Der wirklich allerletzte Streich der Olsenbande

A sad and pathetic ending to the franchise.

They were clearly too old to play their roles like they used to. When one of the leads died during filming the already weak script had to be rewritten, obviously affecting the end product in a negative way.

Finally, what used to be funny gags etc. had changed since the last movie. 17 years is a long time in comedy and The Olsen Gang just wasn't funny anymore.

This is only for fans of the serial. But if you are one of them, this is a must. In this the absolute final Olsenbanden movie, there is room for everybody. All the actors who used to be in the serial in the old days are represented here. That is if they haven't died yet. Kirsten Walther (Yvonne) died a long time ago. And since Poul Bundgaard (Keld) died during the filming, and Bjørn Watt-Boolsen (Bang-Johansen) just died yesterday (5/1 99), there will never be any more Olsenbanden movies. But even though this was not one of the best, I think it was a nice way to say goodbye to Egon Olsen. (And also to the actor Ove Sprogø, since this is supposed to be his last public appearance.)

This is not how I wanted to remember the Olsen criminal gang: Kjeld is confined to a wheelchair, Benny has gone large (fat) as a house, and Egon is in a care home for the elderly and senile. This movie shouldn't have been made for the same reason I don't like to go to funerals, because I want to remember people how they were when they were alive. How they thought this image of the Olsen gang as old and crippled would revitalize the danish institution in movie history that is the Olsen gang, is beyond me.

I suppose there are ways in which this could have worked. The final film could have an irony towards the trademarks of the old ones. The somewhat invariable plot structure of the original series could be gently poked fun at. Most likely, of course, no movie should have been made in this series after the two-part ending of 1981... but it was. And boy did they mess up royally. Yvonne is very sorely missed. The fact that the film does not featuring her is about as subtle as a pack of angry bulls running amok in a ceramics store that is being ravaged by a tornado. The character of Ruth, as portrayed by Grethe Sønck, is a pretty poor substitute... no offense to the actress, who is quite talented, but no one could have filled the shoes of Kirsten Walther. That fact alone should have discouraged them from creating this. Everything that the old films built up over the first four films and then maintained steadily through no less than nine entries is picked up, raised high in the air, ungentlemanly dropped and repeatedly jumped on, until there is nothing of the magic left, and everything that was once great about this franchise is destroyed beyond recognition. The humorous antics of these excellent actors put together by two great writers in a marvelous comedy series is reduced to a bunch of old men yelling. The humor that in the old ones was so sophisticated, light and clever is now indiscreet, noisy and lame. The movie isn't funny, to put it simply. The gags are overplayed and rarely contain actual humor. One scene is painfully drawn-out and cartoony in its feeble attempts at being entertaining. The senility is pushed to the extreme, in spite of this series earlier attempts at joking with that topic having been right on the mark and quite successful. I don't believe I smiled once throughout watching this... and this was definitely my very last viewing. The film is by no means an Olsen-Banden film... it starts, progresses and ends too different from the others. I understand and can almost appreciate the attempted nostalgia, but when it so viciously devastates everything that made these movies good... they should have let this franchise be. After this came the Christmas calendar of which the very logic and basic concept is deeply flawed and contradicts the series(disrespecting its very roots, though not in the least as much as this does), and the movie following the idea of aforementioned calendar, which I continually refuse to watch. So far, that's the last of the "revival" of(more like cash-in on) the famous, loved and astounding old series... let's hope it stays that way. Cinematography is nice. Plot is contrived, writing poor. The costumes and production design fits the style of the old films, although here, much of it looks out of place. The film fails to create one single memorable scene. Near the end, all the characters - new and old alike - are collected together in one scene, around a dozen, with less than half of them having anything to do. In many ways, this is a sophomoric effort. In more ways, it's humiliating and embarrassing. The very ending, the last of the film does possess a single clever comment... but by then, it's much, much too late. There is nothing left to even try to save. Had they only stopped in '81. There's a saying... "leave them wanting more". This film left me wishing I hadn't had quite so much. I don't really recommend this to anyone. Have someone describe the ending to you, and make sure they don't tell you anything else about the film. 1/10

The 14th and last film in the popular "Olsen-Banden" film series is a must see for fans of the series, but this film survives mostly on the fond memories of the earlier films. It´s 17 years since gang leader Egon Olsen was committed to a facility for the criminally insane. Here, he is brought on a Danish TV talk show to comment on the plight of elderly citizens. He is instantly recognized by fellow gang members, Kjeld and Benny, and the ol´ gang teams up for one final heist when Egon manages to escape. Sadly the gang must admit that they are not as fit as they used to be, but still manage to get into trouble. The cast is full of familiar faces from the series, and Axel Strøbye steals the show as "Jensen", and it´s nice to see Jes Holtsø (criminally underused as "Børge") but Kirsten Walther is sorely missed as "Yvonne".

Sadly, Poul Bundgaard´s real life health problems are all too apparent here, and he died during production, with half his scenes left to be filmed, leading to script changes, CGI magic and an unrecognizable Tommy Kenter standing in for the exterior shots. Tragically, director Tom Hedegaard, who was assistant director on most of the early films, died a week before shooting was to be completed. The remaining scenes were directed by Morten Arnfred. Cast veterans Bjørn Watt-Boolsen and Benny Hansen died shortly after the premiere. The final result is, while not terribly funny, still nostalgic and entertaining enough with a cast full of veterans doing what comes natural.