''Go for a Take'' (U.S. title: ''Double Take'') is a 1972 British

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

starring

Reg Varney Reginald Alfred Varney (11 July 1916 – 16 November 2008) was an English actor, entertainer and comedian. He is best remembered for having played the lead role of bus driver Stan Butler in the London Weekend Television, LWT sitcom ''On the Buse ...

and

Norman Rossington Norman Rossington (24 December 1928 – 21 May 1999) was an English actor best remembered for his roles in ''The Army Game'', the ''Carry On'' films and the Beatles' film '' A Hard Day's Night''. Early life Born in Liverpool, Lancashire, ...

, directed by Harry Booth. The screenplay was by Alan Hackney.

Plot

Inept waiters Wilfred Stone and Jack Foster owe money to gangster bookie Generous Jim and lose all their remaining funds on a bad bet. They go on the run, accidentally ending up in a local film studio where they get mistaken for extras and soon become involved in a succession of comic misadventures.

Cast

as Wilfred Stone *

as Jack Foster *

Sue Lloyd Susan Margery Jeaffreson Lloyd (7 August 1939 – 20 October 2011) was an English model and actress, with numerous film and television credits. She may be best known for her long-running role (1979 to 1985) as Barbara Hunter ( Brady) in the Br ...

as Angel Montgomery * Dennis Price as Dracula, actor *

Julie Ege Julie Ege (; 12 November 1943 – 29 April 2008) was a Norwegian actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder. She appeared in many British films of the 1960s and 1970s. Early life Ege was born in Sandnes, the daughter of brickyard worker ...

as April *

Patrick Newell Patrick David Newell (27 March 1932 – 22 July 1988) was a British actor perhaps best known for playing Mother in '' The Avengers''. Early life and education The second son of Eric Llewellyn Newell, of High Lodge, Hadleigh, Suffolk, an Oxf ...

as Generous Jim * David Lodge as Graham *

Anouska Hempel Anouska Hempel, Lady Weinberg (born December 1941) is a New Zealand-born film and television actress turned hotelier and interior designer. She is sometimes credited as Anoushka Hempel. Early life Hempel is of Russian and Swiss German ancestry ...

as Suzi Eckmann *

Aubrey Morris Aubrey Morris (born Aubrey Steinberg; 1 June 1926 – 15 July 2015) was a British actor known for his appearances in the films '' A Clockwork Orange'' and '' The Wicker Man''. Early life and career Morris was one of nine children born to Becky ...

as director *

Bill Fraser William Simpson Fraser (5 June 1908 – 9 September 1987) was a Scottish actor who appeared on stage, screen and television for many years. In 1986 he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance for his stage role in the play '' ...

as TV studio doorman *

Bob Todd Brian Todd (15 December 1922 – 21 October 1992), known professionally as Bob Todd, was an English comedy actor, mostly known for appearing as a straight man in the sketch shows of Benny Hill and Spike Milligan. For many years, he lived in ...

as security man * Jack Haig as security man *

Melvyn Hayes Melvyn Hayes ('' né'' Hyams; born 11 January 1935) is an English actor and voice-over performer. He is best known for playing the effeminate Gunner (later Bombardier) "Gloria" Beaumont in the 1970s BBC sitcom '' It Ain't Half Hot Mum'', for ...

as ambulance man * John Clive as hotel waiter * Johnny Briggs as assistant director *

John Levene John Anthony Woods (born 24 December 1941), known professionally as John Levene, is an English actor, producer, entertainer and singer. Although he has appeared in a large number of films and television series, Levene's best-known role is tha ...

as assistant director *

David Prowse David Charles Prowse (1 July 1935 – 28 November 2020) was an English actor, bodybuilder, strongman and weightlifter. He portrayed Darth Vader in the original ''Star Wars'' trilogy and a manservant in Stanley Kubrick's 1971 film '' A Clockw ...

as actor * Penny Meredith as harem girl * Debbie Russ as Tiger (reprising her role from the TV series '' Here Come the Double Deckers'') * Peter Stephens as director

Production

The film was shot on location in central

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and

Slough Slough () is a town in Berkshire, England, in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4, M40 and M25 motorways. It is part of the historic county of Buckinghamshire. In 2021, the ...

, and at

Pinewood Studios Pinewood Studios is a British film and television studio located in the village of Iver Heath, England. It is approximately west of central London. The studio has been the base for many productions over the years from large-scale films to t ...

(as "Starwood Studios") with sets designed by the

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

Lionel Couch Lionel Couch (1913–1989) was a British art director. He was nominated for two Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction. Selected filmography Couch was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Art Direction: * '' Sons and Lovers'' ( ...

Music

The film features the song "Let's Go to the Movies", by Glen Mason and Keith Miller.

Critical reception

The film was a box-office disappointment. ''

The Monthly Film Bulletin The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...

'' wrote: "Beginning comparatively painlessly with a hectic car chase and one or two promising scenes at 'Starwood Studios', the latest Harry Booth comedy eventually settles down to a tedious mixture of masochism and drag, with most of the emphasis on the former. Reg Varney's cockney stoicism is not completely without charm, but the script's gags seem to consist almost entirely of a succession of violent incidents in which, for example, he has a periscope stuck up his behind or is crippled by an explosion. There is barely any attempt to generate humour from anything except pain, and even the occasional departures from this basic approach are mechanical and witless. Still, in the present state of the industry, one cannot help admiring the brazen wish-fulfilment in the film's portrayal of a thinly disguised well-known British studio, which appears to be shooting at least twelve features simultaneously."

Leslie Halliwell Robert James Leslie Halliwell (23 February 1929 – 21 January 1989) was a British film critic, encyclopaedist and television rights buyer for ITV, the British commercial network, and Channel 4. He is best known for his reference guides, '' Fi ...

called the film "Painful British farce". ''The

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in September 1923 by John Reith, then general manage ...

Guide to Films'' gave the film 1/5 stars, writing: "This British comedy has minimal laughs. Reg Varney and Norman Rossington are waiters on the run from debt collectors who take refuge in a film studio, a scenario which leads to some amazingly unfunny sequences . It's enough to make the '' Carry On'' films seem as witty as

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 0068500, Go for a Take
''Go for a Take''
at BFI (archived) *
Go for a Take
' at Buses On Screen 1972 films 1972 comedy films 1970s English-language films Films shot at Pinewood Studios British comedy films 1970s British films