Mutiny On The Buses (4½ Stars)

This is a sequel to "On The Buses", made a year later in 1972. It follows loosely from the events in the first film. Olive's baby is now a year old, and her husband Arthur has been made redundant. This puts pressure on Stan to earn more money to support his family. The trouble is that he's recently got engaged to marry a female conductor, a clippy, as the men at the bus station like to call them. Stan says that she can move in with his mother and the rest of his family, but that's not good enough for her. There are flats in the area that are within their price bracket: £50 deposit, followed by £10 per week. At least, they would be affordable if it weren't for the family problems.

From there, the film progresses through a series of vignettes, strung together by a plot concerning the appointment of a new general manager, Mr. Jenkins. He's been sent from the head office, wherever and whatever that is, to expand the bus service. He wants to improve the service on the existing bus routes, as well as offering exclusive bus services, such as a direct bus to the Windsor Safari Park. Inspector Blake (known as Blakey) is happy about this, but the lazy bus drivers and conductors aren't happy, and they offer passive resistance to the planned changes.

Blakey's other nickname is Hitler. I think you can see why.

Just look at the clippies at the bus station. I'd be riding the bus every day, preferably somewhere near the stairs where I can enjoy the view of the clippies going up top.

This is another view of Malden Road in Borehamwood. Stan and his family live at number two (on the right). It looks like a peaceful little neighbourhood. Those where the good old days when the houses were affordable. Something really needs to be done about the price escalation. My personal opinion – and I welcome comments from my readers – is that house prices shouldn't be regulated, but the government should enforce strict rent control. House prices have been driven up by private landlords being allowed to charge extortionate rents, making it a good business to buy 30 or more houses. If the rents they're allowed to charge are reduced to 25% or less of their current levels, it will have two results:

(1) House prices will fall.

(2) More houses will be sold to owners who live in them themselves.

A problem with visiting a safari park is unwanted passengers on the bus.

This is a hilarious film, maybe not quite as good as the first film, but still very high quality. I wonder if there will ever be a remastered version on Blu-ray. The first film is relatively clean, but "Mutiny On The Buses" has some fuzzy scenes, especially in the first 10 minutes.

I don't have the data I need to calculate the film's success rate, but I've read that it was one of the most successful films in British cinemas in 1972.