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Think about
a prison film that is the opposite of The Shawshank Redemption,
and you might think of Stir Crazy. This light comedy is dated
and exaggerated, but it still made me laugh a few times. I
can still remember when I was but a wee lad, watching this
movie on HBO in a hotel room, hoping that my parents would
not come back and catch me watching this "dirty" R rated movie.
This was back during the time that HBO seemed to only have
rights to three movies: Flash Gordon, 9 to 5, and Stir Crazy.
Ah, those were the good old days.
Skip (Gene
Wilder) and Harry (Richard Pryor) are two New Yorkers who
are lousy at their jobs. Skip is a failed writer, and Harry
was a waiter until a cook mistook his "spice" for
oregano. (Strangely enough, I just saw a trailer for a new
movie in which this same exact joke is used.) To amuse themselves
Skip and Harry sit in a bar and share their misery. Skip also
has a tendency to be overly reliant on his social skills to
settle disputes and make new friends. They decide to start
their lives over, so they head west. Unfortunately for them,
they end up in Texas. In a case of mistaken identity, they
are incarcerated for a bank robbery. Their lawyer is inept,
and they are quickly found guilty. The Texas judge rewards
them with a stiff sentence of 125 years. So it's off to that
haven of lowbrow comedy, prison. But Skip and Harry are given
an unforeseen opportunity when Skip's prowess on the mechanical
bull comes to the attention of the warden.
With a solid
premise and Wilder and Pryor at the height of their skills,
Stir Crazy ultimately disappoints. It is still well worth
seeing, but I was hoping for something a little more outrageous
and original. Pryor and Wilder are both obviously adlibbing
at times, with mixed results. Their actions when they first
arrive in their jail cell are just too extreme, even for a
wacky comedy. That whole kung fu thing seemed to go on forever.
And the romantic subplot with Meredith (JoBeth Williams) is
extremely unconvincing.
The escape
plot makes very little sense. They seem to have a safe escape
route by using a hotdog stand, but for some reason two of
the prisoners feel they must do some climbing and make use
of the bathroom vents. Huh? Why don't all the prisoners try
to escape the same way? Perhaps the filmmakers did not want
the escape to look too easy, so they threw in escape route
#2. Luckily this film relies on comedy for its success, with
only limited screen time devoted to the adventure aspects.
Video: How Does The Disc Look?
I enjoy
reviewing Columbia Tristar dvds. Columbia obviously takes
great pride in its films, and this is reflected in their excellent
presentations. Reviews about the quality of Columbia DVDs
are usually unnecessary and anticlimactic, and their past
success with dvds creates the "quality assured"
type of identification, a universal goodwill factor that nearly
all other companies have failed to achieve.
As is Columbia's
custom, Stir Crazy has been anamorphically enhanced. The image
is excellent, even disregarding that it is a 1980 film. Take
it for what you will, but I will note that The Shining is
another film from 1980 that was just recently released on
DVD. (Editor: And just what are you implying here, Jarod?
Hmmmm...)
Colors might
be a bit faded for this nearly two decades old film, and occasionally
very minute specs and scars from the original film element
appear, but these are barely noticeable. One reason why the
video does not score higher from me is that there are a few
downconversion artifacts, especially at the end of chapter
5, where the dreaded striped shirt makes an appearance. For
people that have widescreen televisions this should not be
a problem.
The other
side of the DVD contains the full frame version. This version
reveals more material at the top and bottom of the frame,
while cutting off a small amount on the sides. This presentation
is acceptable for anyone so inclined, but the extra picture
information at the top and bottom is quite superfluous.
Audio: How Does the Disc Sound?
The mono
sound serves its purpose for this comedy. Dynamic range is
quite flat, but very little is needed for the back and forth
chatter of Pryor and Wilder. Dialogue is clear at all times,
with absolutely no hiss or distortion. There is quite a bit
of unnecessary low frequency sound, so you might need to change
your settings at the beginning of the film. Once I switched
off my subwoofer the sound cleared up appreciably.
Supplements: What Goodies Are There? It comes
as no big surprise that this dvd is light on extras. Two trailers
are included (See No Evil, Hear No Evil and Richard Pryor
Live on the Sunset Strip), but where is the trailer for Stir
Crazy? The menu designers obviously had a sense of humor,
as the main menu screen is animated in a fashion appropriate
to the film. Some short biographies and a few liner notes
round out the extra features.
Also worth
mentioning is the wide variety of subtitles provided with
this disc. However, French is not one of the languages included,
which seems to neglect the French speaking residents of Quebec,
which is in Region 1, unlike Portuguese or Korean. I am not
saying Portuguese and Korean should not be included, but why
not French?
Parting Thoughts
Many of
the jokes are lame, and the whole southern crime and punishment
story reeks of stereotypes and cliches. But then again, this
is just a dumb comedy, and occasionally a damn funny comedy.
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