If you asked me to pick out my one most vividly remembered scene from Coming to America, the classic Eddie Murphy comedy released in 1988, it would be the Trading Places moment.
Murphy’s Prince Akeem of Zamunda is out on a date with his future wife Lisa McDowell (Shari Headley). But he’s got a problem: Lisa doesn’t know about Akeem’s immense wealth and royal lineage, and Akeem, who is trying to pass himself off as a goat herder, ends up stuck with a paper bag filled with thousands of dollars thanks to his meddling friend and personal servant, Semmi (Arsenio Hall).
Enter the two homeless men sitting right outside the restaurant where Akeem and Lisa will have their date. Akeem pauses before they go inside and slips the men his paper bag. A few minutes later, after the happy couple is seated at their table, the homeless men reappear to shout thanks through a nearby window and we in the audience are hit with a realization: It’s Randolph (Ralph Bellamy) and Mortimer Duke (Don Ameche), the chief antagonists in the Murphy comedy classic Trading Places. Read more…
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