Sexylocher Masterful Movie

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Hayleigh Joseph This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

BobbyUK Sgt Tommy Cannon and PC Bobby Ball are a two-man law enforcement operation working in Little Botham (pronounced 'bottom'). They are successful not because they are good at their job but merely because little to no crime occurs in their sleepy little village. As a result, Ball moonlights (or daylights in this case) as a shop owner while 'romancing' village cook Kim (Suzanne Danielle).Since Little Botham police station is surplus to requirements and will be merged with other stations in the vicinity under the exasperated supervision of the chief constable (Eric Sykes) Cannon and Ball's jobs as policemen are on the line. After ruining the chief constable's car at the start of the film, Cannon and Ball devise a way to keep themselves employed by looking for crime to justify their pay-packet. They call on new resident Hilling (Edward Judd) and Lloyd the businessman (Roy Kinnear who had the best lines in the film) for inspiration and devise a framing operation involving theft of Lloyd's artwork but find themselves engaged in a real crime involving art smuggling and a UFO...The film, as previously mentioned by others, was loosely based on 'Ask a policeman' featuring Will Hay and Graham Moffatt. There are similarities to the original but Cannon looked too sophisticated to rival Hay's blustering Samuel Dudfoot and Bobby Ball didn't have the boyhood charm of Albert Brown. The original film had a headless horseman sub-plot and The Boys in Blue used the same plot device but instead opted for a UFO (probably to keep the budget down as the flickering lights from the UFO seemed to reveal a police car underneath if you look carefully). However, The Boys in Blue referred more to the Headless Horseman, including the rhyme from the original film, than the UFO making the whole thing redundant if not absolutely confusing.The problem with Cannon and Ball's roles as policemen was they didn't really fit their temperaments. I know the double act were trying to show how inept they were in their roles of authority but out of all the characters in the film (including the smugglers) it is Cannon and Ball who come across as the most aggressive, shouting and pulling each other about and Ball threatening to strangle a farmer. He was close to headbutting Cannon twice in one scene! They probably would have been better cast as the smugglers rather than the coppers.There were various veterans of the day in bit-parts but you probably wouldn't notice them for different reasons. Jack Douglas was superintendent but played his role straight rather than use his Alf Ippititimus persona like he did in the Carry on films. Dr Who veteran and Worzel Gummidge star Jon Pertwee had a small but amiable part as a polite rascal coastguard who puts his lamp on the police station roof. Billy Burden and Arthur English have very small acting roles as sheep and pig farmers. You would barely recognise Arthur English and this leads me into my first issue with the film... A major problem was the lack of lighting (Arthur English's role occurred in complete darkness and only knew it was him because I recognised his voice). Most of the film was set either in the dimly lit police station or in darkness and I found it unintentionally funny that you could barely see what was going on yet heard this blaring Magnum P.I type action music in the background. The ending featured a chase between Cannon and Ball and the smugglers which was fairly identical to the original apart from the introduction of passengers that leapt on to the bus during the chase. I was quite surprised they survived as the bus collided with the smugglers car head on before the hapless duo walked off into the sunset.The soundtrack 'The Boys in Blue' was quite catchy and those lyrics were so profound...Heh heh, a bit of sarcasm on the last bit..."We're the boys in blue...Woo-woo-woo-woo...We're the boys in blue...Woo-woo-woo woooo..."The film is an awful mess though despite the very low mark it is watchable in the right mood and typical of what Cannon and Ball provided for people on Saturday nights on their ITV show. I suppose the question ought to be asked why it was made in the first place unless it was just a vehicle to raise Cannon and Ball's profile (which it failed to do). I place the film The Boys in Blue under arrest for gross incompetence. ;-)

stashyjon I can recall the day well. It was the summer of '82. Maggie Thatcher was running rampage through both British Industry and the South Atlantic. The dole queue had just topped 4 million and Arthur Scargill had just declared class war on the monetarists. I was young, reckless and madly in love. Her name was Elizabeth, daughter of a methodist preacher and for our second date we decided to go to the movies.There wasn't much on at the local flea pit that interested us, but she suggested we go and check out this film. After all, she said, it might be worth a laugh. Now I had my reservations. I didn't find Tommy and Bobby's TV offerings all that entertaining at the best of times (the term puerile springs to mind), but she was insistent, so we paid our money and entered the cinema.I am still in therapy for what followed. There on the screen was a turgid rehash of every Will Hay film I have ever watched with a large number of Norman Wisdom 'gags' thrown in for good measure. Although I use the term Gags in the loosest possible terms. Will Hay and Norman Wisdom are funny, Cannon and Ball are not. From the wince-some traffic chaos at the start to the contrived slapstick car chase at the end we sat in awkward and embarrassed silence as Tommy and Bobby hammed their way through 50 year old jokes with complete disregard for timing or humour.I would like to think it was just me having a sense of humour failure, but the cinema was half full at the start, nearly empty at the end and completely devoid of laughter throughout. We left the cinema feeling totally cheated and asked for our money back... and got it thanks to a a very sympathetic and embarrassed deputy manager.In short, this is the worst film I have ever had the misfortune of watching and would rather eat my own genitalia rather than have to watch it again.

james_jonathan_turner Cannon and Ball is excellent funny men from time ago. How I laugh at their gurnery. One of them (Ball) went to the jungle and my how me make me laugh whilst watching this old film. He is truly great in the veins of other greats like Albert Stepped toe and Billy Crystal. GThe laughs never stop as policemen pratfalling whilst capturing the bad figures- I love their their sense of justice and vengeance, combined with funny end of your peers laughter. The absolute volume of laughs in this film truly makes me bleed. They are great atists painting funny funny moments. I love the ability they have to turn the bureaucratic work of a policemen into a fun filled antic hunt! The greatest laugh I had was when the jungle man fell down a pothole. That was agreed by all to be their best. How I wish these two had many more films in these veins. I would have gone more if I was born when this film was made. All in all a great buy for family! PS they are robots.

jason platt Yes, I'm giving it 6 out of 10. I know it's not a classic in British cinema like the likes of Hawk the Slayer and Time Bandits but it's exactly what you would expect it to be. Tommy Cannon and Bobby Ball making you laugh in a movie that is both ridiculous and achingly funny. The gags and set pieces and innuendos come thick and fast. Bobby Ball as the inept PC come Shopkeeper is just superb. The supporting cast of top British comedians of the time make up the typical 'ooh i say' feel of the classic British comedy. A favourite of mine and my sister's video collections it is now available on DVD in the UK. Haven't seen it advertised but I got mine from a local high street retailer for about a tenner.Buy it and enjoy.