Playwright Skip Donahue (Wilder) and actor Harry Monroe (Pryor) are out of work and penniless. Deciding they have had enough of Broadway, they set off to make their fortunes and find freedom down South. On the way, their funds get so low that they have to find work; as singing, dancing Woodpeckers promoting a bank. Plagued by bad luck, thieves steal their costumes and rob the bank, and guess who gets the blame and get put jail?

Whacky laughs, riotous situations, thrills and spills make this one of the looniest mad-cap prison-break escapades ever!