chitara-69170 Reviews

Game for a Laugh (1981–1985)

Started well but grew old very quickly

[7/10 · 22 November 2023]

I am going to partially disagree with the original review of this show. This was NOT a remake of "Candid Camera" which had its more disturbing & more thought provoking moments, this was purely a fun show. And fun it most certainly was for the first two series, with pleasant presenters and some interesting and amusing ideas, involving unsuspecting members of the public getting involved in bizarre but believable situations. And yes it did easily triumph in the ratings war over the BBC's outdated "Generation Game".

The problem was that there are only so many scenarios that can be used before the show either repeats itself, or just becomes too extreme. And that is what happened here, I suggest watching the first two series but not the subsequent three when the show became a parody of itself.

And as for a parody, in 1982 Not the Nine O Clock News featured a bad taste spoof of "Game For a Laugh". Considered amusing at the time, in retrospect the same is seen as smug middle class pseudo intellectuals mocking the simpler tastes of the proletariat. Its probably fair to say that in the new twenties "Game For a Laugh" is the more fondly remembered.

Excalibur (1981)

The Greatest Boys Film of All Time

[9/10 · 20 November 2023]

This is not the dull 2004 film which tried to present a stirring legend as believable history. Nor is it the politically correct TV series of the late naughties. This is the story of King Arthur as imagined by Sir Thomas Malory, its a C20 version of a C15 novel. No duck outs, every legendary figure is included as Malory intended them to be. One point deduction for leaving out the pivotal scene where Sir Gawain stupidly ties to kill the Lady of the Lake, but apart from that anybody familiar with the legend will not be disappointed.

If you can watch the final scene of the full version of this film without shedding a manly tear, you are either not human, or you are my former boss.

Sir Thomas Malory would have approved.

Sunday, Sunday (1982– )

Pleasant if a little bland

[7/10 · 24 April 2023]

This was a Sunday late afternoon/early evening chat show, intended to cheer viewers before they realised that Monday morning would soon dawn. Unlike its predecessors, there was little obvious religious content.

It was aimed at an older audience of its time, since most of the same, along with most of the then celebrity guests, are no longer with us, it's difficult to know who to recommend this show to, since it was deliberately easy going it's not of much use as a piece of social history. In all fairness to Gloria Hunniford, she was rather good as an interviewer, since she came across as a pleasant type who was prepared to listen to what her guests had to say, as opposed to some of today's daytime television interviewers who seem to think it's all about them rather than about their guests.

Waiting to Exhale (1995)

Standard Afternoon TV Movie

[5/10 · 14 April 2023]

I have never understood why this movie received such rave reviews & so many nominations, when it is nothing more than a bog standard afternoon television movie about naive people struggling with life's more minor problems? Yes it does tell us that African American women have these problems just as do everybody else, but most of us could have worked that out anyway, without having to waste a couple of hours of our lives watching this unremarkable film.

The script is passable, the acting is okay, for those slagging Whitney Houston, all that she had to do was to look happy sometimes, and to look slightly perplexed at some others, and she is okay at that.

If you have nothing to do on a wet afternoon, watch this movie, or take a nap instead. Actually the latter is a better use of your time.

Never Too Young to Rock (1975)

Glam Rock's last shout

[5/10 · 5 March 2022]

Perhaps surprisingly, I only came across this film recently, & I watched it on YT.

It was made in 1975, and set in the late seventies, although it looks nothing like the late seventies, as those of us that were there at the time will tell you.

Early 1975 was a musical watershed. Glam Rock was old, and dying. Bowie had jumped ship & moved on, and Disco music was beginning to appear in the charts, from Europe, and from the USA. The rumblings of Punk were also being heard. One year later, Mud's shapeless hairstyles and pink Teddy Boy outfits, The Rubettes pseudo doo wop & white caps, and the Glitter Band's make up & platform shoes would all be naff & outdated. So this movie is the end of an era.

There is a storyline of sorts, although it does not matter that much, it's in the same vein as the sixties movie "Just for Fun", and the nineties movie "Spice World". The difference is that those other films were at least shot on decent film, the film quality here is grainy & poor, making the era look more gloomy than it actually was.

FTR the acting here is perhaps better than one would have expected, although the humour has gone out of fashion, for example it's unlikely that today's audiences would consider football hooligans to be amusing.

Watch it if you were in your late teens or early twenties in the mid seventies, it may bring back some good memories for you. But for others it's just a curiosity piece.

Les Patterson Saves the World (1987)

Vulgar Fun

[7/10 · 19 February 2022]

This is the kind of film that Brit viewers enjoy, whilst Oz viewers usually find it embarrassing or offensive. It's like a very coarse Australian version of a seventies Carry On film, like Vegemite, some love it, some hate it, some think it should be banned.

Every schoolboy joke in the book is thrown into the mix, farting, veneral disease, lavatory seats, impotence from alcohol intake, etc. Time has removed most of the real life figures that the film characters were based on, for those who were not there in the early eighties, the closest to a tasteful joke is when Sir Les is asking Dr Herpes "Do you know where I can find some chicks? Bits of stuff?" to which the Doctor looks blank. Then Sir Les thinks for a moment and says "Research Assistants" at which point the penny drops & the Doctor understands that he is looking for a prostitute! ( A notorious international call girl was technically employed as a Research Assistant at that time).

One little oddity is that here Barry Humphreys plays Dame Edna mostly as a straight part, "her" usual jolly tastelessness mostly absent.

This film will not appeal to those who like witty observational comedy, but anybody who remembers being a pre adolescent schoolboy will love it.

Camberwick Green (1966)

Charming

[10/10 · 16 February 2022]

Every time that I hear the theme tune, I wish that I was seven years old again.

What would today's media make of a kids show which features a character who gets drunk in his home made cider?

Jungle Cruise (2021)

Enjoyable

[7/10 · 4 August 2021]

This movie is Indiana Jones meets The Mummy, with a little of African Queen thrown in. The story is good, but the scriptwriters IMHO tried to cram a little too much into the first hour so that part does seem rushed. As others have mentioned, there are two sets of villains, one set begin as comic relief then turn really nasty, the other set begin as heartless, yet ultimately become almost tragic. There is also a sub plot in the middle which is not satisfactorily resolved, and the ending, intended as romantic, is slightly macabre.

There are some interesting SFX, and plenty of jokes to lighten the mood, without which the story would turn into a Rider Haggard novel without the necessary pathos. And the acting is fine, with good performances all round. Go and see it, and have a good time without taking it too seriously.

Old (2021)

Back to form

[9/10 · 21 July 2021]

After a few shaky outings over the past few years, M Night is back on form again here. A genuinely creepy story that seems to change its way more than once, with characters whom one actually cares about. The multi racial cast adds to the surreal feel of this movie, since the viewer is never quite sure exactly where the story is taking place. Some of the characters who are introduced briefly turn out to play a major part in the story, others who seem as if they are going to be major figures simply fade away.

My one slight criticism is that the pace of the story is slightly uneven, some parts are glossed over when some more development would have been nice, whilst some other parts are laboured. But all in all an enjoyable & thought provoking film.

The Bromley Boys (2018)

Inacurate

[5/10 · 21 June 2021]

I write as one whose Birth Certificate reads born "Bromley in the County of Kent".

This season was not Bromley FC's worst, which was 1973/4. And most of the accents in the film are wrong, we are not from Essex, and we certainly ain't Cockneys either.

One accent IS correct, the minor character played by Tim Deadman, but that is because Tim is originally from Orpington. Last time I saw him, he told me that he had been working in the USA, so what he is doing in Bromley playing a bit part in a cult film?

I do still go to Hayes Lane, and the team are on the brink of League Two status, so we deserve better than this.

The League of Gentlemen (1999–2017)

Grotesque

[1/10 · 30 May 2021]

If you find deformed people with mental health issues amusing, you will love this series. If you do not, you will loathe it.

I have never understood the popularity of this series, I will give it one star for correctly identifying the insular nature of some English small towns, but that is all.

Those who like disturbing and original ideas should read the "Scarfolk" publications instead.

Not the Nine O'Clock News (1979–1982)

A time capsule

[6/10 · 29 May 2021]

This show was required viewing in the early eighties, although in retrospect the second, and the third, series are the classics,whilst the bookends are admittedly patchy.

To compare this show with Monty Python is inaccurate, since NTNOCN was actually an eighties version of the sixties satire show, "That was the week that was". And like TW3, it is more of a nostalgia fest for those of us who were there at the time, rather than offering very much to those who were not.

The sketches were written around the persons, and the events which were then contemporary, and so they have lost their cutting edge. Also there us perhaps a feeling in retrospect that the writers were smug middle class intellectuals mocking the simpler pleasures of the plebeians. " Game for a Laugh" might have been perhaps a little silly, but it was harmless Saturday evening entertainment, and did not deserve the sarcastic send up it received. And, having lampooned "The Two Ronnie's" for relying on smutty formulaic comedy, NTNOCN closed with the crude song "Kinda Lingers" which was not witty, or even amusing, it was plain vulgar, & evidence that this show had run its course.

In all fairness, this show has aged better than has "The Young Ones", and some sketches, such as the unhelpful banking staff, the smug salesmen in the home entertainment store, and the bucolic train office manager, are still relevant today, since such characters and situations do still exist. But this is a show for the experienced, rather than for the innocent.

Mog (1985–1986)

Bad Taste

[6/10 · 24 May 2021]

As has been stated on this site, the lead character of "Mog" was intended to be played by Marty Feldman. Following his death, the part was given to Enn Reitel.

Feldman would have been better in the part, since he would have given the series an unworldly, surreal feeling. Reitel, whilst being a better actor, is essentially a straight man playing foil to a large number of eccentric characters, so this series is disturbing rather than surreal.

As has been mentioned by another reviewer, none of the characters in the show are actually insane, rather they are fantasists who are unable to deal with everyday life & so they have retreated into their own imaginary worlds. Think of the "barfly"who kids himself that he is a popular character & everybody's friend in his local pub, when actually his " friends" consider him to be a pathetic loser whose main social value is for them to make jokes at his expense. Worse still, think of the lonely kid who talks to imaginary friends and pretends his school routine is just a bad dream. Quite frankly I don't think such people deserve derision.

This series does have its amusing moments. In particular I remember the character of "Earl", a West Indian who kids himself that he is a member of the aristocracy. He has some great one liners, and the jokes are at the expense of the English aristocracy, rather than at the expense of West Indians. But overall this series is in poor taste, and I don't recommend it.

Play for Today: The Piano (1971) Season 1, Episode 14

Poignant

[8/10 · 3 May 2021]

A genuinely poignant story about an elderly couple and their bid to stay in their home with their treasured piano, regardless of the attempts of their son, and their daughter in law to persuade them to move to newer accommodation. Fine performances all round.

The ending still makes me shed a manly tear after fifty years.

Mrs Merton & Malcolm (1999)

Does not work

[5/10 · 2 May 2021]

The BBC has often been guilty of overkilling a good idea, and this is a classic example. Caroline Ahern was astute enough to retire her characters when the joke began to wear thin, but here the BBC refused to let her drop her Mrs Merton character, and instead dragged her into a unnecessary and unamusing extended life.

The humour itself is best described as being subtle, and macabre, and is not to everybody's taste. It might have worked as a late night BBC2 show, but it was not suitable for evening viewing on the flagship channel. Darker than Ronnie Corbett"s "Sorry", and less bizarre than " The League of Gentlemen", it fell uncomfortably between a rock, and a hard place.

Yes take a look at it, you might like it. But I didn't.

Morons from Outer Space (1985)

Don't remember Mel for this film

[5/10 · 10 April 2021]

Not Mel Smith's finest moment. This film is not like an extended "Smith & Jones" sketch, rather it is an extended "Not The Nine O' Clock News" sketch. The latter show had run its course and ended in 1982, three years before this film.

So that, therefore, is the main problem with this film. It was already outdated when it was made, and jokes about early eighties consumerism were old hat even then. We had already moved on to other things.

Jimmy Nail is passable in what is essentially the "Rowan Atkinson" role, and Joanne Pearce is passable in the "Pamela Stephenson" role. But Griff, usually the character actor, plays the straight man, whilst Mel, usually the straight man put into ludicrous situations, plays the comedian. And it just does not work, its like Cannon & Ball changing places. OK for a five minute sketch, but not a feature film.

Mel was a fine straight actor,a fine comedian, and a fine writer. And unlike many with those talents, he was a thoroughly nice bloke in real life. But he, and Griff, let themselves down here.

The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982)

Daft but great fun

[7/10 · 28 February 2021]

This is very much a film for a boys night in with chips and beer. It is never explained exactly where the story is supposed to take place, or when, since one character looks like King Edward II, and another looks like King Richard III, who lived two hundred years later. Nor is it made clear if a resurrected baddie character is a demon, a liche, or just in need of some sun and fresh air?

Yes there are female characters in the story, but most of them just walk around looking hot, and one female characters attempt at ball busting goes hilariously wrong.

Whatever you do, don't watch this film sober, nor try to take it seriously. Have fun!

Saturday Night Fever (1977)

A slightly flawed classic

[8/10 · 23 January 2021]

OK I will declare an interest. I was "there" in the late seventies. And yes, the first dance scene, to the sound of "You should be dancing" still takes my breath away because that was the song that was playing as I walked onto the floor of the first real Discotheque that I entered back in 1977.

But this film should NOT be approached as a Disco era feel good nostalgia trip, anybody who is looking for that should watchthe contemporary film "Thank God its Friday". This film should be thought of for what it is, a drama with music. And the story is rather bleak, albeit with a slightly optimistic ending.

John Travolta gives a superb performance as Tony, a gauche teenager with a talent for dancing that gives him a respite from his dead end job in a hardware store. His friends are one dimensional losers with no ambition beyond looking forward to the next weekend. His family spend their time arguing about nothings. But unlike his family, and his friends, Tony does want to make something of his life, but is unsure what he wants, let alone how to achieve it.

The weak link is this film for me is Karen Lynn Gorney, the female lead, which is surprising given that at the time of filming, she was rather more experienced than was Travolta. I have seen this film many times, and still don't understand what Travolta's character actually saw in her, since the characterisation lacks precision?

There are two versions of the film, my advice is to watch the R rated version, the cut version was made just for younger teenagers, and softens the impact when Tony realises what a nasty bunch his friends actually are.

I have read reviews from younger reviewers who object to some aspects of the film, this film was made for the audience of the late seventies, not those of the twenty twenties, and it was no more intended for woke teens of today than John Wayne's films about 1776 were intended for those who want to march in the street carrying British Union Flags.

And finally, 1977 was NOT the era of platform shoes, which died out in 1975. Disco was a time when it became fashionable to look smart and sexy again, after the shapeless hair & jeans of the early seventies, and the hideous and clumsy fashions of '73 to '75. Apart from anything else, how could one leap around a dance floor in platform shoes without breaking ones ankles?(!)

Albion Market (1985–1986)

Rotten Apple in the Barrel

[3/10 · 30 November 2020]

This is a good example of a show that tried hard, but failed. There was an obvious attempt to include ethnic minorities, but it backfired because all of them were cliches (with the possible exception of the Vietnamese car mechanic, since I have never actually met a Vietnamese Car Mechanic, I don't think that anybody in Salford has either). There was an attempt to make the market look realistic, but that backfired because many of the scenes contained the distraction of a huge number of extras, who were in some cases more interesting that the actual characters. There was an attempt at gritty story lines, and that too backfired because it gave the impression of yet another show about grumpy northerners.

And finally there was an attempt to liven up the show, by bringing in some newer more exciting characters. Yes that did work, but too late. FTR Helen Shapiro's character, brought in essentially as vintage totty, was the only character in the show who really did come across as being both believable, and likeable. Quite frankly I cared more about Viv's struggle to attract customers than I did about Carol & Jaz and their absurd inter racial relationship. The only time that I ever actually laughed out loud was when Raj, commenting about his younger brother Jaz opinioned "A young man like Jaz......", and Raj was only five years older! The problem was that line was supposed to be taken seriously.

A worthy failure, but a failure none the less.

Ripping Yarns: The Curse of the Claw (1977) Season 1, Episode 6

Kept me laughing for decades!

[10/10 · 30 November 2020]

I still roar with laughter at every line, even after more than forty years! I would describe this story as a kind of Gilbert & Sullivan without music. The story begins with the glorious anachronism of a boy being named Kevin in the late nineteenth century when nobody in real life met a Kevin until the nineteen sixties. Kevin's parents are ludicrously repressed Victorians, but his Uncle Jack is a jolly fellow always on the look out for a new disease to catch. Uncle Jack was saved from death by an enchanted claw from Burma, but the claw has a curse on it, and Kevin's mission is to return the claw.

I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but look out for the small touches, which are just as amusing as the main story, a good example being, when smelly Uncle Jack has died & his funeral cortege leaves his crumbling home, a row of houseflies solemnly fly in single file behind his coffin.

Good performances all round from an excellent cast, who play it straight, adding to the hilarity of it all. The ending is a little fantastic, it would be nice if "The Curse of the Claw" could be considered if ever a new series is made of "The Outer Limits" & a light hearted story is required.

Showgirls (1995)

A simple choice

[5/10 · 26 November 2020]

As a drama, this film is terrible. As a soft porn film, it is very good.

Honest Thief (2020)

Good fun

[7/10 · 12 October 2020]

This is very much a straightforward movie, which seems to belong to an earlier, simpler, age. It moves along at a brisk pace, and keeps the viewers attention. My only grumble is that I would have liked another twenty minutes of story so as to give us some more character development, and perhaps making the ending a little less obvious.

H.M.S. Pinafore (1973 TV Movie)

Not one of the best

[6/10 · 27 September 2020]

I will declare an interest. HMS Pinafore was my introduction to G&S when I was a lad back in 1975. So I have very great affection for it. But sadly, not for this production.

The problem is that this production sots awkwardly between the live stage show, and a film version. Accordingly, the exaggerated gestures and facial expressions necessary for the former come across here as over acting, John Ayldon being a prime example. And John Reed's stage "business", hilarious in a live show, here looks contrived and awkward. As for the end " business" between the Captain & Buttercup, that is painfully unamusing to the point of looking nasty.

Michael Rayner is not my favourite Captain. Yes, he sings the part superbly, and he looks good. But his performance is too dark and intense, giving the impression of a doomed Mayor of Casterbridge type character, and this is G&S, not Thomas Hardy. Malcolm Williams as Ralph can sing, but he cannot act, and he certainly cannot dance. As for the chorus, it is obvious that Barry Clark was an understudy since he pulls more faces than Lon Chaney, whilst it is obvious that William Palmerley was not an understudy since he stands there like a piece of wood.

OK to the good performances. Pamela Field is very good as Josephine, managing to bring both sadness, and comedy, to the role. And Jon Ellison as Bill Bobstay manages to steal all his scenes with Ralph, for a romantic lead to be upstaged by a minor character says something about this production (OK, WSG himself would probably find it hilarious!)

The set looks nice, and I liked the little touch of Malcolm Coy playing the ship's Number One. Also a word for Graham Bull as Tom Tucker, yes its a very minor role, but it needs to played properly, and Graham puts in a nice little cameo.

Quite frankly, this version is suitable as nostalgia for those who saw the original D'Oyly Carte Company, but those who did not are best advised to leave this one for the veterans, and to go and see a modern production.

Grease 2 (1982)

Don't Bother

[1/10 · 9 September 2020]

Absolute garbage. The songs are forgettable, the singing mediocre, the dancing would shame a church hall production.

The message of this film is if you are a nice boy from the suburbs, you will be despised, mocked, and everybody will enjoy your torment. If you are a hard man who joins a gang and gets into fights, you are a hero, universally admired, and you get to date the hottest girls. How is that supposed to be a "positive message"?

Stick to the original, with its tongue in cheek charm. Don't bother with this nasty tongue in mouth sequel.

First and Last (1989 TV Movie)

Bittersweet

[7/10 · 18 June 2020]

Joss Auckland plays Alan Holly, a retired man who has just been informed that he is showing the first signs of dementia. So Alan suddenly walks away from his home and his family to fulfil his lifetime ambition of walking from Lands End to John O Groats whilst he is still able to do so.

Alan's first attempt soon ends in failure, and he returns home. But then, to his family's consternation, he leaves home and tries again, this time he succeeds, and meets a succession of strange characters along the way.

Alan is not an immediately sympathetic character, he is quite likeable in a bumbling, innocent abroad kind of way, but the viewer can understand why his family find him somewhat tiresome. Alan's family see him as a kind of King Lear character who has abdicated his responsibilities and become a nuisance. And this is no picture postcard version of travelling through England, the terseness and sometimes open hostility by provincial types to townies who visit their places out of season is faithfully depicted. The only yokel who seems a nice person is a farmers wife, who gives Alan a bed for the night rather than leave him exhausted in freezing rain in the middle of nowhere, her gruff husband would quite happily have left him outside.

The ending is bitter sweet, Alan's smile of pleasure at finally teaching his destination slowly fades, presumably because he has realised his lifetime ambition, and now he has nothing left to live for.

Thought provoking, at times amusing, at times sad, this is a fine comedy drama, but be warned, not everybody will enjoy it.