Stir Crazy

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In director Sidney Poitier's 1980 comedy, Stir Crazy, Skip Donahue (Gene Wilder,) and Harry Monroe (Richard Pryor) are, respectively, a struggling playwright and struggling actor living in New York City. When both are fired from their day jobs, Skip convinces Harry to move to California to plyr craft on the sunny left coast. After landing a gig entertaining customers at a busy Arizona bank, the duo is framed for bank robbery and sentenced to 125 years in prison, where they immediately draw the ire of a sadistic guard (Craig T. Nelson.) After Skip rides a mechanical bull and shows a natural aptitude for it, the warden (Barry Corbin) insists that Skip compete in the annual Prison Rodeo. Skip declines, but he and Harry's friends, Jesus (Miguel Angel Suarez,) and Rory (Georg Stanford Brown) see the rodeo as an opportunity to escape. Meanwhile, as the warden attempts to break Skip's spirit, Skip falls for Meredith (Jo Beth Williams,) who is assisting with their appeal, while Rory has fallen for Harry and has taken to calling Harry "sweetpants." Enter Grossberger (Erland Van Lindth,) "only the biggest mass murderer in the history of the southwest" into their lives. Much of the criticism of Stir Crazy is that while the first half of the film is pretty hilarious (Georg Stanford Brown is a riot,) the second half bogs down with the escape plot. Technically, this is not wrong. The first half is nonstop laughs, while the second half is all business. But, it's also understandable. The four men are attempting to break out of prison. There is just no time for hijinks. Seriousness is of the utmost importance. Personally, I thought Poitier put together a darn fine movie, one that I still enjoy watching 37 years later. (Info verified by Wikipedia)