Cegos, Surdos e Loucos

Just saw this movie again recently, and it still gets me laughing like crazy. This was the first Pryor/Wilder movie I ever saw, when it first came out on video, and it eventually got me to the video store several more times to see their other movies. Although all of them got me laughing (especially Silver Streak), this one was by far the funniest. It's definitely an underrated movie. I only wish Pryor and Wilder had done more together.

Not quite as good as Silver Streak and Stir Crazy but this Gene Wilder & Richard Pryor outing never fails in putting a big smile on my face.Seen it loads of times now and it's as funny as the first time, brilliant stuff.

I love this movie and I love Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder. On the face of it they're both so utterly unfunny that they come full circle on the crapometer right back round to funny. You have to hand it to them. These guys have made several films together, all of which are arguably quite rubbish, yet I always wizz myself laughing whenever I watch any of them. By the way, for all you Wilder/Pryor slapstick-duo film fan freaks out there, I stole that amazingly funny quote in my summary from the back of the Stir Crazy box. So sue me if I want to use the best line I've ever read on the back of a video box ever, anywhere in the whole wide world. You know, you should always judge a film by it's cover, and even more so by the description on the back. How could you not fall over, doubled-up in uncontrollable fits of laughter, face contorting, body spasming in the video store when you see Pryor/Wilder on the front cover of a video, one pretending he can't see, the other pretending he can't hear. Then you read the back cover and you nearly die laughing before you reach the counter due to the over-use of words such as, crazy, zany, nuts, wacko, crackers, mad-cap, caper, loony, escapades, hilarious, romp etc. etc. I mean, if you've ever seen this film, you'll know what a total load of lies that is, but they're real funny lies. All this and you have not even left the video store. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but any film that has normal, well adjusted members of the film watching community thrashing about on the floor of a video store, really should have cleaned up at the oscars. Ok, so I exaggerate. Or do I. Come on then. Lets hear some Pryor/ Wilder collaboration appreciation.

"See no evil, Hear no evil"; a perfect title for an hilarious script that was brilliantly portrayed by Gene Wilder (Dave) and Richard Pryer (Wally). The tale of two "handicapped" (as Dave remarks at the end of the film, "I'm not handicapped, I have you") individuals who come together to be ones eyes. The hilarious duo get caught in a crime they did not commit and do everything in thier power to rid them of the accusation.

I have to say that I really enjoyed this movie tremendously. I remember watching it when it first came out in 1989 and thinking, "wow...what a funny flick". Being only 11 at the time, I didn't really understand the hilarity of all the jokes that was in it. The reason why I watch it again now... 13 years later is because of one Kevin Spacey (Who plays Kirgo, the crook). I'm in the process of collecting all of his movies... and this one just happens to be one in that list. I'm glad that it is. I find the script to be wonderfull, the acting brilliant and the time spent watching it a definate fun time. Great movie!!

I remember first seeing this movie when I was about five years old, and I found it hilarious. I caught the movie a couple more times on network TV, but this is the first time I watched it again in its unedited form.

Needless to say, Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder are both wonderful talents with an irreplacable chemistry, and that chemistry is utilized very well throughout. Of course, the brilliantly original premise helps as well. A blind guy and a deaf guy who pair up to solve a murder? Classic! That premise is used wonderfully. There's a great line where they're interrogated and angry officer screams out, "Between the two of you, you saw and heard everything!"

There's a lot of great fish-out-of-water humor involving Pryor's blindness and Wilder's deafness. One of the most hilarious gags, along with the car chase, is when Pryor helps another blind man to walk across the street, and they end up in the back of a truck. Now that's a literal example of the blind leading the blind. Each gag is delivered and timed very well, thanks for the great actors and veteran director Arthur Hiller, who has directed the two leads before in "Silver Streak."

This isn't a perfect comedy. A few gags fall flat, but the key word is "few." Some reviewers and audiences have regarded this as the low point in Wilder's and Pryor's careers. I think of "Another You" as the low point, which is a horribly forgettable comedy that unfortunately was the last film they did together.

A good deal of the gags are far-fetched, but this is a slapstick farce and you have to expect that. That's why I always say that this is a very tricky sub-genre and if not done correctly, the audience will totally stop suspending disbelief and simply scoff at its foolishness.

Fans of Pryor and Wilder should not be disappointed. Also, if you want to see an early (comic) performance by Kevin Spacey, it's also worth checking out. Speaking of worth checking out, Joan Severance provides great eye candy, and she has a couple of nude scenes to boot. I was born in 1982, so this was the first movie where I saw the two comics together on screen, so "See No Evil" is more unique to me than it probably is to others. But come on! With scenes like a high-speed car chase involving a blind man and a deaf man trying to escape, how can this not be regarded as a "unique" comedy?

My score: 7 (out of 10)