DVD Review: The Survivors
Written by: Kage Alan

Film Rating: B
DVD Special Features: N/A

I hadn't realized that Robin Williams had actually aged until I watched this
1983 film.  It amazes me even more that Walter Matthau looked the same as I
remembered him.  Doesn't that seem a bit strange?  Oh, well.  The concept of
combing two very different comedic talents like these guys must have seemed
like a fantastic idea back then too.  Take Robin Williams psychotic
mile-a-minute speaking self and combine him with the more mellow laid back
humor of Walter Matthau and you've got a whole new odd couple. Williams plays Donald Quinelle, an executive who gets fired due to cutbacks.
 
The boss, who's apparently on vacation because of the stress of having to
fire employees, has trained his parrot to give the speech.  Symbolism of some
kind?  Quite possibly.  Well, Donald doesn't take the news very lightly and
ends up having to be escorted out of the boss' office by a secretary at
gunpoint.  Nice.  He stops at a gas station on the way home and unknowingly
causes a rather huge explosion.  Guess whose gas station it is?  Yep, you
probably got it.  Sonny Paluso (Matthau) winds up at the same unemployment
office as Donald, only is told that he's not eligible for any compensation.

Both men deal with their demise in different ways, yet do it in the very same
diner that gets held up by a slick would-be bandit.  Neither Donald nor Sonny
are in the mood to deal with this latest crisis and end up disarming the
gunman out of sheer irritation.  The man gets away, but not before Donald
gets shot and Sonny gets a look at bandit's face.  Instead of being seen as
heroes, the media jumps on them as hotshots who should leave dealing with the criminals to the police.  Donald can't accept this and records a rebuttal on
the news, mentioning Sonny's full name.  Naturally the bandit sees the
broadcast and goes gunning for Sonny now that he knows his name and
Information provides the address.

Another mishap leaves the bandit, whose name is Jack (Jerry Reed, "Smokey and the Bandit"), in custody at the police station for attempted robbery.  
Donald, meanwhile, goes on a huge kick about feeling safe in New York and
decides to join a Survivalist Group up north.  Sonny wants no part of it, but
when Jack gets out on a technicality and goes gunning for them both, it isn't
long before the two friends are reunited and coming up with a plan to survive
the gunman.

While "The Survivors" doesn't sound like much of a comedy, there are some
very funny moments.  Williams overplays the part of Donald to the point where
you want to smack him so he'll shut up and Matthau is so mild mannered and
has such a puppy dog face that you can't help but love him to death.  The
majority of the comedy doesn't come from the two actors so much as it does
the social commentary.  It's amazing to see how a film almost 20 years old
still shares the same concerns as today.  The characters are worried about
always remaining victims, people are unhappy with their political leaders,
corporate politics suck, the Middle East is in chaos and then there are the
survivalist groups.  Anyone remember the groups coming out in full force when
1999 became 2000?  Same thing, same worries, different decade.  Watching this film really makes me wonder how far we've come since it was made.

The Widescreen presentation looks incredibly good for a movie this old.  
There's not much grain, though colors are slightly muted.  The audio is as
good as it needs to be, but not spectacular.  Oddly enough, there are
subtitles in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean and Thai.  
As for extras, there are three film trailers and that's it.

"The Survivors" isn't the rollicking comedy it's made out to be.  Williams
and Matthau do provide some very humorous moments, but it's more of a
situational comedy than anything else.  Nobody wants to be a victim, but
nobody really knows what to do to stop themselves from being one.  Well, "The Survivors" presents one such scenario in how two citizens deal with this very issue.  I think what strikes me most about this film is how it could have
been made today with very few changes.  Definitely worth a look.

Kage holds degrees in Creative Writing, as well as Film & Video. He has been featured in a Life Journey Tele-Course, published poems in several national anthologies, been a contributor to The Third Coast Magazine and written several novels. kage@modamag.com This site is a