Story setup has down-on-their-luck New Yorkers Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder deciding to blow the city for what they think are the promising shores of California. Driving cross-country they land in a small town where they take a job dressing up as woodpeckers in a local bank in order to make some cash. Two baddies they met in a bar use the woodpecker suits to rob the bank, leaving Pryor and Wilder 120-year prison sentences and no alibi.
Majority of the action focuses on the antics of prison life, with Pryor and Wilder at the center of a group of fairly stereotypical jail characters.
Director Sidney Poitier’s chief role seems to be providing enough space for Pryor and Wilder to do their schtick without going too far afield from the scant storyline.
