On The Buses Film Review

While it's fairly uncommon nowadays for a popular live action show to get it's very own theatrically released movie. Back in the seventies especially in the UK it was a fairly common thing to see as afterall what better way to continue a TV series that already has a large enough fanbase then creating a movie with the film that i'm about to be reviewing for you all today being one such a film and so then join me as i review the film that was noy only actually more popular then Diamonds Are Forever but also a future James Bond actor in it as well with the film in question being called simply just "On The Buses" enjoy.

The plot of this film is when a bus driver Stan Butler and his conductor friend Jack Harper find there way of life challenged at work by the introduction of female bus drivers the duo set about trying to find away to get things back to how they once where. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad altho in saying that this films plot does seem a tad bit dated at times which is something that could put younger viewers of watching it but this films plot is meant to be and is harmless fun as you can see this movie with any young family members or any kids and they won't see anything that will hurt them or do them any harm but with that being said tho this films plot is stretched rather thin with it seeming like this film is nothing more then an extended episode of the show which is something that's fairly common place with all three of these On The Buses movies as well as none of them quite manage to translate well on the bi screen but with that being said his films plot is something that would work in a movie if it was a stronger plot but as it is it's something that really did need a lot of work on it to make this films plot work for the big screen with the plot of this film also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this film is Reg Varney as Stan Butler , Doris Hare as Mum and Michael Robbins as Arthur Rudge. Also starring in this film is Anna Karen as Olive Rudge , Stephen Lewis as Inspector Cyril 'Blakey' Blake , Bob Grant as Jack Harper , Brian Oulton as The Manager , Andria Lawrence as Betty , Pat Ashton as Sally , Jeanne Varney as Mavis , Pamela Cundell as Ruby , Pat Coombs as Vera , Eunice Black as Ada , Wendy Richard as A Housewife , Peter Madden as Mr. Brooks , David Lodge as Fred , Brenda Gogan as Bridget , Caroline Dowdeswell as Sandra , Nosher Powell as Betty's Husband , Terry Duggan as Nobby , Norman Mitchell as The London Transport Official , Claire Davenport as Peggy , Maggie Rennie as Gladys , Tex Fuller as Harry , Anna Michaels as Eileen , Moira Foot as Katy and The Spy Who Loved Me Star Caroline Munro as The Poster Girl.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. With all of the actors who are reprising their roles from the show turning in some really good performances in this film which is something that really does make alot of sense as they'd had about five years at this point in time to perfect there performances for there respective charters and so of course when it comes to paying them in the film they would of course what kind of performance would best suit there characters with the films more newer actors more then holding there own when it comes to acting against the more established actors something that really could have been an easy job for them to do with the best actor in this film being Reg Varney who really does carry this film on his back with him not only managing to make alot of the films jokes work due to to his chemistry with both Bob Grant and Stephen Lewis but also manages to handle the films more emotional moments as well with the acting in this film really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so good that all this films actors really have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.

There is one thing that is really annoying about not only this film but also the following film as well and that's the fact that in the bus depot set you can see where the set ends and the studio begins. Which is something that they not only never addressed in either film but it's also something that they never bothered to fix in the following film either which is something that does add an air of cheapness to only this film but the following film as well which is something that make sense as both films combined only cost around a few hundred thousand pounds to make but even so when you know that the film is going to spending alot of time in this one set you'd think that the makers of the film would go above and beyond into making sure that you can't see the top of set but nope thy don't do that and it's something that does get really irritating to see as it takes you out of all the film with this being something that the makers of this film could very easily have fixed by putting in some more money into making sure that you can't see the top of the set as while you can get away with a show looking cheap as there you have to spread the budget across several episodes and so of course your going to have to cut corners somewhere for a feature film tho where one of your main settings is inside of the bus depot you don't really have that excuse and that is something that the makers of this film could and more importantly should have addressed in the following film as then it would show that they weren't trying to make these films look cheap but nope it's the exact same in that film as well.

In what was for at the time a really shocking thing but this film was actually more popular at it's home grown UK box office then Diamonds Are Forever was. While both films did make back there budget and then some it was this film that made back more of it's budget which is odd as you wouldn't think that a little known British comedy film would not only go toe to toe with a James Bond film but also win as well it's just something that was and still is unheard of even more so when you take into account that Diamonds Are Forever had the bigger budget then this film had and had the more well known stars then what this film had and even the fact that Diamonds Are Forever even had the return of Sir Sean Connery as James Bond and yet it was this film that managed to beat it at the UK box office and make back twenty eight times it's budget of ninety thousand pounds which is something that does go to show you that audiences won't just go and see any film because it has a big star or alot of money put into it but they will go and see a film with characters that there more then familiar with thanks to seeing them on a very popular and very much well loved TV show as well as that way the audiences already have that connection with the characters and that world and while the James Bond films might have lasted longer then the On The Buses franchise did it's weird to think that for a brief time in British film history that a James Bond film let alone one starring who many consider to be THE James Bond in Sir Sean Connery got beat at the home UK box office by a smaller scale , budgeted film that ha alot of really unknown actors in it.

Just to be clear you really don't need to have a single episode of the On The Buses TV show in order to fully understand this movie at all. As the movie takes place in a different continuity from the show so you can watch this movie and still get a pretty good idea of who the characters are as people and what there relationship is to one another something that alot of movies that are based off of TV shows did around this time period as well altho to be alot of them did also take place in the world as the TV show but to be fair tho the show much like the movie was episodic with there being nothing continuity wise that connected one episode to the other and while it would be nice if you people who are wanting to watching this movie did at the very least watch one or two episodes of the show just to see if they like the fact that there's no continuity between the episodes or not it's not really something that you have to do in order to see this movie and heck none of the episodes that were made and released after this movie even make reference to the events of this movie either which only serves to hit home the point that outside of a few things the movie and the show are two different worlds and while the movie does at the very least try to capture the spirit and magic of what it was that made the show work in the first place it just fails to do so even tho it's using the exact same creative team and actors that made the original show work as well as it did in the first place and while it would have been nice if the film was set in the same world as the show as then you could have had the events of this movie be set up in an episode of the show that is something that would then require far to much homework for anyone who's just wanting to watch this fun movie to do.

There are quite alot of things that don't really work about this film like the fact that the film is very episodic in nature which is fine for the show as the show is also really episodic in nature but or a film that doesn't quite work out all that well. With another thing being the more understandable fact that this films characters aren't that fully fleshed out as characters which is more understandable as there are five series worth of episodes of the show already out there that do flesh out those characters a bit more but it's also something that infects the films newly introduced characters as well and that's where it does become an issue as those characters don't appear in the show and so you have to spend the time needed in this film to fully develop them as characters as while alot of them are the villains of the film you have to make them not threatening per say but make them so that we the audience don't want to see them succeed as that would mean that our heroes for the film Stan and jack won't be ale to get things back to how they like them and how they used to be and yet because of the fact that the makers of this film don't really do that when the villains of this film do get there comeuppance's whilst it can be funny it lacks something that makes you cheer for the heroes and it would have been nice to see the female drivers actually act like antagonists in this film as the only evil thing that they do is at the end of the film when they become bus inspectors and split up Stan and Jack and that's really it with everything else coming from something that the dup have done to them first which makes them feel a lot less like the villains that the films wants us to believe that they actually are.

Now then this film has / exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and twenty four minuets and twelve seconds. Which to be fair is a perfectly solid running time for this film to have as this film really does have the right amount of pot there to really cover that amount of running time and while this film really doesn't use it's running time all that wisely it kind of doesn't need to as it doesn't need to flesh out the characters that the people who loved the show have come to see as there are several series of the show that do that and while there certain plot lines that could have done with fleshing out like Stan falling in love with one of the more prettier female bus drivers and the fact that Stan's sister is pregnant both of those plot lines could have been used for episodes of the show where they would have been given the attention that they really needed to be fully developed as whilst ether one isn't strong enough to carry a movie they are strong enough to carry an episode of the show each with about of those plot lines feeling more like padding when the film itself doesn't really need padding out as if the makers of this film wanted to get the film up to feature length all they had to do with fully develop it's main plot and that's really it but because of the fact that the makers of this film felt that they had to make the movie like the show we instead end up with a movie that has about three plotlines all of which aren't allowed to be fully developed due to this films running time but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is a comedy that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that thee actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. As this film does have alot of cute funny moments in it and while the film doesn't have the laugh loud moments that the Carry On films do have there is some of those types of jokes in this film with there being alot more risqué jokes in it which was done most likely due to the fact that they wouldn't be able to get away with them on the TV show but at the same time tho those kind of jokes do feel more at odd with the films more cartoonish and kid friendly jokes as while the more risqué aren't that bad and they do work in the context of the film it also would have been nice if the film kept the same type of jokes from the show which yes granted could sometimes do some risqué jokes as well but they were very few and far between with the show doing more kid friendly jokes that the whole family could enjoy and find funny where as the more risqué whilst they are funny in there own right there just jokes that only Mum and Dad would enjoy and not jokes that the whole family would enjoy with one of the more better jokes in this film being the very idea that Stan and Jack would go to such extreme lengths to get rid of these women drivers with them paining fake signs that lead them on to motorway or secretly giving them water tablets that make them want to use the bathroom every couple there are alot of really good jokes to be found in this film with there being very few bad jokes as well which is a very rare thing to find as alot of these movies that are based off of TV shows usually have more bad jokes then good and yet here it's the opposite that appears to be true in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall while this film really isn't all that good as it's just an episode of the show stretched out to over one hour and twenty four minuets this film is also alot more better then what it really could have been as there really was a clear attempt to make what really worked in the show work for the movie it's really just ashame then that that attempt didn't work but even this film did spawn two more sequels both of which really aren't as good as what this film was and still is as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 6.5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as all as ladies and gentlemen personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official James Bond fandom wiki page , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images really from this very film being the really great Google Images this is really because of the fact that really all of the images that I really indeed got and really used from the really great Google Images are all really high quality really with all of the images that really are all and of course really currently up and on the really great and the really solid Google Images really are all being really fairly high in quality and as well as them all really being fairly high in definition.