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Watching this for the first time since I saw it and its mother series as a kid, I was struck not by its supposed naffness, nor by its vulgar humour but by its sheer authenticity. Surely the true face of the British Working class has never been so accurately portrayed. Here are people in all their sweaty, ugly, sexed-up un-glory. Everything has to be a vulgar laugh, sensitivity is outlawed, sex is a constant obsession and everyone is potentially the butt of a joke. Authority is mocked but never really challenged and money is continuously short. If, in years to come, people want to understand what it was like to be working class in Britain in the early 1970s, they could do no worse than catch this film!

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.

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.

Dated, but wonderful. "On The Buses" was part of my childhood and ab-so-lutely a product of its time, so i understand (and respect) why many non-Brits or young Brits hate it. Filmed between 1969 and 1973 as a 70 episode tv series and three movies it chronicles the lives of bus driver Stan (Reg Varney), his family, his best mate Jack (Bob Grant) and their constant battles with Inspector Blake (Stephen lewis). It doesn't sound much on paper but the reality for millions around my own age (40) and older was hilarious comedy and I wouldn't hesitate to call it a classic. I used to long for Sunday evenings to see the latest episode. Of course it's sexist and vulgar and anti PC. That's the way comedy (and life) was back then, and in my opinion we were better for it! It's also a stunningly accurate portrayal of British working class life in the early 70s. Here's a little 'aside' for those of you who slag off the crudity and sexism of On The Buses. My Granny hated it (for those reasons) and used to watch the sober / religious tv show presented by Jess Yates instead. We later discovered he was "shagging" everything he could get his hands on! At least On The Buses was never hypocritical. It was always well written and the cast were excellent. The talent and depth they brought to the characters puts it right up there with Dads Army and Only Fools & Horses. Michael Robbins had a deadpan style and razor sharp timing that few actors could equal. There's always a hilarious sense of the famous British 'repression' in his character. Some people may remember his guest appearance as a Flea Exterminator in an episode of "The Good Life". He can never bring himself to say the word "flea" and always refers to them as "the little offendors". There's a great chemistry between Stan and Jack and I really felt that Reg Varney and Bob Grant were mates. Of course, the highlight of On The Buses was always the priceless Inspector, "Blakey". Stephen lewis is a genius and the character he created is second to none, anywhere in British tv. With his Hitler moustache, pained expressions and classic catch-phrases he's a comedy icon. Like all fans I was very saddened by the recent death of Bob Grant. If only the poor man could've realised how much laughter he brought to the world. RIP Bob.

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.

This is not great art,we're not admiring the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel."Guernica " it isn't."On the buses" is a cheaply made comedy from the era of the Ford Cortina and the Austin Maxi.It was hugely popular with ordinary Brits who drove Ford Cortinas and Austin Maxis.It was their misfortune to be unaware that their predilection for seaside postcard humour would be regarded with contempt by a future generation many of whose values no doubt they in turn would have regarded with contempt. We must be careful whilst criticising their taste to remind ourselves that in 1971 TV was not awash with gutter language,explicit sex and extreme violence.Sitcoms were cheeky,yes,but nobody took them seriously.It was comedy,for God's sake. Is it possible that there is a correlation between the increased "awareness" of the media on the sensitive issue of sexism which their policy makers seem to believe can be dealt with by ruthlessly crushing any reference to the female sex in a comedy programme that is not totally adulatory,and the increased amount of disrespect and violence shown towards women in society in 2006?When Reg Varney made some outrageous remark to a large-bosomed bus conductress was he perhaps exorcising vicariously some deep need in the male members of his audience to do exactly the same thing themselves?Robbed by the self-appointed arbiters of public good of the opportunity of such relief,the nagged,the hen-pecked or the simply inadequate become more and more frustrated, sometimes with tragic results. There are no real people in "On the buses".Everyone is an escapee from a Donald McGill postcard.Cheeky bus driver,frustrated housewife,fat lady with glasses,miserable husband,buffoonish authority figure........ I watched "Footballers' Wives " last night.A blind man was thrown down a lift shaft,women were portrayed as scheming,greedy ,lying ,immoral and stupid.That's progress?I can't quite see how that empowers women - perhaps I'm missing something. Compared to "Footballers' Wives","On the buses" is a source if innocent merriment.

Well I'm only 37 years late, but good movies stand the test of time, and this one (which is a few years older than me) is still hilarious in 2008! It's not really that dated, to be honest, other than the music, fashion and various bus-driving techniques. You don't see sexy young "clippies" on your local Arriva nowadays, more's the pity. Where are the laughs to be found in an Oyster card? The union stuff seems pretty 70s as well. But the locations look strangely up-to-date. I'm guessing they were somewhere in North London/Hertfordshire near the Elstree studios.

All this crap about it being sexist or whatever, anyone who thinks that has obviously never been in a workplace full of men. Men haven't changed. The only difference is that the media is run by many more women and "out" gay people nowadays, and so they clearly won't relate to the humour here. Fair enough, but don't make the mistake of thinking these types of attitudes are dated, cos they're not. In fact, they enjoyed somewhat of a fashion revival in the 90s with the "new lad" culture, which survives well into the present day on various cable channels and magazines like "Nuts" and "Zoo".

As one other reviewer said, it's that honesty and realism about what working men think about and do, to get through the monotony of the day, that makes On The Buses stand out as above average...not to mention the fact that slapstick comedy and innuendo, well-executed and as convincing parts of a plot line, are timelessly funny! The plot, such as it was, is almost instantly forgettable. Technically I guess this is a flaw, but what sticks in my mind after watching the movie is a general manic feelgood factor.

If you're the kind of person who finds female-orientated programmes like Big Brother entertaining then probably this isn't for you. If, however, you want to watch an ego-free ensemble comedy that can make you laugh then you could do a lot worse than On The Buses.

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.

Ostensibly, this is a stand alone film of the popular television series at the time, with all the characters present. Not much time is spent at home, there is a lot more about the job. The main plot at work is the male bus driver's consternation over the hiring of female bus drivers. The males try various ways to undermine the females. Also, in the film Olive (Anna Karen)is pregnant, which was not explored in the series. This film is really just for people who like the series, as the characters have already been well defined before this film. Its a decent film, of course its dated now, but as a bit of nostalgia for fans, it is worth watching.

The fact that this film was by far the biggest draw of its year at the British box office makes it far more interesting, as a historical document of the culturally regressive preferences of a population on the verge of the 'progress' of currency decimalisation, than as an otherwise ineffably disturbing episode in British cinema history. That is to say, the extent to which the working-class without money were prepared to pay out of said penury to witness the spectacle of the 'working-class' with money get even more, by virtue of their supporters' subservient quest for populist media identity.

Tangentially, this would shortly go on to coincide with the ultimate and unjust critical decline of the 'Carry On's, achieving nothing but giving the briefly commercially successful green light to the subsequent 'Confessions' series and it's suitably innumerable illegitimate offspring.

In the 'grand' (ie overridingly sexist) tradition of the enormously popular coitaneous ITV sitcom, the 'plot' centres around resident lovable 'rogue' duo Varney and Grant's aghast reaction to the promotion of female canteen workers to female bus drivers at their depot. However, their prevailing "Owight darling (nudge wink)" attitude; inherent to their apocryphally predicated physical 'charms'; wins the day without any hint of irony whatsoever save for the interludes of 20-stone ogre husbands coming home early 'inbetween bus stops' to interrupt the otherwise cogently countenanced anti-late-60s ideology of women daring to claim any place in society outside of the bedroom of 'men on the job'. Otherwise of course, you ended up as a perpetually ironing 'mum' or the perpetually unsexed, unloved 'Olive'.

People moaned enough about the early 70s Hammer studios obsession with combining blood and breasts to earn a profit, and whilst this has no blood to be sure, breasts are 'spilled' within the first few minutes no doubt as a Confessions-precursory 'More Than We Could Get Away With on TV' draw.

It remains inconceivable that such a purveyor of finely crafted films could also be responsible for one of the year's most cinematically redundant and, to quote a previous reviewer, what amounts to little more than a cut-and-paste job of any given 3 TV episodes.

In other words, faultlessly artless nostalgia for those who would especially succumb regardless to pre-PC humour. So yes, I did laugh, and shamelessly so...

We seem to live in a world of "watch what you say & do". Today's sitcoms are ruled by very well calculated PC rules. We have all embraced this refreshingly new approach to behavior. Unfortunately we are losing our sitcom heritage. We can now only laugh at a very narrow band of situations e.g "man bashing" seems to be a favourite with modern writers. Can't blame 'em, they've got bills to pay as well as me & thee. On The Buses gives us a window into the past. Prior to the 1980's this is how life was. I know I've lived there. All the characters are charicatures (eh?) of people we have known and either loved or hated. Mum (Doris Hare) is holding on to her long suffering but loyal son Stan (Reg) who never gets his way with the ladies as does Jack (Bob). This is one of the mysteries of the universe!!. Blakey is the boss we've all had & hated. Bring back British Sitcom.

Apr 24

I am not so much reviewing just the first On the Buses movie but really all 3 combined, as they are all at the same level for me and that is equal to the series.

Doesnt matter if you have or havent watched the series, these have to be taken independently to make sense anyway.

The series ran from 1969 to 1974 and the films were made 1971, 1972 and 1973, but in the films Arthur and Olive have a baby not see in the series plus in the series Arthur and Olive split up so you have to treat the films separately from the series.

I have watched the films a few times and i do enjoy them, but having just watched them again just after watching the series, i did notice quite a few ideas and scenes basically appeared in both a film and the series.

By the way, in one of the films, the first one i think, Pat Coombes had a sizeable role as a bus driver, and of course she was reused in a different role as Blakeys sister in the offshoot series they made after on the buses, called Dont drink the water.

Enjoyable...

7.5 out of 10.

The first of 3 diabolically unfunny films which were spin offs of an equally atrocious television show. Of course it's not PC and there are elements of both sexism and racism. But that was acceptable in the 70's. What is not acceptable is the awful script, poor (over) acting, shoddy production values and complete lack of any lines even remotely funny. Each 'joke' is telegraphed minutes in advance, for instance spilling something or falling over, and is so painfully obvious it's amazing not one of the cast complained about the lack of quality. Only Arthur (Michael Robbins) leaves the show with a modicum of dignity, the rest of the cast are pitiful. If they had any talent, they didn't use it on this show.

Avoid like the plague, it's dreadful.

Not a bad film but not quite as funny as the television series.

It's just not funny.

Even viewed as a film of its time, it's still not very amusing. Neither of the two main characters has any charm or comic timing - the only mildly amusing character is Blakey the inspector. How this was ever a success is a mystery.

However, there is one amusing part: The theme tune. It has this wonderfully dated lyric:

"It's such a gay life on the buses. Make sure you leave your bird at home." That's a classic.

Predictably the PC brigade have been out in force attacking On The Buses for being sexist, racist, offensive to women and probably blaming it for causing every world crisis of the last 40 years. While the film snobs and the PC brigade detested this film in 1971 and continue to do now, On the Buses was the biggest grossing film of 1971, far out grossing more artistic material like A Clockwork Orange and even outdid Diamonds Are Forever at the box office. Even now regular repeats on digital channels suggest there is a market for such a supposedly awful film.

I like it, as because at times it's cringeworthy, a big busted Irish woman is referred to as having breasts like the mountains of Mourne, this is part of the innocence of it. Sex is never referred to in graphic terms as you would get now, bad language is largely absent and the humour is of a slapstick variety that make it amusing to all age groups. I have seen On The Buses x amount of times since the seventies and the film still creases me up now. It's harmless fun if obviously a little dated and Stephen Lewis is on top form as the wannabe Hitler Blakey, who of course is outwitted at every turn by Stan and Jack.

Lazy, offensive, misogynistic. Two elderly wannabe Playboy's get up to completely banal sniggering nonsense like two lobotomised schoolboys

So what if this movie is non to pc and treats women as objects of lust. There are people who will hate this, moan about it, analyze and deconstruct it. IT'S A MOVIE!! If you don't like it don't watch it. Admittedly it is not to everyones taste but these will be the people who are too young to remember the series or the times. For the rest of us who do remember, we look back with nostalgia, see the old cars, advertisements the way people behaved and we smile. Harmless fun that does no one any harm. There is far worse on the screens now days, movies where every second word is a swear word, bullets flying, on screen sex. sometimes it's a breath of fresh air to see something that is a little different from a bygone age.