Day 237 - 8/25/09 - Movie #233
BEFORE: Continuing with prison-based comedies - I've seen bits of this film before, but not the whole thing through, I think.
THE PLOT: Skip and Harry are framed for a bank robbery and end up in a western prison.
AFTER: Sure, it's a classic Gene Wilder/Richard Pryor comedy, but it's got some story problems. In a sense, it's a movie that doesn't know what it wants to be - a buddy comedy, a prison film, a rodeo contest - like they strung as many concepts as they could together...
I've got some plotholes that I can't get over - first we find out that Gene Wilder's character, Skip, born and raised in New York City, is somehow a champion-level rodeo bronco rider? Unlikely... And Meredith (JoBeth Williams) sees the real bank robbers in a strip club - somehow this leads her to the knowledge that Skip is in danger - huh? Logically this should lead to her turning in the real bank robbers to the cops, but we never see that part. And how do they plan such an elaborate escape from a rodeo arena, where they've never been before? Also, the warden wanted to win the rodeo, but why did the head guard want to sabotage it? It felt like there were some scenes missing that would have explained some of these things.
I know, I should just relax and enjoy the comedy, but I still want a consistent storyline! As for the comedy, there were bits that were obviously improvisations from Wilder and Pryor, and I just felt they went on a bit too long. While they were bouncing around and messing with the guards, pretending to be insane, wouldn't the guards have just beat them with their clubs? At times I sure wanted to...
RATING: 6 out of 10 cowboy hats
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I remember people raving about how this film was so funny when it was in the theaters, and they were always running commercials for it on channel 56.
ReplyDeleteI finally got around to watching it 2 or 3 years ago, and I couldn't figure out what the big deal was. The channel 56 commercials contained every bit of the film that was worthwhile. Had no idea there was anything to do with a rodeo in this film 'til I watched it for the first time. Seem like that rodeo thing was just stuck on the end.