STIR CRAZY: PILOT {SERIES PREMIERE} (TV)
Summary
The first in this short-lived comedy series, based on the 1980 film of the same name, about two wrongfully-accused convicts on the lam from a determined cop. In this episode, pals Harry Fletcher and Skip Harrington attempt to score the last $500 needed for their ice cream-shop dreams through a "stomach-punch contest" at a bar. Outside, a mysterious man with a tattooed hand murders the wealthy P.K. Hunter and places him in Harry's cab, and when the pair emerges victorious from the bar, they realized only belatedly that the "fare" is dead. At the police station, the formidable Captain Betty Phillips – who was also Hunter's fiancée – and her bumbling sidekick Officer Crawford angrily question Skip and Harry about the crime, and they are convicted of the murder and sentenced to 132 years despite their protestations. Their attractive lawyer Kathryn D'Angelo explains that they must build a case to prove their innocence, and once on the chain gang, Skip decides to befriend Eddie Grossberger, a large and frightening fellow convict. Harry, who fortunately has a photographic memory, describes the unknown man's distinctive tattoo to Kathryn, though they fail to notice when Pepper, another prisoner, is visited by the tattooed man, who orders him to keep the witnesses in jail permanently.
A documentary filmmaker, Mr. Hashamoto, treats the prisoners to a "traditional Japanese ceremony" for allowing them to film inside the jail, but a riot soon breaks out and Skip and Harry take advantage of the tumult to escape, disguised as geishas. Grossberger assists them, telling them to seek out a certain Mitzi, and Kathryn explains that she found the tattoo parlor visited by the killer as she drives them away from Betty and Crawford. The pair soon tracks down Mitzi, a professional wrestler and Grossberger's wife, though the cops soon arrive at the ring and Skip and Harry are forced to impersonate masked wrestlers. Kathryn is startled to learn that from Crawford that the police received an anonymous tip about the duo's whereabouts, and she soon figures out that Pepper was the tattooed man's partner-in-crime in the past and is now his spy on the inside. At Mitzi's home, Skip meets her young daughter Melissa and learns that Grossberger is deliberately staying away from them for their safety.
Skip and Harry sneak back onto the prison grounds to question Pepper about the tattooed man, who is likely to be headed for a high-stakes horse race in Saratoga. Once there, Skip encourages Grossberger to return to his family, and Pepper quickly divulges some pertinent information about Monty Durran, the tattooed killer. Kathryn bids Skip a romantic farewell as they re-escape the prison in a flaming van, and they narrowly escape the cops as they rush for the train station – though they board the wrong one. Betty and Crawford search the Saratoga-bound train and realize that Skip and Harry are not there, though Durran is, while elsewhere Skip and Harry are forced to work in the kitchen to pay for their fare. When the conductor recognizes them from the newspaper, they leap from the train and end up wandering through the desert, determined to make it to Saratoga somehow. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:49:14
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 123440
- GENRE: Comedy
- SUBJECT HEADING: African-American Collection - Comedy; Comedy; Prisoners
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1985-1986
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Larry Rosen … Executive Producer, Developed by, Writer
- Larry Tucker … Executive Producer, Developed by, Writer
- Peter H. Hunt … Director
- Bruce Jay Friedman … Writer
- William Goldstein … Music by
- Allee Willis … Theme Music by
- Danny Sembello … Theme Music by
- Paulette McWilliams … Theme Music by
- Larry Riley … Cast, Harry Fletcher
- Joe Guzaldo … Cast, Skip Harrington
- Polly Holliday … Cast, Captain Betty Phillips
- Cynthia Sikes … Cast, Kathryn D'Angelo
- John Matuszak … Cast, Eddie Grossberger
- John Mengatti … Cast, Frankie 'Pepper' Ciccone
- Le Tari … Cast, Otis
- Royce D. Applegate … Cast, Crawford
- Marvin Kaplan … Cast, Max
- Deborah Rush … Cast, Mitzi
- Wayne Heffley … Cast, Warden
- Zoaunne LeRoy … Cast, Edna
- M.C. Gainey … Cast, Tattooed Man
- Spice Williams … Cast, Rhoda
- Dierk Torsek … Cast, Brickman
- Lindy Huddleson … Cast, Melissa
- Judy Sharp … Cast, Jungle Lady
- Rodney Kageyama … Cast, Interpreter
- Nori Konishi … Cast, Mr. Hashamoto
- Buddha Khan … Cast, Otto
- H.B. Haggerty … Cast, Bruno
- Charles Davis … Cast, P.K. Hunter
- Rion Hunter … Cast, Guard
- Peter Looney … Cast, Guard
- Richard Fullerton … Cast, Guard
- Richard Epcar … Cast, Cowboy
- Bill Fagerbakke … Cast, Ranger
- Gene Whittington … Cast, Bartender