The Survivors (1983)

WHO KNEW there was another Walter Matthau movie that I had never seen?? and teamed up with Robin Williams. righteous. Made in 1983. when they lose their jobs, Sonny and Donald witness a holdup, and are on the run, trying to hide from the bandit (Jerry Reed) who is now out to get them. Reed is probably best known as Cletus, the truck driver from Smokey and the Bandit. To make things worse, one of them becomes a "doomsday prepper", and dares the bandit to come get them! This one needed tightening up.... Sonny has a daughter, and their banter with her really slows things down. and the script just wasn't as funny as some of the writer or the directors' others. written by Michael Leeson, who had written mostly for television, and did the screenplay for War of the Roses, another conflict scenario. Robin Williams is as energetic and goofy as always, and made this right after Mork and Mindy, and Garp. Matthau did this a couple years after my personal favorite, Hopscotch. Survivors wasn't their best work, but it's fun to see anything by Matthau and/or Willliams. Directed by Michael Ritchie, who had also done Fletch. and, of course, the Bad News Bears. part of the fun is mocking the doomsday student trainees, who got more than they expected when they signed up for the course. this gets preachy and serious right near the end, bringing things to a halt yet again. and the ending is pretty lame. This one started so quirky, with the administrative assistant cussing and acting silly, that we kind of lost that sense of fun along the way. it's ok.