The Survivors (1983)

The Survivors is about a pair of unlikely buddies who come together after a shared experience chasing off a robber of a fast food place. One's a blue collar guy who loses his business in a crazy accident that incidentally is caused by the white collar guy. How it happens I won't reveal, it's a moment that could have happened in one of Jerry Lewis's films.Walter Matthau is the blue collar guy and he's the usual gruff Matthau type part. It fits him perfectly. Robin Williams is our business executive who loses his job in a business reorganization after a couple of decades at the same company. I sympathize with Williams, I worked at the same place for 23 years once I found the job I really liked. Not easy to lose familiar and comfortable surroundings.Williams is in a part that had Woody Allen written all over it. This was early in his big screen career and I think Robin was trying on a lot projects seeing what would fit his particular brand of zany. Matthau and Williams foil a robbery committed by a man wearing a hood. That is Jerry Reed, a professional hit man doing a little robbery of a fast food place because he's between assignments and has a cash flow problem. Even hit men have to pay the rent. What he does to try and elude folks as to his identity is also pretty funny. Still Matthau pulls his hood off and recognizes him.Later on these two capture him, but Reed gets out on bail. He feels he has to eliminate these two now because of an indiscreet remark he makes.But Williams is feeling all kinds of macho now. He joins a survivalist group and becomes obsessed with all kinds of weaponry. Perfect NRA material. His best scenes are in the survivalist camp and it's the part of the film that will make you think Woody Allen.Not the best or worst from either of the stars. But The Survivors might really been a better film had Woody Allen starred and directed it.

The Survivors paired Robin Williams, who by then had two previous movies under his belt, with legendary actor Walter Matthau. From the beginning, the movie was already acting stupid. Robin arrives at work only to get fired by a parrot. A PARROT! The thought of that idea is dumber than actually seeing it. Next, Walter goes out of a job after Robin arrives at his gas station and refills the car all wrong, leading to an explosion caused by Walter's cigarette rolling over to the spillage. If you thought that was stupid, they tease that part too many times before it eventually happens. By then, you realize what to expect. The entire movie was an annoying tread that drags the joke on for too long, and most of the time, the jokes don't make sense. Most of these scenes were mindless, awkward, boring, and confusing. There was one big laugh that I got out of the movie, and leave it up to Robin Williams to provide it. After the criminal traps Walter in his bedroom in the middle of the night, Robin arrives at the house, hoping to talk to him. His daughter goes up to the bedroom to notify him and gets trapped with the criminal. At that moment, Robin realizes what's going on and fakes his departure from the house. Then, he takes a lamp stick and hits the criminal over the head. Now, his rambling goes too long after that, but the stuff that happened there, that was clever.

When I first heard of a movie starring both Walter Matthau and Robin Williams, I thought "I have got to see this movie" since I think both men are very funny. Unfortunately, one plus one doesn't exactly equal two in this case.Robin Williams and Walter Matthau are two men who get let go from their jobs due to a poor economy. Williams then decides that society is simply falling apart beyond repair and joins a reclusive militant society in snowy Vermont. Matthau gets dragged into Williams' life by something of a side plot regarding Jerry Reed, who robs a diner when Williams and Matthau are both there and Matthau sees Reed's face, leading Reed to chase after the men.There are some funny moments and the film is certainly quite watchable, but the plot is too unfocused and fragmented.

I can't believe the reviews from these Roger Ebert wannabes that tear it down; it wasn't supposed to make a statement or have a sound plot --- it's a COMEDY, you idiots! The numerous one-liners in this movie are priceless, and if you can't appreciate how enjoyable it is, you've gotten way too serious about movies, folks. Its humor has withstood the test of time and it's a solid 7 of 10. This is one of Williams and Matthau's funniest and well worth your time. Would you believe that I never noticed that Robin flashed his genitals in the hospital scene until my wife saw it for the first time and pointed it out --- women have a heckuva radar for those things!