Stir Crazy

Two friends who lose their jobs in New York set out west. On the way, doing a promotional job in costume, they are accused of a bank robbery and given long sentences. The film does not use the prison for tension; the narrative keeps the pair leaning on each other inside exactly as they did outside, and the comedy comes entirely from their rhythm. A rodeo thread ties the plot together but is not the point. Sidney Poitier directed. It is the second film Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor made together. Before watching: prison violence and sexual threat are used as material for jokes, and parts of it carry the assumptions of its period. Some of it lands badly now.