Stir Crazy (1980)

(Originally reviewed: 10/01/2017) I do not recall a single laugh in this painfully unfunny piece of work. Wilder and Pryor have comedic chemistry but the script of Stir Crazy forces them to improvise, making the humor come off as embarrassing. I do not understand what people saw in this film back in 1980, gags such as two guys dancing around in a jailhouse pretending to be crazy and a gay stereotypical guy (who is also black) are just embarrassingly pathetic, rather than one bit amusing. There is but small things preventing this from being a total zero, some hot chicks dancing in a strip club and a small scene involving Wilder and JoBeth Williams, where there is some hint at witty dialogue, which can at least draw a smile from me, if nothing else with the exception of a line in the same scene, where Wilder says " More Americans should go to jail" (because he enjoys it) and his lawyer played by Len Garber says " Oh don't worry, more Americans will". On the other hand none of this can prevent the onslaught of boredom that sinks in afterwards. Stir Crazy has one half of alleged comedy, then has a change of agenda by becoming a prison break thriller in the second half ,as they do not make any further attempt at humor. What on earth were they thinking? If I ever do get into a conversation with someone who mentions See No Evil, Hear No Evil being a better comedy, I will reply, but of course See No Evil, Hear No Evil was funnier, but then again so was the Titanic.

A few weeks ago someone said "Shawshank Redemption" reminded them of "Stir Crazy", so I had to look it up. I watched it at home on DVD from my public library.It is a buddy movie, Gene Wilder as Skip Donahue and Richard Pryor as Harry Monroe. Skip is a writer that didn't earn anything the past year, Harry is an actor that earned $35 the past year. So thinking they had nothing to lose they headed off to the west coast in their jalopy. They had a breakdown in Arizona that consumed most of their money so they decided to stay a while and earn enough to continue west.They never got a chance, they were hired by a bank to wear woodpecker costumes to drum up business. During a lunch break two outlaws stole the costumes and robbed the bank. Of course the two NY buddies were arrested and convicted. Sentence - 125 years in prison.This isn't Shawshank by a long shot but there are some similarities. Barry Corbin who was just still early in his career plays Warden Walter Beatty. Almost 20 years later I met Corbin when I was an extra in a movie he was in, I remain a fan. Of course he went on to create the memorable Maurice Minnifield, ex astronaut, in the TV series "Northern Exposure."This movie runs a bit long for me, some of the physical humor went on too long. But Wilder and Pryor are both in good form and overall this is an entertaining movie.SPOILERS: For my own recollection, Skip is a natural at bull-riding, he and others are in the prison rodeo, $50,000 is on the line for the two wardens, some inmates help plan the escape, they slip into the stands, get changed, drive out in a van. As they are about to take a car and hit the road they are intercepted and told that the real crooks were caught and they were free men. They get the girl and the three of them head west.

Not having seen this in about 30 years, I didn't know if I'd still think Sidney Poitier's Stir Crazy was as funny as I originally thought it was. I just watched it again on Netflix Streaming and the answer is yes! I mean, from the set up beginning sequences with Richard Pryor as a waiter and Gene Wilder as a store detective, there's plenty of funny stuff here. By the time they get to prison, Pryor and Wilder try lots of crazy stuff that still got me in stitches especially when Richard's character has to deal with a gay inmate named Rory Schultebrand (Georg Standford Brown) who has a fancy for him. Fellow inmates Gene and Richard befriend include Jusus Ramirez (Miguel Angel Suavez) and Grossberger (Erland Van Lidth De Jeude). The latter doesn't talk but he does provide a nice singing voice that compliments Gene's in a later duet. Others they meet in the cell include Blade (Charles Weldon), Big Mean (Cedrick Hardman), his sidekick-Slowpoke (Grand L. Bush), and a guy who punches the former (Tony Burton). Outside of the jail are many now-familiar faces like Joel Brooks as lawyer Len Garber, JoBeth Williams as cousin Meredith, her future Poltergeist co-star Craig T. Nelson as deputy Ward Wilson, and Barry Corbin as warden Walter Beatty who has the distinction of appearing in two 1980 movies featuring the mechanical bull, the other being Urban Cowboy. Since this is Black History Month, I'd like to complete this review by citing three more African-American players other than Pryor, Brown, Weldon, Hardman, Bush, and Burton: Franklyn Ajaye-who previously appeared with Pryor in Car Wash-as a young man in hospital ward that accidentally got a nut cut off, Esther Sutherland as the cook Sissie in the beginning sequence, and Pamela Poitier-Sidney's daughter-as the cook's helper. So on that note, I highly recommend Stir Crazy. Oh, and I also noticed Luis Avalos-the guy named Chico who uses pliers for sinister purposes-from my childhood TV show, "The Electric Company" from the '70s.

I recognised the title and knew the two leading stars, I didn't realise though that actor Sidney Poitier has done directing, and this was one of the films he made, so I was definitely going to see it. Basically in New York, writer Skip Donahue (Gene Wilder) and actor Harry Monroe (Richard Pryor) are fired from their jobs, and try to get any odd job to get by, one such job being dressed as woodpeckers and singing and dancing to promote a bank. Two crooks take their costumes while they are on a break, and they rob the bank, and not recognising them under the costumes they have been framed for the robbery, and are immediately arrested. They are sentenced to one hundred and twenty five years in prison, but their lawyer Len Garber (Joel Brooks) says he can get them an appeal case, they just have to wait until they can go to court and prove their innocence. In the meantime, Skip and Harry are having a hard time getting used to being in jail, but they do make friends with real bank robber Jesus Ramirez (Miguel Ángel Suárez) and gay killer Rory Schultebrand (Georg Stanford Brown). They are informed of the status of fellow prisoners, contraband supplier Jack Graham (Jonathan Banks) and murderer Blade (Charles Weldon), and they make an unlikely ally with the most feared prisoner, Grossberger (Erland Van Lidth), a mute convicted mass murderer who does have a soft side. Three months pass Skip and Harry are brought to the office of Warden Walter Beatty (Barry Corbin) to have a "test", and Skip is the first to get on a mechanical bull to see how long he will last until chucked off, and the surprise of them all he stays on even at maximum speed, and he has passed the "test". The prisoners tell him and Harry that the test was for a rodeo competition that the Warden wants to enter on behalf of their prison and the neighbouring prison run by Warden Henry Sampson (Nicolas Coaster), so they say that Skip should refuse to participate until they can strike a deal. So Skip refuses, and it is up to Deputy Ward Wilson (Poltergeist's Craig T. Nelson) to break him, i.e. put him and Harry in labour, deprived of sleep, Skip in solitary confinement and them encountering an originally fearful Grossberger, but none of this works. After Harry has a spell in prison hospital, Skip eventually agrees to do the rodeo, but only if he gets to choose his team, and a bigger jail cell, of course the prisoners and he have planned a break out. So it comes to the rodeo, Skip is read to take on the one or two bull riding contests against the prisoner he is against, while Harry and the gang work their way through the stadium and make their escapes in disguise and hidden places. In the end, lawyer Len Garber, alongside his cousin Meredith (Poltergeist's JoBeth Williams), who Skip instantly took a liking to first seeing her in prison, they reveal to him and harry that they have been found innocent after all and are free, so they speed off in the car they nicked, with Maaredith joining. It is a little odd that they were just allowed to drive away having escaped from their prison status, i.e. the Warden may have kept them without finding out their innocence, but it doesn't matter. Wilder and Pryor both get their time on screen and together as the out of place prison buddies, there might not have been so many laugh out loud jokes for me, but it was a humorous comedy. Good!