Monte Carlo or Bust! (1969)

Very well executed

Captivating movie !

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

This movie has to be taken with a grain of salt - one can not compare this 60's movie with todays hot and speedy Action/Adventure films. Some viewers are doing just that with this film. Instead, this movie is full of excellent character actors such as Gert Froebe, Terry-Thomas, Bourvil and Dudley Moore, an interesting storyline and a very catchy soundtrack with a song from Jimmy Durante (which was only briefly available in 1968 on Paramount LP). This movie should be viewed in widescreen only to preserve the vista. I can seriously recommend this film to anyone who wishes to be entertained for a couple of hours by a great cast with an interesting story and a good soundtrack.

It tries hard, and it has some energy from a few of the stars in it, but MONTY CARLO OR BUST lacks the verve of it's predecessors, THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN IN THEIR FLYING MACHINES and THE GREAT RACE, and some of the goofiness of it's less remembered successor, ROCKET TO THE MOON. It may be the script, which lags at times, or it may be the fact that the super-nationalism of Pre-World War I Europe is not translatable in the 1920s (oddly enough). The cast includes people from the two preceding films including Tony Curtis (THE GREAT RACE), Terry-Thomas, Eric Sykes, and Gert Frobe (THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN), and some welcomed new faces (Susan Hampshire, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore). But there is less time for the character development found in the earlier films. For example, the three French female drivers and the two Italian male drivers never really have individual personalities, although one of the Italians has "topic A" constantly on his mind when he thinks of the amorous awards awaiting him if he wins.The idea is that 1924 marks the first Grand Prix to Monte Carlo across Europe. The various characters are interested in winning the race - well most of them are. Poor Gert Frobe (in a far more sympathetic role than his pompous German Colonel in THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN) is Willy, a well-known superior "getaway - car" driver in Germany who has been sprung from prison by the Count (Jack Hawkins, in one of his last - really silent film parts). He resembles a wealthy playboy who has been entered in the rally, but has been "removed" so that Willy can replace him. A fortune in stolen jewels is in Willy's car, and it is going to be transported secretly across Europe so it can be brought to the men who can sell it. Willy doesn't mind, at first, but he resents the constant threat over his head by the Count's men (who are everywhere), and he knows he could win the rally - he's a better driver than anyone else. But the Count doesn't care.SMALL SPOILER: At the conclusion, Willy is freed from the threat from the Count, and cuts loose. Although he does not get official recognition because of his fraudulently replacing the actual driver who entered, Willy actually does win the race for a few minutes.There is also the British Army Colonel, Major Digby-Dawlish (Peter Cook) and his batman/assistant Lt. Kit Barrington (Dudley Moore). There addition to the cast actually is a recognition of two previously successful comedies this team appeared in: the original BEDAZZLED and THE WRONG BOX. Digby-Dawlish is an inventor of motorcar devices he has tested in India, and he hopes to win the rally so he can market these to the world. The devices (like attaching skis to the car in the snowy regions) seem to be sensible, but always come acropper - but Dawlish and Barrington never say die, and always seem to have another device to undue the chaos and damage of the first device!Then there is the antics of Terry-Thomas and Tony Curtis. Terry-Thomas is Sir Cuthbert Ware-Armitage, the son of the Sir Percy Ware-Armitage who tried to cheat his way to the trophy of the 1910 London to Paris flight in THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN. Daddy has been killed at the start of the new film in the crash of another airplane, and Cuthbert is as happy as possible - he is now owner of the family industrial empire. But then he learns that daddy sold half the business to Chester Schofield (Curtis), an American with ideas of his own. Ware-Armitage is not going to let a Yank control half that empire. He bets Schofield that he will beat Schofield to Monte Carlo - the winner gets to keep the entire industrial empire. Schofield agrees, not realizing that Cuthbert is as crooked and ruthless as his father was. Using (or misusing and blackmailing) his family retainer Perkins (Sykes) to do his dirty work, he also blackmails a young cousin (Hampshire) to vamp Schofield and make him lose interest in the race.The reduction of plot themes should have strengthened the script - but there are gaps. Chester is drugged at one point, but Hampshire gives him some medication she has and he snaps out of his sleepy behavior automatically. Perkins puts up with a lot of crap from his boss - far more than most people reasonably accept. In the end he gets a fine revenge, but it should have been earlier in the film. The film is amusing enough - but try to catch the other films in the series which were 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.

This is the kind of movies I wish was much much better!A sort of free remake of "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines!" But filled with loads of humour, but that feals old fashioned by now, and awful back-projection that might have been OK back then, but is certainly awful nowdays. In the same time it could be one of the most accessible movies with britt comics Moore and Cook! One of the few films with Fleur Forsythe, or dark eyed Susan Hempshire.The song that old Jimmy Durante sings in the end (was this his last?) is better than the whole movie in itself!Tony Curtis, Susan Hampshire, Dudley Moore, Peter Cook, Gert Frobe, Terry-Thomas, Eric Porter, Jack Hawkins and french comic Bourvil! What a Cast!!!! Pity the movie isn't better!