Holiday On The Buses Film Review

It's roughly easter time over here in the UK which does mean that at somepoint within the next few weeks ITV will have it's yearly tradition of showing if not all three at the very least one of the On The Buses films. With the film that i'm going to be talking to you all about today being the third and sadly final film in the On The Buses film trilogy and the On The Buses franchise as a whole as the film was being made when te final ever episode of the show was being aired and so then join me as I review the film that sees the On The Buses crew cause chaos at a holiday camp with the film in question being called simply just "Holiday On The Buses" enjoy.

The plot of this film is after being sacked from there jobs Stan and Jack find themselves working at a holiday camp where they find out that there old enemy Blakey also has a job as the camps chief of security. 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. With the films plot much like the previous two films plots feeling more like a series of sketches that are only very loosely edited together which is fine as the main selling point for these films has always been the jokes and therefor this film didn't really need to have a strong story in order for it to work but it still needed to have a story in general outside of the films main premise which granted might have been good enough to get people into watching the film once but it wouldn't have been good enough to get them to keep on watching the film and to keep on coming back to watch the film due to the fact that the film has to real plot to speak this is despite thew fact that the films new setting is one that does allow them to have a plot even if it's something as basic as the holiday camp needing a certain amount of visitors by the end of the summer season in order to justify staying open which granted isn't a good plot but it's still a plot and with the fact that Stan's whole family come on holiday the film could have taken the chance to give them some small plots and while the film isn't that much affected by its lack of plot it is something that is very noticeable with the plot of this film not really being really rather entertaining and as well as not really being really rather engaging either in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. 

Starring in this film is Reg Varney as Stan Butler , Doris Hare as Mabel "Mum" Butler 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 , Wilfrid Brambell as Bert Thompson , Kate Williams as The Red Cross Nurse , Arthur Mullard as Wally Briggs , Queenie Watts as Lily Briggs , Henry McGee as The Holiday Camp Manager , Adam Rhodes as Little Arthur , Michael Sheard as The Depot Manager , Hal Dyer as Mrs. Coombs , Franco De Rosa as Luigi , Gigi Gatti as Maria , Maureen Sweeney as Mavis , Eunice Black as Mrs Hudson , Sandra Bryant as Sandra , Carolae Donoghue as Doreen , Annette Long as Betty and Tara Lynn as Joyce.

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 the series main actors being as good as you expect them to be given the fact that they would have been playing there characters for about seven years across both the TV show and the two previous films therefor they would know how best to perform there character and what kind of performance there character would give in any given situation. The films guest actors on the other hand especially the more well known actors like for example Wilfrid Brambell do steal every single scene that there in even when there acting with the series main actors with even the likes of Arthur Mullard and Queenie Watts both of whom are reprising their roles from the show "Romany Jones" are really good in this film with them having some really good chemistry with each other in this film with the best actor in the whole entire film being Stephen Lewis as Inspector Cyril "Blakey" Blake as he does have some really great facial expressions in this film that help to make the films jokes be even more funnier then what they should have been with him also really nailing the more playfully villainous side of Blakey all of which are things that do make his performance be all the more interesting then what it really should have been with the acting that's in this film really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so good that all this films actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film. 

Whilst it would of course be pointless to talk about the series regular characters due to the fact that they are being carried over from a hugely successful TV show the films newer characters on the other are just kind of there. These characters aren't badly done persay it's just that the films script doesn't do them any favors by not giving them anything to do which it could be argued is kind of the point as we are seeing these characters in a more relaxed setting and therefor of course we are not going to see that much about what it is that makes them tick as the are just trying to relax and that's all well and good but the film also doesn't justify alot of them being there outside of the fact that they are there to populate the camp and to give the main characters someone to talk to and that's it and that's not enough. As while it does make sense for the film to have characters that are just there to populate this came that doesn't mean that we don't have to find out anything about them as even with the series main characters we still find out something new about Arthur and Olive that being the fact that they used to dance together something which does play into the film as they join in the class for old time dancing and yet with none of the films newer character we find out nothing about them which means that we feel nothing for them when something comical does happen to them and while this does make sense as they aren't the main characters of the film as the makers of this film went to trouble of giving us all of these new characters then why not go to the trouble of making them more fully rounded characters that we want to see more of instead of just having them by there for the sake of telling a joke.

While the On The Buses films are usually really good when it comes to continuity with certain things in one film being mentioned or playing apart in the next. This film seems to ignore the events of the second film entirely as at the end of that film it's mentioned that Olive is pregnant with her and Arthur's second baby and yet here in this film we only see there first son Little Arthur with there being no mention of what might have happened to there second kid with this being something that makes no sense as these films are proud with the fact that they stick to there own continuity really well with the small changes that they make from the show being explained as these films take place in a different continuity to that of the show and while that is something that could also explain why Olive and Arthur in this film only have a son it doesn't explain why at the start of the film Stan and Jack are still working for the same bus company as the previous two films nor why there uniforms and most of there buses are the same as the first two films which does mean that this film has to take place after the events of the second film this is something that has always been a huge bug bear of mine for many years as it's something that very easily could have been explained just by having one of the characters reveal that Olive only thought that she was pregnant which would be true to her character as she's often been presented as not being the brightest tool in the shed and given the fact that the second film never revealed that she and Arthur when to the doctors in the first place it is possible that she just assumed she was pregnant with that being the most family friendly way that they could have explained away why the couple now only have a son.

Unlike alot of the On The Buses films which are all filmed in and around Borehamwood in Hertfordshire London. This film was all mostly filmed at the now disused Pontin holiday camp in Prestatyn North Wales with filming being done when the final episode of the show was being broadcast with all of the interior shots either being done at the actual camp itself or back in London at the now demolished Elstree Studios this is something that I mention as unlike the first two films where you could see where the set ended and the film studio began here you really can't see that at all with this being something that does make it harder to tell just what it was that was filmed on location and what was done in a studio as the whole film actually does look like a proper film and not something that was made cheaply here you can see that the makers of the film took the lessons that they learned from the first two films and applied them here with the end result being the fact that we can't really tell just what it was that was filmed on location due to the fact that the stuff done in the studio looks so good and looks like it could have been done on location and heck alot of the time it's not even Reg Varney driving it's his double with all of the inserts of him driving being done in the studio and while he did do the driving for the scenes where they are in the camp for the scenes that take place in other locations it was always his double doing the driving. It really is a shame that the original filming location for this film is now sitting empty as it is apart of film history and while that doesn't make it immune from going empty by any means it does mean that the fans of this film can't go and have a look at all of the locations that were used for this film as this was something that alot of them would do on yearly basis alot of the time. 

While the other two films and the show more often that not had Blakey as the main villain which is something that does make sense as he is the one that is more often then not trying to stop Stan and Jack from being there fun loving selfs. Here it felt like he was pushed a bit to far in that extreme as they outright try and have him kill Stan near the end of the film all because of the fact that he thought that Stan was trying to steal his love interest from him which didn't feel like something that he would do as the most bad thig that he would is try to get them fired and that's it as he wouldn't want to harm anyone not even to that degree and yet here in this film it's the first thing that he tries to do when he thinks that Stan is trying to steal his love interest away from him this is something that would make sense if there wasn't anyone trying to stop him and calm him yet his love interest and Stan himself both try to calm him down and yet due to him being so blinded by anger he just ignores them. It could be argued that all of the anger was something that was built up all throughout the film as Stan does cause him to go through alot of pain including accidentally breaking his foot at the start of the film but all of the bad things that happen to Blakey outside of having his foot broken is all because of the fact that Blakey himself did something to our heroes and therefor him getting hurt in some comedic fashion served as unintentional payback but that doesn't mean that Blakey should try and kill someone which yes does lead to a humorous chase throughout the park it is still something that doesn't really feel right for his character.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and twenty three minuets and thirteen seconds. Which for this films is pretty much there bog standard running time with the film being he perfect amount of running time due to it's incredibly small plot as the film doesn't really have the right amount of plot there to cover that amount of running time however this is more due to the fact that the film doesn't have alot of plot in the first place and isn't due to the film being almost one hour and thirty minuets long. The film doesn't really use it's running time all that wisely as it doesn't take the time to develop what little plot that it is has with this being the fact that the film is cramming so many jokes that it does forget to fully develop it's plot which given that this is a comedy that is something that does oddly make sense as the Carry On films don't have that well developed plots either as they to just have plenty of jokes in them and much like the Carry On films this film also doesn't take the time to fully its characters which is fine for the series characters as they've had the two previous films and the several previous series of the main how to get there character development but it is something that does effect the films guest characters as outside of Burt we don't get to find out anything about this films guest characters with even the things that we find out about Burt not really being anything that effects the film in a meaningful way which given the fact that this film is a spin off film and those really don't typically have deep characters in them it still would have been nice if the makers of this film did take the time to add some extra dimension to them as that really would give us the audience a reason to like and care for them 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 comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I im all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. With this films comedy being more in line with that of the Carry On films in that it's a bit more cheeky and like seaside postcard humor in that it's a bit more risque and bit more tongue in cheek and while that is fine for the Carry On films it's not something that works for this film as these films have always been very family friendly films that could sit and watch with the whole family and enjoy the film on the same level. Yet here in this film we do get alot more adult jokes which while they don't go full on American Pie they go far enough for us the audience to fill in blanks yet the film still does have these more family friendly jokes with the best joke in this film being when Stan is taking back alot of passengers and instead of going the designated route he takes a shortcut which the forces the passengers on the top deck of the bus to have to duck whenever he goes under a low bridge thus getting lots of Ice Cream and Candy Floss all other them with things being made worse when they then have to drive through a low tree with the thing that makes this joke even more funnier is the fact that we get some really funny facial expressions from all of the characters on the top deck all the while Stan is underneath blissfully unaware of all the chaos going on upstairs with that joke being a good example of just how funny that this film could be as it puts alot of the character into a situation where they have to embrace the chaos instead of doing what they usually would do and try to avoid it with the rest of the films jokes being just as funny in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall whilst this might not be my own personal favorite of the three films as that honor goes to On The Buses this is still a really fun and funny film with it being unique time capsule as to what holidays at a holiday camp in seventies Britain were like with it being done in the typical On The Buses fashion in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the god ad as well as all of the bad things that re in his 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 ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from 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 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.