Steptoe & Son

Unfairly rated low as of 2020, It's classic British comedy before all the PC nutcases ruined free speech and comedy ! Ok it's a bit dated being 1970's but it still holds up, the long running series wasn't one of the most popular and successful BBC series of all time for nothing. Enjoy and rate it 10!

+ catch the 2nd movie Steptoe and son ride again.

It was something of a trend in the 70s to make film versions of popular sit-coms of the day. With one or two exceptions these were cheaply made, second-rate efforts intended to cash in on the success of a popular TV show and were therefore largely embarrassing to watch. The first Steptoe and Son movie does, however, work fairly well.

The grit and seediness of the Steptoe's environment transfers very well to film and we get a valuable glimpse of a part of London which was grey, dilapidated and depressing...something we are never privy to in the TV series. With film censorship being slightly more relaxed than what could be seen or heard on television we get some hilarious outbursts from Harold and Albert, liberally peppered with swear words.

Of course the TV version of Steptoe is a sit-com and while this is funny in places the genuine tragedy of Harold and Albert's situation takes centre stage. Harold ends up getting hitched to a stripper but the match is doomed from the start due to his mixed feelings: all he wants to do is get away from his father and make something of himself yet abandoning him is the one thing he cannot do. We really do sympathise with Harold's plight in this movie and despise Albert's deviousness and thwarting him at every turn.

Of course, such sombre elements existed in the TV programme but due to them being mixed with relatively rapid comedy in 25 minute slots we accepted the character's situation without dwelling on it too much. This time round, with a longer running time and the tragi-drama fleshed out it sometimes makes for uncomfortable viewing.

All the leads perform well and this is a better example of how TV sit-coms could work as cinema spectaculars. Indeed, even if the characters weren't known from TV this has the potential to function well as a stand-alone movie.

See it and be pleasantly surprised.

Just rewatched this film on the Talking Pictures TV channel for the umpteenth time, and yet can't help but do it. Especially when there is naff all else on the box, even though I have the movie on DVD and can see if any time.

The TV episodes being barely thirty minutes long the stories, are necessarily structured to fit the time slot.

Unlike what may be considered more typical comedy sitcoms, these are formed more in the manner of short plays. The shows writers deliberately wanted that to be the case, they didn't want comics for the principal characters. No they wanted actors, who were used to that form of discipline. And were more than capable of handling a wider range, of emotions than in a straightforward sitcom.

All of this is relevant to the characters dynamics of father and son, in the intensely claustrophobic environs of their home and work environment.

I really cannot imagine any comic managing to handle more than one emotion at a time, especially not consecutively.

I watched all of the shows both monochrome and the latter colour ones, it was a comedic staple of my evening TV entertainment.

Part of what has always appealed to me is the natural dynamic friction, between Albert and Harold.

I enjoy watching both TV show and films however many times that is, and for a long time simply lapped up the comedy.

It took me quite a while before I finally started thinking, about the characters in rather more detail.

The more I did the less the comedy sufficed or more accurately was viewed, from a slightly different perspective.

I came to actually see the characters through my own eyes from where I was in my own life, resenting the dad and bemoaning what a pillock the son was.

Reading other reviews I see people bemoaning the film because its drearier than the TV show, that can easily be understood and explained.

That's only because the movie's longer timeframe allows, for greater character development. And they are seen through a wider prism, of the world around them.

The 1970s was the decade of big screen adaptations for popular British TV series and STEPTOE AND SON is the first of two such workings for the ever-popular show (STEPTOE AND SON RIDE AGAIN would be released the following year). Fans of the series are likely to enjoy it as it sees the return of Harry H. Corbett and Wilfrid Brambell to their most famous roles, and the old camaraderie is back once more as if they'd never been away.

However, this is a film that feels very different to the good-natured and light-hearted TV show. There's a cold, almost ruthless streak of pessimism in the production that makes this feel more like a tragedy than a comedy. In some ways it feels like an episode drawn out to feature length and the single-strand plot makes some elements of the production feel drawn out and repetitive.

In essence the tale is about Corbett falling for a stripper and deciding to marry her, only for the needy Brambell to get in the way. Carolyn Seymour successfully portrays the awkwardness felt at coming between this pairing. There's little more to it than that, but at times this film feels like a depiction of psychological and emotional torture, with Brambell turning the thumb screws at every opportunity. It's testament to the skill of the two stars that this remains a likable comedy despite the darkness of the script. Inevitably, the grimy surroundings are better realised than ever on film as opposed to television, and the envelope is pushed further than ever with nudity and bad language in the mix.

This captures the heart and soul of the TV show.The two leads are so realistic that you could not really see them as anything other than a classic double act.a neat story even if the ending is predictable.but its stays true to character.some good genuine laughs.though you do feel for the younger Steptoe.