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The Herculean efforts by Lamont Sanford (Demond Wilson) to make something special out of his dad's 65th birthday seem doomed from the start. Not only does dad Fred (Redd Foxx) want to bury the fact that he's growing old, but the hot spots chosen by Lamont for their evening on the town -- a bar, a movie house, and a Chinese restaurant -- meet with the irascible junk dealer's hearty disapproval. At last fed up by Fred's constant complaining, Lamont grants the old man his wish: to be left alone. Based on "Sixty Five Today," a 1963 episode of the British sitcom Steptoe and Son, "Happy Birthday, Pop" first aired on January 21, 1972.