Cannonball coppers are here to help (The Boys In Blue (DVD))

Member Name: blissman70

Product:	The Boys In Blue (DVD)
Date:	19/09/09 (42 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Harmless fun for all the family

Disadvantages: A little out dated maybe

The other day I was rummaging though some old boxes in the garage and I came across several video cassettes, one of which contained a movie I had not seen for over twenty years. The movie in question was a one off from the, back then, brilliantly comical partnership of Cannon and Ball (they do window adverts these days).
Back then, in the turn of the eighties, I was a big fan of the very funny Tommy Cannon and Bobby Ball, loving their tv shows in the late seventies through the eighties, enjoying the way the pair bounced off each other with the brilliant style of humour and fantastic banter.
After mentally reminiscing about the past, recalling the brief parts of this movie I could remember, I decided to watch the entire movie again, sitting back, waiting for the comedy to start.

The movie in question being 'the Boys in Blue', which is actually now available on DVD.

NOTE:
This review is about the movie only as I have not yet bought the DVD version, so I have no idea about any extras on the disc.

Director: Val Guest
Producer: Greg Smith
Writer: Sid Colin
Stars: Tommy Cannon, Bobby Ball, Suzanne Danielle, Roy Kinnear, Jon Pertwee and Eric Sykes.


** BRIEF PLOT...

Sergeant Cannon, (Tommy Cannon) and PC Ball, (Bobby Ball) are the only officers in Little Botham, a small seaside village, the crime rate being so low that the local station is on the verge of closure, leaving the duo out of work.
The bumbling pair come up with a devious plan, involving a rich business man, (Roy Kinear).
Unfortunately the pair are soon in trouble when they inadvertently stumble across some unscrupulous people and a million pounds worth of painting.
So when the duo become involved in more than they ever wanted they are soon trying to do more than stop the local police station being closed.

** IN CONCLUSION...

As I said earlier, Cannon and Ball were a couple of my comic heroes as I was growing up and I loved watching them in there many series during the eighties, so when I started to watch this movie again I started to remember the plot as the cassette rolled on, recalling how much I enjoyed the film the first time around.
Unfortunately, as I am a bit older now, I didn't quite enjoy the movie as much as I thought I would, maybe it could be because Cannon and Ball aren't really on television anymore, (apart from that annoying window advert of course), or maybe it is because the antics of Cannon and Ball aren't quite as funny as they were in the eighties.
There have been many comedy duos, and they are still coming, with many more to follow, but each duo will hit their peak eventually, then falling out of existence soon after, (forced to make a living advertising windows maybe), and when this movie was made Cannon and Ball were nearing their peak, which helped make this film a bit of a popular hit at the time, relying on the pairs fan base, which was big in the eighties.
But, sadly, in my opinion, if it was released as new in 2009 it would probably fall flat on its face, a little like other movies from the past would, like the 'Carry On' sagas for instance, so it was fortunate that it came out in the eighties really.

Don't get me wrong, it is well worth watching and I did enjoy it very much, although not as much as the first time I watched it.
In this movie the comical duo maintain there 'on stage' characters, with Cannon, the taller of the two coming across as the more sensible one of the pair, whilst Ball is the stressed out little man with a bit of a bad temper and short fuse. This is the pairs style in there television shows and this is the type of style they tried to bring to the movie scenes, doing quite a good job at it in fact, although a little repetitive in parts maybe.
They do manage to keep up the silliness throughout the hour and half, everything they do seeming to go wrong, and considering they are the only police officer in the little village this is not a good thing, especially when their incompetence leads to some hilarious, although slightly predictable results.

Like all of the slapstick style movies of the time, and some of now, there are plenty of comical mishaps, especially for this bumbling pair of police officers, including some old countryside yarns like falling into cowpats face first and several others.
And Balls classic catchphrases are used repetitively, including 'You Little liar', 'yer mental' and the best known 'Rock on Tommy', whilst flicking his bright red braces.

In all, for me, it was still as enjoyable to watch this time round as it was the first time I watched it, and it did bring back a few happy memories from my past as well. It Is a harmless hour and a alf of pure fun for all the family, with the younger kids probably enjoying the banter between the funny looking pair, even if the jokes go over their heads a little.
It is an all star cast, (from the eighties anyway), so there will be many recognisable faces for all those that lived through that era.

Although this movie was first made in 1982 and first shown on television in 1986 it took until 2004 for it to be released onto DVD.
The DVD can be bought at a bargain price of £3.38 from amazon and for nearly an hour and a half of true slapstick comedy it is money well spent.

Summary: The villains would be happy if all coppers were like these two