MovieChat Forums > Holiday on the Buses (1973) Discussion > Makes me cringe

Makes me cringe

posted 18 years ago by hugh1971
15 replies | jump to latest

Some of the comedies from the early seventies such as the Carry Ons and Are You Being Served have retained their charm, humour and have even improved over the years. I love the tradition of the bawdy seaside postcard, the music hall and the clapped out end of the pier show.

However...Holiday on the Buses has none of these. It's just dire. You can just about believe that a 57 year old Roger Moore would pick up young attractive women with ease, but a 57 year old Reg Varney? Come on. And as for that grey haired scarecrow....'ere look at this clobber, it won't 'alf pull the birds!'. The sad thing about the seventies was a polyester blazer and gayboy cap probably DID attract the 'birds'...I had to laugh when they were taking the mickey out of the old time dancing - conveniently forgetting that they would have been doing it themselves about a decade or two earlier.

The sad thing is all the opportunities for great gags (eg based on the daft things that go on in holiday camps) were passed over, and all the good actors - Brambell and McGee, for example, are wasted. Worth watching just to remind you how crap the seventies really were...

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] chettysocks 17 years ago

it,s a fantastic film,shows how much yu naa about the seventies,sevnties and 80,s best times eva man...

[–] sandyp-3 17 years ago

I know by todays standards it is probably chessy and gross how such older men get the young girls,but watching it in the seventies was totally different to nowadays comedy shows you would have to have lived in that era!

[–] By-TorX-1 17 years ago

Reg Varney is God. Simple as that. Holiday on the Buses is a work of genius from a better vanished time!

[–] maaaaart 17 years ago

Yes, it makes me cringe too, but having grown up in that era and experienced that holiday camp culture in my youth, it brings back a whole bunch of memories. I love this film. Its coarse "Carry On" innuendo and earthy characters make this film work. The 70's were not 'crap'. Indeed, they were extremely influential, and shaped comedy writing way into the following decades.
By the way, I assume you are implying that 57 year olds are too old to pick up a younger woman or enter into a physical relationship? Physical appearance is not an issue. Do you expect the more mature male to settle for a life (or no life) sat in front of the TV 24/7 in impotent bliss, with the occasional jaunt walking the dog and collecting his pension? Thanks for you thought provoking comments :-)

[–] cliveyahoo2005 15 years ago

This film brings back happy memories from my childhood.As a boy I was taken to Pontins a few times and had great times.
I also used to watch the TV series On the buses so I know the characters well.
Jack and Stan chasing attractive women is a bit of fun in my eyes. Obviously in real life they wouldnt get past the can i buy you a drink stage, but this is a film and it is fun. Poor Stan never gets "a bit of the other" anyway, something always goes wrong.
It is not a great film nor a bad one. I watch it now and again and it makes me smile.
Watching Wilfred Bramble chasing women is worth the ticket price alone :)

[–] andyg35 13 years ago

I know it might not actually be that good, but this film (and others in a similar vein) never fail to cheer me up.

Memories of summer holidays with my Mum and Dad, and trips to the cinema to see films like this - packed houses, and everyone seemed happy.

Nostalgia and rose-tinted glasses aside - they were good times, and this is the type of entertainment we seemed to want. Love it.

AndyG

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] PurpleProseOfCairo 12 years ago

I'm five and a half years late, but the original post really made me laugh. I agree with everything said, but I think we gave it a free pass because, as someone here says, it was just a bit of fun. We knew it was ridiculous that these ugly, middle aged men could pull those "birds", but we suspended our disbelief and just laughed at the ridiculousness of it - it was as much a work of fiction as Dr Who! As a kid I actually DID assume that the hook-nosed, snaggle-toothed look of Bob was what older (ie teenage) girls actually went for. Thank God I came to my sense before actually adopting that look.

Awight we're The Daamned we're a punk baand and this is called Carn't Be Appy T'day!

[–] offramp_tavanipupu 12 years ago

What made me wince in the original series was when Stan reluctantly decided to leave home - at the age of sixty. And what was his reason for leaving? To get a new job!
I can imagine his first day:
"Good morning, Mr Butler! Here is your clocking on card - and here is your gold clock! Have a happy retirement!"

[–] marktayloruk (2375) 3 years ago

Reg was in his late 50s. Stan wasn't.

[–] DoctorThirteen (10136) a year ago

Exactly.

[–] offramp_tavanipupu 11 years ago

You are right - in a way. In this film the characters left London or Essex or wherever the *beep* it was and there was freedom to do anything at all.
There was also enough of a budget to get in five or six good support actors.
But the final film seemed a bit rushed. Not very funny.

[–] goldenagefilmstv (177) a year ago

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[–] DoctorThirteen (10136) a year ago

Should have been Regan and Carter - now that was a double-act! "You're nicked, my son!"