''Monte Carlo or Bust!'' is a 1969 comedy film, also known by its American title, ''Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies''. A co-production of the United Kingdom, France and Italy, the story is based on the Monte Carlo Rally – first raced in 1911 – and the film, set in the 1920s, recalls this general era. A lavish all-star film (Paramount put $10 million behind it), it is the story of an epic car rally across Europe that involves a lot of eccentric characters from all over the world who will stop at nothing to win. The film is a sequel to the 1965 hit ''

Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines ''Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines; Or, How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours and 11 Minutes'' is a 1965 British period comedy film that satirizes the early years of aviation. Directed and co-written by Ken Annakin, the film ...

''.

Terry-Thomas Terry-Thomas (born Thomas Terry Hoar Stevens; 10 July 19118 January 1990) was an English character actor and comedian who became internationally known through his films during the 1950s and 1960s. He often portrayed disreputable members of t ...

appeared as Sir Cuthbert Ware-Armitage, the equally dastardly son of Sir Percy Ware-Armitage, whom Thomas had played in the earlier film. Some others of the cast from the first film returned, including Gert Fröbe and

Eric Sykes Eric Sykes (4 May 1923 – 4 July 2012) was an English radio, stage, television and film writer, comedian, actor, and director whose performing career spanned more than 50 years. He frequently wrote for and performed with many other leading com ...

. Like the earlier film, it was written by

Ken Annakin Kenneth Cooper Annakin, OBE (10 August 1914 – 22 April 2009) was an English film director. His career spanned half a century, beginning in the early 1940s and ending in 2002, and in the 1960s he was noticed by critics with large-scale adventu ...

and Jack Davies and directed by Annakin, with music by

Ron Goodwin Ronald Alfred Goodwin (17 February 19258 January 2003) was an English composer and conductor known for his film music. He scored over 70 films in a career lasting over fifty years. His most famous works included ''Where Eagles Dare'', ''Battle ...

. The title tune is performed by Jimmy Durante. The credits sequence animation was the work of

Ronald Searle Ronald William Fordham Searle, CBE, RDI (3 March 1920 – 30 December 2011) was an English artist and satirical cartoonist, comics artist, sculptor, medal designer and illustrator. He is perhaps best remembered as the creator of St Trinian's S ...

, who was also featured in Annakin's earlier ''Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines''.

Tony Curtis Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz; June 3, 1925September 29, 2010) was an American actor whose career spanned six decades, achieving the height of his popularity in the 1950s (Kansas Raiders, 1950) and early 1960s. He acted in more than 100 f ...

and

Susan Hampshire Susan Hampshire, Lady Kulukundis, (born 12 May 1937) is an English actress known for her many television and film roles. A three-time Emmy Award winner, she won for '' The Forsyte Saga'' in 1970, ''The First Churchills'' in 1969, and for ''Vani ...

played other contestants in the race; Curtis also starred in the similar period-piece comedy ''

The Great Race ''The Great Race'' is a 1965 American Technicolor slapstick comedy film starring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, and Natalie Wood, directed by Blake Edwards, written by Arthur A. Ross (from a story by Edwards and Ross), and with music by Henry Manci ...

'' (1965) from

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

The film was originally intended to be called ''Rome or Bust''. The American distributors Paramount Pictures re-titled it ''Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies'' to tie it to Annakin's 1965 film; re-editing also meant cuts, up to a half-hour, from the original British release.

Plot

In the 1920s, the Monte Carlo Rally attracts competitors from all over the world. Rivals from Britain, Italy, France and Germany find that their greatest competition comes from the United States in the form of Chester Schofield (

), who had won half of an automobile factory in a poker game with the late father of

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14t ...

Sir Cuthbert Ware-Armitage (

). Ware-Armitage has entered the race in a winner-take-all to exact revenge and win back the lost half of the company. The international cast of characters appear to mirror their national foibles. British Army officers Maj. Digby Dawlish (

Peter Cook Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English actor, comedian, satirist, playwright and screenwriter. He was the leading figure of the British satire boom of the 1960s, and he was associated with the anti-establishme ...

) and Lieut. Kit Barrington (

Dudley Moore Dudley Stuart John Moore CBE (19 April 193527 March 2002) was an English actor, comedian, musician and composer. Moore first came to prominence in the UK as a leading figure in the British satire boom of the 1960s. He was one of the four writ ...

), who have entered to preserve the honour of the British Empire, drive an outlandish vehicle festooned with odd inventions. Italian policemen Angelo Pincelli (

Walter Chiari Walter Annicchiarico (8 March 1924 – 20 December 1991), known as Walter Chiari , was an Italian stage and screen actor, mostly in comedy roles. Biography Walter Annicchiarico was born in Verona, Italy on 8 March 1924 to a family originally ...

) and Marcello Agosti ( Lando Buzzanca) seem to be more interested in chasing three French women, led by Doctor Marie-Claude (

Mireille Darc Mireille Darc (; 15 May 1938 – 28 August 2017) was a French model and actress. She appeared as a lead character in Jean-Luc Godard's 1967 film '' Weekend''. Darc was a Knight of the Legion of Honour and Commander of the National Order of Me ...

). The German entry from overbearing Willi Schickel ( Gert Fröbe) and Otto Schwartz (

Peer Schmidt Peer Eugen Georg Schmidt (11 March 1926; Erfurt, Weimar Germany – 8 May 2010; Berlin) was a German actor who specialized in films, television and dubbing. He is best known as the German voice of Gérard Philipe, Marlon Brando and Jean-Paul Bel ...

) turn out to be convicts, driving with stolen gems on board. As the race begins, the contestants find that not only are they in a 1,500-mile battle with each other, but dangerous roads and the elements including a massive avalanche, are just as formidable. Chester and his new co-driver, Betty (

) end up duelling with Cuthbert. Various misfortunes plague each of the contestants, with Cuthbert, poised to win, being disqualified for cheating, the British Army team blowing up, the Germans being arrested and Chester falling asleep at the wheel. In the end, the Italians are declared the winners and share their winnings with the French women's team to help people injured in the snowslide. Chester does eventually cross the finish line, albeit because Betty and some others have pushed his car.

Cast

In alphabetical order *

Bourvil André Robert Raimbourg (; 27 July 1917 – 23 September 1970), better known as André Bourvil (), and mononymously as Bourvil, was a French actor and singer best known for his roles in comedy films, most notably in his collaboration with Louis ...

as Monsieur Dupont * Lando Buzzanca as Marcelo Agosti *

as Angelo Pincilli *

as Major Digby Dawlish *

as Chester Schofield *

as Marie-Claude *

Marie Dubois Marie Dubois (born Claudine Lucie Pauline Huzé; 12 January 1937 – 15 October 2014) was a Parisian-born French actress. Career She studied at l'École de la rue Blanche (ENSATT) and made her film debut in 1959, first gaining notice the next ...

as Pascale * Ulf Fransson as French peasant (uncredited) * Gert Fröbe as Willi Schickel/Horst Muller *

as Betty *

Jack Hawkins John Edward Hawkins, CBE (14 September 1910 – 18 July 1973) was an English actor who worked on stage and in film from the 1930s until the 1970s. One of the most popular British film stars of the 1950s, he was known for his portrayal of mil ...

as Count Levinovitch *

Nicoletta Machiavelli Nicoletta Machiavelli (1 August 1944 – 15 November 2015) was an Italian film actress, also known as Nicoletta Rangoni Machiavelli and Nicoletta Macchiavelli. Life and career The daughter of a Florentine father and of an American mother, Mach ...

as Dominique *

as Lt. Kit Barrington *

as Otto Schwartz *

as Perkins *

as Sir Cuthbert Ware-Armitage * * and also with *

Jacques Duby Jacques Duby (7 May 1922 – 15 February 2012) was a French stage, film and television actor. He was born in Toulouse. Jacques Duby as narrator Some of his works include '' 101 Dalmatians'' (1961), ''Pinocchio'' (1968), and ''The Jungle ...

as motorcycle policeman *

Hattie Jacques Hattie Jacques (; born Josephine Edwina Jaques; 7 February 1922 – 6 October 1980) was an English comedy actress of stage, radio and screen. She is best known as a regular of the ''Carry On'' films, where she typically played strict, no-non ...

as lady journalist *

Derren Nesbitt Derren Nesbitt (born Derren Michael Horwitz; 19 June 1935) is a British actor. Nesbitt's film career began in the late 1950s, and he also appeared in many television series in the late 1960s into the 1970s. He is known for his role as Major von ...

as Waleska * Nicholas Phipps as Golfer * William Rushton as John O'Groats race official *

Michael Trubshawe Michael Trubshawe (7 December 1905 – 21 March 1985) was a British actor and former officer in the Highland Light Infantry Regiment of the British Army. Trubshawe was very close friends with fellow British actor David Niven, serving with hi ...

as German rally official *

Richard Wattis Richard Wattis (25 February 1912 – 1 February 1975) was an English actor, co-starring in many popular British comedies of the 1950s and 1960s. Early life Richard Cameron Wattis was born on 25 February 1912 in Wednesbury, Staffordshire, the ...

as golf club secretary * Walter Williams as German customs official

Production

Development

Ken Annakin had a huge success with ''Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines''. In September 1965 he announced he would make a follow up to that film set in the early days of automobile racing. Its working title was ''The Monte Carlo Rally and All That Jazz''. He wrote the script with Jack Davies, with whom he had collaborated on ''Those Magnificent Men''. He wanted to re-use some of the old cast, including Terry Thomas, Gert Fröbe and Alberto Sordi, plus one American, possibly James Garner. Annaking estimated the film would cost under $6 million. In March 1968 Annakin announced that Tony Curtis would star. The cast would also include Terry Thomas, Gert Fröbe, Eric Sykes, Walter Chiari, and Alberto Sordi. Finance was provided by Paramount and filming would take over six months in Rome, Monte Carlo and the Italian and French Alps. "I love the international flavor of it", said Annakin.

Shooting

Besides the studio work at the Dino De Laurentiis Cinematografica Studios, Rome and Lazio, Italy, principal photography took place from 31 March–May 1968 at a large number of locations: England, Paris, France, Monaco, Monte Carlo, Monte Gelato Falls, Treja River, Italy and Åre, Jämtlands län, Sweden. Most of the exotic locations were from the second-unit directors while studio process shots mainly inserted the lead actors into the scenes. Annakin had difficulties working with his American screen idol, Tony Curtis, and considered him, "brittle, self-centered and a bully". Curtis, however, enjoyed his time in Rome, one of the primary filming locations and became romantically linked to his co-star, Susan Hampshire. An excerpt from composer Ron Goodwin's cue, "The Schickel Shamble" became the theme music for the long-running

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

comedy series ''

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue ''I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue'' is a BBC radio comedy panel game. Billed as "the antidote to panel games", it consists of two teams of two comedians being given "silly things to do" by a chairman. The show was launched in April 1972 as a parod ...

'' which later featured Willie Rushton as a regular panellist.

Automobiles

Tony Curtis is driving an

Alvis Speed 20 The Alvis Speed 20 is a British touring car that was made between late 1931 and 1936 by Alvis Car and Engineering Company in Coventry. It went through four variants coded SA to SD. In October 1935 the Speed 20 was supplemented by a 3½-litre ca ...

(1932–36) named the "Triple S, Six-Sylinder Special", and Gert Fröbe is in a

Mercedes SSK The Mercedes-Benz SSK (W06) is a roadster built by German automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz between 1928 and 1932. The name is an abbreviation of ''Super Sport Kurz'', German for "Super Sport Short", as it was a short wheelbase development ...

(1928–32). Terry-Thomas's car first is a Ware-Armitage, while his official entry is in a "Nifty Nine, Mark II". The other British team is in a

Lea-Francis Lea-Francis was a British motor manufacturing company that began by building bicycles. History R. H. Lea and G. I. Francis started the business in Coventry in 1895. They branched out into car manufacturing in 1903 and motorcycles in 1911. Le ...

, outfitted with an array of ingenious contraptions including the Dawlish Klaxon, the Dawlish Periscope, the Dawlish Snow Stoppers, the Dawlish Snow Melter, bits to turn it into the Dawlish Super Snow Tractor, Dawlish Extending Foglamp and rocket boosters. Marcelo and Angelo are in a

Lancia Lambda The Lancia Lambda is an innovative automobile produced from 1922 through 1931. It was the first car to feature a load-bearing unitary body, (but without a stressed roof) and it also pioneered the use of an independent suspension (the front slidi ...

, while Dominique drives a Peugeot 201 ... and lurking in the background are a bullnose

Morris Oxford Morris Oxford is a series of motor car models produced by Morris of the United Kingdom, from the 1913 ''bullnose'' Oxford to the ''Farina'' Oxfords V and VI. Named by W R Morris after ''the city of dreaming spires'', the university town in which ...

(1919–26) and a Blower Bentley (1927–31). Ex-racer David Watson was in charge of the cars. "The automobiles should give me a good 30 percent of the comedy", said Annakin.

Music

The music was composed by

. The title track, (called "Monte Carlo or Bust" despite the US name change to the film) is sung by Jimmy Durante. A piece of music playing during a German prison escape scene, called "The Schickel Shamble", has been used as the theme music for ''

'' since its inception in 1972.

Reception

''Monte Carlo or Bust!'' was favourably received by audiences and critics alike. The comparison to Annakin's earlier work, notwithstanding, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' review noted, "... the picture is lively and often hilarious, as the drivers hang on for dear life and the old cars honk, collide and careen. There is hardly a turn without a bang-up or a mix-up." In the opinion of the writer

Matthew Sweet Sidney Matthew Sweet (born October 6, 1964) is an American alternative rock/power pop singer-songwriter and musician who was part of the burgeoning music scene in Athens, Georgia, during the 1980s before gaining commercial success in the 1990 ...

, Peter Cook as Major Dawlish, and Dudley Moore as Lt. Barrington, are the performers who have the humour in the film that survives best. Peter Cook's Major Dawlish is the creator of a series of fairly ludicrous inventions – the feeling hovers "that it might be all over for Britain."Sweet, Matthew (speaking on). "The movie that changed my life'", ''BBC Radio 2'', 21 August 2009. Sweet states that it is a send-up of

the British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. I ...

, "which is very 1960s and not far from the sort of thing they would have been doing in The Establishment Club in

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develo ...

a few years earlier, where really for the first time, these upper-class stereotypes had been sent up with a vein of cruelty as well as a vein of affection. I think you can see it as a kind of post-Empire film." Cook and Moore play the representatives of Empire: ::Major Dawlish (Cook): ''I think it's pretty clear whose side the Lord is on, Barrington.'' ::Barrington (Moore): ''England, sir?'' ::Major Dawlish (Cook): ''Naturally.'' More recent reviews have not been as complimentary, with

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fi ...

characterising it as mid-fare, a movie that has "some funny scenes, but backfires a bit too often."Maltin 2009, p. 1404.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Annakin, Ken. ''So You Wanna Be a Director?'' Sheffield, UK: Tomahawk Press, 2001. . * Curtis, Tony and Peter Golenbock. ''Tony Curtis: American Prince, My Autobiography''. New York: Harmony Books, 2008. . * Davies, Jack, Ken Annakin, Allen Andrews and Ronald Searle. ''Monte Carlo or Bust!: Those Daring Young Men in their Jaunty Jalopies.'' London: Dennis Dobson, 1969. . * Hildick, E. W. ''Monte Carlo or Bust! ''London: Sphere, 1969. . * Maltin, Leonard. ''Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide 2009''. New York: New American Library, 2009 (originally published as ''TV Movies'', then ''Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide''), First edition 1969, published annually since 1988. .

External links

* * * *
Entry at imcdb.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monte Carlo Or Bust! 1969 films Films set in Monaco Paramount Pictures films Films directed by Ken Annakin American sequel films British sequel films French sequel films Italian sequel films 1969 comedy films American auto racing films British auto racing films French auto racing films Italian auto racing films Films scored by Ron Goodwin English-language French films English-language Italian films 1960s English-language films 1960s American films 1960s British films 1960s Italian films 1960s French films