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.

On The Buses fans expect Stan, Jack and Blakey to do the business and here, as always, they are not disappointed. I can imagine that anyone coming cold to this or the other two Buses movies might be expecting more, but On the Buses isn't about convoluted stories or endless jokes. If you are a fan it's another dose of pure escapism, if you are not it must be diabolical. There's no in between. But then the same is true of Steptoe And Son, Are You Being Served?, Dad's Army and all the other spin offs. And remember, Buses got 3 spin offs, one of them being the highest grossing British film of 1971. Most of the other TV series, Steptoe apart, only survived one large screen airing, so it can't be half bad.

I Know this is not a popular view ..but this movie is near-excellent! ...The very funniest of British 70s Comedy with a superb cast ofsubtle-nuance actors ...One of the funniest movies you will ever see in your Life!!! ....forget pompous garbage and just enjoy....a lot of people say this is the weakest in the series .. Its not ...its the Best of them all ...enjoy and have a Laugh !

I loved these films growing up and watching this in my 30s is just a fun. Perhaps they don't make me laugh out loud but the do give a warm feeling. I think this one Is the better of the On The Buses films.