personalities bouncing off of each other: he's the irresponsible goof-off, she's the stern teacher. There's also a look at the children's stories: there's a blind boy, a pyromaniac, and a former child prostitute from Vietnam. And then of course, there's the scene with the Ku Klux Klan; I bet that Richard Pryor had wanted to do something like that for years!

So, it's a pretty silly movie, but still very enjoyable. It's too bad that Richard Pryor is no longer with us.

Richard Pryor plays Joe Braxton, a multiple time loser that failed yet again at trying to score. This time he tries to steal from an electronics store. The judge gives him 10 years probation in lieu of prison. His probation officer, Donald (Robert Christian),has a deal for Joe: take his girlfriend, Vivian (Cicely Tyson),and a busload of discarded youth to Washington state or face prison time. Reluctantly, Joe agrees.

I see that Pryor wrote and produced this feature. It is not his funniest work but it is probably his most positive work. Just like him, the kids were considered losers. Vivian saw more in the kids and she would begin to see more in Joe as well.

It's a feel good story even if the cacophony of the children got irksome. It's hard to hate this movie even if I didn't love it.