The Survivors is a comedy that might have been uproarious at a certain point during the eighties—when an insane survivalist movement was going full-bore and we were all making fun of those ridiculous holed-up whackos—but here in the naughties, the humor is almost completely lost in time, as is almost always the case with satires of current events. Which is sad, because the teaming of Robin Williams and Walter Matthau is utterly inspired. If only they'd had some material with a bit more of a timeless quality.

Williams plays Donald Quinelle, down-on-his-luck upper-management goon who, as the film opens, has been unceremoniously fired—by a parrot. Matthau portrays Sonny Paluso, owner of a gas station that Donald has inadvertently destroyed. (One of the film's funnier notions is that it never deals with Donald's culpability in the gas station's fate.) Things go from bad to worse for these two, who meet at a diner that's about to be robbed by masked gunman Jack Locke (a horrible-looking Jerry Reed). The two comedians manage to foil Locke's burglary but are soon on the run. Unfortunately, at this point—when Quinelle and Paluso head for the survivalist camp—the movie crumbles into inanity.

In the teaming of Williams and Matthau, we get two comic legends of different generations—Williams full of his mid-80s bluster and energy, Matthau as dry and bumbling as ever. Frankly, I wished I was watching them together in a different film.

Columbia/TriStar presents The Survivors in a surprisingly fine anamorphic-widescreen transfer of the film's original 1.85:1 theatrical presentation. Typically, for a film of this era, I expect many problems—usually, an aged softness or murkiness. I saw nothing of the kind here. The print is nearly pristine, the image boasts vivid, natural colors, and detail reaches into backgrounds. This image rivals many transfers of current films. The quality of this image is the highlight of the disc.

The disc's mono soundtrack is adequate. The music and dialog both sound just short of natural, a bit flat. On the plus side, I noticed no distortion. The track gets the job done.

The disc contains three minor extras: trailers for this film, The Big Hit, and Jawbreaker.

The Survivors is worth a look for the energetic pairing of Williams and Matthau, but the film that surrounds them is hopelessly dated.