Holiday On The Buses
 

Holiday On The Buses.1973.Bryan Izzard.Hammer Films.


The third and last in the trilogy this sees the cast go all HiDeHI as they go to Pontins holiday park at Prestatyn Sands near Rhyl Wales.So as you could imagine were not talking baking hot sun and golden beaches,so instead of Girls Go Wild style shenanigans we get to see Anna Karen in a rather ill fitting bikini and then her bum (although a stunt bum was used for the close up,and this is one of the few times I can re-call a censor cut when aired on TV one afternoon).Its basically Stan and Jack chasing birds but instead of clippies its holiday makers instead.Plot wise its just one mishap followed by another strung together with the odd close up shot of any passing cleavage.All the cast are present and correct although at the time Reg Varney and Michael Robbins had both left the TV series.Also unusually we got some 1970s star names turning up in the cast the wonderful Wilfred Brambell plays a lecherous OAP lusting after Doris Hare,we got the busty Kate Williams from Love Thy Neighbour as Blakeys love interest,yes you heard right,well up until Jack (Bob Grant) shags her and is caught in the act.Arthur Mullard and Queenie Watts play a pair of loud cockneys and Henry McGee straight man on The Benny Hill show as the camp manager.Listen this film is not going to convert you if your not a fan,neither will it please anybody remotely PC but you don't watch On The Buses for its politics.What I truly love about watching the films and Tv series is seeing another Britain,its basically my childhood in all its gaudy light browns and biege clothes and nicotine stained glory.Its been nearly 40 odd years since the shows were made and they still get watched,that alone speaks volumes.

Been meaning to ask you. Which film is this from? I never noticed it. Has it been cut? Did i blink and miss it or is it from the series?

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-z...52847%2529.png

At the very start of holiday On.

You're quite good, Nos. I only just noticed that and anyway its purely platonic. :nod::)

Thanks. I was probably getting a drink and missed it. :lol:

Unfortunately i wasn't getting a drink when Olive went swimming in HOTB.

Nothing wrong with a bit of titallation now and again. (@ F Howard, 1961).

Arthur Millard has some priceless dialogue in this. Who says Britain has a class structure?

sorry dem i wrote mutiny I should of said HOliday my bad.

I think we'd better ditch the lawyers as things get lost in translation.

On the Buses (1971)
 

On the Buses (1971)

Attachment 184645
While not exactly a festive film,no bank holiday or holiday period seems complete without a dose of On The Buses,to clear the away them winter blues and put awry smile on ones face (unless your a miserable PC grinch of course).This is proper period drama,forget all that Downton bollocks,nicotine stained fingers,wimpy bars,HP sauce bottles and every body seemingly wearing brown clothes with kipper ties against dis coloring wallpaper in a country that seemed like it was living under a cloud of smog.While every woman seemed to be wearing mini skirts and either bending over or walking up the stairs while being letched at by men with terrible haircuts and rotten teeth..At the the time this was released in the UK,On the Buses was up against some stiff competition at the cinema but still managed to beat Diamonds Are Forever at the box office.And while you could accuse the films and TV series of sexism,the first film tackles the issue of feminism full on.Both Stan Butler (Reg Varney) and Jack (Bob Grant) arrogantly flaunt the bus companies rules and regulations,and make poor oid Blakey (Stephen Lewis) live a misery,they believe they are able to do as they please,and with the power of unions behind them,they see themselves as being untouchable.But the management have a secret weapon to combat the duos arrogance,female bus drivers,who are not only a threat to the masculinity,(they are all pretty much a butch looking bunch of ladies to say the least) who are not easily intimadated but also a threat to the mens overtime as the more drivers there are ,means less work.But do not worry before it gets to much like a Ken Loach film we have plenty of sex mad house wife's,some amazingly bad bus driving and a dose of toilet humor just to make sure the film keeps up with with the British Standards on saucy UK comedies.

Holiday on the Buses (1973)
 

Holiday on the Buses (1973)


Attachment 184775

With the package holiday boom of the 1970's in full swing,it seemed that the going abroad was no longer the prerogative of the rich anymore,and that anyone can enjoy the joys of the Costa Brava. Of course in this new era of liberation for the working class was reflected in the films of the day.So Carry on Abroad (1972) went to Mediterranean island Elsbels,Are You Being Served? (1977 ) went to the sunny resort of Costa Plonka, (check out those hilarious comedy names for the foreign resorts).Mean while the cast of On the Buses for there third big screen outing go to the sunny climbs of Prestatyn, North Wales to enjoy the charms of a Butlins style holiday camp. So what happens when Town & District bus company two best or worst ( Stan Butler (Reg Varney) and Jack (Bob Grant) ), depending on your view-point,employees get sacked for being lecherous incompetent dim wits,well it seems they get employed by a holiday camp to take their campers on holiday tours.But of course all this holiday mischief just gives the boys more reasons to chase skirt,blow up toilet bowls,trying to have sex on a choppy ferry and just generally annoying Blakey (Stephen Lewis),who by coincidence got sacked and ended up at the same holiday camp as head security guard. The sauce level is raised slightly with a bit of nudity (female of course,not sure the world was ready for Reg and Bob to do full frontal nudity at that time.) and of course the highlight is the scene where Anna Karen as Olive,loses her bikini bottoms in the indoor swimming pool,and we get the full shot of her naked bottom. Alas reports has it that it was a stand in bottom and not Anna Karen's rear,also this seems to be one of the few times of any censorship problems,the bum shot is usually snipped if the film is shown during the daytime.So how does the Buses trilogy compare to other such great movie trilogies? Is it better than The Godfather films,definitely,better than Star Wars yes certainly,more funnier than Lord of the Rings maybe not.But does any of those films have geriatric love-making or Arthur Mullard no.

Mutiny on the Buses (1972)
 

Mutiny on the Buses (1972)


Stan's love life is the central focal point for this film as he tries to leave the nest and buy a house and gt married with one of the clippees,Susy (Janet Mahoney). Unfortunately for Stan his brother in law Arthur (Michael Robbins) has been made redundant,which leaves Stan the only bread winner in the family and unable to buy a flat.Stan's problems are even more compounded when the bus depot gets a new manager. Mutiny has a fairly thin plot,based mostly on the fact that Stan needs to raise some money to move out and get married,but every time he thinks he can get away something all ways goes horribly wrong and scuppers his plans on moving out. So we get a string of vignettes loosely based the fact that Stan is incompetent and Jack (Bob Grant) his conductor is even more useless,while also trying to outwit there nemesis Blakey (Stephen Lewis). Mean while back at the Butler house hold Olive (Anna Karen) has her hands full bring up little Arthur,who is constantly sitting on his potty,or in some cases his dads newly got busman's cap.Out of the three films this is the one that feels like it is just an extended episode of the television series,with one or two scenes taken directly from the television show.The main one being Olive getting jealous when Arthur starts chatting up a female conductor,and Olive getting more jealous by the minute.But the film starts to shift gear considerably in the right direction when the manager brings in a new route around the local safari,and Stan manages to blackmail the manager into giving him the job of driving to the Safari and earning more money and getting to wear a rather snazzy Roger Moore like safari uniform as the new driver for this job. It does not take much to make me smile,but nothing is guaranteed to get a grin on my face than seeing a chimpanzee trying to drive a bus,or wiggle his bottom in Stan's face.Of course it is all very childish stuff and its hard to believe that this was considered anything but low brow (nothing wrong with that) and makes your average Carry on film look like it was scripted by Noel Coward and Oscar Wilde.Still it has all the required ingredients,women in skimpy pants,monkeys and crushing a mini van.,

:santadance:

I watched Adventures of a Plumbers Mate the other night. It's the second time Stephen Lewis co-starred. Both times he looked and sounded just like Blakey.

I hope this isn't a stupid question but did the Buses totally type cast him for the rest of his career?

simply answered yes,he pulled the same faces in Last of the Summer Wine.

Thanks.

If you don't have them i recommend the three Adventures films to you, Inspector. They are probably right up your street.

The last time I watched them was when my dad rented them on betamax,I managed to watch them when parents went out. I did watch the Confessions movies recently and found them a bit dire,but im fickle.:xmastongue:

They do lack Jack and Stan i admit.

Caroline Munro in 'On the Buses'. Allegedly she was picked to appear in 'Dracula AD '72' on the strength of this poster!

https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...fe&oe=5923E004

Meanwhile, in an alternate reality...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3H02J61Ma5A

Times were tough for Stan when the Luxton Bus Company closed down. He had to branch out into new avenues to get another job!

Reg Varney as 'Sherry' Sheridan in the 1973 film 'The Best Pair Of Legs In The Business'

I know a lot of the episodes are shown on itv3 now but I wonder if they still show the un pc episodes?


There were plans to revive the series with the original cast, and it was going to be called Back on the Buses, A script was written but was never made.

'Busman's Holiday' - a live stage show spin-off from 1973

I watched a episode of last of the summer from early 2000 last week, can't believe amount of famous faces in it had

Stephen Lewis I know he probably been in loads of things but bit strange to see him in that when you're only use to him as Blakey,
Also
Jean Alexandra.
Brian Murphy.
And guy who played Mick from Brookside plus a few other faces.

More room on top
 

Facebook says On the Buses movie's coming to Blu Ray, in 2021 ..considering Luv Thy Neighbour, Likely Lads and Man About the House movie's got HD release,it's a no brainer...
I mean it was Hammer's most lucrative franchise.....:xmasjig:
( Yes Dem ..deal with it. :xmastongue:)

Not see many the tv shows but the films are timeless classics for it’s time, we need some new old school comedies like this, steptoe and son, only fools and horses, goodies any many more. Instead of half the dribble what they call funny today.

What a load of gobbledygook.

How can something be timeless for it's time? :xmaslol:

He's a Timelord perhap??

Perhaps that makes 2009's Planet of the Dead an unofficial Buses movie.

:xmaslol: Sorry was worded a bit pants :xmasnuts:

"I 'ate you, Dalek"
"Oi, Cyberman! Get that bus out"
"The TARDIS is working. That's made my day that has. That's really made my day."
"Just when you get used to a body, you have to change. Innit Marvellous?"

I hate you internet...looks like this was probably s hoax...

I'd believe nowt you hear on Farceberg Ron

HUG.

Yeah wise words....It would of made more sense if the film's had an HD release back in 2019,for it's 50th Anniversary....But there Hammer movie's , so you never can tell in this crazy mixed up world we live in.....

For the sartorial elegant amongst us!

https://www.redbubble.com/people/dre...Order=relevant

The cover of the TV Times, dated November 21st - 27th 1970

A 'behind the scenes' shot from the episode 'Foggy Evening'

Note that Stephen Lewis is out of character, without his trademark Blakey moustache

TV Times from March 1973