I'm All Right, Jack

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Christopher H @Guita Dec 30, 2024 If you're a fan of Peter Sellers, Terry Thomas, or Margaret Rutherford, you have to watch this movie, because they're all in it and all at the top of their form. The movie, released in 1959, was made to puncture the hypocrisy and self-serving nature of both the "left" and the "right" in (British) politics in the 50's and 60's, but, with what has been happening in (American) politics for the last 20 years, it serves as a reminder that nothing has really changed in that arena, save the rhetoric getting dumber. One piece of trivia that I can't get out of my head, having just watched the movie (on Kanopy) last night: the opening and ending scenes take place at a nudist camp and involve a group of girls behind a bush trying to get Ian Carmichael to come play tennis with them. One of the girls looks a lot like a young Prunella Scales, so I'm wondering if it's her. (The movie credits at IMDB say it's an actress named Hilda Green, but I think it's Prunella Scales.) See more

Leaburn O @RT35452347 Jul 27, 2023 A classic from British cinema having made the BFI top 100. Not the best in the list, it seems a hatchet job on unions at a time of real hysteria towards communism. Whilst it also shines business in a bad light, it's ultimately unclear what the film is trying to achieve. See more

William L @RT77267842 Nov 28, 2020 Oh wow, a comedy based on the politics of postwar British trade unions, I'm sure that will age well. I'm sure many of the period found the humor prescient and witty, but today it falls rather flat, and what isn't political is rather dated. Some of the jokes seem like excessively dated takes on Chaplin humor - early on, Carmichael's Stanley Windrush is given a tour during an interview for a job at a candy factory, only to be presented with excessive amounts of sweets that he is too polite to turn down, and subsequently throws up. What a knee slapper. Alongside that scene, in a joke that really evokes Modern Tmes, Windrush accidentally places his hat on a conveyer, only to see it emerge on the other side covered in candy coating. This sort of '30s slapstick is certainly strange to pair alongside with caricatures of British industrial concerns. Just for flavor I guess, there are moments of very poorly aged racism, with comedy great Peter Sellers angrily alleging, "the next thing you know we'll have the blacks doing our jobs like they do on the buses in Birmingham". So what we've got is a film with domestically targeted political humor over a half century old, practical humor that was antique when filmed, and a few nice sprinkles of rough racial commentary. I can see the appeal at the time, but this one can hardly be called a classic in the modern day. (2/5) See more

Nov 9, 2017 A surprisingly even handed satire on corruption at all levels. Sellers is excellent as the labor union boss - one of those strong convictions but no social prowess types. I especially liked his deer in headlights moment on the television round table. Wish there had been more laughs in general though. The final scene with a group of naked women chasing Carmichael must have been a Monty Python influence. See more

Apr 29, 2014 Produced and directed by John and Roy Boulting (Brighton Rock (1947), The Family Way (1966) and Twisted Nerve (1968), and based on the novel Private Life by Alan Hackney, who also wrote the screenplay with the Boultings. This is a sequel to Private's Progress (1956), which the Boultings directed and it shared a lot of the same cast. This is a very funny film with some very observant jokes. Undergraduate Stanley Windrush (Ian Carmichael) has left the army, and is looking to find employment, but he always struggles at the interview stage. However, Stanley's uncle Bertram Tracepurcel (Dennis Price) helps him get employment at the missile factory he owns, and Stanley's bumbling actions grab the attention of personnel manager personnel manager Major Hitchcock (Terry-Thomas), but it's communist steward and union leader Fred Kite (Peter Sellers) who is most interested in Stanley. After Hitchcock sneakily employs time and motion man Waters (John Le Mesurier) to study Stanley working fast. It causes a small strike which becomes nationwide. It's a good little comedy, although you can't believe it gets away with a lot of things that seemed innocent and everyday back then, like attitudes to foreigners and union activities. But it also makes use of nudist camp gags and even vomiting jokes, which seem commonplace now. However, this is worth it for the brilliant cast. See more

Tim W @Timofdragons Feb 15, 2014 Good old British satirical social comedy poking some fun at industrial labour/management, unions, and employment class. Clever and amusing. I did have a harder time connecting with it as I grew up in an entirely different era (like half a century). Nonetheless, I still enjoyed it , and recognize it's greatness. 7.5/10 See more

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I'm All Right, Jack

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