The Best Pair of Legs in the Business

Caught this on Sunday morning TV in New Zealand and was taken aback by its rather grim examination of a cross-dressing musical hall entertainer at the end of his career even though he doesn't know it. With a son who despises him and a boss who has no loyalty to anyone Kevin Laffan creates a tragic character in Sherry Sheridan. Mention of Mike Leigh in another comment isn't far off the mark - this is emotionally hard hitting piece that only gets the tag of comedy because the characters are comedians by trade and people seem to think people with cockney accents must be funny - there's nothing funny off stage here.

When I saw the cast and the date the film was made, I thought we were in for an 'On the Buses' spin-off, with all the usual crudity and low-grade gags and slapstick. In fact it turned out to be quite a touching story from which I found it impossible to tear myself. It suffers from having the cast it does, as it screams 'cheap 70's low-rent production', but there's a surprise in Reg Varney's portrayal of the holiday camp drag act who is losing his looks and his wife as he stubbornly clings to the life he knows, despite his new boss making his life a misery. Reg turns in a very good performance, although he does over-do it from time to time. Diana Coupland is her usual excellent self in her role as the long-suffering wife who eventually can take no more. A good film. Not great, but good.

I cannot believe I have never come across the British film before. Reg Varney was excellent in the leading role. His characterization of the Comedy Host of the Holiday Camp was played to perfection It's a sad story but full of 1970-s colour, and I don't just mean the caravan curtains. Jane Seymour makes her pre-Live and Let Die appearance in a bit part and gorgeous David Lincoln (Family at War) is excellently cast. I always wonder what happened to him. Complete with the serenely beautiful Diana Coupland this film is a must see for all true Britflick fans.

I have to disagree with the earlier comments on this film. Having idly switched on the telly when I ought to have been doing something else, I found myself unable to switch off as Reg Varney's performance as the tragi-comic Sherry impressed me more with each scene. The combination of comedy and drama worked very well, to my taste, being written and performed with real empathy and what-not.

I particularly enjoyed the horrid owner of the caravan park where Sherry has been living and working - in one scene she has overheard Sherry's wife and her lover planning to run away together, and, rather than breaking it to Sherry in a kindly fashion, she simply tells him to move out of his two-bed caravan so that she can have it : he protests that the other caravan has only one bed, to which she replies, "Well, you'll only be needing one bed now that your wife is leaving you."

The scene where Sherry and his wife (Diana Coupland) go to tea with their son's upper-class fiancee and her parents is a classic unravelling of self-conceit under pressure, and quite painfully funny. (A very young Jane Seymour plays the part of the fiancee).

I found the ending a little anti-climactic, but on the whole "The Best Pair of Legs..." might not be the very best film of all time, but it really wasn't that bad either.

This is a film adaptation of a play by Kevin Laffan - the creator of the popular UK soap opera - EMMERDALE (originally EMMERDALE FARM).

I am not a fan of the soap opera in question, and with Reg Varney appearing in this film in a non-comedy role, I was unsure of what to expect.

The story is simple. A caravan park entertainer, whose act is very much in the music hall tradition, has delusions of grandeur. He has grand ambitions but doesn't succeed. His world is shaken when he comes to the realisation that things are not going well in his life, and that he seems to be losing everything he has got - the popularity of his act, the love from his wife, security of employment, among other things. I won't say more about the plot since to do so would ruin the experience of watching this excellent film.

The first time I saw THE BEST PAIR OF LEGS IN THE BUSINESS about 20 years back, I didn't like it. I think at the time I was not ready to see Reg Varney playing anything other than a comedy role, preferably his Stan Butler character from ON THE BUSES. Also, it felt to me that the comedy and drama didn't really mix all that well. And I think I actually fell asleep watching it.

Having seen it for a second time earlier this week, my view has totally changed.

I have also seen the TV version from 1968. Enjoyable though that version is, I can say without any doubt that this film version is superior in every way. There is more comedy and the film seems to revolve much more around Varney, which is really the point of the original story. The TV version seems to spend more time focusing on the other characters, and feels a bit too much like an extended episode of a soap opera, albeit a good one.

The comedy routines in this film version are far more enjoyable and memorable. I can't get the "everybody here loves Sherry" ditty out of my head. Reg Varney clearly enjoys playing the camp comedian role and is a delight to watch. The delivery of his lines is spot-on. Reg Varney became typecast as Stan Butler. This film proved he was so much more, given the opportunity.

Just because the film has more comedy than the TV version, don't assume that there is less effective drama because you couldn't be more wrong. Varney is actually less restrained in the concluding scenes than in the TV version.

The film version overall also feels much more energetic. It's longer than the TV version by more than 40 minutes. Yet it doesn't feel padded out at all. The extra scenes are all great, and the meeting between Varney and the parents of the girl his son wants to marry is not to be missed. It's a classic scene that mixes comedy and drama so brilliantly.

The film version also has better stars playing the supporting roles, with excellent performances from Diana Coupland and Jean Harvey especially. The former gives what I consider to be her best career performance in this film. The latter is someone I wish had appeared in more films, rather than being confined to TV.

The camerawork is better and the presence of musical cues heightens the impact where appropriate, making the acting performances even more effective. There is not one poor performance anywhere in this film. Even a young Johnny Briggs is delightful to watch, playing a barman.

What this film manages to do most effectively, though, is combine comedy of the Carry on films variety, with some very poigant drama. Kudos to writer Kevin Laffan and director Christopher Hodson for achieving this, because it is not easy to do. I remember for example when I watched Norman Wisdom in the film, WHAT'S GOOD FOR THE GOOSE?. He was playing a role that was a combination of half comic and half serious, as Varney does in this film, and the drama just didn't mix well with the comedy. One scene in that film is very depressing too much, and I wish it had not been included. THE BEST PAIR OF LEGS IN THE BUSINESS avoids this pitfall, and there is not one scene I would take out of it.

The only real flaw in the film is that the conclusion does get a bit too depressing, not least because the acting performances are so brilliant. I would have preferred a happier ending. But this is a minor gripe about an otherwise superb film.

On a final note, THE BEST PAIR OF LEGS IN THE BUSINESS is a great film that combines comedy and drama very effectively indeed, and makes full use of the talents of its main star - the late, great Reg Varney. It is a film I intend to watch many more times in the future.