Pearly Gates and Nervous O'Toole, the two biggest villains in London, suddenly start finding their blags are being rumbled by a trio of Australian con-artists posing as coppers. Unable to stop this gang, they team up with Inspector "Nosey" Parker of Scotland Yard to see if their combined forces can restore much-needed order to the criminal way of life.
One of the funniest British movies of all time, written by no fewer than seven men, including two of the best comedy writing duos; Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, and John Warren and Len Heath. The great charm of this picture is the way it presents London gangland as a bunch of lovable clods who don't mean any harm but who take their jobs and their workers' rights very seriously. Pearly is one of Sellers' greatest creations, who tries to encourage professionalism amongst his men (he's showing Rififi, The Day They Robbed The Bank of England and The League of Gentlemen as "training" films) and there's a wonderful sequence where he chairs a villains' union meeting, complete with agenda, motions and procedural points of order ("The Chair recognises the bird on the front row."). The real star for me though is the wonderful Cribbins as befuddled, eye-twitching Nervous, complete with brothel creepers, pork pie hat and too-small suit, chastising both his men and his kleptomaniac nephew Kevin ("Ya teeving little nit !"). Jeffries, saucy Newman and gifted Aussie actor Kerr are all terrific as well, and the whole shebang rattles along at a terrific pace with buckets of funny dialogue and inventively daft situations. Don't miss an unbilled cameo by Dennis Price, as Educated Earnest of Leamington Spa. Sadly, they really don't make them like this anymore.
One of the funniest British movies of all time, written by no fewer than seven men, including two of the best comedy writing duos; Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, and John Warren and Len Heath. The great charm of this picture is the way it presents London gangland as a bunch of lovable clods who don't mean any harm but who take their jobs and their workers' rights very seriously. Pearly is one of Sellers' greatest creations, who tries to encourage professionalism amongst his men (he's showing Rififi, The Day They Robbed The Bank of England and The League of Gentlemen as "training" films) and there's a wonderful sequence where he chairs a villains' union meeting, complete with agenda, motions and procedural points of order ("The Chair recognises the bird on the front row."). The real star for me though is the wonderful Cribbins as befuddled, eye-twitching Nervous, complete with brothel creepers, pork pie hat and too-small suit, chastising both his men and his kleptomaniac nephew Kevin ("Ya teeving little nit !"). Jeffries, saucy Newman and gifted Aussie actor Kerr are all terrific as well, and the whole shebang rattles along at a terrific pace with buckets of funny dialogue and inventively daft situations. Don't miss an unbilled cameo by Dennis Price, as Educated Earnest of Leamington Spa. Sadly, they really don't make them like this anymore.