The Survivors (1983)
Review by HTQ4
Film:
DVD:

Written by Michael Leeson
Directed by Michael Ritchie
Starring Walter Matthau, Robin Williams, and Jerry Reed

Anamorphic: Yes

My Advice: Rent it

Donald Quinelle's (Williams) life just got flushed down the proverbial commode. His day started off by being fired by his boss' parrot and then it got really bad. Back to that in a second...first let me tell you about Sonny Paluso (Matthau). He just lost his gas station...it blew up. Fate finds Donald and Sonny at the same diner which Jack Locke (Reed) has chosen to hold up. In the holdup, Don gets shot. (This is where I continue about Don's bad day.) But there's another problem, both Don and Sonny have seen Jack's face and can identify him. Don becomes obsessed with the idea of self-defense so he buys a bunch of weapons and enrolls himself in a survival camp. When Jack comes and threatens Sonny's life, Don gets a chance to put his survival training to the test.

This is a mediocre script that, in the hands of any other cast, could have been a horrible movie. However, Williams and Matthau have a sort of non-chemistry that seems to work for the film. Each of them knows their character like the back of their hand, but both of them seem to have their hands tied a bit; they are not allowed to let their own creative juices flow and really bring the characters alive. This is a very bizarre role for Reed. Don't get me wrong, he plays it off, but even after all these years, it's just really hard to see "The Snowman" from Smokey and the Bandit as the serial killer who supposedly bumped off Jimmy Hoffa (which I thought was a bit of a reach from a writing standpoint, anyway). The director tries to use winter in New York of the early 80s to create a sense of isolation and danger about the film, but it falls flat before really allowing any of this to really hit the audience. Perhaps that's what really weakens the film. It's supposed to be a black comedy, but it somehow comes out as a sort of murky gray comedy instead.

And, the DVD treatment is pretty gray itself. There's really nothing to it. There are no special features to speak of other than the digital transfer, anamorphic format, and Dolby 5.1 soundtrack. Okay, there are theatrical trailers for this film, The Big Hit, and Jawbreaker, but that's all you get. My brain buckles at the thought of Williams and Matthau providing a commentary--which of course would have needed some foresight since we've unfortunately lost Matthau. But still, can you imagine what that would have been like?

So, this one goes back to your favorite DVD rental outlet. It's worth seeing the film, but only as a renter.