Otley

Otley contains several inspired scenes with Tom Coutenay at his most outrageous. But, the bad scenes outweigh these moments of inspiration. This is especially true whenever Freddie Jones appears on camera to take over proceedings. His first appearance inspires guffaws. But his relentless clowning grows quickly tedious.

This is one of my favorite 60's films. It's based on the first of a series of books by Martin Waddell about Gerald Arthur Otley, a young man whose occasional pocket-picking inadvertently lands him in the middle of a spy plot. (The books are great fun, too). Poor Otley's in way over his head, can't tell the good guys from the bad, and like Dorothy in "the Wizard of Oz," simply wants to go home! Suddenly his dull old life doesn't look so bad. There are many funny sequences, but the one in which he takes his driving test is truly inspired.

Tom Courtenay gives one of his best performances as the lead character, and he's well supported by a terrific cast of veteran character actors. Leonard Rossiter has an especially funny cameo. Moreover, "Otley" has one of the catchiest soundtracks of that era, a quirky mix of classical and rock tunes, and you'll find yourself humming the main theme for days after you've watched the film.

Why isn't this available on DVD? Or even VHS? It's a major oversight. "Otley Forever!"

Interesting little gem from the swinging sixties. Tom Courtney plays Otley, a down-on-his-luck antiques dealer in the Portobello Road in this comedy spy thriller.

He's kicked out of his digs after he's gone past his sell-by date in terms of the attentions of his randy landlady because he can't pay his way and is forced to go from friend to friend at a party in order to be put up for the night.

Otley manages to reel in a favour from one of his friends, but blunders into a spy plot when that friend is murdered in the flat and Otley is forced on the run. Otley has little aptitiude for anything but antiques and even this ability has to be questioned considering his circumstances.

The plot meanders continuously and is a little confusing but is of little consequence. We are not meant to focus too much on it, because the film centres on how this hapless bungler manages to squirm free from one episode to another whilst we enjoy the scenery. A high point of the film is when he goes to take his driving test which turns into a car chase with some villains around the backstreets of London.

The supporting cast contains some good character actors and includes Leonard Rossiter playing a hitman. Romy Schneider plays the femme fatale, but is curiously underused. An enjoyable 'sub-sub-Bond' adventure if you don't expect too much.

'Otley' is a definite film of its time, showing swinging 60s London and presenting Tom Courtenay in one of his defining but less-known roles, as someone who wants to be a spy but wonders what he's got into when he gets his wish. Otley is an inept spy, and was probably an even more inept drifter.

Full of colour, with a great score, and many fruity cameos, this film should be better known as it is a lot of fun, with a great central performance and the chance to get really engrossed in the period. Courtenay and Romy Schneider are charming, while character greats such as Leonard Rossiter, Alan Badel, and Freddie Jones add to the overall spoof feel.

Sir Tom Courtenay stars in this amiable British spoof of spy films, playing Gerald Arthur Otley. Otley is a rather shiftless young man who's evicted from his apartment in the opening minutes. After a party, he spends the night at the residence of an acquaintance, Lambert (Edward Hardwicke). During the night, Lambert is murdered, and Otley wakes up the next morning in a field by an airport. It's because Otley had pocketed a seemingly meaningless item in Lamberts' household that he now becomes enmeshed in the schemes of various characters who are quite shifty themselves.

Courtenay and the lovely Romy Schneider do a fine job of anchoring this tale. He's in fine form as an ordinary man caught up in extraordinary circumstances, yet he handles things as well as he possibly can - while also making humorous comments on the situation. He and she lead a superb British cast also including Alan Badel, James Villiers, Leonard Rossiter, James Bolam, Fiona Lewis, Freddie Jones, James Cossins, Ronald Lacey, Phyllida Law (mother of actress Emma Thompson), Geoffrey Bayldon, and Frank Middlemass. Young Damian Harris, the son of actor Richard Harris, plays the bratty Miles; he would grow up to become a director of movies such as "The Rachel Papers", "Deceived", and "Bad Company". The sequence with top character actor Cossins as a driving instructor is far and away the best in the movie, as Otley does everything possible to evade some pursuers while he is taking his driving test!

As for the rest, it benefits from its "London in the swinging 60s" setting, as well as its amusingly convoluted plot and enough genuine laughs to make it reasonable entertainment. One good thing: it clocks in at an agreeable 91 minutes, so it doesn't go on any longer than necessary.

Scripted by Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais, the screenwriters whose credits include things like "Vice Versa", "The Commitments", and "Still Crazy", from a novel by Martin Waddell. Clement also doubles as director here.

Seven out of 10.