Graham Chapman’s solo… The Odd Job (1978)

Appropriately enough for what feels very much like a Monty Python member’s first solo album, Graham Chapman’s The Odd Job was released  via a division of the Charisma record company (famous for prog legends Van Der Graaf Generator and Genesis). It’s an odd blend of mainstream sit-com and black comedy featuring David Jason playing Ronnie Barker… or at least the kind of character his hero and mentor specialised in.

Chapman originally wrote the story as part of a series of half hour TV comedy one-offs for Ronnie Barker in 1971 and here revived the idea as a full length feature directed with aplomb by Peter Medak (who also directed The Ruling Class) and including Mr Janson in a reprise of the titular role.

Graham Chapman and Diana Quick

He stars as civil servant Arthur Harris who comes home to his well-upholstered flat to find that his marriage has gone sour. His wife Fiona (Diana Quick) is packing to leave and surprised by his early return, reveals the frustrations of years that led her to this moment. She’s bored and repressed – they have taken each other for granted, they shout but no longer talk...

The future national treasure in action

Fiona walks out leaving Arthur devastated with just enough time to throw his wife’s pot plant out of the window much to the surprise of his attractive neighbour Angie (Carolyn Seymour) four storeys below. Distraught, Arthur can only think of ending it all and there follows a sequence of half-hearted attempts culminating in a failed electrocution: he can’t quite reach the switch. A knock on the door reveals a funny little man in a leather coat, motorbike head gear and horn-rimmed spectacles (Janson) asking if there are any odd jobs…

Arthur asks if this would include switching on the light for his suicide but this doesn’t really work out. But it turns out that the mild-mannered jack of all trades is actually a master of murder and he agrees to “hit” Arthur: to take him by surprise as he goes about his daily life and to put him out of his misery.

Meanwhile Fiona has gone to their friend Tony Sloane (Simon Williams) for refuge but, spurning Tony’s advances, soon realises she has made a mistake and still loves Arthur.

Diana Quick

Meanwhile Arthur faces an offer of his own as Angie invites him in for a drink which quickly advances to a more substantial offer and yet, somehow, Arthur resists the temptation leaving Angie alone with her cuddly toy dog…

Carolyn Seymour and Graham Chapman

So, love is not lost for the Harris’ and there is soon reconciliation as Fiona brings her bags back home. But, there’s still a problem: the Odd Job Man has been set to kill and Arthur has no way of contacting him to call the job off.

There follows much calamity as the Man makes various unsuccessful attempts to complete his contract only for Arthur to narrowly escape either through luck or judgement. Collateral damage includes the caretaker (George Innes) been poisoned by cyanide-laced milk, a group of old ladies on a pleasure cruise being machine gunned, a policeman drowned driving Arthur's sabotaged Rover and the odd gangster or two being blown up in the toilets.

The ex-Caretaker and Arthur's Rover

The Police get involved in the form of Inspector Black (Edward Hardwicke) and Sergeant Mull (a young Bill Paterson) along with a host of British character actors as events career towards the seemingly inevitable outcomes. But Chapman has an underlying message about love and life that doesn’t allow for easy outcomes…

Dusty verdict: A likeable comedy with good performances, notably from Quick and Chapman who makes you forget to anticipate the Pythonesque whiplash (“He’s not the Messiah; he’s a very naughty boy…” etc).

Excellent support from Simon Williams as the conflicted best friend as well as Carolyn Seymour with her cuddly toy.

Then there’s that David Jason chap as the odd, Odd Job Man: whatever became of him?

The Odd Job doesn’t appear to be available on DVD anywhere so I’m stuck with the old VHS. Catch it if you can and don't forget to love the one you’re with…

Britannia waves the rules… The Ruling Class (1972)

It’s pretty quaint to see some present day reviewers describing this film as “dated” with its earnest concerns about the nobility. It’s not so much the target of this satire, they say, but the left-wing consensus behind it that may well no longer exist to the same extent… Whilst it’s true that the politics of the left have changed, the film and the play it was based on were always out of step with mainstream thought and are only dated by the reserve that now dominates the politico-creative arena.

Politics is more disorientated than it was but the modern nobility are no less powerful than they were in the 1960s and most of us only see the tip of the iceberg. This country has always been run by a loose self-perpetuating oligarchy that sustains itself through pragmatism and the genuine social mobility Britain can offer the talented exceptions. I don’t even think that’s a political observation in itself: just a statement of fact?

People, regardless of their abilities can still obtain great power and wealth simply by being born to the right parents and the Lords still sit in their own House, albeit in reduced, more qualified numbers. Wealth inequality is even greater than it was in 1972 and the ruling classes still send their sons to public schools and they still dominate the Government from which they still make decisions that lead to the deaths of working men and women in the national interest…

I don’t see that the satire of The Ruling Class is no longer relevant and whilst stylistically it may be of its time, it’s well directed by Peter Medak and has more cutting edge than the mountain of mainstream gag-merchants clogging our TV stations, theatres and arenas.

Mr O'Toole

Most of all it’s got Peter O’Toole throwing himself absolutely into the role of insane. His is such a wholehearted and sincere performance that quite often this film is one you watch through gritted teeth… it’s not comfortable viewing watching someone so evidently disturbed and the human instinct is to look away from abnormality. But, imagine the creative imagination employed to achieve this effect? O’Toole was an actor who took things to extremes and then pushed on.

Harry Andrews

The film opens with a speech from the 13th Earl of Gurney (Harry Andrews) in one of the Guild Halls – there’s not much substance but a collective recognition of Great British values. The Earl drives home to his massive mansion to be greeted by his faithful servant Tucker (Arthur Lowe on brilliant form) who patiently collects his lordships clothes as he discards them ready for bed then brings him the ballet skirt, stepladder and fine silken noose for his regular “nightcap” of auto-erotic asphyxiation.

Unfortunately this particular evening the Judge tries himself too hard and ends up paying the ultimate price…

Alistair Sim, James Villiers, Coral Browne and William Mervyn

The family gather for the reading of the will and what a mixed lot they are… the Earl’s brother, Sir Charles (William Mervyn) , his wife Lady Claire (Coral Browne)  and their  son Dinsdale (James Villiers) along with Bishop Lampton (the great Alastair Sim), appalled at the suggestion of an improper death. Sir Charles is eager to get matters resolved and to enjoy the fruits of the family estate but there’s a problem in the form of the Earl’s son, the rightful heir to the title but who has been locked up in a mental hospital for years.

The will is read and tucker receives a payment of £30,000 – he’ll drink to that – but then something stranger happens as Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney (O'Toole) arrives to claim his title of 14th Earl of Gurney.

But there’s a problem as Jack is clearly under the impression that he is Jesus Christ returned to earth to lead people back towards the light. None of this cuts any ice with Uncle Charles who quickly devises a plan to marry him off to his mistress Grace (Carolyn Seymour) produce a male heir and then have Jack declared incapable.

But Jack is not without allies and his Aunt wants him well for his own sake and also to frustrate her faithless husband’s ambitions. She encourages Jack’s psychiatrist, Dr Herder (Michael Bryant) and the two begin an affair of their own.

If this all sounds convoluted you need to remember that the film’s purpose is to lampoon Upper Class ambition and “rules”. It’s also a powerful visual fantasy in which Jack’s mental state is often shown on screen. There are Dennis Potter-esque musical numbers – often very funny – as well as the world seen through Jack’s eyes.

He is convinced that he once married The Lady of the Camellias and, as cynical planning would have it, Grace arrives as the Lady herself singing an aria from the opera. Jack is captivated as he is supposed to be but Grace also begins to develop feelings for her “mark”…

Jack’s religious mania continues and he often rests on a crucifix in the study before descending to preach to his family and anyone who visits about love.

Meanwhile Tucker is revealed as a revolutionary “cell” all on his own, dedicated to overthrowing the establishment and seizing control of the means of production… after he’s finished the next bottle that is.

Grace becomes pregnant and it becomes imperative to sober Jack up before Charles can complete his plan to have him sectioned. Dr Herder tries ever more extreme methods before bringing in a more violently insane man, McKyle (the always excellent Nigel Green), who also believes himself to be the son of God, The Electric Messiah! He launches into Jack who sees electric shocks seemingly flow from McKyle’s hands… in exhaustion he calls his own name. Is this the beginning of a cure?

Nigel Green

Grace gives birth to a son and Charles calls in an old favour from the Master of Lunacy (Graham Crowden) who will surely find any lingering slivers of psychosis. But Jack is on the road to recovery and remembering that the psychiatrist had been a sporting hero at their old school Eton. A rousing chorus of the Eton Boating Song ensures the men bond and Jack is declared sane.

But now the film takes a darker tone as Jack suppresses his true thoughts, spending long hours in the attic reading comics about Jack the Ripper and his slaughter... He stops being JC and gradually turns in to “Jack” his sublimation of loving thoughts engendering a murderous response…

But new Jack is welcomed by the local hunt and cheered for his talk about the reintroduction of proper punishment in a society weakened by excess and indulgence from the class that should lead through fear and the application of strict correction to any un-British-ness.

All a bit heavy-handed of course but the film’s grand set piece as Jack preaches to the converted in the House of Lords makes it all worthwhile. As his hard line is greeted with rapture he has a vision of the chamber filled with decaying corpses: fossils held together by centuries of cobwebs still dressed in ermine and furs…

Dusty verdict: The Ruling Class hits its obvious targets cleanly but also with wit and the almost frightening intensity of Peter O’Toole’s performance. And, without giving anything away, the ending is one that disturbs and lingers – this is not a nostalgic easy-watching experience.

The supporting cast are all excellent from Nigel Green’s electrified insanity to Michael Bryant’s conflicted psychiatrist. Carol Browne is superb as the repressed but determined Lady Claire destined to always be let down by the Gurney family whilst Arthur Lowe is effortlessly impressive as the inebriated anarchist, struggling to drink down the establishment from within.

Carolyn Seymour

Special mention should also be made of the peerless Carolyn Seymour who could well be the Lady of the Camellias but is equally convincing as the street-smart “actress” who finds love even in the midst of insanity.

The question is, does society find Jack’s love more delusional and less acceptable than his hate and that’s not just a political issue but a personal one: we have to decide our own demarcation lines in this one.

The Ruling Class is available on DVD from Amazon and there’s even a deluxe edition from Criterion over in America: interesting to see how the film is rated in the land of the free.

Seymour… Steptoe and Son (1972)

The standard line is that sitcoms adapted into feature films are never as funny as the original series. Evidence for… Dad’s Army, The Likely Lads, On the Buses (OK never that funny…) etc – evidence against… Steptoe and Son?

This was the first Steptoe and Son film and was a commercial hit earning back five times its cost. The original TV series ran from 1962 to 1974 (including a break from 65-70) and always felt like it came out of the same existential theatre as Samuel Beckett and Alan Pinter. For a start the situation was bleak with a love-hate/hate-love relationship between a father and son trapped in their rag and bone business: fighting over trivialities in the confined space of their grimy Victorian house, smothered by the endless piles of purposeless junk. It was more than a little depressing and yet… watch it and you would always end up laughing at the persistence of pride and hopeless optimism amongst all the despair and ultimately the love between father and son.

The sitcom was also unusual in casting two actors rather than comedians with Wilfrid Brambell as Albert Steptoe and Harry H. Corbett as Harold Steptoe. Both had extensive stage experience and dramatic ability which led to the humour being more holistic than other series: the situation, the dialogue and the characters: not just the punchlines.

Written by long-time Tony Hancock collaborators, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, Steptoe and Son was a cut above and helped pave the way to the character-driven classics such as The Likely Lads, Dad’s Army, Rising Damp and Porridge.

So: this film? Made during the second group of series, the story followed familiar themes but allowed for the situation to broaden a bit (normally where the formulas come a cropper…) as the lads not only went outside, they found new relationships and even went abroad. This is what normally does for close-focus TV adaptations: they get diluted in the “real world”.

But, for me, there’s still enough focus on the two central characters for the essence to hold up: this film isn’t so much of a bigger budget detour as a grander journey along the same lines to the same place. Albert and Harold are two rag and bone men, they’re divided by family ties with one given up and the other not stopped trying but they’re still surviving with a puncher’s chance. Albert has buckled false teeth and gladly handles horse dung before eating his sandwiches with Harold dreams of escape through love and parental responsibility but, when the chips are down he’ll still look after his impossible, grotesque, stubborn old man.

The story begins with the two leaving the divorce courts – an immediate signal of another failed attempt for Harold to move his life forward. Rolling back we see how he met his wife to be at a “variety” show in their local rugby club which features music, comic turns (Mike Reid as pretty much himself) and strippers.

Harry H. Corbett and Carolyn Seymour

Harold meets one of the performers, named Zita (played by the possibly too classy Carolyn Seymour) in the bar before the show and she is impressed enough to pass a note to him during her show to arrange a date afterwards. There are the inevitable reaction shots from the drunken mail audience not least Albert… but for Harold this is something different and he has already placed Zita on a pedestal.

Zita and Harold leave Albert – his glasses crushed – short-sightedly chatting up the drag act Arthur (Patrick Fyffe or Perri St. Claire as was: later to be the latter part of Hinge and Bracket, fact fans!) and one long night later Harold floats home in love and engaged.

Albert is naturally less than impressed, especially as he’s been locked out but really he doesn’t want any disturbance in their lives and uses all means at his disposal to put Harold off. The day of the wedding arrives and his long, frustrating delays become a little wearing especially when the ring ends up in a mountain of horse manure.

Eventually the unfortunately-aroma’d couple get to the church just I time and then it’s off to sunny Spain on a three-handed honeymoon… yes, Albert comes as well and you can see where this is heading.

Arriving at the hotel Albert quickly gets under Harold’s feet whilst an old flame of Zita’s, Terry (Barrie Ingham) is on hand as the hotel tourist guide. Albert eats far too much Spanish lobster and contracts food poisoning interrupting not just the wedding night but the whole holiday… Harold can only get a flight for two to take him home to recuperate and leaves Zita in Spain under the helpful guidance of Terry…

As always in Steptoe you can see the fine line between Albert’s neediness and his genuine terror at being alone. Harold is never cruel enough to leave him (even for Carolyn Seymour… not a tough choice at all in my book…).

Well, you can pretty much work out the rest but there’s a twist (or two) as Harold re-establishes connection with his estranged wife only to find she’s pregnant: is the child his. An attempt at reconciliation founders when Albert and Zita face off and she’s off again. A few months later and the boys find a new born nestled in the hay in their stables, closely followed by three not so wise men. They quickly rally themselves around this new addition and pretty soon Harold has grand plans…

Is history about to repeat itself or will there be a further turn?

Dusty verdict: Undoubtedly one of the better sitcom-to-film adaptations, what Steptoe and Son lacks in story-strength it makes up for with the performances of the leads.

Carolyn Seymour is excellent as always and it makes a change to see her with long blonde hair rather than the close-cropped look of Survivors. She’s a very intelligent performer and plays well against her highly-experienced leads – it would be very easy to be over-faced against such a well-established double-act but she pitches Zita just right: she isn’t the “scrubber” Albert anticipates (it was 1972… but there are some linguistically awkward moments …) and genuinely loves Harold just as she enjoys her job (the post-feminist “empowerment” defence…). That doesn’t excuse her running off with Terry but... as she said, Harold wasn’t there…

The Brambell and Corbett chemistry works very well on screen and you see more of their abilities as the narrative is allowed more time and depth. Brambell’s Albert is a frightened old man, still a boy at heart whilst his equally-immature offspring isn’t quite practical enough to survive on his own just yet. Harold ends up bloodied but genuinely unbowed whilst the two share an exchange of V signs with Prince Philip as he cruises past their horse and cart on the Mall.

Steptoe and Son is available from Amazon and is worth watching for the quality of the performances alone… not to mention Ms Seymour in a curly blonde wig, a boa and little else. There’s also a nice soundtrack from Roy (Get Carter) Budd as well!

Brambell and Bracket