Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (February 19, 2026)
1982’s Hanky Panky flopped financially. With a $14 million budget, it sold less than $10 million in tickets and wound up in 69th place at the US box office.
However, the film did come with one noteworthy footnote: it became the place Gene Wilder and Gilda Radner met. They fell in love, eventually married and remained together until her tragic death in 1989.
On a trip to New York, architect Michael Jordon (Wilder) meets mysterious Janet Dunn (Kathleen Quinlan) when she hops into his cab. He mails a suspicious package for her and ends up framed for her murder.
This sends Michael on the lam and he soon gets help from a stranger named Kate Hellman (Radner). They hit the road to avoid the police and thugs controlled by sinister Ransom (Richard Widmark) until he can establish his innocence.
Though beloved for her work on Saturday Night Live, Radner never got a film career into gear. Wilder entered the Panky shoot with box office juice thanks to the massive success of 1980’s Stir Crazy, but that obviously didn’t help him here.
Panky also reunites Wilder for Stir Crazy director Sidney Poitier. The acclaimed actor enjoyed hits as the filmmaker behind via 1974’s Uptown Saturday Night, 1975’s Let’s Do It Again and 1977’s A Piece of the Action.
In all three, Poitier also co-starred with Bill Cosby. I guess Poitier liked the template of film actor partnered with comedian since Stir Crazy and Panky both used the same concept.
Of course, Radner allows Panky to change gears since it prompts potential romance between the two leads that we didn’t get in the Poitier/Cosby or Wilder/Pryor flicks. Nonetheless, it still follows the path Poitier established with the earlier efforts.
I never saw the Poitier/Cosby efforts but as the above linked review notes, I didn’t think a lot of Stir Crazy. While Pryor and Wilder inevitably produced some laughs, the whole affair seemed belabored and muddled.
This becomes the case for the wholly mediocre Panky. Like Stir Crazy, it comes with the occasional moment of mirth, but the overbaked plot and general lack of coherence mean it doesn’t click.
In a perplexing move, Panky casts two skilled comedic actors for a movie that largely underuses those talents. Actually, the film largely exists as a suspense tale for its first 30 minutes or so until Radner arrives.
Gilda’s presence allows for a bit more looseness and laughs, but not as much as one might expect. Whereas the audience might expect a farce from these two on the run, the film tends to play things straight an awful lot of the time.
Honestly, the movie’s funniest scene seems like it came from unscripted elements. When Michael and Kate take a chartered plane across the Grand Canyon, the pilot (Pat Corley) complains of stomach distress and belches.
I suspect the joke – as Michael asks about airplane fuel and gets a reply related to indigestion – and one burp came from the script, but Corley keeps going. Wilder and Radner laugh in a manner that implies they didn’t expect him to continue the gag but Poitier never called cut.
If Panky generated a more compelling mystery tale, I wouldn’t mind the misuse of Radner and Wilder. However, the main plot feels flat and without more than the most basic sense of intrigue or drama.
I do like the connection between Wilder and Radner, as their burgeoning chemistry appears clear. The film also enjoys an appealing supporting cast thanks to talents like Quinlan, Widmark and Robert Prosky.
None of them help redeem this sluggish thriller. While I like the ability to see a late-career Widmark return to the kind of “heavy” role that gave him fame, Panky lacks cleverness or energy.
Footnote: apparently Panky shot in mid-late summer 1981. This meant it went through production at the last moment the name “Michael Jordan” – or its alternate “Jordon” - would be unknown to most of the public, as the basketball player’s heroics in the spring 1982 NCAA tournament made him famous.
