"With Gene Wilder, it was no problem. We fell in love instantly." - Richard Pryor

When a case of mistaken identities lands two friends with big ambitions longer-than-life prison sentences, they refuse to accept their fate, and fight for their freedom at any cost. Directed by Sidney Poitier in his sixth effort behind the camera and the first not in front, STIR CRAZY would prove to be an enormous success, holding the box office record for a Black-helmed film all the way up until 2018. Richard Pryor & Gene Wilder worked previously together in SILVER STREAK (and infamously almost on BLAZING SADDLES), and their irresistible chemistry leaves us wishing that these two had joint careers as prolific as the likes of Laurel & Hardy or Abbott & Costello. 

STIR CRAZY remains defiant in the face of poor reviews at the time of its release, thanks to a peculiar sense of realism absent from most comedies, and the swapping of Pryor and Wilder’s expected comedic roles – with Pryor playing the straight man to Wilder's chaotic and loud performance. Director Poitier stubbornly refused to stick to the accepted rules of comedic filmmaking, shooting the film in the very real Arizona State Prison with very real prisoners (who were entertained between takes by Pryor's impromptu stand up sets), using very real extras for the Rodeo sequence (lured in by the promise of exorbitant raffle prizes), and including what will likely be one of the strangest escape sequences in this entire series.