Stir Crazy is a 1980 American black comedy film directed by Sidney Poitier, written by Bruce Jay Friedman, produced by Hannah Weinstein,[2] and starring Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor as two unemployed friends who are given 125-year prison sentences after getting framed for a bank robbery.

Aspiring actor Harold "Harry" Monroe is fired from his job as a waiter when cooks accidentally use his stash of marijuana as oregano at a dinner party.

Skip, the optimist of the two, spins their shared unemployment positively and convinces Harry that they should travel to California, and they leave New York City in a battered Dodge camper-van.

Skip, Harry, Jesus, Rory, and Grossberger acquire tools they need for their escape; meanwhile, Meredith gets a job as a waitress in a local strip club searching for possible suspects and encounters the real bank robbers.

At the rodeo stadium, each member of Skip's team but Grossberger retreats through a secret path, taking them through air vents to be met by either Jesus' wife or brother.

[11][12] Roger Ebert gave the film two stars out of four and wrote that it "starts strong", but "once Wilder and Pryor are thrown into prison, it seems to lose its way" as "the movie gets bogged down in developing its own plot.

"[13] Vincent Canby of The New York Times panned the film as "a prison comedy of quite stunning humorlessness" which "appears to have been improvised, badly, more often than written.

"[14] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Sidney Poitier has directed Stir Crazy as if it were as much fun as his previous comedies—e.g., Uptown Saturday Night.

"[15] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune was positive, giving the film three stars out of four and writing, "There are explosively funny moments in this prison comedy that wouldn't be there without Pryor, who radiates a comic energy in a scene even when he's merely standing still.

"[16] Variety wrote, "The extensive comic talents of Richard Pryor take a below average film like Stir Crazy and make it into an often funny and saleable picture.

[26][27] This version starred Larry Riley as Harry Fletcher and Joseph Guzaldo as Skip Harrington, who were wrongfully convicted and sentenced to 132 years in prison.