Stir Crazy turns out to be another of those films with two distinct halves. 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. The second half for some unknown reason changes tone and direction. The film starts to primarily play out as a prison escape film, combined with a prison sports sub-story. The laughter quotient is reduced, as this somewhat awkward and uncalled for suspense element is ramped up.
Fans of the Wilder/Pryor duo will still find the movie entertaining enough, but the hilarity of some of the earlier episodes prior to the escape plan coming into being is sorely missed. 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.
Fans of the Wilder/Pryor duo will still find the movie entertaining enough, but the hilarity of some of the earlier episodes prior to the escape plan coming into being is sorely missed. 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.