On the Buses

Admittedly, the humour in On The Buses is far from sophisticated, relying on 'nudge nudge wink wink' suggestiveness and crazy slapstick. In today's woke, politically correct, #MeToo climate, the innuendo and bawdiness in particular will be viewed by many as an embarrassment best swept under the cinematic carpet. However, those (like me) raised on a diet of Carry On films and ribald TV comedy (Dick Emery, Benny Hill, Are You Being Served?) and with a general appreciation of all things saucy from the '70s (the Confessions movies and the Adventures of... series) should find enough to enjoy about this big-screen outing for the On The Buses team to make it worth a ride.

Reg Varney plays bus driver Stan and Bob Grant is Jack his conductor, the pair spending every spare minute trying to chat up any tasty totty that crosses their paths. Quite how the pair ever score is beyond me - neither bloke is Brad Pitt - but both get lucky with a variety of skirt, from a married woman on their bus route, to the sexy Irish lass working in the canteen, to their 'clippie crumpet' female colleagues. The shenanigans that ensue are fairly predictable, and, if truth be told, not all that funny, but I cannot help but enjoy the film regardless, partly thanks to the likeability of its cheeky chappies, partly thanks to the feeling of nostalgia it gives me, and just a little bit because I know it upsets the easily morally offended (who I believe are now termed 'snowflakes').

6.5/10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.

N.B. This was a major hit for Hammer Studios (best known for their horror films) and spawned two sequels, Mutiny on the Buses (1972) and Holiday on the Buses (1973). Also, look out for the Lamb's Navy advert outside the bus depot, which features future Hammer glamour star and Bond babe Caroline Munro.

This is a disgracefully, unfunny and dire film in every respect. To call it backward and sexist is an understatement. It really is quite sad that it was only 34 years ago that tripe like this was considered acceptable let alone amusing. We would never know if the actors and director involved had any talent considering the crassness of the subject matter. All the men are irresistible, womanising cheeky chappies and all the women are either pathetic doormats or big-busted nymphomaniacs who enjoy being groped at every opportunity. This, by the way, sums up the complexity of the plot. For those who say that it is an accurate and genuine representation of working class life in the 70's, WHAT UTTER RUBBISH! And what an insult to working class people. If you enjoy this type of "classic" British sex comedy then good luck to you but its portrayal of both men and women is insulting and its not just "politically incorrect" its bloody wrong! Thank God they "don't make them like this any more".

Enjoyable, even if it is undeniably sexist.

I remember discovering the television series of 'On the Buses' when I was younger, via my grandparents, and loving it - admittedly at an age of not fully understanding the humour et al. I do remember watching this just about. It's amusing, nothing laugh-out-loud worthy but it's suitably entertaining.

Reg Varney, Bob Grant and Stephen Lewis are a very good trio. Lewis' Blakey is arguably the good guy, despite being portrayed as the antagonist - especially in this plot, given he's the supporter of women bus drivers. I gotta say, Grant's Jack is incredibly creepy. The things you don't notice as a kid, eh?

It does have charm, helped by it giving a nice exterior snapshot of 1960s/70s England and the buses of the time. The film, and series, is always most enjoyable - at least to me - when they are out on the road with the buses.

Obviously misogynistic and all rather dumb, but there are things it does reasonably well.

Despite almost universal condemnation these days as one of Hammer's worst, this film adaptation of a popular TV comedy was the most successful film of the year at the British box office. I watched it with some trepidation, knowing it to be resented by the majority of Hammer fans, but to my relief I found it a witty, knowing and altogether nostalgic '70s comedy.

Like the best of the genre, ON THE BUSES provides a time capsule of working class life in the 1970s. The humour feels natural rather than forced, the characters feel true to life and the situations feel realistic. Yes, there's a preoccupation with sex and the film itself is crushingly misogynistic by modern standards, but the same can be said about comparable '70s movies of the era like CARRY ON LOVING or CARRY ON GIRLS.

As ever, my favourite character in the whole thing is Stephen Lewis's dogged inspector, but it's the dependable Reg Varney who holds the whole thing together as the lead. The storyline, which encapsulates a battle of the sexes, works well and there's a definite predominance of successful over unsuccessful gags. If you're a fan of British comedy in the 1970s then this is a must.

When Inspector Blake's (Stephen Lewis) decision to hire women bus drivers threatens Stan (Reg Varney) and Jack's (Bob Grant) over-time windfalls and lay-about ways, the boys take time off from seducing clippies, afternoon delights, and dealing with Stan's dysfunctional family (including an enormously pregnant Olive) to ensure that the ladies don't last. As I always liked the characters in the original show, I decided to give the film version a butchers. Not surprisingly, the plot is thin, the gags painfully predictable (has there ever been a sidecar in a comedy that stays attached to the motorcycle?) and there's lots of cleavage and frilly knickers on display. Stan has a certain short charm but seeing his mate Jack as a highly accomplished lothario is a bit of a challenge (in the TV series, even Blakey got in a few wisecracks about Jack's prominent choppers). Stan's hapless sister Olive (Anna Karen) and her miserable husband Arthur (Michael Robbins) are hilarious (to this day I can't hear the name 'Arthur' without hearing Olive's plaintive voice), as is the much put-upon Inspector Blake, whose mustache-muffled snickering whenever he thinks he has Stan and Jack on the ropes still cracks me up. Needless to say, as a tamely raunchy British 'sex comedy' from the early 70s, the show has something to offend everyone in our more righteous (judgemental?) era, so if you're adverse to displays of toxic (but silly) masculinity, stereotypical (but silly) femininity, and sexist (but silly) 'woman-driver' jokes, I'd suggest that you skip this relic.