Mutiny on the Buses

One of the better film comedies of the early seventies trend of making the transition from the small to the big screen. All three films easily surpassed the blandness of the TV series which is currently (Aug 2000) enjoying a re-run on Granada Plus in the UK.

The Second of the movies, and Stan's got himself engaged, and is struggling to make ends meet. The Bus company is under new management and the've got a chance to do some Safari Tours and they need a driver for the job. Stan needs the job of driving on this tour but after making a poor impression on the new boss, he has no chance. That is until hes caught being inappropriate with a clippy by Stan and Jack, who successfully blackmail Stans way onto the Tour to Blakeys dismay.

With some good laughs and still the original cast, this is a must see for On the Buses Fans.

7/10

Forget for a moment the PC argument that haunts this series this big screen spin off reflects the time it was set in and the era for this type of comedy. Jack and Stan are back laughing away manically at every single thing that happens usually to their hapless sidekick Blakey who surely goes down as one of the funniest ever sitcom characters. Here we have an engagement plot involving the usual twenty something who is lusting after middle aged Stan Butler. Lots of very funny scenes around this and a there is a good strong storyline involving the plot around them finding somewhere to live. We also have the usual antics around Stan Butlers cramped home with a good chunk of time spent dealing with Olive and Arthur and their very flatulent toddler ' little Arthur'. Lots of slapstick in this one and it is mainly set in the bus station and at Stans home which gives it an authentic feel of the original tv sit com. Stan and Jack still have every single female that crosses their paths lusting at their feet but this was part of the joke surely and massively adds to the preposterous idea that this would happen in reality. Hilarious scenes also in the safari park with Blakey and Stan and overall I would say this is the best film of the three cinematic outings. Forget the criticism which is totally unjustified , this was the early 1970s for heavens sake and it's very very funny stuff and well worth a watch for that factor alone.

Mutiny on the Buses is a sophisticated, intertextual, self-reflexive discourse on the nature of the classic novel by Charles Nordhoff. It also takes in Kafkaesque leanings by exercising a circular narrative. That some could mistake it for a witless, charmless and crass 70s sex comedy is beyond me.

The film also exhibits a razor-sharp social conscience. After accidentally demolishing a stop, Jack (Bob Grant) suggests "We'll say some hooligans did it... lot of stupid louts doing things like that these days."

In all seriousness though it really is utter garbage. There's an increase in slapstick, the ineptness of which would be funny were it not for the jingly-jangy 70s soundtrack. Definitely not one of Ron Grainer's better days.

In its defence, this one probably has a better plot than the others (which isn't exactly difficult) as Blakey gets a new manager to assess his operation. Blakey's forced to clamp down with more stringent rules, cueing an inevitable worker rebellion. When Blakey orders his staff to wear "nothing but their uniforms", they come without shoes and shirts. This also includes the seven-strong female crew, who like nothing better than exposing their breasts to the entire staff. Even a company darts night can be rigged by showing a pair of red knickers.

The climactic pay-off is a shameless plug for Windsor Safari Park, with a lion and monkeys on the bus. However, this desperate pile of contrived cheese is again salvaged by the wonderful Stephen Lewis. Some of the situations are just gross - a baby defecates in a potty while Stan's at the dinnertable. Rather predictably, he later excretes in Arthur's cap. The baby, that is. Not Stan, though that would have probably been funnier.

As with my two other Buses reviews, I have to stress the humour division inherent in the set-up. When Blakey (A creation of comic genius in Lewis's hands) is on screen, it's hilarious. When he isn't, it's absolutely dire. Most of the "humour" is, as usual, shockingly un-PC. Stan strings girls along with the promise of marriage in order to get sex, and accuses Blakey of being a homosexual. Other unsettling scenes show Michael Robbins shaking his baby and screaming for it to "Shut up!" Letting off a foam extinguisher in someone's face is also shown to be within acceptable safety guidelines.

A clothes-ripping catfight threatens to engender interest, though is foiled by involving Anna Karen. This is particularly nauseous when Reg Varney accidentally gropes his screen sister's left breast.

Very occasionally a line might get a laugh in an unforeseen modern context. After seeing a female conductor emerging with Stan from the top deck, Blakey cries: "You know the regulations, you're not even supposed to eat your lunch upstairs." Yes, this film is truly terrible... yet in a funny sort of way I can't help but like it.

Stan gets engaged and is all set to move out, but his plans are scuppered when Arthur loses his job.

The second of the three movies, and it's a must for fans of the TV series, it translated well from sitcom to movie, not many shows managed to do it successfully, I can think of only this and Steptoe and son.

It is as you'd expect, bawdy, raucous, slapstick and a little bit cheeky, in there lies its charm, it's definitely not meant to be taken too seriously. Humour along the lines of the later Carry on films, and confessions movies.

Lots of amusing scenes, the misunderstanding about staff uniform is funny, Arthur and Olive on the out of control bike, the sabotaged radio, the foam, plenty of entertaining moments.

Cheeky postcards humour, it's enjoyable, 7/10.