The Cuckoo Patrol

I cannot understand all the damming reviews here - by adults.

This is a children's film, so of course adults are not going to necessarily find it funny. My 8 year old son really enjoyed it - in the same slapstick way I enjoyed Punch and Judy as a kid. There are quite a few famous faces in this film, and I thought it was well put together as a sort of loony/panto mish mash children's comedy.

I would rather they watched this than some of the dark and disturbing rubbish thats put on today!

A star vehicle for Freddie Garrity - of FREDDIE AND THE DREAMERS fame - THE CUCKOO PATROL is an entirely dated and lacklustre comedy centred around a Scout troop and the misadventures they get themselves into. This really is poverty row stuff, with awfully lame jokes and the sight of Garrity mugging and gurning towards the camera all the while. You wonder how on earth a production like this got made or who they were aiming at given the star's five minutes of fame had long since passed.

Still, for fans of cult and/or forgotten films, THE CUCKOO PATROL holds some fun. Kenneth Connor and John Le Mesurier contribute a nice little double act as the thoroughly exasperated scouting superiors and some of the sub-plots are quite fun, like when the Scouts unwittingly aid a criminal gang with their attempt at safecracking. But let's be fair, the quality of the writing is very poor here, and the film as a whole feels like something that came out of the 1930s rather than the late '60s. Victor Maddern gives the best performance as the gang boss.

I watch all genre of films, even if I see bad reviews. I like to make my own mind up. But this film is nothing but an absolute disaster and I find it very embarrassing to say I'm British. Never been a big Kenneth Connor fan and this has done him no favours at all. His acting, if you can call it that, is abysmal and cringe worthy. There are a few well known faces which must have felt very embarrassed to have their name associated with this drivel. Freddie and the Dreamers where more like a nightmare. This so far is the worst film I have ever seen and likely to be the only one as it will certainly take some beating. Avoid please....I have warned you!!

In answer to another comment from someone who wondered whether this film had been released, I can assure him/her that it was. I remember seeing the photographs outside a London cinema around 1967 or 1968. If I remember correctly, Freddie Garity was dressed as a boy scout. As a boy scout myself at the time I can tell you that each troop is divided into patrols, and that each patrol is named after an animal or a bird.

By that time, Freddie and the Dreamers were past their sell-by date. I did not want to see an overgrown Freddie playing a boy scout, so it did not take much willpower to resist the urge to enter the cinema.

With hindsight, I can see that Freddie and Co were unique in rock music, and were a better band than people give them credit for. But, at the time, pop stars were put in films that were usually absolute crap. The only film of this kind that I have found impressive is Adam Faith in Mix Me a Person.

I don't really remember a great deal about this film as i was only about six years old at the time. My father, Harry Bennett aka Crafty Casey Pye played the part of one of the wrestlers called the black gorillas, alongside his tag partner Dominic Pye. Dominic is listed on the cast list but the other black gorilla is listed as a Bill Turney, I know this isn't correct but don't know who Bill Turney is/was and why . My mum says there was a mix up at the time, she seems to remember.

I would be interested in obtaining a copy of this film, can anyone help, i have sent a message to stephen-50 who has previously made a comment about this film.

Thank you for your help Michelle