So which is the best one?? - The Comic Strip Presents... (1982) Discussion

[–] SenderBex 18 years ago

Saw 'The Beat Generation' for the first time yestderday. Utter Brilliance.

Everyone in it is great, but Richardson and Planer are bordering genuis in this one! And how good is that saxaphone soundtrack?

A Forgotten Classic.......

reply

[–] Reilly_4 18 years ago

i also think the south atlantic raiders parts 1 and 2 are brilliant, especially billy [ade edmondson] near the end of part 2 when he comes over the hill coverd in pots and pans for protection it's hilarious.

What's that? You just called me a bastard didn't you!

reply

[–] Reilly_4 18 years ago

also four men in a car is absolutely brilliant, with rik mayall [as usual] being the funniest person whenever he's on screen. great job by the cast all round, bu for me, rik is just the best.

What's that? You just called me a bastard didn't you!

reply

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Reilly_4 18 years ago

now that you mention it it does seem that chris from catterick is similar to billy in the way they both seem detatched from everybody else in a strange, innocent sort of way.

What's that? You just called me a bastard didn't you!

reply

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] chyna-s 18 years ago

My fav is Fistful of Travellers cheques

reply

[–] rochdale-1 18 years ago

Dirty Movie
Mr Jolly lives next door
The Strike (if only for the speech at the end!)

I'm still working through them so more classics on the way!

reply

[–] friendly_poison 10 years ago

Saw 'The Beat Generation' for the first time yestderday. Utter Brilliance.

Everyone in it is great, but Richardson and Planer are bordering genuis in this one! And how good is that saxaphone soundtrack?

A Forgotten Classic.......

Read alot of the comments on here and I have to agree for sure. Beat Generation is bar that the other 'Strips' should be measured against. The entire cast is on top form, particularly Danny Peacock's Kix and Rik Mayall's Jeremy. Also the soundtrack was perfect for the era they were portraying.

Also does this remind anybody else of Naked Lunch? The fact that they are all Beat Poets, the saxophone and Richardson's character, Alan, is very Burroughsesqe.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC46Q8Jsi9s7M_aIsLVlE66g
Film commentaries n stuff :-)

reply

[–] martynfreak 18 years ago

Five Go Mad In Dorset (You're so licky Timmy, Blah Blah Kneecap Hill etc..)
Five Go Mad In Mescalin (You're even lickier than last time Timmy, Blah Blah Dr Love etc...)
Bad News Tour (You didn't let the dog in free did yer?'
More Bad News ('Ere how many pints have I had?' '42.' 'Right I think its time to be sick.'

Although I don't think it was an official Comic Strip film, I thought Eat The Rich was pretty good as it had most of the actors in it + Motorhead of course!

reply

[–] trevorwomble 18 years ago

Personally i think the 5 best episodes were (in no particular order)

1) A Fistful of Travellers Cheques (witty and very well made considering the budget).

2) Mr Jolly lives next door (Peter Cook is just perfectly cast)

3) More Bad News (I love the scenes where they play at Donnington and get pelted by the crowd and slagged off by the other acts).

4) Spaghetti Hoops (blackly comic rather than laugh out loud but seeing as they had no money to film it properly, it is quite a remarkable film).

5)Four Men in a Car (a welcome return to form after eight years of really bad and self indulgent episodes).

reply

[–] godofwiddly 18 years ago

Nobody likes LES DOGS then? I think it's an incredible piece of Godard homage/parody. And not just because the lovely Kate Bush is in it either. It really looks like an impressionist dream. And I thought that maybe the passage of time had made me misremember it, but no, after a recent DVD viewing I can tell you that it really is that good.

"I'm sorry about the room"
"Oh, that's OK, we have lots of others."

reply

[–] Reilly_4 18 years ago

yeah i liked les dogs too, it was just so surreal and strange as [after watching the special features disc] pete richens said they couldn't actually think of an ending so that's why they made it as strange as they did. it's a great piece of film.

What's that? You just called me a bastard didn't you!

reply

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] podwilliams 18 years ago

Yeh, I like Les Dogs, too. They pull off the languid, surreal, Godardesque mood well, and Miranda Richardson deserves a mention, as she's brilliant in everything she does. Even so, my fave right now is Summer School. It's turning into something of an inspiration for me and my friend, as we're attempting to write a comedy of our own.

The lion and the calf shall lie down together, but the calf won't get much sleep.

reply

[–] podwilliams 18 years ago

If anyone wants the 4 Jeff Beck tracks that, as markbc-2 mentioned above, feature on the soundtrack of South Atlantic Raiders just mail me at [email protected] and I'll send them on to you.

The lion and the calf shall lie down together, but the calf won't get much sleep.

reply

[–] garethdimu 18 years ago

Dirty movie! Most are pretty funny though. No rip-roarers mind.

reply

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] bettywhait06 18 years ago

The early ones - where the actors hadn't yet become household names, and the show was the most original thing on TV in all time - are rightly regarded as classics. The ones that fall into that category are: War / Gino / Fistful Of Travellers Cheques / Bad News Tour / Dirty Movie. Then the longer epiosdes originally shown in cinemas also produced some classics: More Bad News / The Strike / Mr Jolly Lives Next Door and then some BBC shows also had quality: GLC / The Crying Game. The early ones are the best because they are so nostalgic, if you were 'there' at the time when this amazing TV revolution was happening it was so exciting being caught up in it. Of course, there are weak epiosdes, but even these have good parts. For example, I never have been a fan of the 'Five Go Mad..' episodes, but can see the genius behind them. Similar comments apply to The Beat Generation, Slags, Summer School etc. When the stars became rich, poweful, household names, the quality dipped a bit, but the Comic Strip remains the best thing ever shown on British TV. And I still think the best scene of all was Robbie Coltrane's walk between the crashing waves in The Supergrass to the soundtrack of Two Tribes. Only wish I'd seen that in the cinema!

reply

[–] podwilliams 18 years ago

I still think the best scene of all was Robbie Coltrane's walk between the crashing waves in The Supergrass to the soundtrack of Two Tribes. Only wish I'd seen that in the cinema!

I did.

By the way, to whom it may concern, the 4 Jeff Beck tracks that feature on the soundtrack of South Atlantic Raiders are available for download here - for 7 days:

This file has expired

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=DF9E7B574E74AF27

The lion and the calf shall lie down together, but the calf won't get much sleep.

reply

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] JenTurtle 14 years ago

Oh i agree, Robbie's walk in Supergrass was classic! must have been terrifying though!

reply

[–] trevorwomble 10 years ago

According to a documentary I saw about the comic strip a while back (may even have been the one on the dvd box set) Robbie Coltrane did that walk himself in one take. No stunt doubles and no safety measures (beyond a wetsuit under his suit) were used. It was done in freezing temperatures because it was filmed out of season in something like February 1985. Talk about method acting!

Something else that has also intrigued me for a while is just how much Simon Pegg resembles Peter Richardson in this film.

reply

[–] Mad Dog McLagan 18 years ago

They're all really good, but if I had to pick just one then it'd definitely be Fistful of Traveler's Checques.

The Strike and Detectives on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown follow closely.

I suspect the problem is that you have too many paperclips up your nose

reply

[–] robbystrauss666 18 years ago

for me its; 1. fistfull of travellers cheques. 2. eddie monsoon. 3. the bullsh*tters. 4. supergrass. 5. gino. 6. beat generation. oh, and at risk of being a pedant someone said mr jolly evolved into filthy, rich and catflap but the latter was actually nearly two years previous to the former.

reply

[–] podwilliams 18 years ago

It's not pedantic, robby, to point out that something can't evolve.. er.. backwards. If it is possible, then, similarly, it would be acceptable to say that The Beatles and Slade are just Oasis rip-offs.

The lion and the calf shall lie down together, but the calf won't get much sleep.

reply

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Deckard70 18 years ago

Without doubt the pre 1988 episodes held the real gems, though the quality did vary a lot. The best of the first series was sheer class with Bad News Tour pre dating many popular spoof documentaries by almost 20 years. It even beat Spinal Tap to the punch. Brilliant script, perfect casting and never to be forgotten quotes abound. The More Bad News follow up in 87 was also hilarious though doesn't quite stand up as well as the original. Too many quotes to list really, the script is so good, but here's a few for all of us nostalgic CS lovers.

Cafe scene. Vim on voice over - "We don't tend to worry about money"

Den - "Two quid for one bloody sausage? .... Can I have half a sausage for a quid?"

Asian Woman behind till in Cafe - "No you can't!"

Argument over what type of music the band actually represent in the Van.

Vim - "Look when I was a kid I used to listen to John Denver records all the time, but that doesn't mean I have to be a pratt all my life?"

Spider - "You said it Vim. Eh p'raps we should call ourselves Heavy Denver?"

Other assorted quotes - Den to Colin "I bet your Mum was really angry?"

Vim to Sally "We're not sitting on a fence at all. We're trying to burn it down. And you'd be pretty stupid to sit on a burning fence?" (Falls through gate door at this point).

Vim to director "No the point is, how come you think you can intefer with the way we talk and not intefer when the van's broken down? Answer that and stay fashionable!"

Top episodes for me are..

1. BAD NEWS TOUR
2. MR JOLLY LIVES NEXT DOOR
3. WAR
4. MORE BAD NEWS
5. A FISTFULL OF TRAVELLERS CHEQUES
6. GINO

Great days as Rik recently said in an interview. The effing best.

reply

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]