Films based on previously successful sitcoms - best and worst?

[biggytitbo]

The best thing about the 70s British sitcom film is their utter bleakness. On that front both the Steptoe and Sons and Porridge are genuinely good films in their own right (especially Porridge), although its obviously hard to separate them from their TV show counterparts. More love for the second Steptoe film here too, the first is probably the better film but the second is so weird and grimy and dark. It always bothered me that the house was different though.

[Glebe]

Watched both Alf Garnett movies on YouTube a little while ago, good value for money. Even the second one is watchable, despite Una Stubbs and Tony Booth being unavailable and replaced with fairly dull stand-ins.

I believe Tank Girl creators Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin were big fans of Please Sir!, I'd have to go back and take a look but I think there were references to it in the early comics (alongside references to lots of British cultural things that the US publishers/film adaptation studio obviously weren't too keen on).

Still haven't gotten round to seeing The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse. Filmed here in Dublin on the cheap.

That George and Mildred film is up on YouTube, but I never got past the opening minutes...

[Sydward Lartle]

That George and Mildred film is up on YouTube, but I never got past the opening minutes...

It's fucking horrible. It was a box office disaster, largely because the alcohol-related death of Yootha Joyce effectively killed its chances, but also because it's an incredibly shit film. I really like the series, though.

[biggytitbo]

The Likely Lads film is not bad either. Expanding out a bit, because I think these two are as much films as any of the others (they're both film length and shot entirely on film) - Only Fools and Horses: To Hull and Back and Last of the Summer Wine: Getting Sam Home are two of the best british comedies full stop, imo.

[Rolf Lundgren]

comedy 'foreign setting' (Costa Plonker, if you ruddy well please)

As cheesy and as naff as it sounds, Costa Plonka (with an 'A' remaining faithful to the film) is a name that never fails to make me laugh. Costa Plonka. You take the rest of the day off after coming up with that.

Coincidentally enough I watched The Likely Lads film again last night and it's definitely well above most other 1970s sitcoms turned films. There's a bit of running around with trousers around their ankles which is a sign of the times but it's a solid feature-length episode and sits nicely with the series that preceded it.

[the science eel]

As cheesy and as naff as it sounds, Costa Plonka (with an 'A' remaining faithful to the film) is a name that never fails to make me laugh. Costa Plonka. You take the rest of the day off after coming up with that.

What's the Carry On film where they make the hotel owner sound like 'a greasy Dago' by having him stick an 's' on the end of every other word?

[Sydward Lartle]

Carry On Abroad. "Holdings please, welcomings to hotels."

[the science eel]

Yes!

Dreadful rubbish but that always give me a chuckle.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

Carry On Abroad. "Holdings please, welcomings to hotels."

Was that the one where they visit a Spanish fair, and Charles Hawtrey gets chased out of one building without us seeing what happened inside, though he is followed out by an angry Spanish woman complaining he tried to play 'leap-frog' with her and shouting, 'Pig-a pork-a,' at him.  That scene made me laugh.

[Sydward Lartle]

That's the one. I'd describe the finest Carry On films as 'a fantastic load of old shit'.