The Alf Garnett Saga

I enjoyed Alf Garnet' stories for their insight into human nature. This film combined many aspects of Alf's thoughts, weaknesses, humour and humanity. It also satirises the 'tired' and relentlessly mundane family life of so many working class people. Pity the film is not available to purchase.

I should preface by saying generally speaking I have no issue with some of the broad British comedies of the 70s. Although it's probably an easy thing to say as a middle aged white male, allowances have to be made for the sensibilities of the times, during which attitudes to race and sexuality were obviously very different. I loved Mind Your Language, for instance, because it was all done with such a sense of warmth and fun, and even Love Thy Neighbour, as offensive as that is by modern standards, seemed to have a mostly light-hearted feel. If not for the constant use of racial epithets, it might even stand up today as a great working class comedy. (I'm referring to the Love thy Neighbour TV series rather than the movie spinoff). The white race-baiter Eddie Booth was in a minority of one, while the other characters, for the most part, rose above his prejudice and delighted when his attitudes brought him undone.

But not this time; in the Alf Garnett Saga, many of the characters seem to be happily swimming in the same racist sewer, and the constant, calculated, angry use of a deeply offensive racial term I found uncomfortable and disturbing.

I agree with some of the other reviewers, in that the street scenes of a changing London were of particular interest, as were the cameos of John Le Mesurier, Patsy Byrne (later Nursey in Blackadder), Kenny Lynch and Joan Sims. But otherwise, this example of what the late Australian movie critic Bill Collins referred to as "the tarnished years of British Cinema", is best forgotten.

i was 9 when this film was made and lived in john walsh tower at the time of filming, i still remember the day when they filmed the scene when they walked down the stairs outside the tower block, i had to go to school my brother was ill and watched from the stairs behind them (top left in scene). we moved into that tower block in 1965 and moved out in 1983 life in there in the 60's and 70's was great but if you were old it was a nightmare constant blackouts meant no lifts and a walk up the stairs, by the 80's things were changing and now that tower block is a gang haven a very dangerous place to be. apart from the opening title scenes and the walk down the stairs outside the block none of the other scenes were filmed there, the flat were Alf lived and all other interior scenes were filmed elsewhere, having watched the film now it is complete rubbish and the racist language in the film is prehistoric, it doesn't really depict life in an east end tower block in that period because most of the scenes were filmed in an out of London area, but it did bring back memories of life as a kid, we had to move into the tower block because we had no toilet in our post war dump of a terraced house my parents were glad to get in there, apart from sentimental value and west ham and George best this film is better avoided.

The second film based on the hit B.B.C. show 'Till Death Us Do Part' picks up where the first movie left off, with Alf Garnett and his family turfed out of their Wapping home and installed in a block of high-rise flats. Alf can't get used to living in the sky, having to ride elevators ( which frequently break down due to power cuts caused by the miners' strike ) and walk long distances to the nearest pub. For many in the '60's and '70's, this situation was only too real. Old people who'd survived the war with their homes intact lost them a decade or so later in the name of urban redevelopment.

Una Stubbs and Anthony Booth ( who played Alf's daughter 'Rita' and son-in-law 'Mike' in both the T.V. series and first movie ) were inexplicably absent. Presumably they'd read the script. I greatly respect Johnny Speight, but here his talent seems to have deserted him. As the film plods on, the humour grows increasingly desperate, culminating in a horribly embarrassing sequence in which Alf has an L.S.D. 'trip'. Paul Angelis and Adrienne Posta do their best, but the characters of 'Rita' and 'Mike' have been changed; 'Mike' is depicted here as a womanising drug addict, while 'Rita' sets out to shock her family by pretending to spend the night with Kenny Lynch. Guest appearances by Arthur Askey, Max Bygraves, Eric Sykes and George Best don't improve things. The best moment is at the end when Alf accidentally sets his bed alight. The first 'Till Death' film turns up on television often, but this has been completely forgotten, and with very good reason.

Even though this was made while the series was still on TV both Una Stubbs and Anthony Booth are noticeable for their absence...I think they must have read the script which for no reason changes both Rita and Mike...Mike for example becomes a Drug using adulterer who uses the same racist terms as Alf...

Alf himself ends up having a trip...

John Le Mesurier is wasted as Alf's neighbour (The Subplot with his wife doesn't go anywhere either).

The rest of the guests appear just seem to be there to boost the cast list.

Not as of 2017 out on DVD (it is on Youtube).