The ''Foolish Years'' () is a Yugoslav

film series A film series or movie series is a collection of related films in succession that share the same fictional universe, or are marketed as a series. It is a type of series fiction. This article explains what film series are and gives brief examples ...

spawned from the 1977 movie of the same name. The original film and its nine sequels were all directed by Zoran Čalić between 1977 and 1992. In Yugoslavia, the entire series would eventually become widely known by an informal name, ''Žikina dinastija'' (''Žika's Dynasty)'', actually the title of its 7th film (sixth sequel) released in 1985 that parodied the American TV soap opera ''

Dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a monarchy, monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A dynasty may also be referred to as a "house", "family" or "clan", among others. H ...

'', which was enormously popular throughout Yugoslavia in the mid-1980s. What would eventually turn into a film series began in 1977 with ''Lude godine''. Centered around a teenage couple, Boba (Vladimir Petrović) and Marija (Rialda Kadrić), one of the film's goals was addressing societal issues such as

unprotected sex Safe sex is sexual activity using methods or contraceptive devices (such as condoms) to reduce the risk of transmitting or acquiring sexually transmitted infections (STIs), especially HIV. "Safe sex" is also sometimes referred to as safer se ...

and

teen pregnancy Teenage pregnancy, also known as adolescent pregnancy, is pregnancy in a female under the age of 20. Worldwide, pregnancy complications are the leading cause of death for women and girls 15 to 19 years old. The definition of teenage pregnancy i ...

. However, the ensemble of supporting characters—most notably the respective in-laws Živorad "Žika" Pavlović ( Dragomir Bojanić Gidra) and Milan Todorović ( Marko Todorović)—captured audiences' attention by displaying great comedic potential. This would later be exploited in nine subsequent sequels as each one revolved around the pair of in-laws—unrefined, working class Žika and strait-laced intellectual Milan—rather than the young couple. Nearly every single film in the series was lambasted by

film critic Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: Academic criticism by film scholars, who study the composition of film theory and publish their findin ...

s. Most disliked it for what they saw to be poor directorial choices and crude folksy humour loaded with rural and urban stereotypes that are displayed through the characters of Žika and Milan, respectively. Despite its low-brow reputation, the series proved to be a valuable training ground and career springboard for many acting talents and future stars of Yugoslav/Serb cinema like Sonja Savić, Zoran Cvijanović,

Nikola Kojo Nikola Kojo (; born 5 September 1967) is a Serbian actor and film director as well the TV Host of the game shows The Weakest Link. Biography Nikola was named after his great-grandfather, who was an protoiereus in Mostar. He made his acting debu ...

, Gala Videnović,

Branko Đurić Branko Đurić (; born 28 May 1962), also known by his nickname Đuro (Cyrillic: Ђуро), is a Bosnian actor, comedian, film director and musician, who lives and works in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Born and raised in Sarajevo, Đurić rose to prom ...

and others. Domestically, the films were

box-office A box office or ticket office is a place where ticket (admission), tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a Wicket gate, wicket. ...

successes, and were popular in the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Films

The films in the series are: *''Lude godine'' (''Foolish Years''), (1977) * ''Došlo doba da se ljubav proba'' (''It's Time for Love'') a.k.a. ''Lude godine II'' (''Wacky Years II'', 1980) *''Ljubi, ljubi, al' glavu ne gubi'' (''Sure, Have Fun with Women but Don't Lose Your Head'', 1981) *''Kakav deda takav unuk'' (''Like Grandpa, Like Grandson'', 1983) *''Idi mi, dođi mi'' (''Come to me and Go from me'', 1983) *'' Šta se zgodi kad se ljubav rodi'' (''What Happens When Love Comes to Town'', 1984) *''Žikina dinastija'' (''Žika's Dynasty'', 1985) *''Druga Žikina dinastija'' (''Second Žika's Dynasty'', 1986) *Treća Žikina Dinastija (, Third Zika's Dynasty 1988) *''Žikina ženidba'' (''Žika's Wedding'', 1992), also known as ''Ženidba Žike Pavlovića'' (''The Wedding of Žika Pavlović'') in

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

* ''Povratak Žikine dinastije'' (''Žika's Dynasty Returns''), cancelled in 2018 in production phase, due to lack of government funding.

References

Serbian film series Serbian comedy-drama films Serbian-language films Yugoslav comedy-drama films 1977 comedy-drama films Films set in Serbia Films set in Yugoslavia 1980 comedy-drama films Films set in Belgrade Films shot in Belgrade 1981 comedy-drama films 1983 comedy-drama films 1983 films 1984 comedy-drama films 1984 films 1985 comedy-drama films 1985 films 1986 comedy-drama films 1986 films 1988 comedy-drama films 1988 films {{Serbia-film-stub