Monte Carlo or Bust! (1969)

Director:

Ken Annakin

Writers:

Jack Davies (original story and screenplay) and
Ken Annakin (original story and screenplay)

Release Date:

June 1969 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

It was a race to the finish... if only they could finish!

Plot:

An international car rally across Europe is complicated by smuggling, cheating, love at first sight, etc. etc.

Plot Keywords:

Smuggling | Cheating | Monte Carlo | Race | Place Name In Title

Cast

Bourvil	...	Monsieur Dupont
Lando Buzzanca	...	Marcello Agosti
Walter Chiari	...	Angelo Pincelli
Peter Cook	...	Maj. Digby Dawlish
Tony Curtis	...	Chester Schofield
Mireille Darc	...	Marie-Claude
Marie Dubois	...	Pascale
Gert Fröbe	...	Willi Schickel & Horst Muller (as Gert Frobe)
Susan Hampshire	...	Betty
Jack Hawkins	...	Count Levinovitch
Nicoletta Machiavelli	...	Dominique
Dudley Moore	...	Lt. Kit Barrington
Peer Schmidt	...	Otto
Eric Sykes	...	Perkins
Terry-Thomas	...	Sir Cuthbert Ware-Armitage

Also Known As:

Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies (Australia) (USA)
Gonflés à bloc (France)
Il ralleye di Montecarlo... e tutta quella confusione (Italy)
Le rallye de Monte Carlo (France)
Monte Carlo Rally
Montecarlo Rally (France)
Quei temerari sulle loro pazze, scatenate, scalcinate carriole (Italy)

Runtime:

Spain:120 min | USA:122 min | UK:125 min

Country:

UK | France | Italy

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | UK:PG | Finland:S | Sweden:11 | USA:G

Filming Locations:

Dino De Laurentiis Cinematografica Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Arthur Conn

Trivia:

This followup to Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 hours 11 minutes (1965) had the same director (Ken Annakin), writers (Jack Davies and Annakin), composer (Ron Goodwin), and five actors. Terry-Thomas played the son of his character in the earlier movie, and Eric Sykes' character was again an employee of Terry-Thomas'. Gert Fröbe, William Rushton, and Michael Trubshawe played unrelated roles.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: The scenes showing Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and Gert Fröbe romping about on a frozen Swedish lake show mountains, reindeer and cable cars. Would had been OK if they hadn't been on their way to Malmö in the south of Sweden, where there are no mountains and no reindeer. Thus, the sign "Eslöv 5 km" (or whatever) got an extra laugh in Sweden.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue (2008) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Those Daring Young Men in their Jaunty Jalopies

Running on empty

Like its near contemporaries "The Great Race" and "Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines", I always associate this film with my childhood especially at New Year. On New Year's Day we'd visit my granny and after lunch, while the adults talked, the kids would watch TV where invariably one of these three crazy race films would be on.

For that reason alone, I really wanted to mark "Monte Carlo Or Bust" well but I fear I can't, the child not being father to the man on this occasion. By which I mean I can see all too clearly its faults and while I was tempted to smile occasionally, in truth I really wanted all the competitors to get to the end of the race long before they actually do.

Of course it's dated by its stereotyping of nationalities and woman as the weaker sex and I also didn't much care for one or two stray, admittedly mild vulgarities which occasionally surfaced. More than that though, the cast, despite hamming it up outrageously just don't sell the film enough. Tony Curtis, in a trial run for his "Yank Abroad" turn in the TV series "The Persuaders", seems too old to be playing the young gallant, Terry Thomas just isn't dastardly enough, Eric Sykes is unbelievable as a dirty-minded Lothario while Gert Frobe as an overdone Teuton, is just weird doing camp comedy when you remember he was Bond's best villain Goldfinger. If anything the Englishers come off best - Susan Hampshire is at least engaging as a "bright young thing", suitably gamine as a posh flapper and although chained to the leash of the script Pete and Dud offer the most amusement as stiff upper lip army types, although even then the "Carry On" team did this so much better in "Carry On Up The Khyber Pass".

Director Annakin tries everything to evoke the "Golden Silents", with lashings of slapstick, mistaken identity capers, speeded up camera shots, would-be dramatic stunts and some light romance, but there's no real tension for such a famous race and anyway the race-off at the end seems like another swizz.

Actually I'd have given it another mark if they'd stuck to the alternative title "Those Magnificent Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies" but in truth the animated series "Wacky Races" did this so much better.