Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies

This one is a misfire on all counts. Most of the cast is lousy, the story is dull, the direction nonexistent, and the film is too long. It drones on and on cutting from one group in the car rally to another. The Germans and Italians and the "girls" are almost impossible to understand, so that cuts what you can follow to three groups. But all the little subplots go nowhere and the special effects are hideously bad. Location shooting mixes with bad studio shots and the bizarre mix of 60s fashion in a 1920s setting is stupid. Other than the cars, nothing in this film would remind anyone of the 1920s. To be fair, Susan Hampshire is bright, Terry-Thomas is always good, and Peter Cook and Dudley Moore seem to find the right comic voice for this type of farce. Tony Curtis is dreadful. Eric Sykes and Hattie Jacques are wasted in nothing parts. Jack Hawkins is dubbed. Even the usually reliable Gert Frobe is defeated by the unfunny script. Not a sequel to THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN IN THEIR FLYING MACHINES and nowhere near its equal in charm or comedy. Jimmy Durante for some reason sings the lame theme song but does not appear in this film. The film barely broke $1M at the US box office so I assume this was a huge flop ... and deservedly so.

In the 1920's several international characters gather to compete in the gruelling Monte Carlo Rally. Some will employ fair means or foul to ensure victory.

This film was a follow up of sorts to 1965's 'Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines', although it also bares similarities to 'The Great Race'(in which Tony Curtis once again starred). Sadly it is not in the same class as either. It lacks the coherence, wit and spectacle of 'Flying Machines', despite Ken Annakin being at the helm once more. In fairness to him the main problem is the screenplay - its simply not that funny. This causes an over reliance on the visual gags, and here again the film falls short. The effects aren't terribly special even for 1969. Some of the characters are also downright irritating - I'm thinking particularly of the Italians - bulging eyed, flailing armed, noisy oafs.

There are some compensations however. Dear old Terry-Thomas and Eric Sykes repeat their double act from the previous film to some effect, and Susan Hampshire is every inch the English Rose. But its Peter Cook and Dudley Moore who steal the show as a British Army Officer/Inventor and his Batman respectively. They have all the best lines and manage to deliver them in a typically deadpan and upper class manner. Example:- As their car hurtles down a snowy hillside out of control, and having tried every concievable method of stopping it to no avail, Cook calmly announces "This simply won't do at all!" Priceless.

Not a total disaster then, but considering the talent involved, with better writing and more careful work all round it could have been, and indeed should have been, so much better.

My wife prefers "The Great Race" over this film. Both films are period comedies involving automobile races. Both star Tony Curtis. As for me, I prefer "Those Daring Young Fools in Their Jaunty Jalopies" (aka "Monte Carlo or Bust.") Why? The supporting cast.

First of all, I'm a huge Terry-Thomas fan. So for me, this was reason enough to purchase a LaserDisc of this film. Eric Sykes, Gert Frobe, et al are all good too! This is also a sequel of sorts to "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines." Terry-Thomas plays the grown son of the character that he played in the earlier film. And, Eric Sykes is back as his side-kick. Both films also feature Gert Frobe as a German, and both films were directed by Ken Annakin.

There is an awkward edit just prior to the final stage of the rally, but it appears to have been done on purpose (for effect).

I've suddenly remembered that there are at least two versions of this film. The European cut of this film ran 122 minutes. The American cut ran 93 minutes. The LaserDisc release (which I mentioned earlier) is the longer European cut in widescreen with the American opening title sequence. I have never seen the shorter version, so I can't comment on it's relative merits as compared to the longer version.

Like many other racing comedies, 'Those Daring Young Men in their Jaunty Jalopies' suffers from simply having too much going on at once. The film has so many different characters it tries to devote time to, it's easy to forget everything that's going on. It seemed like whenever Tony Curtis appeared on the screen I thought "Oh yeah, forgot he was in this." The film might be considered a multi-car wreck had it not been for Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. Cook plays a British inventor, Moore his trusty sidekick. These two have all the best lines in the movie, and their deadpan delivery is perfect.

If Those Daring Young Men In Their Jaunting Jalopies seems real familiar it looks many times like outtakes from The Great Race were used to make this film. In fact the folks at Paramount had the presence of mind to star Tony Curtis as well.

Probably Jaunting Jalopies would have been better received if The Great Race hadn't preceded it by a few years. Curtis is not the pulp fiction hero he was in The Great Race. Rather he's an American who won a half interest in Terry-Thomas's automobile company and was busy putting his own stamp on it. Terry-Thomas heartily disapproves and he's the Jack Lemmon of this film. His sidekick is that Monty Python regular Eric Sykes whom he has a little something to which he can blackmail Sykes into doing his dirty work. But that's not his only ace in the hole, Terry-Thomas has Susan Hampshire a cousin of his sent out to provide feminine distraction for Curtis. She succeeds admirably, but nature does take its course between Curtis and Hampshire.

Stealing every scene they are in are Peter Cook and Dudley Moore as a British army colonel and his batman orderly. Cook invents a series of Rube Goldberg like contraptions that are supposed aid in the race. Somehow they don't work out and usually at Moore's expense. Perhaps Cook should have studied under Rube.

Some nice cinematography of the French countryside is a definite asset for Jaunting Jalopies. Still it all looks like it's been done before and it was by Tony Curtis.