Holiday on the Buses

Four years before Robin Asquith got up to saucy antics in Confessions from a Holiday Camp, Reg Varney and his On the Buses pals caused chaos at Pontins, Prestatyn. Having been given the sack from the bus depot, Stan and Jack (Varney and Bob Grant) find work as tour bus operators at the Welsh holiday camp only to find that their nemesis and ex-boss Blakey (Stephen Lewis) is now working there as head of camp security. Also arriving at the holiday destination are Stan's family - his mum (Doris Hare), sister Olive (Anna Karen) and brother-in-law Arthur (Michael Robbins), and their troublesome son little Arthur (Adam Rhodes).

Opening with a busty brunette babe baring her breasts as she runs for a bus, Holiday On The Buses looks set to be racier than its predecessors, but turns out to be much the same as before, with no more nudity, but plenty of titillation and innuendo. Despite clearly in his late '50s, Stan still manages to pull tasty birds half his age, as does Jack (they both have what I call 'the Sid James effect'). The lads' conquests include sexy holiday-maker Mavis (Maureen Sweeney), Italian waitress Maria (Gigi Gatti), the camp nurse Joan (Kate Williams), and a pair of pretty new arrivals. None seem to mind Stan's greased back old man's hair or Jack's tombstone teeth.

This time around, the silliness involves Stan taking a short-cut in his open-top bus (passengers narrowly being killed by a low bridge), Stan's mum being romanced by a dirty old man (Wilfrid Brambell, THE dirty old man), Little Arthur creating havoc with an ink-filled water pistol, and Olive getting into the wrong bed. If you enjoyed the previous films in the series, then this one should prove entertaining enough as well, although it must be said that the formula has worn almost as thin as Robbins' hair and Varney is far too old to be playing a womaniser - probably for the best that they ended it here.

If you were growing up in Britain in the 1970s or early 80s, then Holiday On The Buses will provide you with a very potent hit of nostalgia that will doubtless get you talking about "the good old days". It's nobody's idea of sophisticated, and the arthouse crowd should avoid it like the plague, but if you approach it with an open mind you'll probably have a good time.

It's all very predictable, of course, but it fits in nicely with a sub-genre of British comedy best described as "everything goes wrong" where it sits alongside Fawlty Towers and Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em. There are plenty of minor stars on display soon, such as Grange Hill's Mr Bronson, regular Benny Hill sidekick Henry McGee, Joan from Love Thy Neighbour and the inimitable Arthur Mullard.

It's not quite Carry On, but it passes the time painlessly.

Sacked for writing off two buses, Jack and Stan land a job driving at a holiday camp, there's one snag, Blakey's got a new job too.

The TV series was definitely coming to an abrupt end, with both Varney and Robbins leaving, so this final film feels like the last hurrah for the whole cast.

I quite like the plot, and it's nice that they managed to devise something to put everyone together for one last time.

If you're a fan of 70's British humour, you'll probably enjoy this, I love the series, and there's enough content here to laugh at. It's bawdy, it's raucous, it's wonderfully over the top, but it's still funny.

It is insane to think that Jack and Stan would pull the number of gorgeous girls that they did, talk about hard to swallow.

Sitcoms didn't have a good track record of translating well to the big screen, Are you being served and rising damp were poor, I can only think of Steptoe and son that worked, and on The Buses.

Credit to them for providing original content, and not just rehashing old material, there are plenty of well known comedy faces to recognise too, look out for Wilfrid Brambell, Queenie Watts and Arthur Mullard.

Can you imagine going on holiday, to Pontins, getting off the coach, and being met by Blakey, stood there dressed as an undertaker's assistant.

Good fun, 7/10.

Busmen Stan Butler, Jack Carter and Inspector Blake, a.k.a 'Blakey', (played by Reg Varney, Bob Grant and Stephen Lewis) are sacked from the bus company after writing off two buses and damaging the boss's car. They find work at a Welsh holiday camp and when Stan's family, Mum, Arthur and Olive (played by Doris Hare, Anna Karen and Michael Robbins) and their young son, Little Arthur, arrive for a holiday, chaos ensues...

Third and final spin-off from the popular ITV sitcom On The Buses. By now producing comedies based on popular TV shows was more profitable for Hammer than the traditional horror films they were renowned for. As another imdb user pointed out, you either love these films or you hate them. I personally love them, partly because I'm a fan of the series, having collected a number of episodes on video (and later DVD) and because the charm is still there. This is thanks largely to all the series regulars being present and the guest players, including Queenie Watts, Arthur Mullard and Wilfred Brambell ensure that there are some laughs to be had from the usual old jokes and comedy routines.

'Holiday On the Buses' has got to be the epitome of British comedy of the '70s. It has all the ingredients: sexual innuendo, outrageous mis-understandings and a little slapstick thrown in for good measure.

The film itself is the third 'Buses' film, and generally is no better or worse than its predecessors. People tend to either love it or hate it. It is worth noting that most sitcoms don't usually translate to the big screen, this is one of the few exceptions.

The premise of the film is simple: A bus driver and conductor (Stan and Jack) are sacked, but find employment at a holiday camp as the crew of the camp bus. The film has no plot as such, but generally consists of Stan And Jack getting into a series of scrapes with the help of Stan's family who are holidaying at the camp.Add their old adversary, in the shape of Blakey (their ex-inspector, and now in charge of camp security) and the picture is complete.

There are many funny moments in the film, including the 'detour', as well as the paint and the excellent exploding toilet!!

the film never really manages to get out of third gear, but is an interesting look at holiday camp life as it never really was!!! Overall 6 /10