Stir Crazy

Stir Crazy (1980)

Gene Wilder and Richard Prior were for a time in the early 80’s comedy gold, with a number of successful films doing very well at the box office.

The first onscreen meeting of Pryor and Wilder almost came with Mel Brooks’ 1974 western spoof Blazing Saddles. Pryor, who had co-written the film, was slated to co-star as Bart, the black sheriff, but, according to Brooks, his history of a lot of substance abuse made him uninsurable so the part went to Cleavon Little.

They then had a meeting on screen in Billy Wilder’s Silver Streak in 1976 and hit it off immediately.

In 1980 acclaimed black actor Sidney Poitier decided to direct Stir Crazy which begins with friends played by Wilder and Pryor going on a road trip from New York to sunny California and while on route get a job promoting a bank dressed in Woodpecker costumes.

Two robbers steal the uniforms while they are on a break and steal a huge load of cash. Of course, the two are then wrongfully arrested on a bank robbery charge and sentenced to 125 years in prison.

Can they survive in prison or when a chance of escaping arrives will they, along with fellow friends they make inside, manage to get out and find freedom?

One thing is for sure, Wilder and Pryor do have great chemistry on screen and play off each other beautifully. From the scene where Pryor instructs Wilder how to “be bad” while being first put inside, to going into full panic mode when sentenced, you can see why they were so successful in the movies they made together.

Some of the humour has dated somewhat and a lot of the cliches of prison life are all here to be seen but it is still a lot of fun to watch.

The film has a lot of heart, with Gene Wilder’s character believing that everything can be solved just by talking to people, but coming unstuck almost every time. Despite the occasional F-bomb, it is a good-natured comedy. It was a big hit and the #3 domestic box office hit of 1980, behind only The Empire Strikes Back and 9 to 5. This is the best film out of the 3 in this set.

Sadly Pryor set himself on fire not long after filming finished, either by accident whilst freebasing cocaine, or deliberately during a bout of drug-induced psychosis.

It also stopped what would have been the third Pryor-Wilder pair-up, with the screenplay for Trading Places was originally intended for them. Instead, the leads in John Landis’ 1983 film went to Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy.