This is a colossal improvement over the first movie. It restores what STEPTOE AND SON is about - comedy in a depressing set of situations (poverty, down-on-luck, hopelessness, etc). This movie is much more faithful to the TV series and just demonstrates why the first movie should never have been made. The first movie was perhaps the worst spin-off movie ever, even worse than GEORGE AND MILDRED, and certainly one of the most painful movies I've ever sat through.
The STEPTOE AND SON series was not only the pride and joy of its creators Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, but also the BBC (for whom this was perhaps the best comedy at the time, rivalled only by DAD'S ARMY). The TV series has and always will have my 10 out of 10 rating without any reservation. A wise decision by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson to write the script ensures we have a movie that matches up to the TV series to at least some extent.
The plot is something along the following lines - the horse becomes ill and has to be taken away, and Harold is conned by local gangster Frankie Barrow (one of the best comic villains of all time) into buying a greyhound! Harold sees a money-making opportunity to be had, but the Steptoes have their work cut out! Later Harold has to pay off his debts to Frankie Barrow and finds the only way to do this is by faking Albert's death!
The mix of comedy and drama is handled well here, the touching scene where Albert and Harold say goodbye to the horse is a very good example of this. In the first movie, the comedy and drama did not mix well and the audience was left with something dreary and depressing, as well as being unfunny to the extreme. In this movie, they are left with something uplifting that sets the standard for the rest of the movie.
The mixture of jokes and slapstick normally seen in British sitcom movie adaptations of this kind is also handled well here. My favourite is during a scene where the locals are invited to a sale at the Steptoes' yard. Albert falls over and shouts to someone, "that's my tea, you silly old cow" or something like that. Side-splitting hilarity. Equally funny is a scene where Albert goes into a butchers and cons the butcher into selling him a joint of meat cheap. How does he do it? He coughs all over it. The expression on the butcher's face when Albert tries to hand the infected meat back is priceless.
The usual excellent performances by Wilfrid Brambell and Harry H. Corbett are delivered here. The movie also boasts a hilarious cameo from Milo O'Shea, in what is perhaps this actor's best comic moment. Henry Woolf also has a good time playing the local villain Frankie Barrow, a role he later reprised in the TV series. On the downside, Diana Dors is wasted in a pointless role as a widow whose husband's clothes she wishes to sell.
Overall, this is a genuinely funny movie (unlike the first). The light-hearted nature of the TV series that was stripped away by the previous movie is restored. This movie is not as good as the TV series, but it is a harmless way to pass 90 minutes of a weekend afternoon and it looks like Oscar-worthy material compared to the first movie.
The STEPTOE AND SON series was not only the pride and joy of its creators Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, but also the BBC (for whom this was perhaps the best comedy at the time, rivalled only by DAD'S ARMY). The TV series has and always will have my 10 out of 10 rating without any reservation. A wise decision by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson to write the script ensures we have a movie that matches up to the TV series to at least some extent.
The plot is something along the following lines - the horse becomes ill and has to be taken away, and Harold is conned by local gangster Frankie Barrow (one of the best comic villains of all time) into buying a greyhound! Harold sees a money-making opportunity to be had, but the Steptoes have their work cut out! Later Harold has to pay off his debts to Frankie Barrow and finds the only way to do this is by faking Albert's death!
The mix of comedy and drama is handled well here, the touching scene where Albert and Harold say goodbye to the horse is a very good example of this. In the first movie, the comedy and drama did not mix well and the audience was left with something dreary and depressing, as well as being unfunny to the extreme. In this movie, they are left with something uplifting that sets the standard for the rest of the movie.
The mixture of jokes and slapstick normally seen in British sitcom movie adaptations of this kind is also handled well here. My favourite is during a scene where the locals are invited to a sale at the Steptoes' yard. Albert falls over and shouts to someone, "that's my tea, you silly old cow" or something like that. Side-splitting hilarity. Equally funny is a scene where Albert goes into a butchers and cons the butcher into selling him a joint of meat cheap. How does he do it? He coughs all over it. The expression on the butcher's face when Albert tries to hand the infected meat back is priceless.
The usual excellent performances by Wilfrid Brambell and Harry H. Corbett are delivered here. The movie also boasts a hilarious cameo from Milo O'Shea, in what is perhaps this actor's best comic moment. Henry Woolf also has a good time playing the local villain Frankie Barrow, a role he later reprised in the TV series. On the downside, Diana Dors is wasted in a pointless role as a widow whose husband's clothes she wishes to sell.
Overall, this is a genuinely funny movie (unlike the first). The light-hearted nature of the TV series that was stripped away by the previous movie is restored. This movie is not as good as the TV series, but it is a harmless way to pass 90 minutes of a weekend afternoon and it looks like Oscar-worthy material compared to the first movie.