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.

Give the times we live in, it's hard to believe that a movie like "The Survivors" was ever a major motion picture showing in theaters. I'm old enough that I grew up in this era, and this film was a really pleasant hit of nostalgia. I thought I'd seen every Walter Matthau movie made, but apparently I missed this one. The trailer set a really low bar, so I'm really happy I gave it a go, given that the three people and I who watched it felt it was vastly better than the trailer implied. It had a really nice mix of caustic wit mixed with charm that you just don't get in a modern slick comedy. Slow down, give this film a chance, don't be expecting super sophistication, instead be entertained by circumstance, and, even if you're much younger than I am, you might like this movie. For me it was a solid home run, and, although I watch plenty of current fare, I do miss movies that seem to have come from seemingly much simpler times. It's just nice to take a break from the constant explosions and over-the-top everything of today's productions. If nothing else, consider it an education in film history, one which is pleasant, understated, and ultimately heart-warming.

Despite starring Walter Matthau and Robin Williams, "The Survivors" has a rather low overall score of 5.8 on IMDB. And, after watching it, I think I understand why. Although the plot idea is good, the situations and characters are so extreme that the story really seems ridiculous...and not in a good way.

When the story begins, Sonny and Donald (Walter Matthau and Robin Williams) are each having horrible days. It culminates with them in the same restaurant...where a crook soon enters to rob the place. Sonny manages to get the gun away from the crook and even sees the guy's face under his mask....and the crook escapes. Soon the crook (Jerry Reed) is out to kill him and Donald in order to prevent them from identifying him.

There are many plot problems with the film. One is that after Jack (Jerry Reed) holds up the restaurant and then tries to kill the witnesses a few days later, the pair manage to disarm Jack. They call the police...who have no one to answer the phone and just have an answering machine. Funny? I dunno...but awfully unrealistic. Later, they take the violent crook to the police station and what happens next also makes no sense. After all, Jack tried to rob a restaurant AND kill the witnesses and they just let him out on bail?? Huh? And, when he then threatens to kill Sonny AGAIN, Sonny doesn't go to the police but agrees to help Jack find Donald?? Huh?

As for Donald, he goes from being a meek, mild mannered man to a survivalist nut after going to a gun store and meeting some extreme characters. This is an interesting idea as there are some scary apocalyptic gun nuts out there (I own guns...don't get the idea I am anti-gun...just anti-nut!).

The bottom line is that there is a kernel of a good story here but too often the characters seem like caricatures and the script sometimes just doesn't make a lot of sense. Very watchable and worth seeing...but also a weak film that just should have been better.