Comedy Film

[Inspector Abberline]

The Bullshitters: Roll Out The Gunbarrel

Ex-agents Bonehead (Keith Allen) and Foyle (Peter Richardson) are recalled back into action when Commander Jackson (Robbie Coltrane) head of D15,daughter is kidnapped and held for ransom by a couple of disgruntled Pub entertainers.While being out of the service for a while Bonehead (Keith Allen) has been running a TV Tough guy school called KNOBS,teaching actors how to play policeman on the television.Mean while Foyle (Peter Richardson) has been acting in kitchen sink melodramas on the stage.Unwilling to re-join D15 ,because of the lack of fast car and guns,Bonehead and Foyle are blackmailed by Commander Jackson with some rather compromising pictures of them affected by the gay serum from there last mission. As pastiches go,this really hits the nail on the head,The Comic Strip Presents sends up the series The Professionals, whether it was done out of contempt for the original series or out fondness they cover pretty much every conceivable stereotype and hackneyed action sequence.In fact when you see Bonehead and Foyle running around bare chested and carrying a gun,chasing down some armed villains,actually does happen in A Hiding to Nothing when Martin Shaw as Doyle chases some villains across some scaffolding only in his jeans and hairy chest and his trusty gun to protect him. Bonehead (Keith Allen) and Foyle (Peter Richardson) are especially great,both the characters and actors are spot on,in there characterisations.And the rumoured homoerotic relationship of the two tough guys are well and truly explored when Bonehead finally cracks and admits his love for Foyle. The Comic Strip Presents was probably the most successful comedy shows on channel Four in there peak era,and although there were a few hit and miss episodes in the long running series,The Bulshitters was and is easily one of the best in the series. The duo would return in Detectives on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown.

[Inspector Abberline]

A Tribute to On the Buses - Elstree Studios Event 2016

Come and celebrate some of the Best of British big screen hit sitcoms at the home to many of the great cinema versions of small screen comedy classics.

The day comprises two sessions:

From 2-5pm

A Tribute to On the Buses – all three OTB films were made at Elstree

Come and join Anna Karen (Olive) & Andria Lawrence (Turnaround Betty) along with the films’ Executive Producer Roy Skeggs and a host of cast and crew for an EXCLUSIVE screening of previously UNSEEN interviews with Reg Varney, Stephen Lewis & Anna Karen, the screening of some classic On the Buses moments and question & answer sessions with the guests. And there’ll be a signing session too.

Sitcom Heaven

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Are you going, Inspector?

[Inspector Abberline]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Are you going, Inspector?

Probably not,But might be handy for anyone nearby.

[Inspector Abberline]

Three Amigos (1986)

Thank god Steve Martin made this film,otherwise I was never going to forgive him for re-making the Pink Panther movies. Steve Martin as Lucky Day ,Chevy Chase as Dusty Bottoms and Martin Short as Ned Nederlander are pretty well suited to these affable and likeable characters who get mistaken for real cowboy heroes.Plot wise its just a variation on the Magnificent Seven,with a dose of Looney Tunes silliness for good measure.What's kind of amusing is the way Lucky Day, Dusty Bottoms, and Ned Nederlander are portrayed as very camp and lame actors up against there more violent counterparts of Alfonso Arau as El Guapo and his band of Mexican bandits. Luckily the silliness isn't just restricted to the Three Amigos,as El Guapo and his men celebrate Guapo's 40th birthday party in plenty of style with a plethora of piñatas on display. Unusually its a fairly family orientated comedy with only a couple of risqué jokes,with none of the Blazing Saddles style type of debauchery you might of expected.In fact even for a John Landis style comedy its fairly restrained,so definitely one you can watch in front of Gran and Grandad without offending anyone. If your looking for say an antidote to Quentin Tarantino's Hateful Eight,then you could certainly do no worse than re-watching Three Amigos,in fact you couldn't find two westerns more poles apart.In an alternative universe where Steven Spielberg was to direct this film the title roles were to be played by Bill Murray, Robin Williams and Rick Moranis if Martin Short had not been available,so says the internet.And If that doesn't grab your imagination then seeing our trio singing "My little Buttercup has the sweetest smile/ Dear little Buttercup, won't you stay a while?/ We'll settle down together in a cottage built for two/ Oh, Dear little Buttercup, I love you! "

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Three Amigos is one of the comedy greats.

I saw both it and Blazing Saddles again quite recently and felt the Amigos stood up better than Saddles. There seemed to be too much Mel Brooks waffle in Blazing Saddles. Even so it still has the best line from either film.

'You'd do it for Randolph Scott'.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Three Amigos is one of the comedy greats.

I saw both it and Blazing Saddles again quite recently and felt the Amigos stood up better than Saddles. There seemed to be too much Mel Brooks waffle in Blazing Saddles. Even so it still has the best line from either film.

'You'd do it for Randolph Scott'.

I saw Blazing Saddles recently and thought it was brilliant, but haven't seen The Three Amigos in at least 20 years, so I've just bought it from Amazon.

[Inspector Abberline]

Mr. Jolly Lives Next Door.

Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson are seemingly in Dangerous Brother mode,although no names are mentioned other than that they are a pair male escorts whose company is called Dreamytime Escorts,and who's one mission in life is to get pissed,but at somebody else's expense.As they constantly looking for foreign tourists to entertain while fleece them of there money by dragging them around London's pubs.But who is the mysterious neighbour played by Peter Cook as Mr Jolly,someone who borrows a lot of washing up liquid and has very bloody windows to clean. Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson are in fantastic form in this Stephen Frears directed comedy,which occasionally feels like some bizarre 1960's-1970's ITV detective series like Jason KIng or Randall and Hopkirk.Rik looks suitably sleazy with his greasy slick down hair and leather coat,while Ade is the rather stupider of the two,if that's at all possible. The pair inhabit a bizarre world of London drinking dens,fighting with severed arms in the mortuary and occasionally mugging school boys for there lunch money. But they are yet to reach the pinnacle of there escorting career,which comes in the form of an evening entertaining Nicholas Parsons.Although when they are accidently asked to take him out,by gangster Peter Richardson as Mr Lovebucket,who thought he was hiring Mr Jolly,going out for drinkies was not quite the taking out he had in mind . While not the most complex of story lines,(buy hey who needs it) Mr. Jolly Lives Next Door. is a fast paced road runner style comedy,that would be the pairs signature characteristic throughout there Bottom Tv series.Its also has some great performances from the late great Peter Cook as the homicidal neighbour and also Nicholas Parsons as Himself for being such a good sport,while being surrounded by the mayhem.One of the best from the Comic Strip Presents.

bombdrop1.jpg

[Susan Foreman]

Originally Posted by Inspector Abberline

Mr. Jolly Lives Next Door.

"Just because my name's Jolly, doesn't mean I have to be f**king jolly"

"Elephant and castle, stick it up yer a**hole"

[Inspector Abberline]

Dad's Army (2016)

On the whole I DO NOT HAVE A PROBLEM WITH REMAKES ,lets be honest remakes are for the stupider generation that came after you that were not around to appreciate the original in the first place,and if the remake is shit then to bad,Ill just go back and watch the original.So i went in with an open mind and open heart with the Dads Army remake,the trailers seem to be ok,the cast seem to fit the bill and on the whole it had the whiff of being quite good.Toby Jones as Captain Mainwaring was very good,instead of just copying the late great Arthur lowe,Toby Jones managed to give a nice understated performance..Bill Nighy as Sergeant Wilson was born to play this role he has all the qualities John Le Mesurier had,and is probably the better actor,so how the hell did he manage to cock it up,where as John Le Mesurier 's Sgt. Arthur Wilson was a little bumbling and slightly posh and even a hit with the ladies,Le Mesuriers performance was always on the back foot and his character just sorted drifted along in life.Bill Nighy Sergeant Wilson is slightly arrogant and is aware of his womanising charms.As for the rest of the cast,well there given the roles but none of them seem to be playing there parts with any conviction or enthusiasm.I would say most of the blame have to be levelled and the writer Hamish McColl,Where were the jokes? I could not remember any time during the film I actually smiled or laughed and for a comedy film based on a classic sitcom then there has got to be a problem .Mainwarings main rival in the TV show was the brilliant Bill Pertwee as Chief Warden Hodges,who's persistent antagonism towards Mainwairing was always a fun part of the show.In fact Hodges is in the film played by Martin Savage,and although he is only in about two scenes there was a definite potential for some good screen chemistry.On the whole this was a major disappointment for me,im a big Dads Army and a fan of Toby Jones,but where were the laughs?there was none just another missed opportunity gone.