444-446 Pryor & Wilder 1980-1991

[MichaelB]

STIR CRAZY (Sidney Poitier, 1980)
SEE NO EVIL, HEAR NO EVIL (Arthur Hiller, 1989)
ANOTHER YOU (Maurice Phillips, 1991)

Release date: 18 November 2024
Limited Edition Blu-ray (UK premieres)

Pre-order here

Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder were two of American cinema’s best-loved comic actors, and this box set collects three of their classic collaborations.

In Stir Crazy, Skip (Wilder) and Harry (Pryor) are sentenced to 125 years for a bank robbery they didn’t commit and must rely on each other to survive in a maximum-security prison. In See No Evil, Hear No Evil, blind Wally (Pryor) and deaf Dave (Wilder) team up to foil a murderous gang of thieves. Finally, in Another You, compulsive liar George (Wilder) is mistaken for the heir to a fortune, to the delight of conman Eddie (Pryor).

This essential three-disc collection features newly remastered versions of all three films, accompanied by an array of fascinating contextualising extras, including newly recorded commentaries, interviews, and critical appreciations, as well as a 100-page book containing new and archival writings. Strictly limited to 6,000 individually numbered units.

INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION 3x BLU-RAY BOXSET SPECIAL FEATURES

• High Definition remasters of Stir Crazy, See No Evil, Hear No Evil and Another You
• Original mono audio on Stir Crazy
• Original stereo audio on See No Evil, Hear No Evil and Another You
• Audio commentaries on Stir Crazy and See No Evil, Hear No Evil with entertainment journalists Max Evry and Bryan Reesman (2024)
• Audio commentary on Another You with film historian Kim Newman and Empire magazine editor Nick de Semlyen (2024)
• Interview with Tom Scott (2024): the composer and actor talks about his work on the Stir Crazy score
• Interview with Stewart Copeland (2024): the composer and Police drummer recalls his work on the See No Evil, Hear No Evil score
• Michael Boyce Gillespie on Sidney Poitier (2024): the cinema studies professor discusses Poitier’s directorial career and his relationship with Richard Pryor
• The Making of ‘See No Evil, Hear No Evil’: archival promotional documentary
• Original theatrical trailers
• Image galleries: promotional and publicity materials
• New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Limited edition exclusive 100-page book with new essay by Jeff Billington, extracts from archival interviews with Pryor and Wilder, archival production reports on Stir Crazy, extracts from the films’ pressbooks, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and full film credits
• UK premiere on Blu-ray
• Limited edition of 6,000 individually numbered units for the UK
• All extras subject to change

# PHILE444B
BBFC cert: 15
REGION B
EAN: 5060697923926

[beamish14]

I’m really curious about whether some footage Peter Bogdanovich shot for Another You exists in any form. He was on it for a whole month, and it was filmed on a different coast than the finished project! Just a nightmarish film for all involved

[domino harvey]

Anyone want to make a case for these? This is a rather inexplicable release for Indicator, with movies that seem a better fit for a $10 four pack from Mill Creek, but perhaps my memories of seeing bits and pieces of these on cable is inaccurate

[knives]

Stir Crazy has a couple of nice bits, but yeah, these are some mediocre films overall with nothing really to say about them. I bet the set sells well though as Wilder and Pryor still have a lot of cache with people.

[reaky]

Michael B has said that Guest House Paradiso is one of Indicator’s fastest-ever sellers, but given that they’re also releasing a gruelling Ken Loach along with the Wilder/Pryors, I’m confident we’re not going to see the label pivoting to primarily slapstick fare in the same way that Eureka embraced Hong Kong martial arts.

[hearthesilence]

It's a pretty disappointing lot coming from two of the greatest comedians of the '70s (one as a film actor and one as possibly the greatest stand-up comedian of all-time). Moreso when they're all preceded by Blazing Saddles which could've been their first film together as co-stars - WB wouldn't allow Brooks to cast Pryor but Pryor is still a credited screenwriter.

I know Stir Crazy was a big hit and the other two still get watched by plenty of people, so I guess it's worth releasing for that reason alone: nowhere near their best work but still profitable and the only films starring both of them.

[beamish14]

Stir Crazy has a couple of nice bits, but yeah, these are some mediocre films overall with nothing really to say about them. I bet the set sells well though as Wilder and Pryor still have a lot of cache with people.

Silver Streak has just enough charm to get by on, as well as a genuinely very impressive action set piece at the end, but I’ve never even really gotten the appeal of Stir Crazy. Wilder in Blackface is just crazy and unbelievably cringeworthy. I do like Bruce Jay Friedman’s plays and short stories, though

[MichaelB]

For clarification, Wilder dons blackface in Silver Streak, not Stir Crazy. I'm not sure he'd have been able to get away with that in a prison with a large black population!

[swo17]

So the set could've been called: Pryor & Wilder (Excluding the Prior Film That Was Wilder Than We Wanted)

[MichaelB]

Michael B has said that Guest House Paradiso is one of Indicator’s fastest-ever sellers, but given that they’re also releasing a gruelling Ken Loach along with the Wilder/Pryors, I’m confident we’re not going to see the label pivoting to primarily slapstick fare in the same way that Eureka embraced Hong Kong martial arts.

We are not. I'm actually pleased that there are noticeably more comedies this year, as I think it's a genre that Indicator has rather neglected before – and more than one person has worked out that the long-delayed but hopefully reasonably imminent Hammer volume 7 pretty much has to be a comedy box (this being a prolific Hammer genre that Indicator's survey has ignored thus far, and the hitherto unreleased Hammer Columbia titles are all comedies) – but looking down the 2025 schedule it looks as though laughs are going to be in fairly short supply between November and April.

And yes, anyone buying Family Life in the expectation that it's going to be some kind of riotous thigh-slapper will be very swiftly disabused of that notion pretty much within the opening minute.

[colinr0380]

– and more than one person has worked out that the long-delayed but hopefully reasonably imminent Hammer volume 7 pretty much has to be a comedy box (this being a prolific Hammer genre that Indicator's survey has ignored thus far, and the hitherto unreleased Hammer Columbia titles are all comedies)

Fingers crossed for That's Your Funeral! [-o<

[beamish14]

For clarification, Wilder dons blackface in Silver Streak, not Stir Crazy. I'm not sure he'd have been able to get away with that in a prison with a large black population!

Haha! Yes, I did mix those up

[MichaelB]

This is not the reason for Silver Streak's omission from the box, of course - sadly, there's the rather more intractable issue of it being a Fox production that's now locked away in the Disney vault.

[yoloswegmaster]

We are not. I'm actually pleased that there are noticeably more comedies this year, as I think it's a genre that Indicator has rather neglected before – and more than one person has worked out that the long-delayed but hopefully reasonably imminent Hammer volume 7 pretty much has to be a comedy box (this being a prolific Hammer genre that Indicator's survey has ignored thus far, and the hitherto unreleased Hammer Columbia titles are all comedies) – but looking down the 2025 schedule it looks as though laughs are going to be in fairly short supply between November and April.

You heard it here first, W.C. Fields boxset coming out in May.

[mteller]

I was OBSESSED with Stir Crazy when I was a kid, like 11 or 12. I revisited it in my 30's and couldn't imagine why I ever loved it so much.

[beamish14]

I was OBSESSED with Stir Crazy when I was a kid, like 11 or 12. I revisited it in my 30's and couldn't imagine why I ever loved it so much.

I feel the same about Colin Higgins’ Foul Play

[therewillbeblus]

I feel the same about Colin Higgins’ Foul Play

Woah, same. My sister and I were obsessed as kids - revisited a year or two ago, and woof

[MichaelB]

Conversely, I hadn't seen it since a one-off theatrical viewing in 1980, and it was pretty much exactly how I remembered it.