Holiday on the Buses (1973)

Good concept, poorly executed.

Expected more

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

I always will associate this with Summer holidays from school, Saw this long before I saw the TV series and absolutely love it.By far the best of the 3 Buses films.Note that the Film continuity is different to the TV series in several ways (The last series of the TV show was broadcast earlier that year) as Olive and Arthur are still married and have a child and Stan hasn't left for a Car factory Job.Plot you can read elsewhere but for once the opening out of the show works, The Guest stars are excellent.Stan & Jack Still do well with the ladies - Never worked out how, well, apart from the script says so!. Even Blakey has a fling with the lovely Kate Williams.Always on ITV3 it's a classic look back at the 1970's holiday scene - It is of it's time and that's what I love.TV versions do edit the brief nudity.

Months after the final 'On The Buses' series ended on television, the cast, including Michael Robbins ( who had left the series in 1972 ), were all reunited for one last cinematic outing - 'Holiday On The Buses' - which went out on release in December 1973. It did not do the same big business as the first two films, partly because of its lack of advertising, but was popular all the same. A new director, Bryan Izzard, who had also worked on the series, was brought in.It had to happen. Stan and Jack end up being sacked from the bus depot following Stan's negligent driving. A visit to the local labour exchange yields nothing. However, after responding to an advertisement requesting an experienced bus crew for a tour bus at Pontins holiday camp, North Wales, Stan and Jack's troubles look to be over. Well, not quite, as Blakey is working there too, as a security guard! And as if that is not bad enough, Stan's family arrive at the camp on holiday.Predictable mishaps ensue - Olive falls into the pool and loses the bottom half of her bathing costume ( was I the only one who thought she had a nice bum? ), Stan and Arthur have to redecorate the chalet after little Arthur coats the walls in Olive's make-up, Olive and Arthur join a ballroom dancing contest at the entertainment complex and make a right chump of themselves and Stan tries to seduce a sexy young woman on board a ferry and ends up coming down with seasickness. Arthur Mullard and Queenie Watts appear here as Wally and Lil Briggs, the same characters who appeared in Wolfe & Chesney's 'Romany Jones' and later its sequel 'Yus, My Dear'. Kate Williams from 'Love Thy Neighbour' plays a sexy nurse who Blakey is besotted with while Wilfrid Brambell ( Albert Steptoe from 'Steptoe & Son' ) appears as a randy Irish pensioner, who ends up having a fling with Mrs. Butler. Henry McGee, who graced 'The Benny Hill Show' for many years, appears here as the camp site manager.'Holiday On The Buses' could easily have been a 'Carry On' film. Overall, it was good-natured saucy fun. Denis King provided a bouncy theme tune which wouldn't have sounded out of place on one of Peter Rodgers' aforementioned films. Unfortunately, as was the case with the film's predecessor 'Mutiny On The Buses', interest starts to wane towards the end ( it does for me anyway ). The scene where Stan is roughed up in the canteen kitchen does not work at all and the moment where the bus is submerged in the sand when the tide comes in is just plain unfunny. A year and a half after this went on release, Stephen Lewis' Blakey appeared in his own show - 'Don't Drink The Water' - in which he and his sister retired to Spain, but it never caught on in the way that 'On The Buses' had done.Definitely not a great example of the series but a good enough film to round off the trilogy. A fourth film 'Still At It On The Buses' ( in which Stan and co went on holiday abroad ) was planned but did not get made, probably not a bad thing to be honest.Funniest bit? Stan throwing his cigarette end down the toilet, unaware that Olive has poured petrol down it, cue massive explosion!

The 3rd and last big screen spin off from the very popular ITV sitcom of the early 1970's,HOLIDAY ON THE BUSES is every bit as resistible and crude as the previous two efforts,and observing from a standpoint three and a half decades later,it is truly mind boggling that even one film was produced in this franchise.What constitutes the plot surrounds the adventures of Stan Butler (Reg Varney),his conductor Jack (Bob Grant) and their bumblingly autocratic Inspector Blake (Stephen Lewis) after their sackings from their regular jobs at the bus depot.They all find work in similar positions at a holiday camp with Stan's family (Doris Hare,Anna Karen,Michael Robbins) following therewith.British cinema had a deserved and considerable reputation for high quality in the 1960's,but much of this was due to American financial support and guidance which sadly drew to a close as the 1970's dawned.Thereafter,notable homegrown titles (GET CARTER being the among these very few exceptions) became as rare as Mick Jagger in a stable marriage,and UK cinema went down the road of cheap budgets,sleazy and witless sex comedies (The CONFESSIONS series,COME PLAY WITH ME) and flabby,elongated celluloid versions of various TV shows,mostly sitcoms (this being one of many hideous examples).Only DAD'S ARMY and PORRIDGE came off fairly respectably in this regard;the quirky success of the first ON THE BUSES film (it was the biggest box-office hit of it's year in 1971,nonsensical to think now!) led to two further sequels.To be fair,the TV series itself had a cheerful,ripe,non-PC vulgarity about it which was reasonably tolerable in half-hour sitcom form,but stretched to three times that length it taxes the patience beyond belief.It's ironical that HAMMER FILMS produced this effort as it virtually resembles a horror film in the literal sense,with ancient puns,hackneyed,poorly-timed slapstick and awful,seedy production values.A chance to send up the cheesiness of the British holiday camp is totally wasted here in favour of the above elements,and it is most bizarre,if not gruesome,to see the obviously 50-something Varney and the beaky-nosed,long-toothed Grant managing to instantly charm young women barely in their early twenties,while constantly laughing at their own bravado and lame jokes.The presence of Wilfrid Brambell (from STEPTOE AND SON) romancing the aged Miss Hare does not help matters either,and even though the film lasts about 1 and a half hours,it drags on to an interminably depressing degree.Thankfully,this was the last film in this most dire of film trilogies,and the TV series itself came to an end around the same time,with a sequel (DON'T DRINK THE WATER,which was roundly savaged by the critics and ignored by audiences) following in 1975.Most of the leading actors involved were not seen much afterwards,but the worst affected was Bob Grant.Afflicted with depression and other mental problems for many years,he committed suicide in 2003.A sad coda to a sitcom that was the most popular of it's era (it has not aged too well either),and should have remained that way,rather than the three financially successful but artistically hopeless big screen hybrids which diluted the happy memories and occasional merits of it's TV counterpart.RATING:2 and a half out of 10.

Has anyone realised that Blakey's " Doh!" noises have ripped off by Homer Simpson? This film is a classic slice of realism! Seriously. It is Ken Loach with slapstick. These characters are a true reflection of what it is to be British, not just in the seventies, but now also. Struggling to make ends meet, these characters are present in today's society. I won't have anyone knocking this film as it is not only hilarious but it is also, in an odd way, quite moving, especially with lines like, "We haven't got enough money for grub." People who scoff at this film are, in reality, the film's biggest fans, it's just that they refuse to admit it.