Bus driver Stan Butler (Reg Varney) gets engaged to Suzy (Janet Mahoney) at his depot much to the chagrin of his family. When his brother-in-law Arthur (Michael Robbins) loses his job, it seems that his plans to move in to a new flat with her are scuppered as he will now be the sole supporter of the family including his sister Olive's (Anna Karen) kid Little Arthur. So with the help of his conductor, Jack (Bob Grant), he teaches Arthur to drive a bus and blackmails the new depot manager, Mr Jenkins (Kevin Brennan), into giving him the job of driving the new tour bus to Windsor Safari Park. Predictably, whatever Stan and company touch turns to disaster.
Following the tremendous success of the first On The Buses feature film,Hammer put out this sequel that made it to No. 17 in the Box Office top 20 of 1972. Holiday On The Buses followed in 1973. The title was chosen via a competition in The Sun newspaper, which offered a cash prize to whoever came up with the best and it went to - guess who? - a bus driver!
It is all pretty familiar stuff with the cast going through the familiar gags and, on the whole, they are pretty poorly presented. For instance, Stan and Jack sabotaging Blakey's radio control and Stan towing his brother-in-law's motorcycle behind his bus. All of these were lifted from the TV series. The scenes at Windsor Safari Park include Stan and Blakey being trapped in their bus by a lion and being attacked by monkeys. But, it is funny in places especially Blakey's fire drill where he attempts to show his staff how to operate the new fire fighting equipment with absurd but, predictably, catastrophic consequences. Fans of the series - me included - will no doubt love it but people looking for something original will be sorely disappointed and, yes, like its predecessor and the TV sitcom series, the critics tore it apart.
Following the tremendous success of the first On The Buses feature film,Hammer put out this sequel that made it to No. 17 in the Box Office top 20 of 1972. Holiday On The Buses followed in 1973. The title was chosen via a competition in The Sun newspaper, which offered a cash prize to whoever came up with the best and it went to - guess who? - a bus driver!
It is all pretty familiar stuff with the cast going through the familiar gags and, on the whole, they are pretty poorly presented. For instance, Stan and Jack sabotaging Blakey's radio control and Stan towing his brother-in-law's motorcycle behind his bus. All of these were lifted from the TV series. The scenes at Windsor Safari Park include Stan and Blakey being trapped in their bus by a lion and being attacked by monkeys. But, it is funny in places especially Blakey's fire drill where he attempts to show his staff how to operate the new fire fighting equipment with absurd but, predictably, catastrophic consequences. Fans of the series - me included - will no doubt love it but people looking for something original will be sorely disappointed and, yes, like its predecessor and the TV sitcom series, the critics tore it apart.