'The Radio Times' gave this film a one-star rating ( meaning 'poor' ) while in the same issue awarding six stars ( meaning 'excellent' ) to the atrocious 'Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who S#####d Me'. The third and last cinematic outing for Stan Butler and co. appeared months after the television series ended. The first two films had come out in the summer, while the third was a Christmas release. The advertising campaign was not as aggressive as the others, which might go some way to explaining its disappointing box office performance. Plans for a fourth picture - 'Still At It On The Buses' - were dropped.
Stan and Jack are ( finally ) dismissed from the bus depot and finish up at a surprisingly sunny looking holiday camp in North Wales. As was the case with 'Mutiny', there's a fair amount of product placement, in fact the 'Pontins' name is visible in every other shot. In a mind-bending coincidence, Blakey is there too, as Security Inspector. Arthur Mullard and Queenie Watts play 'Wally' and 'Lil Briggs', their characters from Ronald Wolfe and Ronald Chesney's other hit L.W.T. sitcom 'Romany Jones'. Wilfred 'Steptoe' Brambell crops up as a randy pensioner ( look out for the moment when he slips on the dance floor. Looks accidental to me ).
As you'd expect from a film of this type, subtlety is virtually non-existent; the script contains almost every seaside postcard joke written. 'Little Arthur' has aged considerably since his last appearance, meaning we are thankfully spared all those 'potty' gags. I wonder if Sir Fred Pontin was happy to see the name of his business linked to exploding toilets, bare bottoms and randy nurses. If nothing else. 'Holiday' reminds one how poorer the television series was when Reg Varney and Michael Robbins left. It was good to see the cast back for one final romp.
Don't watch if you want great comedy, but if you want a good dirty laugh, by all means tune in. Funniest moment - Stan driving under a low bridge, terrifying everyone on the upper deck! Second funniest moment - Stan blowing up the drains with a cigarette end!
Holiday on the Buses
1973
Action / Comedy
Plot summary
Sacked by the bus company, Stan and Jack get jobs as drivers ferrying punters to and from a holiday camp and arrange for the rest of the family to come and stay. Blakey is there as the chief security guard, and manages to get caught in accidental compromising situations with the camp's nurse. The Butlers head for one disaster after another as Jack and Stan, still chasing women half their age, take two girls for a bus trip on the sands only for the bus to sink into the sands as the tide approaches. Olive gets into bed with someone else's husband when she returns in the dark to the wrong chalet, and 'little' Arthur sprays the chalet with ink - making a re-painting job necessary. The holiday over, Arthur's sidecar combination manages to come apart on the way out just as it did on the way in.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Tech specs
720p.WEB 1080p.WEBMovie Reviews
Blakey-By-The-Sea
For On the Buses Fans Only
Stan and Jack, are struggling for work after one too many accidents in and out of the depot. The pair manage to land a job on a Holiday park, only to find Blakey's there as the head of Security and is romantically involved with the Nurse (not a nice Thought, that) Stans invite's the family up for a holiday and everything that can go wrong does. Their clothes are ruined, their toilet explodes, little Arthur redecorates the Apartment, etc.
For Fans of the On the buses Series, this is great fun, it keeps the original cast and is full of cheap innuendo and cheap laughs.
8/10 for fans only
Fun and laughter on our summer holiday, no more worries for me or you, for a week or two.
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.