This second John Cleese/Graham Chapman offering for David Frost’s Paradine Productions knocked its predecessor The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer’s satirical inclinations firmly on the head, this was out-and-out farce (or at least it did after Ned Sherrin and pals had got their hands on it), with the plot mixing the story of a hapless ‘tec (Richard Beckinsale) spying on an adulterous Richard Briers, and getting mixed up in a Japanese plot to steal a deadly new nerve gas from Donald Sinden’s chemical plant. The usual high quota of stars, all no doubt personally cajoled into this mess by Frostie himself, duly lined up to take part in frankly offensive scenes such as a bizarre Chinese world domination scheme, and the moment where Ronald Fraser’s racist major tries to drown Derek Griffiths by filling the cab of his removals lorry with petrol. When an admittedly storming opening theme re-imagining of “A Policeman’s Lot” by Dave Dee and the Kings’ Singers is the high point of your film, perhaps it’s time to have a look elsewhere for projects.
Creamguide's Pick of the Day
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The People’s Songs
Wednesday, 22.00, BBC Radio 2I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor tonight, which allows us to mention that when it got to number one, Calendar showed a clip from its Whistle Test-inspired video and captioned it “amateur video”. In fact that video was the first we’d heard of them or it, when it was shown on Popworld in fact, and we never thought the record version was quite as good because it was a bit overproduced. Anyway, it’s included here because it started bands being broken via the internet and that rather than the major labels and Top of the Pops.
Absolutely, mesmerizingly awful, and not helped one bit by an admittedly eclectic cast.