Faut s'faire la malle

Recently i bought a DVD-recorder. As a stunt the shop sold it at a special price, together with a selection of Movies on DVD. One of these DVD's is "Stir Crazy". I watched the film again, this time together with my 13-years old son and a friend of his. The boys were rolling on the floor with laughter, so one can definitely say that this is a timeless comedy, that never ages. The film always leaves me with a good feeling and i have seen that it still works, even with kids these days. The acting is superb, the dialog continually funny, the prison setting convincing and an extra credit should go out to Jobeth Williams' small but heat-warming part. Guaranteed to bring a little sunshine to a rainy day.

Enjoyed this film starring Gene Wilder, (Skip Donahue) and Richard Pryor, (Harry Monroe) who are arrested and sent to prison for a bank robbery which they did not commit. Skip & Harry are from the East and are sent to a prison in the Western part of the country and they have to face some very difficult situations in the prison and just can't seem to adjust to prison life. One day the warden of the prison finds out that Skip has a great deal of experience in riding broncos in rodeo's and asks him to participate in a Western rodeo which is going to be presented to the prisoners and general public. There is some romance which goes on between a girl named Meredith, (Jo Beth Williams) who is attracted to Skip Donahue and obtains a lawyer for him to be able to investigate this false prison sentence and get him free. There is plenty of action with Skip & Harry trying to run away from bulls who are out to attack them and lots of great comedy.

Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor was a good comedy team of the 1970s, making several hit movies together, this being one of the more memorable. Viewing this movie recently after a 25-year absence, it was a shock to me to hear the language. I had remembered this strictly as a light-hearted comedy but I can see why it's rated "R." That is solely for the language, especially by Pryor, but he was known for his profane humor.

If you can put up with that, the film is downright funny, even today. I found myself laughing out loud at a few scenes, all of which I remembered vividly from several viewings in the '70s. They are still just as funny.

Who could forget that mammoth criminal with the long, long name - Erland van Lidth de Jeude? He was the guy that scared the hell out of everyone, just by his physical presence. In real life, that man was the opposite of his projected image on screen. He was a graduate of MIT, an accomplished opera singer, an Olympic wrestler, devoted husband and father, writer, etc. The poor man died at the age of 34.

It also was interesting to see such a young looking Craig T Nelson and JoBeth Williams.

This might have been the best of the Wilder-Pryor films. I was shocked to see that Sidney Poitier directed this movie. I didn't know that until seconds ago when I looked at this IMDb title page.

After their rendezvous in Silver Streak, Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder team up again. I heard Richard Pryor mentioning this movie in a stand-up routine. He didn't mention it by name because they'd just finished filming. He talked about doing a movie in an Arizona prison and how there were guys in there with triple life. Meaning, if they died and came back they'd still be in prison. LOL!

Harry Monroe (Richard Pryor) and Skip Donahue (Gene Wilder) are two friends who've been fired from their respective small-time jobs in New York. Skip is a playwright and Harry is an actor. They decided that their firings were signs, so they packed up and headed west to make their big break. Their big break came in Arizona-as in their van breaking down. Then, through some criminal deceit and judicial ineptness the two of them end up in prison with 125 year sentences.

This movie, as far as comedy, was better than Silver Streak. Pryor and Wilder both were in fine form. Not only that, prison just seems to make for such funny scenarios. I thoroughly enjoyed Stir Crazy.

Stir Crazy isn't anything too difficult to explain. It's simply pure comedy from the talented duo of Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor, directed by the fantastic Sidney Poitier.

Gene and Richard play two friends from New York who are moving to California. They stop over in a town in Arizona, get a job as dancing woodpeckers who do jingles for a bank and then are arrested when two other men steal their costumes and rob said bank.

They then are sent to jail for 125 years by the no-nonsense judge and the film documents their attempt to get used to prison life, pray that their lawyers can prove their innocence and hope Skip (Gene's character) can dominate the prison rodeo.

As I said, there's nothing deep or thought provoking in this film. It's just the zany antics of the two comedic legends. Some strong acting by the cast and excitement are in the offing and the film delivers that in spades.

What was neat to see were all the T.V. stars of past and future in the supporting cast, like Luis Avalos of The Electric Company and Craig T. Nelson of Coach. It was fun to recognize all these old faces.

The only flaw was that the film's writing seemed geared for an easy job of editing for T.V. I wonder if just making it PG would have been better for their box office numbers. Nonetheless, Stir Crazy was the 3rd highest grossing film of 1980.

If you're looking for a real comedy film, a blast from the past, Stir Crazy delivers.