Please Sir! (1971) Movie Review

Please Sir! (1971)   3/53/53/53/53/5


John Alderton in Please Sir! (1971)

Back to School

When Mr Hedges (John Alderton - Calendar Girls) is put in charge of a school trip he finds himself with his unruly rabble on a bus going from the Fenn Street School to an activity camp. And typically right from the word go things don't go to plan as the students get up to tricks at every opportunity. And that is nothing compared to when they reach their destination with things becoming even messy for Mr Hedges as he starts chatting up barmaid Penny (Jill Kerman) whilst having to deal with the mooning of Angela (Patsy Rowlands - Carry on Girls) over him.

There are many things which can signal to you that you are watching a British comedy from the 70s; the clothes, the actors and the music. But there is another thing which signals a trip in to the past of British comedy and that is racial humour. And that is one of the first things which you can't fail to notice when you watch "Please Sir!" as it has all sorts of racial humour, which in fairness is not all one sided. But it certainly hits you when you watch "Please Sir!" now almost as much as the obvious age of most of the actors playing the pupils; these must be some of the oldest pupils in the history of cinema.

Patsy Rowlands in Please Sir! (1971)

Anyway, aside from those two things what you get in "Please Sir!" is extremely typical of British comedies where you get a group of students on holiday and they misbehave in a variety of ways. There are pranks, there are flirtations and there are lots of extremely quirky and individual characters who are amusing in their own right. In truth there is nothing in the least bit original in "Please Sir!" but for those who enjoy British comedy from the 70s there is probably enought to make this enjoyable and at the same time getting a kick out of recognizing some of the actors.

What this all boils down to is that "Please Sir!" is still fun but it is a movie made for a very specific sort of audience and features some comedy which new audiences just wouldn't get.

Tags: British TV Shows & Their Movies


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