Stir Crazy

Plot synopsis:
Writer Skip Donahue (Gene Wilder) and actor Harry Monroe (Richard Pryor) are fired from their jobs in New York, and leave for Hollywood to find a new way to make a living. Along the way, they take odd jobs to make ends meet. In one such job, Skip and Harry dress up as two woodpeckers, performing a song and dance routine as part of a promotion for a bank. Harry and Skip remove their costumes to take a break, and two men who have been watching steal the costumes and perform the routine as though they were Harry and Skip. The men then use the costumes to rob the bank, and in the confusion Harry and Skip are immediately arrested, whisked through a absurd speedy trial and handed 125-year jail sentences. Their court-appointed lawyer, Len Garber (Joel Brooks), advises them to wait until he can appeal their case.Life in a maximum-security prison proves difficult for both Skip and Harry. After a failed attempt at faking insanity, they make friends with Jesus Ramirez (Miguel Ángel Suárez), a real bank robber, and Rory Schultebrand (Georg Stanford Brown), a gay man who killed his stepfather. Rory takes an immediate fancy to Harry, much to Harry's chagrin. Having been there a while, Jesus and Rory inform Skip and Harry of the numerous goings-on in the prison, as well as the other members and who to watch out for, such as Jack Graham (Jonathan Banks), who runs the cell block, and is in charge of the contraband that comes in; and ax murderer Blade (Charles Weldon), who runs the "third-world" side of the cell block. The most feared inmate, however, is Grossberger (Erland Van Lidth), a convicted mass murderer of incredible size and strength who refuses to speak and is feared by the inmates and guards alike. Seeing something "kind" in Grossberger, the naive Skip attempts to talk with him, unsuccessfully.After being in prison for three months, Skip and Harry are brought to see Warden Walter Beatty (Barry Corbin) and Deputy Warden Wilson (Craig T. Nelson), the head guard. They wish to run a "test" with Harry and Skip on a mechanical bull in the warden's office. To everyone's surprise, Skip rides the bull at full power, so Beatty selects him to compete in the prison's annual rodeo competition.Out in the yard, Jesus and Rory inform Harry and Skip of the truth behind the rodeo: it's really a crooked operation run by Beatty and Warden Henry Sampson (Nicolas Coster), who heads the neighboring prison. The money from the rodeo, which is supposed to go to the prisoners, really ends up in the wardens' pockets. Knowing that Skip will be selected as the prison's new "champion", Jesus and Rory hatch a plan for escape. In order for it to work, Skip must refuse to participate in the rodeo: the longer he holds out, the better chance he has at "striking a deal" with the warden. After Skip refuses to participate, the angry warden orders Deputy Wilson to "straighten him out", which Wilson is only too happy to do.Prison life soon becomes more difficult than ever for Harry and Skip as Wilson and the guards attempt to break them down. First they are put on hard labor detail and deprived of both water and sleep. When this fails, the guards lock Skip up, overnight, hanging by his wrists and ankles. Skip awakens the next morning to discover that his bad back is cured. Wilson then puts Skip in solitary confinement; Skip asks for an extra day. Being returned to his cell, Skip discovers that he and Harry have a new cell mate: Grossberger, whom they quickly befriend.Harry and Skip are visited by Garber, along with his cousin Meredith (JoBeth Williams), who is fighting to prove their innocence. Skip takes an immediate liking to Meredith, who informs him she never gets personally involved with clients.Meanwhile, Warden Beatty is furious at Wilson for not breaking Harry and Skip yet, and decides to handle things himself. Soon afterward, Harry is sent to the prison's hospital ward for appendicitis. A prisoner in the neighboring bed (Franklyn Ajaye) tells Harry of the horrors of the ward: he himself was admitted for a hernia operation, and the doctor castrated him in the process. As soon as Harry sees the doctor (Alvin Ing), he runs screaming from the ward.Skip meets with Warden Beatty to make a deal. In exchange for Skip's participation in the rodeo, Skip requests his own crew (Harry, Jesus, Rory, and Grossberger), along with a much bigger jail cell, all according to the plan. Warden Beatty agrees, telling Deputy Wilson to have an inmate guard watch them at all times. Willson assigns Graham and Blade to the task, who anxiously voice their resentment: Graham, who resents being "pushed aside" for Skip, and Blade, who regard the group as "brown-noses". Wilson tells Graham of his own agenda: Skip will not leave the rodeo alive.Training Skip and Harry for the rodeo, Graham ensures that their lives - especially Harry's - are made difficult. While practicing for the rodeo, Skip, Harry, Jesus, Rory and Grossberger acquire the numerous tools they require for their escape, using the prison's metal shop to transform them into seemingly everyday items. In their new large jail cell, the quintet have numerous comforts: books, a television, a radio, and a guitar, among other things. While relaxing in their cell, Grossberger breaks his silence when he sings "Birmingham Jail" during an awkward moment.Meanwhile, Meredith has gotten a job as a waitress in a country western strip club, so she may search for possible suspects. When she meets the real crooks - recognized by a tattoo on one of their hands that a witness (Tracy Lee Rowe) saw on one of them - Meredith calls Len Garber, and the police.The rodeo begins, and Skip, Harry, Jesus, Rory and Grossberger all perform their tasks flawlessly, arousing no suspicions, in spite of Wilson and Graham's attempt to kill Skip: Graham spikes a horse Skip is riding, but Skip manages to stay on the horse and dismount, unhurt. Graham then puts a lock on the gate, trapping Skip inside with an out-of control bull, but Grossberger breaks the lock off, allowing Skip out through the chute with the bull. During every major event when everyone is distracted, one of them slips out through a secret opening, taking them through air vents to either a restroom, where Jesus' wife Teresa (Karmin Murcelo) waits to provide them disguises, or through a vent to a hollow pushcart, manned by Jesus' brother Ramon (Henry Kingi). Once through, they put on their disguises and re-enter the grounds as customers.Skip is set to compete against reigning champion Caesar Geronimo (Joe Massengale) to swipe the prize: a bag of money (in reality the wardens' side bet) from the horns of a large, Brahman bull. Skip asks Caesar if he's tired of being his warden's stooge, suggesting that they give the money to the prisoners, even offering to help Caesar win if he chooses to do so. Both contestants play hard, but Caesar is the winner, grabbing the bag. Inspired by Skip's words, Caesar throws the bag over the fence to the inmates, much to the shock and outrage of wardens Beatty and Sampson. Skip prepares his own escape through the secret opening, but Graham shows up, suspicious. Grossberger knocks Graham out and Skip makes his escape into the waiting pushcart. He's herded off into the waiting camper, and the group drives off.Arriving at a secret meeting spot, Jesus and Rory quickly make introductions, then bid Harry and Skip farewell as they all pile into a waiting car, heading off to Mexico. Harry and Skip hop in the other waiting car, only to be stopped by another car containing Len Garber and Meredith. She tells Harry and Skip that, thanks to her work, the police have captured the real crooks, who have confessed to the bank robbery that wrongly convicted them. Harry and Skip, ecstatic, decide to resume their original plans of heading to Hollywood. Skip asks Meredith to go with him, and Meredith, on a whim, says "yes".

Tags: comedy

Review:
Skip Donahue (Gene Wilder) and Harry Monroe (Richard Pryor) are best friends living in New York City.
I may have even thought it was funnier and more exciting this time around than when I first watched the film as a teen.I had forgotten that Stir Crazy isn't just a comedy.
Director Sidney Poitier makes a smooth transition through many genres--buddy film, road movie, fish out of water story and prison film, aided of course by Wilder and Pryor.
While both actors have had plenty of performances just as good as Stir Crazy, neither have had any that were better.In a way, this is really more Wilder's film than Pryor's.
It also turns out to have much more weight than just a comic device: Donahue survives in prison as well as he does, and it brings about the profound changes of character--Donahue becomes much more authentic, realizes his potential, gains material for his art and even gets the girl--because of his continued misprision (in the Bloom sense) about life outside of New York City, and in the end, it enables a "return to the market", as they say in Zen Buddhism.Watching Stir Crazy at this later point in time, some of the humor might seem a bit clichéd to younger viewers.
Some of the filmic (and by extension general cultural) folklore or urban legends about prisons contained in Stir Crazy had made appearances in films prior to this one, but not in the particular irreverent way that they're satirized here.This is an important film in the careers of a few of the greatest actors and comedians (Wilder, Pryor and Poitier), with an important place in the history of Hollywood 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.
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.
"Stir Crazy" once again brings together the comedic talents of Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor.
There is not a single unfunny moment from the beginning to the end, even though the last act gets serious and suspenseful.Gene Wilder and the late Richard Pryor play Skip Donahue and Harry Munro, two NYC losers who are making no money in their dream jobs of play-write and actor.
Having not seen this in 30 years, I still found Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor funny in Stir Crazy.
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.
My favorite scene was where Gene Wilder's and Richard Pryor's characters where pretending that they are bad, you won't see such a funny stuff in nowadays movies..
It stars Gene Wilder, Richard Pryor, Miguel Angel Suarez, Georg Stanford Brown, JoBeth Williams and Erland Van Lidth.
However, after taking up a gig as promotional woodpeckers for a bank's advertisement drive, they find themselves framed for robbing the bank and sentenced to 125 years each in prison..The second pairing of Wilder and Pryor proves to be the best of their output on film.
Still, the first hour is a joy ride, particularly once the guys land in prison, here the comedy reaches its peak and the contrast of the two characters played by Wilder and Pryor really mines the set-up for all is worth.
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.
However the chemistry between Wilder & Pryor coupled with some other great characters & scenes make this a classic prison comedy..
Comedic Legends Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor have been paired together numerous times, but this is quite possibly the most memorable of all their comedies as a duo.
The plot is actually quite simple, they both flee New York to find a small peaceful town, then while finding work they are framed for a bank robbery and placed behind bars, then in the thick of it all they plan an escape while Wilder's character participates in the Prison Rodeo.
Two guys doing a bank promotion dressed as Big Bird are mistaken for the bank robbers who stole their costumes in "Stir Crazy," a 1980 film starring Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder, who worked so well together in several films.Two friends, Skip and Harry (Wilder and Pryor) both lose their jobs and leave New York City, planning to work their way to the west coast.
Harry, Skip, Rory, Grossberger, and Jesus plan an escape to take place at the rodeo.Very funny film, with one of the highlights being Pryor in the prison hospital because he was told he had to have his appendix out, though they had already been removed.
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.
Fans of the movie should also view the inferior, but still funny See No Evil, Hear No Evil which sees the partnership of Wilder and Pryor re-ignited for a third time, following on from Stir Crazy and Silver Streak before that..
Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor were a great comedy duo.
One thing that 'Stir Crazy' improves on than 'Silver Streak' is that Wilder and Pryor get equal screen time and work stronger as a double act.'Stir Crazy's' second half isn't as good as the first half, a case of the first half being great but the second half having moments but not living up to the promise seen before.
1980 continued a beautiful partnership between Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor with the film Stir Crazy.
Great on-screen chemistry, exceptional comedic writing, and an engaging story work to propel the story and make audiences crazy for Stir Crazy.Skip Donahue (Gene Wilder) and Harry Monroe (Richard Pryor) are middle-aged men bored with both their lives and existence.
Great chemistry and great comedic writing come together magically in such a way that the audience doesn't even feel bad rooting for the guys trying to break out of jail.Gene Wilder's Skip Donahue is my spirit animal.
Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor starred in several movies together, and in "Stir Crazy" their comedic chemistry shines strong.
The plot of "Stir Crazy", though, where Wilder and Pryor are framed for armed robbery and sent to prison, is quite amusing and hilarious, with the right amount of flavor and texture to grab my attention!
As it was a movie I enjoyed watching as a kid with my dad and brothers, when I start the Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor comedy "Stir Crazy" was on TV, I couldn't wait to watch it and have s couple of laughs and reminisce about great times.Plot In As Paragraph: New Yorkers, Skip (Genr Wilder) and Harry (Richard Pryor) are best friends who are both fired on the same day.
They have difficulty adjusting to the new life until the warden finds that Skip has a natural talent for bull riding with the prison rodeo coming up.Wilder and Pryor are a great comedy duo, and still make me laugh even though I have seen it multiple times.
The first half introducing best friends Skip and Harry, their trip west in an attempt to start new lives and their descent into and initial experiences adjusting to prison life and culture are generally pretty funny.
Give me their antics in the bar, or the courtroom, or on arriving in prison any day, instead of being forced to watch a very obviously disguised, Wilder stand-in/stuntman being chased around a rodeo corral by a bull.The re-pairing of the two well-matched stars from Silver Streak is welcome, but director Sidney Poitier in my view missed an opportunity to make a really funny comedy that left a lasting impression, in the tradition of films such as Blazing Saddles and Anchorman..
I think more Americans should spend a little time behind bars, so they would understand that." He says this with just the perfect touch; he's not dramatic or preachy, and the light tone of the movie doesn't waver in the slightest, but there is such depth to this subtle criticism of how prison is viewed, and the movement which was growing in America to be 'tough on crime'.Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor are a fantastic comedy team, and in this film director Sidney Poitier also blends in a little prison escape drama as well.
Pryor has a more subdued role in the film, but he makes the most out of every moment, and his facial reactions and little comments all add up to a fine performance.The film also has quite a heart; Wilder's character believes that everything can be solved by just talking to people and in understanding them, and sometimes he's very wrong about that, but we soon see Grossberger playing cards with them and then later singing a lovely version of "Down in the Valley." Throughout the movie, there is such humanity in how Wilder treats people with respect, even if he is off-base and hilariously naïve a lot of the time.
Though Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor were first teamed together in 1976's Silver Streak, it was not necessarily a pairing as Pryor didn't appear until 45 minutes into the movie, but this film showcases the actors' true comedic talents.Wilder and Pryor are Skip Donahue and Harry Monroe, two out-of-work losers in NYC who decide to start a new life out in California.
JoBeth Williams as Len's comely social-worker cousin, and Jonathan Banks as a vicious fellow inmate that is given special treatment by both the warden and the guards.Definitely one of the great Wilder/Pryor comedies..
Though Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor were first teamed together in 1976's Silver Streak, it was not necessarily a pairing as Pryor didn't appear until 45 minutes into the movie, but this film showcases the actors' true comedic talents.
Wilder and Pryor are Skip Donahue and Harry Monroe, are two out-of-work losers in NYC who decide to start a new life out in California.
Skip and Harry are arrested for the robbery and sent to prison for 125 years.Gene Wilder going crazy in prison is hilarious.
Gene Wilder is especially hilarious as the more naive of the two who gets duped into competing in the prison rodeos.If the film did not run out of steam in the final act, I would probably rate this a nine.
I didn't like this movie, I found it so naive and boring."Stir Crazy" is entertaining and funny for about 10 minutes and those minutes are just at the beginning, so if after this comment you are going to watch it anyway I recommend you to stop watching it just at the first moment you find it a little boring because from that moment the movie will get after each passing minute even worse until the end.The plot is about 2 friends (Wilder and Pryor) who live in NY and are fired from their jobs on the same day so they agree to go to L.A to follow their dreams to became a playwright and an actor respectively but on their way to L.A they are sentenced to prison by mistake, but at prison they will have yet a couple of chances to be free again.....Don't waste your time watching this terrible movie, If you do you will regret it..
Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder are one of the best comedic on-screen duo's here in Stir Crazy about a couple of yoyos who wind up in prison after a bank robery frame-up.
This film is memorable for one reason and one reason only:Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor,together as a unit.They had a chemistry that was undeniable,and they are in full force here.The script is flawed,the supporting cast,at least for the most part,forgettable,and I'm not knocking Sidney Poitier as a director,but I always considered him to be much better in front of the camera than behind it.Much of the dialog and interaction between the two main stars was no doubt improvised,and they probably needed no instruction from Poitier whatsoever.As funny as the two men were separately,there was just something special about them on screen together.They were just knock down,drag out funny,and if you were to just put them on an empty stage with no sets,props or even a script,put a movie camera in front them and just said "action!",the result would most likely be priceless.See Stir Crazy for the unbelievable talent that was Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor.Without them,the film would have been forgotten,and very quickly..
Stir Crazy is a good movie,its enjoyable and its not a waste of time but if your opinion is a lot like mine you would probably feel like something was missing,especially for the fact that they got actors as good as Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor.Two best friends (Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder) leave there home town to meet lovely women,and get a part time job as two singing birds,but two criminals take the bird costumes and rob a bank in the costumes,which makes the two men framed to be the criminals and they get sent to prison and plan to make an escape at the prison rodeo.
But it'll take some funny jokes to beat See No Evil, Hear No Evil.Pryor and Wilder play Harry and Skip two friends who after fired from their job, take on to be dancing woodpeckers promoting a bank.
The two friends try to cope with being in prison, but when the warren realizes that Skip is a good bullrider, he wants to put him in the Prison Competition of being the representative for the jail in the competition.Its a crazy movie, with a lot of things happening, but its an interesting and funny 1980s film.
Aside from Wilder the movie was pretty funny though it was boring at times, such as the end, where it turned into an action film more than a comedy, much the same that silver streak did.
The comedy duo of Wilder and Pryor are one of the best we have seen in movies.
It's Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor and they are stuck in a film that's too long and not funny enough to justify the running time..
"Stir Crazy" capitalizes on the previous, better film "Silver Streak", as it reunites two of the best comedians of that period, Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor.
Under the direction of Sidney Poitier the film is a lot of fun to watch, but in viewing it again after so many years since we last saw it, the film feels flat, at times.The best excuse for watching "Stir Crazy" is Gene Wilder.
STIR CRAZY (1980) **1/2  Richard Pryor, Gene Wilder, JoBeth Williams, Craig T.
Everyone likes a prison movie, and everyone likes a Gene Wilder-Richard  Pryor comedy, so combine those two genres, and you've got a formidable  piece of cinematic history.
Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor always made a great comedy team, and  "Stir Crazy" is no exception.
After their successful partnership in Silver Streak, comic duo Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder reteamed for this wacky prison comedy under the direction of Sidney Poitier.
But having said that, Stir Crazy is still totally enjoyable in its harmless way.New Yorkers Skip Donahue (Wilder) and Harry Monroe (Pryor) decide to head out west, dreaming of a new start away from the Big Apple.
Both Skip & Harry are unprepared for the harsh reality of prison & decide to use the upcoming rodeo to escape...Directed by Sidney Poitier this is the sort of film that you will get & roll around on the floor laughing or find crude & unfunny, comedy like so much else is subjective & what makes one person laugh will not necessarily make the guy sitting next to him laugh so when I say that I thought Stir Crazy was often quite hilarious it's only my own personal opinion as I know quite rightly the person I was standing next to in the que at the bus stop may not.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.