Not everything the original cast of "Saturday Night Live" did for the big screen was a big hit, and for Dan Ayckroyd, this comedy is frequently crude and definitely unbelievable. He's a mild mannered literature professor who has a daily exercise regime (which dominates the opening sequence for disappeared shortly after) that gets the attention of pimp Howard Hessman who needs someone to take over his girls to get a very butch female pimp Kate Murtagh off of his case. It's interesting that the girls are a collective of nationalities with an Asian girl, blonde bombshell, a tough black chick and Fran Drescher playing, well, Fran Drescher, stereotypical New Yawk Jewish girl. The future Mrs. Ayckroyd (Donna Dixon) is the blonde bombshell, Lynn Whitfield as the beautiful black girl and Lydia Lei (the only unknown one) the stereotypical Asian fragile flower. As they get ussd to Ayckroyd managing them, they become his protectors, even dating him in correcting exams!

If you thought gym teacher Beulah Ballbricker and truck driver Large Marge represented butch women of the 80's, the masculine dressed Murtagh is quite competition, and equally as funny, particularly when she is picked up by a giant crane and dumped into an automobile graveyard. She is also the recipient of one of the crudest remarks I've ever heard in a film, mentioned in the quote listings. That's the always scene stealing Nan Martin as Ayckroyd's hysterically funny mother, several years before she eneed up in sitcom immortality as the nasty Freida Claxton on "Golden Girls" and ran a department store on "The Drew Carey Show".

While there are some moments are very funny, most of the film is rather eye-rolling and it's one of Ayckroyd's few early films that is a disappointment, coming the same year as the classic "Trading Places". He seems to be trying too hard for laughs, mostly which don't come. I just didn't think that the plot was all that string so he's there mainly doing his shtick. The four young ladies are very talented, but I didn't find them all that realistic as high class hookers. T. K. Carter as Hessman's chauffeur gets more laughs than Ayckroyd does. After a while, Ayckroyd seems to be planning the creepy judge role he played in "Nothing But Trouble", one of the worst comedies of the 80's. The ending has Ayckroyd trying to be in two places at one time, a gag that has been done better elsewhere. This script gave this doctor a summons for malpractice, and it definitely needed a surgery with a strong scalpel.

Clifford Skridlow (Dan Aykroyd) is a geeky weird professor at a small Chicago college. Smooth Walker (Howard Hesseman) is a pimp who owes money to mob boss Mom. Diavolo Washington is his driver. He has a scheme using his girls (Donna Dixon, Lydia Lei, Fran Drescher, and Lynn Whitfield) to trick a sucker. After a night of hard partying, Clifford is pushed into playing the girls' new crazy pimp Doctor Detroit. Meanwhile, Smooth skips town pretending that a new pimp has muscled him out. Cifford struggles to maintain his straight life while living his wild pimp life.

The problem with Clifford is that I don't find him lovable. He starts with such a weird oddball introduction. For some reason, I find Clifford off-putting. On the other hand, I don't mind the outrageous Doctor Detroit. The movie is generally stupid and silly without being funny. Aykroyd is also on his own comedically in this one and he's not doing so well.

A timid college professor (Dan Aykroyd),conned into posing as a flamboyant pimp, finds himself enjoying his new occupation on the streets.

I am not surprised that this film has been forgotten. As far as 1980s films go, it is just alright. It is also not one of Dan Aykroyd's best films, and probably not even one of the best pimping films of the time ("Risky Business" is definitely better, and I would even say "Night Shift" beats this).

There were things I liked. In fact, I really liked the character of Doctor Detroit -- his look, his style, his dance. The voice was alright, though he could have passed as a Conehead.