IMDb plot summary: A fabulous 1960s musical: Four London Bus mechanics strike up a deal with London Transport. They do up a double-decker London Bus, drive it around Europe as a hotel, and if they make it they will own and manage a whole fleet. While on the road in France they pick up three ladies whose car breaks down and offer to take them to their next singing job in Athens.
Directed by Peter Yates. Starring Cliff Richard, Lauri Peters, and Melvyn Hayes.
Summer Holiday is a 1960s road trip musical romantic comedy about a group of four young mechanics who decide to take a London double-decker bus on vacation across Europe, picking up various hitchhikers along the way who change their course. This is absolutely the perfect example of a light breezy 60s musical, with lots of entertaining song and dance numbers and a plot that never tries to get in the way of them. Some of these numbers are better than others, of course, and there's an extended pantomime sequence that doesn't work for me at all, but the majority of it works really well. I love the zaniness of jumping from one new hitchhiker to the next, as well as the sudden appearance of a plot to sabotage their journey, and our bus drivers have such a cheery attitude to every mishap that befalls them that it maintains that bright sunny feel over the whole movie. The visuals are nice, too -- some beautifully vivid costume and set design that helps bolster even the least inspiring tunes. It's not the best musical of this era, but it might be one of the MOST "musicals of this era," and it was exactly what I wanted to watch on the day I watched it.
How it entered my Flickchart:
Summer Holiday > Jesus Christ Superstar (2000)
Summer Holiday > Dark Passage
Summer Holiday < Castle in the Sky
Summer Holiday < Jeopardy (1953)
Summer Holiday > Sansho the Bailiff
Summer Holiday < Au Revoir les Enfants
Summer Holiday > Tell It to the Bees
Summer Holiday < The Red Shoes
Summer Holiday < Last Night in Soho
Summer Holiday < Titanic
Summer Holiday < Turning Red
Summer Holiday < Out of Sight
Final spot: #777 out of 3688, or 79%.
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