Past Film/Video | Classics

Which Way is Up?

(Michael Schultz, 1977)

35MM Print

A man with a mustached at a podium in front of a church organ is speaking with great energy as he points to the crowd
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Oct 16, 2021 2:00 PM
Film/Video Theater

ADMISSION
$9 general public
$7 members
$5 students

Click here to view our latest COVID-19 safety protocols.

FREE GALLERY ADMISSION
Don’t forget: gallery admission is free with a ticket to any same-day Wexner Center event. Simply show your ticket at our Patron Services Desk.

We strive to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals, including individuals with disabilities, to engage fully. If you have questions about accessibility or require an accommodation such as captioning or ASL interpretation to participate in this event, please contact Accessibility Manager Helyn Marshall at accessibility@wexarts.org or via telephone at (614) 688–3890. Requests made by two weeks in advance will generally allow us to provide seamless access, but the Wexner Center for the Arts will make every effort to meet requests made after this date.

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Richard Pryor’s comedic and acting talents are front and center in Which Way is Up?, a biting comedy about Leroy Jones, an orange picker (played by Pryor) who inadvertently finds himself in the middle of a union uprising.

Forced from his job, Jones leaves his wife and family in search of work in Los Angeles, where he falls for a labor organizer before finding himself a pawn of the very corporation he protested earlier. Pryor took on the roles of three characters in the film including Jones’s crotchety father and the local preacher who impregnates the picker’s wife while he’s in LA. Based on Lina Wertmüller’s 1972 film The Seduction of Mimi, Schultz’s feature remains faithful to the political nature of the original in its portrayal of class, race, sex, capitalism, and organized religion. (94 mins., 35mm)

See the complete Retrospective: Michael Schultz lineup.

A man with a mustached at a podium in front of a church organ is speaking with great energy as he points to the crowd

Which Way is Up?, image courtesy of Universal Pictures

An older man with a gray beard and bushy gray hair staring off to his left side.

Which Way is Up?, image courtesy of Universal Pictures

Tag(s)

Thank you to Larry and Donna James for their generous support of this event.

FILM/VIDEO PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY
Cardinal Health
Kaufman Development

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
Rohauer Collection Foundation

WEXNER CENTER PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY
The Wexner Family
Greater Columbus Arts Council
The Columbus Foundation
Ohio Arts Council
American Electric Power Foundation
Adam Flatto
Mary and C. Robert Kidder
Bill and Sheila Lambert
L Brands Foundation
Institute of Museum and Library Services
Nationwide Foundation
Vorys, Sater, Seymour, and Pease
Arlene and Michael Weiss

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
Carol and David Aronowitz
Michael and Paige Crane
Pete Scantland
Axium Packaging
Bocchi Laboratories
Fenwick & West LLP
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams
President Kristina M. Johnson and Mrs. Veronica Meinhard
KDC/ONE
Nancy Kramer
M/I Homes
Voyant Beauty
Huntington
Lisa Barton
Regina Miracle International Ltd.
Washington Prime Group
Alene Candles
Fuel Transport
Russell and Joyce Gertmenian
Liza Kessler and Greg Henchel
Matrix Psychological Services
Paramount Group, Inc.
Ron and Ann Pizzuti
Joyce and Chuck Shenk
Bruce and Joy Soll
Clark and Sandra Swanson
Business Furniture Installations
CASTO
E.C. Provini Co, Inc.
Garlock Printing & Converting
Jones Day
M-Engineering
New England Development
Our Country Home
Performance Team
Premier Candle Corporation
ProAmpac
Steiner + Associates
Textile Printing
Andrew and Amanda Wise

Discover More

Michael Schultz's Cooley High
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Prefiguring the Black director boom in the work of Michael Schultz

Thu, Sep 30, 2021
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Past Film/Video

Which Way is Up?

Oct 16, 2021 2:00 PM EST
Film/Video Theater

ADMISSION
$9 general public
$7 members
$5 students

Click here to view our latest COVID-19 safety protocols.

FREE GALLERY ADMISSION
Don’t forget: gallery admission is free with a ticket to any same-day Wexner Center event. Simply show your ticket at our Patron Services Desk.

We strive to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals, including individuals with disabilities, to engage fully. If you have questions about accessibility or require an accommodation such as captioning or ASL interpretation to participate in this event, please contact Accessibility Manager Helyn Marshall at accessibility@wexarts.org or via telephone at (614) 688–3890. Requests made by two weeks in advance will generally allow us to provide seamless access, but the Wexner Center for the Arts will make every effort to meet requests made after this date.

Become a Member