Stir Crazy (1980)

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Stir Crazy (1980)

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After the excellent audience response to their teaming in Silver Streak, Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor reunited for this zany comedy. Wilder and Pryor play a couple of out-of-work numbskulls who take a promotional job that requires them to dress up like gigantic woodpeckers. Unfortunately, a pair of thieves, likewise decked out in woodpecker suits, pull off a bank job not long after Wilder and Pryor make their first public appearance. The boys are arrested and sentenced to 120 years each (at this point, we know we're not dealing with real life). After a concerted (and hilarious) effort to make the best of things "in stir," Wilder and Pryor break out of jail, hoping to track down the genuine thieves. The mess never really works itself out, suggesting that perhaps the stars had a Stir Crazy II lurking in the recesses of their minds. Written by Bruce Jay Friedman and directed by Sidney Poitier, it never did spawn a sequel, though a TV series spin-off, starring Larry Riley and Joseph Guzaldo, briefly surfaced in 1986.

Synopsis by Hal Erickson, Allmovie.com

Stir Crazy may very well be one of the purest definitions of a guilty pleasure. This ramshackle prison comedy survives a barely existent plot, rhythmless editing, and dull interiors because the stars, Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder, have such spectacular chemistry. The most memorable scene concerns Pryor and Wilder trying to act much tougher than they really are while walking into the prison for the first time ("We Bad, uh huh, we bad"). That scene crystallizes the aspects of the film that work. Pryor and Wilder are such polar opposites, yet both so likable, that their energy bounces off each other right into the audience. Each of them delivered strong performances without the other, but they pushed each other to places they never went with any other co-stars. More than any of their other collaborations, Stir Crazy showed how far the pair could take their comedic pas de deux without losing the audience.

Review by Perry Seibert, Allmovie.com

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Stir Crazy (1980)

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Stir Crazy (1980)

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Stir Crazy (1980)

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Stir Crazy (1980)

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Stir Crazy (1980)

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Stir Crazy (1980)

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Stir Crazy (1980)

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Stir Crazy (1980)

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Stir Crazy (1980)

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Stir Crazy (1980)

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Stir Crazy (1980)

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Stir Crazy (1980)

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Stir Crazy (1980)

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Stir Crazy (1980)

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