After a string of solid film successes, director Richard Lester earned the right to join the ranks of the self-indulgent. Freedom can sometimes allow a director to show something artful, and sometimes not. In this case, you get a solid dose of the latter. Most obviously, Mr. Lester had the wrong war, time period, and esoteric. A black comedy about World War II, for an audience beginning to argue about what the United States was still doing in Vietnam (mentioned herein),wasn't what the doctor ordered. More importantly, "How I Won the War" wasn't very amusing or engaging.

The story really only comes to life during the final scenes, by which time many viewers would had found something more stimulating to do with their time. War baby Michael Crawford (as Ernest Goodbody) performs up to the level of his character's name. Most notable among the "Third Troop of the Fourth Musketeers" is bored anti-war hero and musical artist John Lennon (as Musketeer Gripweed). Studio executives at United Artists, as well as the world at large, would have preferred another Lester-directed musical starring The Beatles. "How I won the War" was bound for disappointment.

*** How I Won the War (10/18/67) Richard Lester ~ Michael Crawford, John Lennon, Roy Kinnear, Lee Montague

Wow, it is not everyday that one comes across a right-wing essay on the IMDB as one of the posters did in regards t this film. First of all, I am delighted to have finally seen this. Aside from "The Royal Flash" and "Cuba," I believe I have seen most of Richard Lester's films which are of significance. I think too look at this film from a mere political pov is a mistake. It is a good statement first of all about how utterly ridicilous the war process is. Sure, there are awful people like Hitler and Mullah Omar, out there who threaten the world at large but by and large, the war process rarely leads to any resounding political solutions and long-term peace and understanding. I think even people who generally support their government's wars would agree to this sentiment. Lester does a brilliant job of poiting this out through the course of this film, and he is helped by some great acting- including a surprisingly brilliant John Lenon to achieve this great satire. Lester, who was actually born in Philadelphia, has a great sense of man's moral faults and he reflects that in this film, as well as in "Petulia"- which is considered to be his best film. I think Lester's genius can even be seen in his two most blatant commerical ventures, "Suprman II" and "Butch and Sundance: The Early Years" as well as the Beatles movies. He deserves more respect, and I think one day he just might get it.

A mixture of farce (much of it in bad taste) and anti-war black comedy (with a bit of blackface included),this is a disaster for all concerned, especially director Richard Lester, Michael Crawford and John Lennon. It's a reunion for director Lester and the two stars from previous films, Crawford from the misguided version of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" and Lennon for "A Hard Day's Night" and "Help!". Lester had earlier comical success for "The Mouse on the Moon" and would later for 'The Ritz", but this one is loud and unfunny and often obnoxious, a real shocker considering some of the talents involved.

I can't even decipher the plot to try to describe it other a lot of yelling by Crawford and Lennon really doing nothing. He doesn't even get to sing, and his moments of acting are embarrassing. Michael Horden who played Crawford's father in "Forum" and Roy Kinnear are some of the other British talented funny men involved in this which tries to make us laugh by having Hitler as a scorekeeper in a soccer game with the British against Germany, and it doesn't even have the satirical tone that Mel Brooks will use in "The Producers".

It's really bad taste when out of nowhere the theme from "Lawrence of Arabia" comes up, getting a major eye roll from me than the intended laugh. I enjoy black comedies, but they have to be really clever to make their point and be appreciated, and this just ends up being nothing more than a series of incidents that try to use farce to gain laughs and make a point and fail miserably. Perhaps this would have had more of an impact when released due to the Vietnam War being greatly protested, when it first came out, but word of mouth must have impacted its box office. Crawford lacks the innocent charm of his previous films, and this really shows why he was not meant to be a leading man on film, at least not one where his face is not covered by a math.