SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Ploydsge just watch it!

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Mabel Munoz Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

TonyMontana96 (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.

TxMike 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.

jimbo-53-186511 When both Skip Donahue (Gene Wilder) and Harry Monroe (Richard Pryor)discover that they are now unemployed they decide to leave town in order to make a new start. However, when two men commit an armed robbery wearing the woodpecker outfits that Skip and Harry had been wearing and when these men escape in Skip and Harry's van, both Skip and Harry are sent to prison where they have difficulty adapting to their new life.This film starts out strongly and for me Wilder was probably the stronger of the double act in this film (I thought Pryor was slightly stronger in See No Evil, Hear No Evil). Skip consistently sticking his nose in where it doesn't belong (despite Harry constantly telling him to leave everyone alone) and trying to be some kind of 'social worker' to everyone was pretty funny - the scene where Skip first approaches Grossberger for one of his talks was a notable highlight with Skip running away like a little girl (although in fairness most men would cower when confronted by someone that size - I know I would!!!). Other funny moments included the scene where Skip and Harry first arrive in prison and we see them do their tough talking within the cell and we also see them do their tough walking. I also thought it was funny seeing the prison guards continually punishing Skip only to find that nothing fazes him. I think there's one moment where he'd been in solitary confinement for 5 days and rather than be distraught by the experience he asked the guard if he could stay in there just one more day.Sadly, most of the good stuff is confined to the first half and I have to admit that it kind of went downhill as soon as we reach the inter-prison rodeo competition. If I'm honest, whilst I thought it was quite creative, I didn't think it was particularly funny and sadly it's this element that pretty much drives the second half of the film. Whilst it's certainly different and creative, I think we need to remember that being creative isn't always a good thing (anyone remember the Millennium Dome??). The only good aspect in the second half was the inmates fairly imaginative escape during the Rodeo, but even taking that into account, I still felt that the film started to run out of steam about 30 minutes from the end and I started to feel quite bored if I'm being honest - which is a real shame as it started out with a lot of promise.Even through the film as a whole is somewhat uneven thankfully Pryor and Wilder were fantastic and shared great chemistry, but sadly for me they were the whole show and they just weren't quite good enough to carry this one on their own.

SeriousJest Don't get me wrong, I love the bromance between Wilder and Pryor. They were both very charismatic in their films together, their comedic chemistry was synced up like the periods in a women's barracks, and they didn't rely on their differences in race to establish a masterfully balanced contrast. But, over time, the jokes that used to kill back in the 70s and 80s just don't have the same impact anymore.Also, is it just me, or is it a little unbelievable that a prison rodeo would draw the huge crowd seen in this film? I had similar thoughts during The Longest Yard, and I love football.This movie is amusing, and it's not bad background, but it's not worth dedicating an exclusive 2 hours to. On the other hand, I'm definitely going to try to incorporate "kiss the baby" into a future conversation.For more reviews and a kickass podcast, check out: www.livemancave.com