Stir Crazy

Sidney Poitier remains behind the camera in this hilarious vehicle for Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder.

  • Director

    Sidney Poitier

  • With

    Richard Pryor, Gene Wilder, Georg Stanford Brown

  • USA 1980. 111min

  • 35mm

  • Certificate

    15

The first film Poitier directed but didn’t act in is a buddy comedy that sees Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder’s wrongly convicted best friends hatch an elaborate escape plan involving a prison rodeo. Poitier makes space for the two comic greats to showcase their considerable improvisational talents. It was the first film by a Black director to gross over $100m at the box office.

Contains brief nudity, outdated queer stereotypes.

The screening of Stir Crazy on Wednesday 29 January 20:40 NFT2 will be introduced by researcher and curator Matthew Barrington.

Film on Film